CLOSED - Of the Earth Jewelry: Unique Custom Jewelry for Mother's Day {Review & Giveaway}

This giveaway has ended! Thanks to all who entered! The winner has been contacted and will be announced as soon as she has confirmed. More giveaways are posted on the left sidebar, so be sure to check them out!

Mother's Day is right around the corner and I've been gathering ideas for things to get the special moms in my life. I absolutely love personalized, meaningful pieces of jewelry. Like most moms, my family is my world, and I love to wear jewelry that represents my love for them.

I was recently given the opportunity to review an item from Of the Earth Jewelry by Randee Hofmann, and as I am so glad I did! Since I recently received an item for myself from another company, the review item I chose was also a gift for my sister, who is the mother of my amazing four year old nephew and two year old niece. Since this post would obviously ruin the surprise, I gave her the necklace last week and she loved it! I was also really, really impressed by the beauty and quality of the necklace I picked out for her and wish I had kept it for myself. (I may actually order one or ask for one for Mother's Day!)

Here is Randee's philosophy on her jewelry:
Handmade Copper, Wire Wrapped, and Beaded Jewelry Inspired by Nature

Jewelry making is a passion come to life. With inspiration from 10 years of experience as a floral designer and a love of nature, I created Of the Earth Jewelry.

Her shop includes items such as the Robin's Egg Nest Necklace, Robin's Egg Nest Ring, Verdigris Bird with Copper Initial necklace, and many other customizable necklaces, bracelets, rings, and other accessories.

For my review, I chose the Robin's Egg Nest Necklace. Since you can customize the wire, the pearl colors, and the metal used for the bird, I chose the copper wire and copper colored bird with blue zircon and lavender colored pearls for the eggs.

First, the necklace came packaged really nicely, in a box with a customized "thank you" label.

Inside was the necklace I picked out. I chose the nest necklace with copper wire, and a blue zircon and lavender pearl "eggs" to represent my nephew and niece. I was really happy with the quality of the necklace, too. It seemed durable and really well put together.

I fell in love with it, and even though I didn't get to keep it, I had to try it on...

With Mother's Day right around the corner (May 8th!) now is the perfect time to start looking at gift options. Any item from Of the Earth Jewelry is sure to impress the special mom in your life.

Buy it: Of the Earth Jewelry has items ranging in price from $14 - $78 (the necklace I reviewed sells for around $19, depending on the number of pearls you add).

WIN IT! Randee Hofmann and Of the Earth Jewelry is offering a Verdigris Initial Necklace to one LUCKY reader of Angelica's Awesome Adventures!

MANDATORY ENTRY: (This must be done before any other entries)
Who would you give this to if you win? (It's okay if you'd keep it for yourself too!

Extra Entries (Optional): (Please leave an extra comment for each entry)

• Like Of the Earth Jewelry by Randee Hofmann on Facebook
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• Follow me (publicly) on Google Friend Connect (left sidebar) and leave me a comment letting me know you did so. (If you're already following, that counts too - just comment and let me know!)
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Win a beautiful verdigris bird necklace - Great Mother's Day gift @angelicasmommy (Ends 4/25) http://ow.ly/4Ainb #giveaway

• TWO Bonus Entries: Add my button to your blog and leave a link where I can find it! (Comment twice)
  
• THREE Bonus Entries: Blog about this giveaway and leave a link to your post. (Comment three times)
• FIVE BONUS ENTRIES: Post this giveaway to a giveaway linky (Comment five times with a link back to the linky) - unlimited entries!

Please leave your email address in your comment or make sure it is visible in your profile!

Contest ends on April 26, 2011 at 9 PM EST. Open to US Residents only and the prize cannot be mailed to a P.O. Box. Winner will be chosen by random.org and contacted via email. Winner must respond within 48 hours of the email being sent or another winner will be selected. (Please make sure you check your spam and junk folders frequently to make sure you don't miss out!)

Disclosure: I was not financially compensated for this review in any way. Of the Earth Jewelry by Randee Hofmann provided me with a review package and will also handle prize fulfillment. Thanks to Randee Hofmann for providing the review package and giveaway prize! All content in this review is my opinion.

Five Last Minute Mother's Day Ideas

So, you're sitting there, thinking to yourself..."Mother's Day is tomorrow, and the stores close in 4 hours!" (Give or take, depending on your time zone.) You haven't bought a gift yet, and you're in need of some ideas...now! As a mom, I've come up with five simple, quick, and inexpensive ideas that you can easily accomplish tonight and have ready to give to mom in the morning. (These last minute Mother's Day ideas will be geared toward husbands, but could really be used by anyone!)

1. Letters to mom
Depending on the child's age, either have the child write down what they love most about mom. If it's a baby, an adult can write the letter to mom for the baby. Put it in an envelope and give it to mom first thing in the morning. This would be a keepsake that, as a mom, I would treasure forever. (Especially since this is my first Mother's Day!)

2. Flowers
This seems like a given, but let me explain my reason for including this on the list. In my opinion, there is absolutely no reason why someone needs to order flowers and have them delivered -- so if this is what's stopping you from getting flowers -- either it's too expensive or the florist won't deliver by tomorrow -- don't let it.  Stop at your neighborhood grocery store and pick up a bouquet. (In my experience, flowers from the grocery store last longer anyway!)

3. Photo frame
Who doesn't have eight million pictures of their kids laying around? Even if you already have photo frames all over the place, pick up a special one just for mom. Find that picture laying around of mom and baby (or mom and teenager, as the case may be) and put it in the frame. 

4. Online gift cards
So, maybe you got off of work late and couldn't get to the mall in time to pick up a gift card for your favorite mom. It happens. Fortunately, a lot of online retailers sell e-gift certificates in many denominations. For example, Sephora.com sells e-gift certificates as low as $10. Makeup not her thing? Try Amazon.com, which sells e-gift certificates as low as $5. These can be sent right to Mom's email box to use whenever she wants! Amazon's even have special Mother's Day graphics that can be included. 

5. Hit the gift card rack
Here's another good alternative if you didn't get a chance to hit the mall. Many grocery stores are open 24 hours, and many of them have racks of gift cards for other businesses. When you stop to pick up flowers (refer to #2), why not grab a gift card to your favorite mom's favorite store? 

BONUS IDEA:
This one is the most important, and best of all -- it's FREE! While much hype is given to gift giving, ultimately, Mother's Day is all about celebrating being MOM, and the best gift of all is your thanks. Tell the top mom in your life that you love her, and thanks for doing all that she does.