Congratulations, Stephanya!

For all the rest of you, thanks so, so much for entering – if you only knew how my face lights up with every comment. And of course, a huge, huge thank you to Bevin for sponsoring this lovely little Valentine. I hope you’ll send them some love!

{Photo from hbp_pix}

Friends, I am smack in the middle of my January blogger blahs. I’m sick of talking coats and boots, and the whole fashion world is ablaze with spring, but my weatherman tells me it’ll be months before we can pull out those spring dresses. I need some fun reader questions to get me through. What do you want to hear about? Send over your pressing style/beauty/home/travel/life queries, and I’ll do my darnedest to answer each and every one of them for you. Pinkie swear.

You know where to find me, right? Facebook, Twitter or old-school email (my personal favorite): editor{at}shoppingsmycardio{dot}com. Let’s chat!

Truly, my friends, I hope you have an unforgettable holiday season. Whether you’re celebrating with roast turkey and pumpkin pie or bad Chinese food and a movie, I hope your week is filled with family, friends, joy, laughter and plenty of hot cocoa.

{My dog, Daisy, who wanted to help with the holiday decorating}

I’ll see you back here in the new year!

Now that we’re back to business as usual, the first thing on my list is to introduce you to our newest sponsor (the owner of which also happens to be a dear friend and an outstanding human being): Gemkitty. The site is pretty phenomenal, in fact – it’s like DIY jewelry-making that you get to delegate. Talk about the best of both worlds! No wonder Martha Stewart and Glamour magazine are such huge fans.

Gemkitty has come up with dozens of different styles, all of which are totally customizable with your choice of gems, color combos, metal preference – absolutely anything you can dream up. Your design is then made by hand, with love, and sent right to your door – all without your having to step foot into a bead store or learning to use those teeny tiny pliers.

For me, it’s a perfect solution, since I often have big dreams of creating something myself, but I lack any actual creativity (hence my recurrent jewelry plagiarism). This way, some genius artistic person (my friend Arrs, actually) has come up with the design, and all I have to do is pick the details I love.

I can’t help thinking it’s a perfect solution for that holiday dress you need to accessorize. It would also be a great way to wrap up your holiday shopping for a group of girlfriends – make them each their own pair of custom earrings!

Or just, you know, when you’re sitting around watching Martha Stewart and have a sudden itch to be a crafty girl – you’ll get your DIY fix with a bare minimum of effort. Genius!

Take a peek at Gemkitty’s site – trust me, you’ll get sucked into all the fun.

Congrats, Christelle – I’ll email you! Thanks, everyone, for playing along…and of course, a huge thanks to hi, friend for sponsoring. Their giveaways always make me jealous that I can’t win them myself!

Welcome back, friends! I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful – and now, of course, it’s time to really get into the holiday swing. (Have you taken advantage of our amazing Black Friday deal from Kara Ackerman yet? Last day…!)

We’re starting our annual Holiday Gift Guide Spectacular Spectacular tomorrow – I know how you all love a good gift guide! – and I’ll have zillions of great gifting ideas for you. But to officially kick off the season of giving, I teamed up with some dear friends, the lovely ladies at hi friend, to come up with a pitch-perfect present just for you. That’s right, it’s giveaway time!

I can’t think of a better, more stylish way to get started on the holidays, can you? As always, I love each and every one of hi friend’s holiday offerings – I have no idea how you’ll choose a favorite. Fortunately, you don’t have to! You’ll win a set of holiday cards PLUS a set of custom stationery PLUS one of those beautiful candles (to hold onto or save as an emergency hostess gift). Best of all, they’ll all get to you in plenty of time to send out those holiday cards on time for a change!

To win all three goodies, just comment below and let us know what you’d pick if you win! You have until Thursday night to enter, and we’ll pick a winner at random on Friday, 12/2!

As always, you get a bonus entry for following both of us on Twitter (@shoppingscardio and @hifrienddesign) and mentioning the contest, or for being our friends on Facebook here and here (you know you want to), and sharing with your friends. Just be sure you come back and leave a second (or third) comment telling me you shared elsewhere.

Good luck!

Image c/o SnoopyPictures.org

Happy Thanksgiving!

• Kara Ackerman: come back HERE to find out which gorgeous piece you’ll get 50% off on, beginning at 12:01 am on Friday, 11/25!
• Grayling Jewelry: 40% off sitewide on Cyber Monday, 11/28 + free shipping & gift wrap! Use code MONDAYMONDAY.
• Madewell: 20% off $150+ purchases, 25% off $250+ and 30% off $350+ (and free shipping) now through 11/27.
• Anthropologie: 25% off all sale items now through Sunday; goes up to 50% off all sale on Friday only.
• J.Crew: 25% off + free shipping on orders of $150+ now through 11/27 with code YOURGIFT.
• Botkier: special Black Friday sample sale starts now, take an additional 10% off for “liking” them on Facebook.
• Shopbop: Spend Some, Get Some with code BIGEVENT ($50 off $250, $100 off $500, etc.)
• Elie Tahari: 20% off $400+ with code GIVETHANKS, beginning 12:01 am on Thursday.

Happy hunting!

BONUS TIP #2: Think Outside the (Big) Box

Black Friday has a siren song not many of us can resist. But there are better ways to spend your holiday weekend than duking it out over the last Tickle Me Elmo at your local Target. Instead of heading straight for the big box retailers on the day after Thanksgiving, head to your favorite local, independent stores and see what’s on offer. Often, they’ll have deals to rival the big chains, and you’ll have warm fuzzies from supporting local business (not to mention avoiding those mall parking lots!). Here in Portland, local shops have teamed up to create their own event for Black Friday – shoppers will get prizes, discounts, and all sorts of goodies. I’m guessing we’re not alone – check around for similar events in your area.

Need an extra incentive? American Express is sponsoring its second annual Small Business Saturday event this year. Pre-register your AmEx card, and get a $25 statement credit if you shop at a small business on Saturday, 11/26.

Also, don’t forget to check your favorite blogs for deals from brands and shops way outside the box. Here at SMC, we’ll be offering an exclusive Black Friday deal from one of our favorite designers – you won’t want to miss it!

We’ll be kicking off holiday shopping here at SMC next week (I like to give Turkey Day its due), with a truly fantastic giveaway and a bevy of holiday gift guides sure to make your shopping even easier. And I also have an amazing deal coming up on Black Friday, exclusively for you lovely SMC readers! It’s from one of my very favorite designers, and guaranteed to be a perfect fit for every girl on your list.

If you aren’t getting my daily tips this week, I’d love to have you on board – just head on over to iVillage and sign up! (No spam, I promise.) And for those of you already on the list, I thought I’d pass along a few bonus tips throughout the week – just my way of thanking you for stopping by.

BONUS TIP #1: Give Santa a hand.

The other day, I walked into a store with the hubs, and pointed out a sweater I liked. “This would make an excellent holiday gift, sweetie!” I said, batting my eyelashes. For once, instead of nodding mindlessly and walking away, my husband let me in on a little tidbit that explained a lot about the gifts that end up under my Christmas tree. “I want to get you things like that,” he said, “but I have no idea what size to buy you.”

I tell you, friends, it had never even crossed my mind that he didn’t have my sizes down pat (as I do his). But it explained a lot. So, right now, do it with me – send your spouse, boyfriend, partner, or otherwise-involved-person a list of all of your sizes. And be thorough – I’m talking denim size, shoe size, pant size, sweater size, coat size, ring size…even hat and glove sizes. Anything he might need to get you the holiday gift of your dreams. Trust me, your significant other has no interest in rummaging through your closet to figure out your sizes. So, help him out!