CSC Sponsor: The Kat Sak

Happy Monday CSC readers! Let's give a big welcome to our newest sponsor at CSC -- The Kat Sak. Some of you may remember the fantastic giveaway for a Kat Sak of your very own back in June. All of the things over at the Kat Sak are homeade by the owner herself, and she is very, very talented. (You can read my review of her products on this post.)

Well, Kathryn loved the great reception that she received from you fabulous CSC readers, so she has decided to come back and stay a while. All of her pieces are fabulous, but lets check out a few of them, shall we?

Check out this one and only Claire Bag in this fantastic fabric -- great for the fall! If you like it, act fast, because it is the only one she has!

Or maybe this whimsical Windy bag is more your style?? (and it's on SALE!)


Check out the adorable Carrie Pouch for your purse -- a great place to store your lip gloss, pens, etc. so you always know where to find them! I especially love the Japanese apple-print fabric!

I also really love her newest wallets -- I can't decide which one I like better -- the Ginna Wallet or the Joanne Checkbook Cover! (The one below is the Ginna Wallet.)


So what do you think? Which of the fabulous items from the Kat Sak is your favorite? Let me know in the comments!!

CSC Review and Giveaway: Nankeen Tote

This contest is now closed! Please check out our contests and giveaways page to see our current giveaways!

I'm a girl (had you already guessed? Hm, brownie points then...) and I'm a girly-girl at that. What does that mean? I love fashion. Bags, shoes, purses, SHOPPING (hence, the blog and blog name) -- you get the picture. Oh, and I also like art -- stick me in a museum and I can almost sound snobbish, I swear. So, really, what could be better to me than something that is both fashionable and a piece of art at the same time?

Presactly. (That would be precisley and exactly combined.)

Check out these awesome bags by Nankeen. The designs fuse 100% cotton, indigo dye, and exquisite patterns using a traditional Chinese art form that dates back to the Song Dynasty. (If all of that sounds too wordy to you, just suffice it to say that the fabric is created through a really cool process that developed a long, long time ago.)

From the website:

The term "blue nankeen" describes hand-dyed fabric of artistic refinement and primitive simplicity, which originated on the Silk Road over three thousand years ago. Hand-carved stencils, originally made from wood but now from heavy paper, are preapered and a mix of soya bean flour and slaked lime is applied through the openings of the stencil onto the 100% cotton fabric. The cotton undergoes an elaborate hand dying process before it is perfected and made into one of our unique designs.

These bags have been featured in both In Style and Lucky Magazine, and are creating quite a buzz among celebrities. I have the Savanna tote, and I just love it. It functions well as a diaper bag, over night bag, or airplane carry-on. I toted it all around Europe this summer as a more fashionable twist on the diaper bag, and I always got lots of compliments. It also fits my laptop quite perfectly, so it frequently doubles as a computer bag. Oh, and I'm ashamed to admit this, but I sort of left a banana in mine for a week or so and had to wash it -- and after following the instructions on the tag, it came out looking as good as new, and still in great shape.

Would you like to own your very own fashionable piece of art? The kind folks over at Nankeen have graciously offered to give one lucky CSC reader the opportunity to win one of their fantastic tote bags. That is as much as a $175 value! All you have to do to win is follow the easy-peasy rules below!

• Visit Nankeen's Tote Section of their website and come back here and tell me which tote you would choose if you won.
  
• Earn extra credit! You may do these for extra entries.
• Blog about this giveaway and send me the link in a separate post.
• Subscribe to my feed and let me know about it in a separate post.
• Stumble my main webpage (not this post please, but www.chicshopperchick.com) and leave me your Stumble Upon name in a separate post.
• Favorite Chic Shopper Chick on Technorati. There is a button in my right sidebar, and let me know about it in a in a separate post.
• Add me to your blog roll. Not just my button in your sidebar, I'd love to be on your blog roll! Let me know about it in a separate post!

That's it! Good luck! Oh, and the official rules and legal jargon are below.

US entries only, winner will be chosen via random.org at the end of the contest. Winners are posted here and on Prizey Fetch, please leave a valid email address or blog address if you'd like to be contacted should you win. Winner has 72 hours to claim their prize. This contests ends at 11:59 pm CST on September 18th, 2008.

Chic Shopper Chick Giveaway -- Bag Borrow or Steal

Oh man, I'm so excited about today's review and giveaway that I can hardly stand it! I hope that you have been enjoying your "clues" for the past 4 days! Now it is officially time to reveal the prize!

Bag Borrow or Steal has partnered with Chic Shopper Chick to promote their "role" in the new movie, Sex and the City. If you have yet to see the new movie (is that possible?), Carrie hires a new assistant, Louise (played by Jennifer Hudson). During her interview, Louise tells Carrie that she moved to New York from St. Louis, and that she is broke, sharing a one-bedroom apartment with 4 other girls. Carrie looks down at Louise's Louis Vuitton Blue Denim Bowly Handbag and asks if she is sharing an apartment with so many girls, how does she afford that bag?

Louise says "It's rented. Bag Borrow or Steal, baby."

At this point, I am sitting in the movie theater FREAKING out, because not only am I a huge fan of Bag Borrow or Steal, but I also know that I have this giveaway coming up, which makes me even more excited.

So, for those of you who aren't familiar with this awesome service, or have just started to hear the buzz about it, let me fill you in. Bag Borrow or Steal is being called the "netflix of handbags"! It is an online borrowing service that lets it's customers choose from thousands of designer items -- all available for rent on a weekly or monthly basis! Why should fashion editors and socialites be the only people allowed to borrow great accessories? Now you can too! With more than 3,000 luxury handbags styles availble to rent, and more than 650 jewlery styles, there truly is something for every occasion.

I plan on renting myself a nice Chanel Bag for my trip to Europe this summer, and perhaps a small evening clutch as well. I have every intention of fitting in while I am in Paris, also known as the fashion capital of the world (no pressure there, right?). And for those of you who have never been -- the French will notice your designer bag. Even the men will comment on how beautiful your "Sha-nel bag" is.

The cool thing about Bag Borrow or Steal is that you don't have to be rolling in dough to rent a great bag. For example, members of BBoS can rent this fabulous BCBGMAXAZARIA "Erica" bag for only $6 per week! Like Coach? Rent this Coach Hobo bag for only $9 per week! Of course, if you have more expensive tastes, or just need a bag for a one-time occasion, you could look into renting this amazing Christian Dior "Plisse" bag (at left) for $111 per week (this one is swoon-worthy).

It doesn't stop at designer handbags, ooooh no. I also like the sunglasses rental option -- where you can snag these Prada shades for a cool $43 a month (they also go for $20 a week, but it makes more sense to keep them for a month at those prices). Or, my favorite Chanel glasses that I have worn for 3 years straight (they never go out of style) can be rented for $75 per month! Oooh, or how about designer jewlery? Rent the Tiffany earrings you see above for $68 per week.

So, are you a designer guru like me, without the pocket change to support it? If so, Bag Borrow or Steal is definitely the online site for you!

Want to try it out?! The kind fashionistas over at BBoS are offering a promotion to all Chic Shopper Chick readers! Pay for 3 weeks of rental and get an additional week free! Essentially, you will be getting 25% off borrowing fees! All you have to do is enter the code CHIC4455 to receive your discount! So for a mere $18 you could be renting one of the fabulous bags that I mentioned above for an entire month! This code expires June 21st, 2008, so act quickly!

Win It! Already in love with this site? Well, Bag Borrow or Steal has generously offered to give one lucky Chic Shopper Chick reader a $50 gift card! Combine this with the deal mentioned above (25% off borrowing fees for a month's rental) and you have a really sweet prize!



To enter:

• Head on over to the Bag Borrow or Steal website and browse around a bit. Come back here and leave a comment on this post telling me what you would use your giftcard for if you won.
  
• Please leave a valid email address if you would like to be contacted if you win. Otherwise, winners are posted here and on Prizey Fetch.
  
• If the winner does not respond within 72 hours I will choose a different winner.
  
• US and Canadian entries are welcomed!!!
  
• Earn extra credit! Choose one of the following for ONE extra credit entry. Any further attempts to woo me will be disqualified!
  
• Write about this giveaway and send me the link in a separate post.
• Subscribe to my feed and let me know about it in a separate post.

All of you who participated in all four of the hints leading up to this giveaway will receive an extra entry. That's it! So go now and enter! This giveaway will end on June 17th, 2008 at midnight CST. The winner will be chosen via random.org.

Good luck!

This giveaway is now closed. Please go to our Contests page for our current giveaways!

Surprise Giveaway Hint! 4th and Final!

Well, today is the last day of hints for this fabulous giveaway that we have coming up here at Chic Shopper Chick! Is the anticipation killing you? It's one awesome giveaway, I promise! I will post the giveaway itself tomorrow, so all entries for the "hints" must be submitted before the giveaway post goes up! Remember, you must correctly guess the designer of all four items to earn an extra entry!

So here it is -- the final hint! #4, or quatre as we say en francais! (Hrm, was that a bonus hint for the identity of today's item?)

So here it is, from my ultimate favorite designer, hint #4. Add a comment to this post with your guess! Good Luck, and be sure to come back tomorrow for the giveaway announcement!

Surprise Giveaway Hint! #3

Ok ladies, if you've answered the previous two entries correctly, you've officially gotten yourself halfway towards an extra entry in this fabulous giveaway! (If you are new to my site and are scratching your head in confusion, please read my first entry about this here to catch yourself up to speed.) I won't keep you in anticipation for today's hint, so here it is -- Hint #3! This one is a little bit trickier, but if you've been playing along so far, then you probably have a leg up on the competition, because you might *ahem* know where to look to find the answer...

Ok, leave your entries as a comment on this post and you will officially be 3/4 of the way towards an extra entry -- and TRUST me, you will want it! So go ahead, name the designer of the bag above!

Good luck!

Surprise Giveaway Hint! #2

I'm getting so very excited about this surprise giveaway that we'll be doing very soon! I just know you are going to love it! Remember, if you correctly guess all four designers of the objects that I'm posting, you will have earned yourself an additional entry into the giveaway! (And if you guess what they all have in common, you just may figure out what it is that we're giving away!)

Ok, here is hint #2! Don't forget to leave your guesses as a comment on this post! All guesses must be received by the time the actual giveaway post goes up! Good Luck!

Surprise Giveaway Hint!

Ok ladies! We have a fantastic giveaway (that I'm super excited about) here at Chic Shopper Chick coming up very soon -- but first, I want to build the excitement and anticipation! So, for an extra entry into this giveaway, you must correctly identify the designer of EACH of the items that I post for the next 4 days. Leave all 4 comments by the time this awesome giveaway is listed on day 5, and you will have earned yourself an extra chance at winning! (And you may even guess what we're giving away!)

So, without further ado -- here is the first item! Correctly identify it's designer and be 1/4 of the way to an extra entry!

Boon Animal Bag

Little AG has a major love for animals. Before I had a child, I would have never believed that they can show tendencies towards things like that until they are much older, but she was infatuated with our dogs starting at 4 months old (coincidentally, buy then, they had lost interest in her). She will pet anything on four legs, and giggles uncontrollably if it shows interest in her.

This interest in animals has transferred over to stuffed animals as well, and as such, we have begun quite a collection. I tried making a bin just for stuffed animals in her toy room, but they end up strewn around the room by the end of the day. She loves them and hugs them and then tosses them over her shoulder. Then, its on the the next one.

When we got the Animal Bag by Boon, I really felt like our stuffed animal organization troubles were ending! It is made of a pink fuzzy type material and has several mesh zippered windows through which to fill it with stuffed animals! Little AG already loves it -- she likes to pet the fuzzy material (maybe she just likes fur?) and zip and unzip the sections with the big, soft zipper pulls! The other thing is that when it is completely full, it acts as a soft seat for kids (almost like a bean bag without the beans!). Its super cute sitting in the corner of a room, and I am rather tempted to crash onto it myself.

I thought that we were going to fill this thing up and still have half of the stuffed animals left over, but boy was I wrong. We got the basic oval shape Animal Bag in Pink and I scoured the house for every lovie around, and I still have room for more! However, if you really think that your kids may have an excess of lovies, then try the Otto, which has two sections, or the Trio, which has (you guessed it!) three sections! I truly recommend these for anyone with young kids who finds that their house is being overrun by stuffed bears and puppies like mine. It's smart and cute -- and the pink one matches her room, so it doesn't look out of place. Plus, it's multi-purpose use as a seat scores it major points in my book!

The Oval shape like we have retails for $60 on Boon's Website.

Lovely Lunch

I really like reusable lunch bags, particularly insulated ones because I like my drink to be cold once it's finally lunch time. So, I was browsing Pottery Barn Kids' website and found these great "Pacifica" Solid Lunch Bags. They look big enough to hold a good bit of food, plus they have a zippered pocket at the top too, for loose change or to bring home used silverware in. My favorite is the pink and green, though they do sell a blue and navy, too. Have it personalized with your munchkin's name for only 6.50 more, bringing the grand total to $25.50 if you order by April 24th and take advantage of their free shipping!

Reusable Envirosax

Yesterday I was on a walk with my friend and she mentioned that she brought re-usable bags to the grocery store this weekend. I thought that was cool, since I have been wanting to do the same thing. However, in my typical Chic girl style, I'm uh, not too fond of the ugly canvas ones. I know, I know, looks shouldn't matter when you are helping the earth -- but I'll just go ahead and admit that I think philanthropy shouldn't have to be ugly. So, in honor of Earth Day, I wanted to show you these really cool bags that I found on Reusable Bags' website!

These are so much more my style. They are relatively inexpensive in my opinion, and you can get the set of 5 different patterns seen here for a mere $38. Each one holds the equivalent of 2 plastic grocery bags. They are made of durable, lightweight polyester and weigh a miniscule 1.4 oz. each. All five of them fold up into a tiny bag for easy storage, and that bag comes with the set! I love these and wouldn't hesitate to bring them with me. Now, if I could just convince hubby. Last time we were at Whole Foods I pointed out the cutsey reusable bags. I made the mistake of asking him if he would bring his own if I bought them and he told me, quite firmly and quickly, "No."

Oh, hubby.

ChicShopperChick Giveaway: Fleurville MotherShip

When I was pregnant for Little AG, a friend of mine dropped off a large and beautifully wrapped package for me, and when I opened it I was so excited to see a very stylish diaper bag that neither myself or hubby would be embarrassed to carry! (This is, of course, the man who won't even stand too close to my purse in a store and was appalled by the idea of having to carry a bag around that was filled with "stuff" for the baby.) That bag was the MotherShip by Fleurville, (Fleurville = "Flower city" en français) and hubby has since become a pro at keeping it fully stocked!

Though they come in different colors, the outside of our MotherShip (aptly named, no?) is a rich brown corduroy covered in an easily cleaned clear waterproof shell that is completely PVC free! The folks at Fleurville use this awesome stuff called "Green-LAM™" which "is created with ®Fleurville’s very environmentally friendly polyurethane laminate Green-LAM™. Green-LAM™ has superior attributes like moisture–repellency, UV-resistance, and overall durability. Most other bag companies use PVC for this application. We don’t." I love that Fleurville is a responsible company who values our environment and sees the importance of preserving it for our children to continue to enjoy as they grow.

The inside of the MotherShip has multiple elastic-topped pockets along the side, that I use to store diapers and hold yummy organic snacks and toys. It comes with it's own clear travel wipes case (which has withstood lots of falls and even being thrown against the wall by Little AG) as well as a removable insulated bottle holder or a wristbag.

As a new (and extremely germ-a-phobic) mommy, one of my favorite features was the matching changing pad (that is waterproof, thankfully) that rolls up to fit in it's own sleeve. It is perfect for all of those icky restaurant and airport changing tables. The inside of the bag is completely waterproof and made of the same material as the changing pad, which is great since her bottles have leaked on more than one occasion...

I stopped using a purse when I started needing a diaper bag for her (for my sanity, I need everything in one place), and the MotherShip made it easy on me. There are two large side pockets, and I usually shove my cell phone in one side and my keys and a small wallet or a debit card in the other side. There is a carabiner clip on the inside of the bag so that you can clip your keys to it (and don't have to spend 5 minutes pulling everything out looking for them). And frankly, being the "chic" gal that I am, I was sort of relieved that I didn't have to carry a diaper bag that made me look, well, geeky. When I was registering for baby things, I had been pretty disappointed by the lack of fashionable choices for diaper bags. I brought our new beautiful bag with us to the hospital and I regularly get compliments on it.

Hubby initially suggested exchanging the bag for a cheaper one (sometimes he just doesn't get it), but he is sitting next to me right now and is adamant that I tell you that after almost 15 straight months of use, he thinks it still looks brand-new and could be used for multiple children. I will admit, I was a little concerned about how any bag could possibly hold up to our crazy world and busy lifestyle, but our MotherShip bag has been on no fewer than 12 flights, thrown in the back of our car, washed out in the sink, and hung on the back of the stroller almost daily. The thick padded strap makes it comfy to wear, but also makes it easy to hang on the back of a bathroom door or on a stroller like we so often do.

Lastly, you know I am a major supporter of eco-friendly products and environmentally responsible companies, and Fleurville is most definitely one of those companies! Not only that, but when I contacted Fleurville about sponsoring this giveaway, I received an email back almost immediately from Steve Granville, who, along with his wife Catherine, are the founders of the company. This shows me that they are still a family based business and not a gigantic corporation who has fallen out of touch with the needs of their customers.

Check out the awesome "MotherShip" bag by Fleurville. It retails for $150 online at www.fleurville.com. Don't forget to take advantage of their free shipping for orders over $99!

The kind folks at Fleurville are graciously giving away one fabulous "MotherShip" diaper bag to one lucky Chic Shopper Chick reader!

To enter :

• Email me at chicshopperchick (at) gmail (dot) com with "MotherShip" in the subject line. Go check out Fleurville's website and tell me in your email which color MotherShip bag you would choose if you were to win!
  
• The nice folks at Fleurville would love to send you a follow-up email, however I will never give out your information or email address without your permission, so please let me know in your email if you do not want to be contacted by Fleurville in the future. Your email address will not be sold by Fleurville (or by me) if you do choose to allow contact.
  
• US entries only.
• For an additional entry :
• Bloggers - Blog about this contest and send me the link in a separate email.
  
• Non Bloggers (or bloggers) subscribe to my RSS feed and earn another entry! Please let me know that you have subscribed by submitting an email that is separate from your first entry. (PS -- I can track you, so I know if you unsubscribe immediately)
  
• One extra credit entry per person. Don't forget to send it in a separate email.
• This contest will end April 30th at midnight CST!

Thanks to all who entered, but this contest is now CLOSED!

Classic Clutch

Ok mommies, here's one for you! I was in Old Navy the other day and spotted this ADORABLE canvas clutch with a wooden handle. The one I saw was actually a navy and white print, but I like this one too. Anyway, I loved it -- I tucked it under my arm, opened it up to check out the space and then was THISCLOSE to buying it, before I realized that I would have to hold it all the time -- no straps, no handles to loop my arm through... and pre-baby, that wouldn't have been a problem, but now... I showed it to my friend, hoping she could give me a reason to buy it, but she also pointed out how impractical it was. So, it is still resting on the shelf there at Old Navy. However, maybe you have a use for it, so I'm posting it here! Adorable wooden handle clutch, just $14.50 at Old Navy dot com, or in a store near you!