Friday, March 6, 2009

Friday's Features...and a giveaway!

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I stumbled upon a website a few months ago called La Dee Dah Art. I immediately fell in love with the art & pictures of painted rooms on the home page. I have always wished I could paint, so I really admire those who can!

Here is a collage of some of her art....

I contacted Dawn, from La Dee Dah Art, and am pleased to introduce you to her today!

I am always interested to see what inspires people to start their businesses. When I asked Dawn what her inspiration was, this is what she had to say.

"I have always had a craving to design or create in some form or fashion. After the birth of my first son, I knew that I could not leave him at home every day to continue my career. My entrepreneurial spirit and love for my family drove me to start a home-based business which is now call La Dee Dah Art. After much prayer and continued practice, God has given me the ability to create artwork that is actually sellable. I never cease to give God glory for what He has done and is continually doing in my life. I hope you enjoy what you see on my site and know that I am very easy to work with, am very detail oriented and take a lot of pride in the work I do..after all, look who I'm representing!!"

I love this nursery she painted...

Want it? Click here to shop @ La Dee Dah Art.

CONTEST CLOSED


Win it!! I don't normally do giveaways on my Friday's Features, but Dawn has offered a $35 Gift Certificate, plus free shipping, to one lucky Gift Closet reader! Yay...wish I could win this one! ;)

How to Win:
1. Simply leave a comment here, include your email address if it is not on your profile, and be willing to put my Gift Closet button on your blog, if you win, and if you have a blog. ;)
2. Contest ends Wednesday 3/11/09 @ midnight & is open to US residents only. Good luck!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Typically I feature 2 great companies every Friday. La Dee Dah Art is awesome...but this company is.....not so much!!

As a person who companies contact to review products occasionally, I feel like I should offer real & honest reviews to my readers. While this company did not contact me to review their products, I am offering my own personal review. I did not have a good experience with this, and maybe my readers can learn from my mistake on this one!

With all the hype about "going green", I finally jumped on the band wagon last year, and with no regrets! I am now recycling,making some of my own eco-friendly & affordable cleaning solutions for around the house,using re-usable grocery bags, etc.

One company I have purchased several products from is Reusable Bags. They have a wide variety of eco-friendly expensive products. About 5 months ago I purchased 2 water bottles& 2 sippy cups from them to the tune of about $50. I received a free re-usable grocery bag w/ my order (woo-hoo), which tore about 1 week after I got it.

The thing I want to share with you today is my experience with the $17 (each!) sippy cups I purchased. They are Thermos foog 7 oz Thermal Reusable Sippy Cups. I purchased 2 of these cups about 5 months ago. While they were $17 a piece, very expensive to me, I felt they would be worth it. I read the instructions for cleaning, which said to take apart the entire cup every time you clean it. I did that, or so I thought. Last week I discovered the yellow top cam apart from the blue top. When I took it part, I discovered permanent mold!!!
I scrubbed, scratched, washed, soaked in vinegar, and it will not come off. Now I am having to throw away $30 worth of sippy cups, after only using them for 5 short months. I contacted customer service and was told I didn't clean it properly. So, be prepared to take apart the entire cup every time you wash it, or better yet, don't buy it at all!

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Thanks so much!!!

77 comments:

Krystyn @ Really, Are You Serious? said...

Please count me in for the paintings. Adorable!

And, I appreciate honest feedback. That is horrible that they would not fix the problem. If it were me, I would call again...you never know if you will get the right person.

Maybe they would just replace the lids so you can use the canister part? Just a suggestion. If there were not directions indicating to remove that part of the lid, I don't think people would know to do it.

Did you mention that you would be doing a negative review for them, too? I would also contact their PR people! Good luck!

Melanie @ Whimsical Creations said...

I love her work. I have a sign from her for my daughter and I love it!! I would love to win a gc to her site.

Sorry about the sippies...that is nuts. If companies are selling them for that price they should work with you more if you call an let them know what happened. At least send you 1 new one...wth. I worked in a hotel for years...you just don't treat people that way and not expect to loose more than 1 customer.

Susan Heim said...

I'd love to win the gift certificate to La Dee Dah. And I already have your terrific button on my blog, Susan Heim on Parenting, at http://susanheim.blogspot.com. Thank you!

Gosfam said...

Once again you always feature companies that I would never stumble upon. She has talent and I love her painting/designs. Thanks for a chance at the giveaway. I have your button on 2 if not 3 of my blogs (I can't remember :)

Daughter of the The King said...

Love the art giveaway and your website is so neat! ::bookmarked::
calleyamber@hotmail.com

mverno said...

thanks for the great prize i'd love to be the winner mverno@roadrunner.com

Unknown said...

Oh my goodness, I can't believe your sippy experience! That's nasty! I have been looking at them for a long time, wondering if they were worth the money. I guess not! Thanks for your review!
Love her round canvases!

Jennifer Swarbrick said...

Just too cut!
swarbrickjennifer@gmail.com

Mimi N said...

Bummer to hear about your sippy cups! My sister in law has similar ones so I better let her know!

Please enter me to win the La Dee Dah Art GC. Her site is so amazing! Wish I had that kind of talent. Couldn't decide what I like the most, it's all so beautiful!

Blessings,
Mimi B

mnjesusfreak at gmail dot com

Sheila Hickmon said...

Oh, I love her store! So many cute things!

Galo Fab 5 said...

Just stumbled across your blog. Very cute and lots of fun stuff. La Dee Dah Art is just what I need to finish up the nursery!

Melinda said...

i would love to win, thanks!

auntrene said...

I completely appreciate your honesty. That is sad that the sippy cups are ruined. Too bad you can't just get the replacement part. Horrible.
I hope other people realize that has to come apart to be cleaned, or there could be some sick kiddos running around. Yuck.
Thanks so much

auntrene said...

I hate to offer this as a suggestion, but have you tried to soak them in a bleach water. After soaking them wash them thouroughly and rinse, maybe it will get rid of the mold.
Also try a Magic Eraser from Mr. Clean, I love those things

auntrene said...

I would love to be entered in the LaDeeDah giveaway. I like all of the bow holders, but My little nieces would love the Butterfly tee's.
Thanks for an awesome giveaway.

Unknown said...

Wonderful giveaway.

Amy said...

That's pretty gross about the sippy cups! UGGHH! We live and learn, thanks for sharing. I'd also love to be counted in for the art giveaway! Thanks, have a great weekend!

SoBella Creations said...

I would love to be entered into the giveaway. My email is on my blog profile.

Sorry about the sippy cups. You would think they would have pictures on their instructions so you would have known to take that portion out.

BrendaLea, the Prpldy said...

I'd love to win this give-a-way....her artwork is awesome!

prpldy (at) comcast.net

Anonymous said...

1st Peter 5:7
My friend and her baby got killed by a drunk driver last saturday.
My heart is broken for them.
Please tell everyone you know that if they have to have a drink,
let someone else take the keys!
Thanks

Anonymous said...

Alisa Didenhover- adidenhover@gmaill.com

Unknown said...

I love that nursery room! She is amazing. I wish i could afford to do something like that for my daughters room. love the giveaway. amsbolda@hotmail.com

Heather said...

Amazing artwork and not so amazing sippy cups. That's disgusting!

heatherdemke(at)gmail(dot)com

Mindy Burns said...

Love the painting! mindyburns@gmail.com
http://mindysscrapbookpages.blogspot.com/

tristanjh said...

I have mold anxiety so thanks for the heads up! Count me in on the giveaway!

tristanjh@yahoo.com

The Morrells said...

I love the art and would love to win the gift card. And YUCK on those cups. I can't believe they wouldn't do anything about it after you contacted them. Thanks for the review.

AuBien said...

I really like the La Dee Dah Art shop! Such cute things...I especially like the Psalms 127:3 canvas. So cute.

That stinks on the sippy cups. What stinks even more is the brush off customer service gave you. Even if they couldn't replace the cups for you they could have at least made you feel like they really wished they could. :( Or even a small discount on new ones. Bummer.

Tara said...

Dang Sippy cups! i've had so much trouble w/ sippy cups in general..can't wait to graduate out of those!

But please enter me in the giveaway!! Love her stuff!!

Deb K said...

Sorry to hear about the Sippy Cups~You would think after you paid that much money for them they company would have better Customer Service!

Please enter me in this great giveaway!

daytoncat said...

Wow, that nursery she did looks wonderful! I am always envious of artsy people. I can abarely draw a bath, let alone be that creative!

Your post on the sippy cups made me mad for you! And I can't believe their customer service did absolutely nothing to try to make it right.

daytoncat1(at)yahoo(dot)com

llinda29 said...

This will be good for m sister

Karen said...

Great Prize :)

ktgonyea at gmail.com

Erin said...

I've seen Dawn's creations before and would love to win!

Heather said...

Paula Anderson

divaqueenie said...

What wonderful products, thanks for sharing!

Becca said...

Oooh, I LOVE to win that certificate. So stinkin' cute!!

leccalave@yahoo.com

(and thanks for the honest review!)

Darcy said...

I love her paintings! Her shop is adorable. I can imagine a number of her items in my daughter's room!

The Stevens: said...

La Dee Dah is absolutely adorable, I would love to win!:) (Thanks to my sister Leslie for telling me about your website.)

Briann said...

Briann Neeley
What cute stuff! Also Im glad you wrote about those sippy cups, I had been looking into those and now know they don't back up their product! They need to tell you exactly how to take them apart and clean them! Thanks Again!

Unknown said...

i'd love to win this!!

autumn398 (at) yahoo.com

mmentor said...

i would surely have a great time shopping here

mmentor said...

i would surely have a great time shopping here

ali said...

Love her work! My girls room could use something like that!

daizee said...

Very cool wall art!

Chloe said...

Count me in! :)

springshoot5@aol.com

Gloria said...

Lovely shop! I'd so love to win
:D

gjw823@aol.com

Celeste said...

Wow! What a GREAT giveaway! I'd love to win...also, everyone - I've got 3 giveaways on my blog right now - so go enter! :)

contact me at:
celeste@mail4me.com

Gwenn Mitchell said...

La Dee Dah is so cute! I would love to win, so please consider this my entry. I love your blog! Keep up the great work, you have inspired me to start my own.

Jared, Christine, and The Boys said...

I so need inspiration like this!
christinedeniece@hotmail.com

Leah J. said...

Would LOVE to win the La Dee Dah gift card! How fun! My blog is private, but my email is LBJ(at)nine17(dot)com

Maggie said...

I love the art. Thanks for the giveaway!

vboackle said...

i like the artwork.

mogrill said...

Wonderful contest! Thanks for the chance.

mogrill@comcast.net

Sherry R said...

I hope I win this one! We are updating our playroom!

jnkrim (at) qwestoffice (dot) net

Billy and Stephanie said...

this is too cute pick me!!!

stephledbetter25 (at) yahoo (dot) com

terri142 said...

Dawn does beautiful work, I would love to win this GC

Anne said...

I would love to win this! send anne a letter at gmail dot com

Katie & James Shannon said...

Cute stuff kshannon12@hotmail.com

Anonymous said...

Hi Heather, I have to comment because I threw away the same cup and straw version maybe only after 3-4 months. Sooo irritating so I now by playtex! Love LaDeeDah and also wanted to let you know your room feature will be up in a few minutes! Keep up the great blog posts!!

justicecw said...

I love the round monogram in turq and brown. And the reviews are great...better to let people know what they are getting into before wasting money! thanks, justicecw@hotmail.com

Pamela S said...

Oh that stuff is so cute!! I'd love to win! Thanks.

Terra Heck said...

What beautiful work! Please count me in to win. I do appreciate your honest reviews, good or bad.

partymix25(at)hotmail(dot)com

Unknown said...

Well, I don't have a blog but I would tell everyone that I know that I won :)

hafner611{AT}gmail{DOT}com

Kelly said...

I have MANY blank walls that could use some lovin' from La Dee Dah!!

Mir said...

I love her monogram canvases! I hope the fact that I'd done have a blog (I'm spending too much time reading those of others) won't disqualify me from the giveaway!

Thanks for the sippy cup review. Will avoid that brand.

Denise S. said...

I have problems with all the sippy cups I buy no matter what the brand. Scum growing in the parts, leaking, etc. Argh!

Leslie said...

The Froggie Bow Holder is adorable.

Gabriel S-J. said...

Please, enter me, great prize!!! I would love to win this.

Valancia said...

This is so fabulous, love her work and hope to in and yes I'll surely put your button on my blog if I win and thanks. skyxsky27(at)gmail.com

jayne said...

She really does beautiful work! I would love to enter!
dugsdream(at)gmail(dot)come

Helen said...

I adore the French Poodle Canvas Set.

cman said...

Please enter me :)

Julie Ball said...

Just found your blog - it's great! I like crafting but am not good at thinking up crafty things. Plus I too STINK at painting and am completely blown away by people with a talent for it! Therefore I would LOVE to win the giveaway. Your button's going on my blog right now! :)

AmyLynn said...

I love La Dee Dah Art! They have a lot of great stuff!

/\Heather/\ said...

I would love this. Fabulous shop! Thanks so much!
heatherpooh (hotmail)

Anonymous said...

What a cute shop! Thanks so much for makin an exception this time :) Hope I win!

strycker@slu.edu

ZESTYWONDERLAND said...

I learned a long time ago to boil sippy cup tops just like I used to do the baby bottles.
You should see how my tea picture gets mold too.

Anyways, I love her designs & would be thrilled to win.
I don't know how to add a button~but if I won you could show me.
I jusst started blogging around Halloween.

zestywodnerland@gmail.com

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