lia sophia Jewellery Giveaway! $150 Value (Closed)

This giveaway is for the Moms!  I am thrilled to tell you a little about lia sophia Jewellery and to offer one lucky reader a very generous giveaway prize.  I personally know a couple women that sell lia sophia Jewellery and they are both doing extremely well with their home-based ventures.

About the Opportunity

Most notably, my brother's lovely girlfriend, Christina, was one of the first women to sell lia sophia Jewellery in Canada.  She really enjoys her job and the opportunities it has afforded her, including all sorts of amazing perks that I am rather jealous of.  Most importantly, she appreciates that she is able to primarily work from home, and therefore, spend lots of time with her daughter.

If you are interested in buying or selling lia sophia Jewellery and starting your own home-based business (likely a very successful one!), you can contact Christina through her website.  Make sure to let her know that I sent you.  I also know that there is currently a ton of potential for lia sophia Jewellery Advisors all across Canada!  So if you are looking for a way to stay at home with your little ones, this could be it.  At the very least, you can contact Christina and have a pleasant conversation with a genuinely nice lady just to find out more about the possibilities.

 
About the Jewellery

The jewellery itself is gorgeous and reasonably-priced.  It's modern and trendy so it really sells itself.  Furthermore, all their jewellery is covered by a Lifetime Replacement Guarantee so you can't go wrong with that.  There's a huge variety of items ranging from simple basics to extravagant red carpet worthy pieces.  You can see several pieces in the photo to the left.

Many celebrities are also choosing to wear lia sophia Jewellery including Oprah who is wearing a pair of their earrings in a recent promotional advertisement for her new television network.  I had seen the ad and noticed those earrings before I even knew they were from lia sophia and thought they were pretty fantastic.  It's nice to know that we don't all have to be billionaires to afford beautiful jewellery.

Celebrities wearing lia sophia Jewellery

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The Giveaway:

Now to the exciting details of this giveaway!  Christina is generously offering one of my readers the opportunity to win $150 worth of jewellery to use towards anything in the current catalogue. (This $150 jewellery credit is valid through Christina only.) 

How to Enter:
There are five ways to enter this contest.  I will be numbering entries and using random.org to pick the winner.  I'd appreciate if you could make one comment per entry as it makes it a lot easier for me to number the entries to pick a winner.  You MUST follow my blog via Google Friend Connect to win this giveaway.

Required Entries:
1.   Take a few moments to visit Christina's lia sophia Jewellery Website and tell us what your favourite piece of jewellery is in a comment on my blog.
2.   Follow my blog via Google Friend Connect (or let me know if you already are).

Additional Entries:
3.  "Like" A Sophisticated Mommy on Facebook and "like" the giveaway post.
4.   Share this giveaway and let me know in the comments for an additional entry (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Blog). 

5.   BONUS Entry: If you would like to be a customer, receive a catalogue, host a show or would like some information sent to you about this amazing business opportunity, please contact Christina directly via her website (http://www.liasophia.ca/sites/christina), e-mail (chic7@shaw.ca) or phone (403) 889-4521.  Please let her know that I referred you.

This contest will be open until Friday, January 21st at Midnight Saskatchewan Time.   The winner will be contacted and announced the following day. Good luck!



Open to Canadian residents only!

TheTippyToesKnits Giveaway Winner is...

The Charlie

Congratulations Laura T!  You have won a hand knit item of your choice from TippyToesKnits.
 
Thanks so much to everyone that entered the contest.  If you want to order from TippyToesKnits, please visit their Etsy Shop.  Remember that you can use the code 'asophisticatedmommy' for 10% off your orders until the end of January.  You can connect with the shop through the TippyToesKnits Facebook Fan Page or the TippyToesKnits Blog.  

Also, keep in mind that Stacey is always up for special orders so keep her adorable custom-made knits in mind for your own children or for gifts.  I think it's safe to say that any child wearing these adorable hats, mittens and neck warmers will get tons of compliments.  They would also be excellent as photo props or for family photos.

Finally, I've got another amazing giveaway coming up today so stay tuned!  This one is for the mommies.

Also, I would love to feature more small, unique businesses (especially ones run by mommies) so let me know if you or someone you know might want to volunteer some goodies for a future contest.

The Thumbless S'Mittens

Banana Bread with Oat Bran, Pecans, and Chocolate Chips

Since most of us are looking for healthier recipes in the New Year, here's one of my favourite, healthy snacks.  You may notice a trend involving bananas but I've got to do something with all the bananas collecting in my freezer.  Frozen bananas are starting to form a little army in there and I'm afraid that they'll attack if I don't start to dismantle their ranks.  I was also able to use my KitchenAid mixer which is always a bonus.  I have to admit that I've just starting throwing entire lists of ingredients into it and letting them mix.  So far, this method seems to be working but I'm sure I'll encounter a recipe someday where this turns out to be a mistake.

This recipe comes from one of my favourite cookbooks, Eat, Shrink and Be Merry.

Banana Bread

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup oat bran

Fresh Out of the Oven

2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (3 large or 4 medium)
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chopped pecans (or walnuts if you prefer)
1/3 cup mini chocolate chips

• Preheat oven to 350 degree Fahreinheit.  Spray two 8 x 4 inch loaf pans with cooking spray and set aside.  It's important to use two smaller pans or the banana bread won't cook through without burning.
• In a large bowl, combine the flour, oat bran, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.  Mix well and set aside.
• In a medium bowl, beat together eggs and brown sugar on medium speed of electric mixer for 2 minutes.  Add bananas, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla.  Beat again until well blended.
• Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix just until dry ingredients are moistened.  Do not use electric mixer for this step.  Fold in nuts and chocolate chips.  Do not over-mix batter. (I did use the mixer but just used the stirring function.)
• Divide batter evenly among loaf pans.  Bake for 30-35 minutes.  Cool loaves in pans on a wire rack for about ten minutes and then remove and slice to enjoy!  If you are planning on saving and freezing, the recipe recommends removing the loaves from the pans after about ten minutes before cooling entirely and then freezing in plastic wrap.

Nutritional Information:
Each loaf makes 8 slices and 1 slice (serving) is 173 calories.