Sweet Caroline (bum bum bum!) Sponsor HIghlight & Giveaway!

Yes, I know, that blog title brings you back to, like, every single wedding you have ever been to--arm in arm in a giant circle full of your closest family and friends, and then everyone sings in unison...SWEEEEEET CAROLINEEEE.....BUM BUM BUMMMMMMMMM!!!

ha. ok. moving.

Have you all met the lovely Caroline? If not, be ready to fall in love.

Caroline is like my lil southern texan twin. We pretty much have thee same exact sense of humor, which is one of the reasons why I must meet miss Caroline in person and squeeze the bajezus outta her.

In case you all weren't aware, I am obssesed with the following:

• headbands

• scarves

• Joshua Jackson (waddup 1998)

• scarves

• scarves

(see a pattern?)

(Yeah, I know, Joshua Jackson totally threw you off, I had an 8th grade moment right there,  just go with it)

Check out this little lovely that I own from Caroline, you will swoon over it--outta 10 your swoon-o-meter will be at a staggering 53 (I like odd numbers)

See how incredibly stoked I am to be wearing a ballin' infinity scarf? Doncha wanna feel as epic as I did in that very moment in time?

Well, you can, if you keep reading ;) Kick it Caroline!

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1. Tell us about your shop! We wanna know what made you want to start your online store, how you came up with your shop name and what kind of suh-weet awesome amazing products your 2 hands make!

In the Spring of 2010 friend of mine was hosting a charity event that sold art pieces. She knew I sewed/crafted/etc. so she asked me if I would donate some items to her event. I donated 10 headbands, some earrings, and a couple of pillow cases. The FLEW off the shelves. All in the name of charity... but still- they were gone with in 15 minutes of the event opening. So with the encouragement of my friends and family, I decided to open up shop. Since then, its been a wild ride.

2. What is your most favorite hand made item that you own?

from someone else's shop? hands down my gussy sews bag. It is roomy & the straps are SOOOO comfortable. TOTALLY worth the moolah! From my shop? every. single. one. of my infinity scarves. I could wear them all!!

3. What 3 items from your shop make you go "awww yeah I TOTALLY made that, and what?"

this.

this.

and this. boom.

4. If you could hit someone in the face with a pie what flavor would the pie be? (you thought I was gonna ask who you would hit, didn't you?) (nope, I just really dig pie) (ok, I have a pie problem, judge me) (ok you can answer the question now)

uhhh what the what?? ha~ i love banana creme and that would be super fluffy and messy so probably that. And even though you didn't ask, I'd probably hit you in the face. Only to see your reaction... no hard feelings, I swear ;)

5. QUICK: would you rather be given the ability to fly OR be invisible.

FLY. Fa sho. I've always wanted to be a bird in a different life.

6. Hidden Talent? (Come on, I KNOW you totally have one)

I can sing... :)

7. What advice can you give to other indie shop owners out there?

be patient, stay creative, & have a trustworthy sounding board.

I also wrote a guest post here on this same topic if you want to have a peek ;)

8. Where can we stalk your faboosh little self?

blog. shop. twitter. facebook. pinterest. instagram: cotton_lane

yeahhhh I'm pretty much everywhere ;)

you homegirl, watcha givin away??

Pretty readers of YHA get the chance to win..........

the light pink & lattice infinity scarf!
in the words of Napoleon Dynamite...
LUUUCKKKKYYYYY!

Hope you win :)

Mandatory for entering: Visit Caroline's Shop and Leave a Comment Below Letting Me Know What Product Makes You Go All Swoony Swoon.


((want more chances to win? If so leave a SEPARATE comment for each thing you do! remember, play nice! we do check to see if your entries are valid :) .))

1. Be a Follower of Yellow Heart Art's blog via Google Friend Connect (1 entry)

2. Be a Follow of Caroline's Blog via Google Friend Connect (1 entry)

3. Thumbs Up Cotton Lane on Facebook and tell her I sent ya! (1 entry)

4. Be besties with me on Facebook and say hi! (1 entry)

5. Be a follower of both Yellow Heart Art and Cotton Lane on Twitter AND Tweet about this giveaway! (1 entry) please feel free to use the tweet below! Make sure it includes our twitter names AND the URL to this giveaway so we can track your tweet!

"woot @cotton_lane is giving away one of her ballin' scarves on @YellowHeartArt 's blog! Perfect for winter! http://bit.ly/sCXHs6"

6. Share this Giveaway on your Facebook or Blog! Please leave your URL below! (1 entry)

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE! GIVEAWAY ENDS NEXT THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10th!!! (sorry US only!)

Sponsor Love & Some Giveaway Swag!

LOOOOVES!

I am MEGA PUMPED about this sponsor love post. Tara from Beautiful Blendings is one of my top 10 favorite people. She's cute as a stinkin' button and creates awesome hair swag. (if you read my blog religiously you know how addicted to hair swag I am) She even named one after MOI! (I know, I was completely and totally honored! I think it suits me well, no?)

Let's get to know Tara, shall we? (we shall)

oh and hey extra fun side note: she's doing a giveaway! Keep readin' ;)

Hello! I'm Tara and I blog over at Beautiful Blendings when I'm not totally running crazy in my everyday life. I started my Etsy shop just a few short months ago and shortly after starting my blog in January of this year. I was so incredibly inspired by the blogging community and have met some of my most favorite people in life in this world. I have always been the girl who writes and creates and for a short while I was hiding from that passion. Now I am fully embracing my love of making pretty things {such as headbands, clips, and all things baby and beautiful} and writing my little heart out.

My most favorite handmade item that I currently own is probably any of my gorgeous pieces from {just.lovely.things} from the incredible Heather. You all know you love her too. And if you don't know about her; you should probably get in the lovely loop.

Three items in my shop that I'm super stoked about {and almost didn't want to sell!} are Casey {inspired by the amazing Casey Wiegand}, Cory {super new} and the Haley {which is super on sale and I may just have to keep for myself!}.

You are waiting online for an epic ride at your favorite water park. When you get to the top you realize they ran outta water and are now pumping the rides full of ... coconut milk. Wouldn't you smell a-mazing after a day in that?

QUICK: would you rather be given the ability to fly OR be invisible ... I want to be invisible. I like the idea of the peace and quiet whenever I need it and also I could do some great people watching. I have such an interest in why people do what they do. Not in a creepy way, promise.

Hidden Talents? We know you got 'em! I'd have to say my hidden talent is probably that I can do the full splits on both sides. Take that 25 years old!

Where can we stalk get to know you better?
You can find me almost everywhere. And I absolutely love interacting with people so feel free to chat me up anywhere. AND ... in the month of September I am working with Ashley from The Shine Project to help raise money for her scholarship fund. So 25% of each sale from my shop will go towards helping sending a kid to college. You can read more about it on my blog but please SHOP or share the word!

Blog || Facebook || Tweet || Pintrest || Email || Instagram: @beautifulblendings

Hey Tara! Watcha giving away to Yellow Heart Art Readers??

I am giving away a headband of your choice to one lucky reader. Anyone can enter {not just U.S.} and if you win I will contact you to let me know your selection! Yippee! And just cause I la-la-love Leonora ... I will also give the lucky winner one month of free ad space on my blog.  Yes it's true, I love giving away and I also love winning. Good luck all you beautiful readers!

You Guys Want In? Raise Ya Hand if Ya do! 

Mandatory for entering:

Be a follower of Yellow Heart Art via google friend connect and leave me a comment telling me you are!

EXTRA CREDIT!

(please leave a separate comment for EACH additional entry!)

1-be a follower of Tara's blog via Google Friend Connect

2-Follow Yellow Heart Art and Tara on twitter AND tweet about this giveaway!

please feel free to use the following tweet:

"@YellowHeartArt is giving away some suh-weet hair bling & Free Ad space from @TBlendings . Time to get beautiful! http://bit.ly/qPdI5l"

3-Like Tara's Facebook Page and Tell her I sent ya ;)

4-Visit Tara's Etsy Shop, give it a "heart-ing" and let us know which hair piece you are crushin' on!

FRIENDLY REMINDER: we do check to make sure all your entries are valid. We have had people in past lie about "following" blogs, twitter accounts and facebooks etc. I know, I hate it too guys I wish everyone would just play nice on the playground! Mega boooo.

GOOD LUCK! Giveaway is open to ALL YOU LOVES! (NOT just US! Holla!)

Giveaway ends Next Wednesday, Winner announced the following thursday!)

Sponsor Love & Some Giveaway Swag!

I am so thrilled to introduce you guys to the lovely, adorable and funny Megan!

her and the bub-a-roo (doncha just wanna live next door to them and do, like, a movie night or something?)

I may or may not be biased to how awesome she is since she's a brunette with a something fierce 'tude. (Hey, reminds me of someone else I know…)

cheeeeeeeeese!

She is the lovely lil lady behind MoKoPo Creations! (You guys are gonna LOVE how she came up with that name! Pinky promise, girl scouts honor, cross ya heart and all that jazz)

I was able to get all "Dr.Phil" meets "Oprah" on her behind and ask her some questions.

What made you want to start your own handmade biz?

When I was younger I used to say that I wanted a job where I could "sleep in, wear whatever I wanted, paint all day, and get paid for it". I was always told that job didn't exist. In 2008, I was working in the mental health field and hating the 8 to 5 hours, business casual dress code, crazy bosses, and started to feel like if I didn't get out now I never would. I thought it would be cool to get my massage license but wasn't sure how I'd pay for school. I literally googled, "Unusual Ways to Make Money" and Etsy.com popped up. While browsing the site I stumbled upon a Quit Your Day Job article and felt as though the heavens had opened up and everything clicked. As Oprah would say, it was my "Ah ha" moment. My dream job DID exist and there were plenty of people living that life everyday. Now I'm one of them.

Where did you get the name for your fab-o-licious shop?

I started painting in oils when I was 12 after becoming obsessed with Bob Ross and "The Joy of Painting" (he's still super rad!) My 12 year-old self thought I would be uber cool and sign my paintings in an "artsy" way. I signed the painting with my initials (M.K.P.) and instead of periods I put little circles in between the letters. I showed my older sister my work and she said, "That's really good, Meg. But what's 'MoKoPo'?" I've been creating as MoKoPo ever since.

((look you can see her signature in the bottom right!))

What advice can you give to other business owners/people who want to live their dream?

You can plan your little heart out all day everyday but you will never be able to predict everything that will happen-- sometimes you just have to leap and work through the speed bumps as they come. The biggest thing I have learned on this journey is that no one ever just starts out perfect and successful. The people I admire and want to be when I grow up didn't start out that way. They were once in my shoes and have worked their butt off to get where they are. I just keep telling myself that one day I will be where they are, I just have to be patient.

Also, don't order a ZILLION business cards at the very beginning of your business. You will inevitably change your mind about things, tweak your logo, narrow down your niche, etc. and then you'll be stuck with an ungodly amount of business cards you don't want. Trust me, I have tons.

QUICK you have JUST been invited to dinner at the white house (swanky!) but you HAVE to wear something you already have in your closet--what do you whip together in a panic?

I have a dark blue BCBG dress that I love that I could snazz up with some jewelry and heels. That, or the grocery bag dress mentioned below.

yes she painted this (I know, ballin' skillz)

Imagine you're at a water park but its down for maintenance. You get up to the top of the slide, hop on, and land in a big pile of (insert amazing thing you want to land in here)
Crunchy leaves--- those are the best kind! OOO Or Dippin' Dots!

What old school toy do you wish would make a cameo again? (Me, personally, i totally miss my skip it--and I now officially have the skip it theme song locked into my brain, awesome job Leonora)

I was always a big fan of Lite Brite but I think versions of that still exist. I'd also like to give Pogs another chance at glory.

Any secret talents?

Let's see.... I can recite the alphabet backwards, I know American Sign Language, I can quote the entire movie of Dumb and Dumber from beginning to end, and I once made an entire party dress out of plastic grocery bags. Yea, I'm pretty cool.

What is your "go-to" word when describing something pretty ballin'?

Usually  I'll just use an exclamation like "Nice!", "Woohoo!", or the extremely lame but always relevant "Holler!"  If something is cute, I say "adorbs" or if it's really cute it's "totes adorbs". I'm also a big fan of the classic, "Awesome".

Where can we find you to stalk enjoy your adorbs lil self?

I think if you Google "MoKoPo" the only things that come up are me and a tiny town in Africa (haha) but really, you can find me just about anywhere (I'm a bit of an interwebs floozy).

Pick your poison:

MAIN SITE: www.MoKoPo.com
ETSY:  etsy.com/shop/MoKoPo
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/MoKoPoCreations
BLOG: MoKoPoCreations.blogspot.com
TWITTER: @MoKoPoCreations
PINTEREST: pinterest.com/MoKoPo

Also-- I have recently opened another shop called "Buck and Libby" which features my line of doodle prints and cards! That's http://buckandlibby.etsy.com

Thank you SO MUCH Megan! (Toldya how she got her shop name was mega fun)

Now onto the GOODIES!

Yes you guys, Megan gets even MORE gangsta!

She is giving away (winner's choice) one of her 3 hand painted journals below! As well as $10 shop credit to enjoy at MoKoPo Creations!

Entering is, like, way easy.

Mandatory for Entering:

Head on over to Megan's Shop and tell me what you would spend your shop credit on! Also tell me which of the 3 journals you would love to own :)

Really diggin Megan's stuff and want more ways to enter??

Ok...you win.

PLEASE LEAVE A SEPARATE COMMENT FOR EACH ADDITIONAL ENTRY:

1. Be a follower of Yellow Heart Art's Blog via Google Friend Connect

2. Be a follower of Megan's Blog

3. Follow Yellow Heart Art AND Megan on twitter AND TWEET about this giveaway! Please include a link to this blog post as well as a lil "@" love to me and Megan! Feel free to use the below tweet:

"@YellowHeartArt is giving away one of @MoKoPoCreations hand painted Journals as well as shop credit! SCORE! http://bit.ly/kpTK8l"

4. Facebook or Blog about this giveaway (include our blog post URL) and copy and paste your URL in the comments below :)

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE! Giveaway closes next Thursday, June 16th, winner announced Friday, June 17th!

Sponsor Highlight and a Giveaway!

Hello Bloggie World!

I am so stoked to introduce you guys to one of my newest Sponsors!

Her name is Jana, and she's pretty rad. She is the lovely lady behind Weekend Vintage.

She has an etsy shop which is PERFECT for all my other etsy shop own friends out there! She sells unique supplies to spruce up your branding and packaging to your loyal customers.

She also makes some pretty cute swag. Totally crushin on this piece! (If you're an etsy shop owner who lives on twitter, facebook, etsy and blogspot then you know how important this lil tidbit of advice is)

cotton door keeper-Unplug

Let's get a lil looksie into the life of Jana!

Cotton Door Keeper-Greatness

What made you want to start an Etsy Shop? 

My sons started growing up and I miss them. And I wanted to do something creative so I wouldn't miss them so much. Josh just finished his first year at Wheaton College in Chicago and Chase is a senior in High school.I love fun packaging supplies so what better way to have some fun. I sew too so I periodically add a few handmade items to the shop. Right now I'm into Door Keepers but I'm also working on a line of upcycled handbags.


What was the first item you ever sold and how uh-may-zing did it feel? 

Twill tape-yup. so fun to get the email. It's fun every time. It never gets old.

QUICK! You are on a sinking life raft and need to use at least 3 items from your shop to fix your boat and flag down help--which items do you use and how?

I'm doomed. Is the weather nice on this lifeboat? And would i have laundry or dishes to wash? Maybe I will just swim over to another life boat and stay out there.


If you could go jump in a giant ball pit (because who WOULDNT want to do that?! Now I know what I'm doing this weekend…) what would you replace the balls with?

Marshmallows ....great color and texture.


Got any secret talents?

I cook everything from scratch. I eat full fat dairy and red meat. Don't hate me. I'm making gluten free granola right now.


Which TV show are you so in love with that you would miss your best friend's wedding for?

I'm a die hard Shark Tank Fan. You just never know if they will like the product or not.
Which of your fashion accessories instantly makes you feel oh-so-perdie?
My Platinum Pearls from J Crew...yummy.

Thanks Jana!

Now onto the goodies!

If you're an Etsy Shop Owner you definitely wanna get in on this!

Jana is giving away some PERFECT shipping supplies/bedazzlement to your crafts and packages!

Winner gets 12 Yards of Twill Tape & 12 Manilla Envelopes!

So hey...what is twill tape and how can I use this amazing creation?

Glad you asked!

This stuff is so stinkin versatile.

You can stamp on it & create personalized Ribbons and Swanky Tags for your purses & clothing!

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Add them to your fabric & scrap book projects to create cute accents!

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waddya say? want in? (YEAH you do!)

Mandatory for Entering:

Visit Jana's Shop & Heart it on Etsy!

really really wanna score some of Jana's awesome swag?

ok, you win. Leave a SEPARATE comment for each entry below!

1. Be a follower via Google Friend Connect of Yellow Heart Art

2. Be a Follower of Jana & Yellow Heart Art on Twitter AND tweet about this giveaway! Include a link to this blog post as well as mine and Jana's twitter names! Feel free to use the tweet below:

@YellowHeartArt is giving away some suh-weet supplies @WeekendVintage for Etsy shop ownahs! Check it out! http://bit.ly/mcggJL

3. Blog or Facebook about this giveaway and include the URL in your comment!

4. Subscribe to Jana's Blog

Also Jana has so graciously offered 15% off to Yellow Heart Art Readers! Enter "YELLOWHEART" at checkout! (pretty awesome)

Giveaway closes on Thursday Night, June 9th, Winner announced Friday June 10th!