I love adorning my walls with photographs. As much as I appreciate artwork, I like to see the smiling faces of friends and family when I look at my walls. But with a little help from PhotoFiddle, you can have the best of both worlds.

PhotoFiddle is in the business of creating art from photos. They can take your favorite picture and transform it into over 50 styles, including oil painting, watercolor, charcoal drawing, pop art print, and much more. You can upload a photo and see it in every available style before you make a decision. And if you’re not satisfied with any of them, they will create a custom piece at no extra charge. They have received positive press from The Washington Post, USA Today, The Today Show and more.

So when PhotoFiddle offered me a custom canvas of my very own, I was ecstatic. I searched through all of my digital photos, looking for just the right one. I wanted to have a family portrait, but I couldn’t find anything that I thought was canvas-worthy. So I sent in one of my dad, Pumpkin and my niece. It wasn’t very high quality though, so I finally found someone to take a picture of Hubby, Pumpkin and me. I cropped it and sent it in, but the quality was too low on that one as well. But when I sent in the original, it turned out nicely. I asked them to remove some items from the background, and they got that done in short order.

The PhotoFiddlers were quite patient with me while I got my photographic ducks in a row, and they answered my questions quickly and fully. I received updates on the progress of my canvas, and an email with a tracking number when it was shipped. Two days after I got that email, the FedEx guy was at my door with my new masterpiece.

When I opened it, I was in awe. It turned out beautifully. Check it out:

I opted for the color sketch style. I thought it was the most fitting style considering the picture- my family as our everyday selves. Had we been all dressed up and proper looking, I might have gone for the oil painting style. But we’re rarely seen all dressed up and proper looking.

I’m very pleased with my experience with PhotoFiddle. Their customer service was great, and my canvas is the new highlight of my living room. So I’m pleased to announce that the folks at PhotoFiddle have been kind enough to allow me to give away one of their gift certificates!

How to Enter

The prize up for grabs is one $50 PhotoFiddle.com gift certificate. There are several ways you can enter:

For one entry each:
• Make a comment on this post telling me why you would like to win a PhotoFiddle gift certificate. Don’t worry, there are no right or wrong answers, I’m just curious.
• Twitter about this giveaway. Include your Twitter username or profile URL in your comment for verification purposes.
• Stumble this post. Include your StumbleUpon username in your comment.
• Subscribe to my feed via RSS or email. Let me know that you did so in your comment.

For 3 entries:
• Blog about this giveaway. Include a link to this post and a link to PhotoFiddle.com. Include the URL of your post in your comment.

Each entrant may have up to a total of 7 entries.

This giveaway runs now through midnight on Monday, December 15th. (Just in time for Christmas!) The winner will be selected by way of a random number generated by Random.org. The winner will be contacted via email, so double check your email address when leaving your comment. If the email bounces or the winner does not respond within 24 hours, an alternate winner will be chosen. The winner’s gift certificate will be delivered by email straight from PhotoFiddle. Good Luck!

How do you feel about your body? Do you find yourself saying that you “feel fat?” It’s alarming how many women and girls (and yes, boys and men too) do.

If you or someone you know is struggling with body image issues, Life Doesn’t Begin 5 Pounds from Now by Jessica Weiner is a must-read. Weiner has written several books on the subject, and she’s currently traveling with the Dove Self-Esteem Fund tour, speaking to young girls about self-esteem. Life Doesn’t Begin 5 Pounds from Now is all about changing the thoughts and language that contribute to poor body image. It’s a fun and engaging read, full of anecdotes from real girls and women and quizzes to help us uncover the areas we need to work on.

I’m giving away a copy of this awesome book to one lucky winner. Here’s how to enter:

For one entry each:
• Leave a comment on this post.
• Twitter about the giveaway, and include a link to this post. Include your Twitter username in your comment for verification purposes.

For three entries:
• Blog about this giveaway, and include a link to this post. Include a link to your post in your comment.

So you can have up to five entries.

This giveaway will run from now through 11:59 pm December 16th, 2008. U.S. residents only may enter. Winners will be contacted via email, so you must include a valid email address in the comment form to win. Good luck!

I’m a poet and I didn’t know it! Yeah, I always hated that saying too.

I wanted to share a little contest that’s going on with my dear readers. You see, MyBlogLog is having a contest to see which blog can gain the most community members. There are some pretty awesome prizes at stake. But that’s not the contest I’m here to tell you about.

You see, this guy by the name of Joe is having a contest of his own to help him win the MyBlogLog contest. All you have to do is go join his communities, drop a comment on his blog, and you are entered to win $100. How easy is that? Plus, if you post about it on your blog (kinda like I’m doing here), you get 10 more entries.

So head on over and join for a chance to win some extra Christmas cash!