If you have a twitter account, follow ColorInc and tweet the giveaway using this tweet: @luxecetera and @ColorInc are giving away template sets! http://bit.ly/90Ndu7 (please RT)

Have a great weekend!!

Solution — Camera strap covers. There’s a lot of vendors out there that make them, but my favorite is Priddy Creations. Amy’s a fellow Texan and quite the crafty woman and mom … you can visit her blog and Etsy store.

All three of my cameras are adorned with her straps — my older two have variations of her aqua/turquoise and brown damask straps and my workhorse currently is decked out with the polka dot and cream strap. I really need that polka dot with brown background strap to be honest … yes, her straps are an addiction! I actually purchased the strap for the workhorse camera before I got that camera

Her prices are great too — one of the best investments I’ve made to date, truth be told. What I love about her straps is that they come padded — many of the other ones you’ll find for sale don’t have padding. It cushions you neck, thus no chafing, and on hot/humid days when I’m getting my photog workout and sweltering, the strap absorbs the sweat and ends up cooling my neck when all is said and done.

You can easily remove the strap covers from the strap that comes with your camera to launder them — although the trick to getting them on and off the strap easily is hooking them to a straightened out wire hanger

Do I need to say anything more? Go drool over the crafty goodness in her Etsy store. Oh, yeah, Amy’s giving one away too — the winner will be picked on Wednesday the 18th, so hurry on over to enter. Don’t own a DSLR? Win it and gift it to me for Christmas

Springtree Road is giving away a Shey [B] camera neckstrap — all you have to do is leave a comment telling her which one of the straps in Shey [B]‘s etsy store you like. You can earn extra entries by twittering it and blogging it.

While the camera straps I have are from another etsy seller, I gifted one of Shey [B]‘s straps (the woodsy one) to my bro for his birthday — I love it so much I’m sometimes tempted to swipe it Maybe I can just win another one for myself …

Anyway, go enter … now!

So — what are the prizes?

For US readers — a 12×16 matted print of the Tower Bridge in London — found at a market in Grapevine a couple months ago …

And for non-US readers — a 4.25″x11″ mini calendar (found at LittleBrownPen @ Etsy) and two (2) cowgirl tile magnets — found at a shop in Fredericksburg last weekend.

So — what do you have to do to enter? Leave a comment answering the following question: “What item is at the top of your Christmas wishlist this year? Can be your realistic or dream wishlist!”

To earn a second entry in the contest — post a blog entry about the contest on your blog — use the trackback url (in the title) to link directly back – then come back and leave a second comment that you blogged about the contest.

Since I’m a bit late in getting this online, comments can be left until midnight CST on Saturday, December 20th. Sometime during the day on Sunday the 21st, I’ll post the winners — and send you an email as well. Once I have addresses, I’ll send your prize your way. The US winner might have it in time for Christmas, the international winner, hopefully by New Year’s!

If you caught last Wednesday’s entry, you saw my dream Christmas wishlist — but my realistic one includes dvd sets of Chuck and Ugly Betty and a new mouse and usb hub.

So — what are you waiting for, leave a comment already!

PS … I have a lens for sale for the photogs that drop by here on occasion, go here for more info!

so … for this week’s freebie friday, I refer you to The Pioneer Woman’s Photography blog, as she just released a second set of photoshop actions for free!

Enjoy!

… but nonetheless, here’s a few things I would love to have to decorate with/use this Christmas …

Red Bird Plates @ Pier 1 — I know my former coworkers at Harvard on the Hill would love these as they picture our beloved mascot

Gift Wrap — I can’t choose which one I like most!

Appliqued Wool Stockings — I so want one of these — any one of these, but especially the birds one *hint hint*, but I can’t justify spending that much on a stocking! Maybe a tree skirt for that price?

Silver Tree — okay, I’m cheating here — I’ve owned one of the first silver trees they sold back about five years ago Mine’s a 2 footer though. Wish I’d bought the 4 footer …

Jar Table Lamp — I can’t find it on their site … but basically its a jar converted into a lamp (maybe BHG has it on their site, I just don’t have time to look it up, their’s had sea salt, pine cones, and xmas tree twigs in it). I’m creating my own version with an oversized vase from Wal Mart + some fake snow from the dollar store, and a couple of ornaments. Maybe next year I’ll have time to find some sea salt and spray paint some pinecones … but other than that, I love all of this year’s Pottery Barn holiday decor! Actually I love all of the stuff they have in their home decor holiday section this year

Holy Lights Tidbit Plate — again, with the beloved red birds (aka former mascot)

I also found most of these in the most recent issue of Better Homes and Gardens — another thing in there I loved was the mention of color schemes with your holiday decor. One decorator has turquoise and orange as her Christmas/winter holiday color scheme. I loved her decorations — mine’s been silver and turquoise since I bought my West Elm silver tree (plus I have amassed a large collection of silver/blue snowmen). After seeing her orange paired with it, I might think about adding it! I did add brown this year and switched my turquoise ornaments to a pine (fake) tree since they went well with the Texas/Western theme I have going …

And, if you’ve read this far … keep reading for a giveaway …

I’m advancing the Friday Freebie by a couple of days (roughly) as I’ll be out of town this Friday. I have one (1) $10 off any purchase of $30 or more Bath and Body Works purchase — in store only (in the US)! They’ve had a lot of good deals lately, so here’s a way to get some extra savings! Btw, the coupon expires on December 24th … so, if you’re not done shopping yet and would like a chance to save some dough at that oh so addictive store, leave a comment telling me what you’d buy with the coupon … deadline is Sunday, December 7th at noon. Late that evening, I’ll randomly select a winner and contact you for your address — be watching, because I’ll drop it in the mail asap so you can use it right away.

Btw, in case you’re wondering, I received it when I went in to use my ‘get one item free with any purchase’ gift card — I took advantage of their candle sale and got two of the Creamy Nutmeg jar candles (the 14.5 oz ones) for a grand total of $11 with tax (basically 75% their retail price)! One’s a gift, the other, well … I’m still debating whether to keep it or give it away in a future Third Monday Giveaway (not this month, however).

So … I started early scouring for some good deals and whatnot to share today, and well, here they are! Not all are tied to Black Friday, some just provide good ideas and info …

Money Savings Tips for the Holidays — pdf book @ beingfrugal.net

Free seats on Megabus (NE United States) (from Arthur Frommer’s blog)

found @ a little sussy: bath and beauty recipes from Martha Stewart

Free gift tags @ Better Homes and Gardens

40% one book at Barnes and Noble when you pay with a Mastercard: online code: H4D4U8B

Free Dream Angels Wish lotion (in store only!) w/ $15 beauty purchase at Victoria’s Secret (click here for coupon)

Not free, but Bath and Body Works has their Wallflowers Starter Kits for $5 on Friday (in store and online) — great Christmas gifts!

20% Entire Order online and by phone at alloy.com — code: GET20

Pink Ink Studios is also having a % off sale Friday only — no coupon code needed!

And my favorite freebie site: Pay it Forward Photography Resources!

My original plans for this month’s prize were dashed — I’d chosen something from a Nie Nie Benefit but it was lost in transit sadly. So, over the weekend, I scrambled to find something to replace it.

Thus — there’s two prizes this month!

(2) sets of Rainy Day Recipes (one to keep and one to give away!)
+
(1) 4.25 x 5.5 2009 Calendar

I found these adorable prizes at Littlebrownpen @ Etsy — they sell Adobe Acrobat templates to print your own calendars and stationery! So — they’ve designed this month’s prizes and I’ve ‘created’ them by way of my printer

Here’s a couple of pics from their etsy store so you can see what you’ll receive (I’ll be putting these together this week, so I don’t have images yet!)

So — what do you have to do to win?

There’s two ways to receive an entry:

(1) Leave a comment answering the following question: “What are you most thankful for this year?”. (My original prize idea was tied a bit more to the Thanksgiving holiday, being thankful, and giving btw.)

And …

(2) Post on your blog about this contest to earn a second entry (use this link: http://5foot4.org/geek/?p=324)! Then — you must come back and leave a comment that you’ve posted about the Third Monday Giveaway on your blog

Entries/Comments can be left until Friday, November 21st at midnight CST. Winners will be selected during the day on Saturday and posted here & notified by email by that evening.

PS … btw, what does everyone think of the new look? If you’re in a feed/rss reader, pop over to the site to see it!

It’s been a crazy week — combined with some server problems — so I’m just finally getting a chance to sit down and find something for the Friday Freebie (while I’m working on half a dozen other things tonight!)

Since I’m working on photos, a new logo, and a bit of a overhaul on this site, here’s some scrapbooking related stuff I came across in the process of looking for ideas …

Free Patterns and Templates (@ Scrapbooks Etc.)

Quick and Easy Craft Projects (@ Better Homes and Gardens)

Maybe by next week I’ll have more time to dedicate towards locating some holiday themed freebies!

Found @ Melissa Jill Photography’s blog: Photojunction is free to all (album designing software program)

Found via Hanna KJ’s Flickr photostream — overlay for rounded corners

Free Photoshop actions and tutorials @ CoffeeShop (also found via Flickr)

and for those who aren’t into photoshop / photography, maybe this one will tide you over …

Found @ Jen’s Super Savings: Goody Hair Products $2 coupon (need Adobe Acrobat Reader)

Happy weekend to everyone — I’m off to enjoy the next four days off work as well as a day trip south of home