I’m all for something that can lift us up. If a book or action can have us behave and think more positively, hey, why not? So that’s why I was particularly happy to read Think Confident, Be Confident by Leslie Sokol and Marci Fox.

For those that have read “self help” books before, you’ll find more of the same motivating speech in this book. Where the book differs, however, is in a 4-step approach to conquering doubt. They take you through a series of steps (Label It, Question It, Rethink It, and Take Action.) …read more

I wrote last week about the new book “The Safe Dog Handbook” by Melanie Monteiro. Melanie was inspired to write the book after her own puppy was nearly poisoned.
The spiral-bound book covers pretty much everything you can imagine when it comes to the safety of your pup, including foods and plants that are not okay for dogs, and tips on keeping your home dog-proofed and safe.

I’ve got one copy of The Safe Dog Handbook give away to one lucky winner!
To Enter:
~ To enter, leave a comment here telling me what you’ve done to keep your own dog safe — whether …read more

My recent giveaway for an awesome prize pack featuring the Next Iron Chef goodies and Alton Brown’s newest cookbook, “Good Eats: The Early Years,” was a great success! I had a lot of fun seeing who everyone’s favorite Food Network personalities were as well!

It seems a lot of entrants share favorites as far as the celebrity chefs and cooks go, with Alton Brown, Paula Deen, Guy Fieri and Bobby Flay leading the pack! There was no right or wrong answer, of course, and the winner has been chosen from random draw.
The winner of the Next Iron Chef prize pack and …read more

One of my favorite pet-related sites online, Petfinder.com, is sponsoring a Halloween photo contest especially for pets!

The Howl-O-Ween Photo Contest is searching for the best costumes in three categories: 1) Do It Yourself, 2) Celebrity Look-a-Likes and 3) Pets & Kids.
Photos can be submitted to petfinder.com/halloween until October 31, and the winner will receive a Bissell SpotBot Pet Compact Deep Cleaner and cleaning formula. (Check out my review of it here!)
You can check out the entries that have already been submitted here, and Petfinder has even provided a few tips to get your creativity flowing~
~ Raining Cats and Dogs: Dress …read more

I love to read cooking magazines. A favorite of mine is Rachel Ray’s magazine, Everyday with Rachel Ray.  It’s full of great recipes – fancy and simple – cooking tips, entertaining tips, etc. There  are also fun features like a peek inside a celebrity’s fridge – they are always obviously pre-cleaned and organized, but still fun to peek.
 I was looking at the magazine website today and I saw that Everyday With Rachel Ray is sponsoring a family photo contest.
It’s called Your Best Vacation Photo Contest and to enter you submit vacation photos of your family taken with a 3.2 megapixel …read more

Sonic Drive-In and DonorsChoose.org are both working together in order to give teachers back a great big thank you this month. September is “Limeades for Learning” over at Sonic, for every Sonic drink you buy you’ll be able to go and vote for specific teachers to win $200-$400 grants. DonorsChoose will be donating over half a million dollars for this cause.  By the way this promotion is going on from now until October 1, customers are encouraged to purchase a drink at SONIC and participate in the program.
Currently there are over 4500+ teacher projects for “Limeades for Learning” that need …read more

Need some tricks to connect with friends, coworkers, loved ones? In this area of social media and online interaction, it’s still important to be able to get along successfully with others. I’ve got a book that claims to show you how to do that as a giveaway for Blisstree readers.

Here’s a description from Amazon:
You know who they are. They’re the people who, regardless of money, education, looks, or personality, make an impression wherever they go. They are master communicators, and everyone enjoys talking to them. How to Develop Great People Skills shows you how to be one of …read more

Tina, lucky number 8, is the winner of the wonderful new book Fabricate!  Tina wrote:
Fabric… it is an addiction and I have the most wonderful ideas when I buy it, I just have trouble actually cutting into it! you would think the world will end if I make a mistake, so I am happy to just have the fabric right now. It is starting to get a little difficult to store it all, time to actually MAKE things with it – hope this book can push me past buying and into creating!
going to check it out now…

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Pin Your Journeys contest presented by Rand McNally. The response was fantastic and we are glad that the product is receiving such a great response. It is our pleasure to announce the following winners:
* Candace Cook
* Carol Lawrence
* Robert Bedford
* R Hicks
Congratulations to each of you! You will be contacted shortly regarding your prize.
In appreciation of all of the interest in this product, we would like to extend a special offer for readers of Bliss Tree to receive 20% off on the purchase of any Pin Your Journeys Map through September 4th, …read more

Thanks to everyone who joined Arts & Crafts’ ‘Pin Your Journey’ maps sponsored by Rand McNally. We’ll be announcing the winners soon!
Did you know that you can also incorporate Rand McNally’s ‘Pin Your Journey’ Maps with your scrapbook projects tracking all the trips you’ve made?
The map has 2 versions available.
One is a world map
and the other is a US map.
What I like about Rand McNally’s maps is that the map is backed with foam and it comes with with push pins to help mark destinations, or to attach your trip photos and memorabillia. Cool eh?