GIVEAWAY: Sweet Arts Design Personalized Alphabet Book

{This giveaway is now closed. Thanks to those who entered!}

With the holidays quickly approaching, it's a little overwhelming looking at all of the options out there to buy for kids.

I'm not going to claim that toys aren't great, because kids love toys, but I really love gifts that are more meaningful. Something that shows time and thought and caring went into it, something that won't be discarded and outgrown by the following year. Something like the gorgeous Personalized Alphabet Books at Sweet Arts Design.


When looking for personalized items to decorate the nursery for the arrival of her twin girls, Amy Hallali couldn't find any that were unique enough for her liking. Using her background as a graphic designer, she decided to create her own and has since opened Sweet Arts Design as a way for those of us without her talent and skills to still be able to create beautiful gifts for the lucky children in our lives.

An appropriate motto, Where You Design Gifts for Children couldn't be more descriptive, because at Sweet Arts Design you have creative control over so many great options for your chosen gift. Whether you are designing a book, birth print, tote bag, t-shirt or cards, Sweet Arts Design allows you to take charge of your project from start to finish.

One look at the large Design Gallery and I was in love with the clean lines and modern look of all of the animals and objects created for each letter of the alphabet. Perfect for both boys and girls, each image is filled with wonderful colors and contrasting patterns to give it a unique and hand-created look.

When it came for me to personalize Little Sister B's Alphabet Book, it became clear that there was much more than just her name that was going to be included. As well as the cover design (I chose a butterfly), the book color (can't go wrong with pink) and her name, I was able to select to have the letter B in the background, her gender and the dedication for the inside.

Two other options that I thought were really great were being able to select the language or languages that this book was going to be written in (as well as English, you can choose French, Italian or Spanish) and including up to two other names to be showcased in the book. I included Big Sister E (and her gender) and eagerly awaited the arrival of my creation.

When the package arrived from Sweet Arts Design, I was loving it right from the start. Securely backed in cardboard and sealed in plastic, Little Sister B's book was ready for gift-giving in its green tissue paper and matching ribbon. Both Big Sister E and Little Sister B were eager to see what was inside and I'm not sure which one of us was happier to see such a beautiful book emerge.


Each page more colorful and vibrant than the last, Little Sister B's Alphabet Book kept the three of us busy for ages, going over each letter and finding out what fun image started with it. For a wonderful touch, "What starts with the letter B?" was answered with Little Sister B's name displayed in a large heart and the line "A very special little girl" underneath.

As Big Sister E knew that this book belonged to her sister, I don't think she was expecting her name to be in it also. Yet, when we came to the letter E, her name was there and she loved the great surprise.

For a similar price to how much books cost in the store ($29.95 for softcover, $44.95 for hardcover), a Personalized Alphabet Book from Sweet Arts Design will delight and amaze any child for ages. Every time we have gone back to read through this book we have discovered at least one detail that we hadn't seen before.

If you're looking for a similar gift that can be permanently displayed, the Personalized Birth Prints (see picture at above right) and Personalized Prints (shown at left) from Sweet Arts Design allow you to use the same creative control with their beautiful designs for a custom piece of art.

For only $9.95 for an 8x10 and $12.95 for an 11x14, this would make a wonderful present for a baby shower, birthday, holiday or you're-a-great-kid gift throughout the year.

If that isn't enough, select one of the prints from Sweet Arts Design's line of Special Donation Prints (see "ribbit" at right) and $5 will be donated to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Not only will you have a unique ready-to-display gift, but you will have helped to find cures to save children - how can you go wrong?

If you're looking for the perfect holiday gift, there is still plenty of time to head to Sweet Arts Design. You have until December 19 to order any of the beautiful prints (personalized or not) that they have to offer and still receive it in time for Christmas. Thanks to Amy's generosity, someone will have the gift for their next special occasion created, wrapped and ready to go, because...

One lucky person will win a softcover Personalized Alphabet Book of their own!

To enter to win your own softcover Personalized Alphabet Book: Visit the Design Gallery of Sweet Arts Design and tell me which image is your favorite. There are four pages of really great choices! Please do me the favor of leaving an email address or making absolutely sure it is visible in your profile. I have to have a way to contact the winner.

Extra Entries (available after the mandatory entry above is completed; please leave a separate comment for each entry in order for them to be counted. For example, if you subscribe, leave one comment saying "I subscribe #1" and a separate comment saying "I subscribe #2")

1 Extra Entry (per giveaway entered) - Enter any (or all) of the giveaways running on Thanks, Mail Carrier for the duration of this giveaway. See the list on the top of my right sidebar - there are some really great ones going on right now and coming up!
1 Extra Entry if you follow me on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway by copying and pasting the tweet below and leaving me the link. Tweet daily for an extra entry every day!

Sweet Arts Design Personalized Alphabet Book giveaway (ARV $30) @thxmailcarrier! Gorgeous & Amazing! http://bit.ly/8a1EYw #win #giveaway

2 Extra Entries per follow method (leave 2 separate comments for each type) if you follow me with Google Friend Connect (see sidebar), subscribe to my RSS feed or subscribe to Thanks, Mail Carrier by email.
3 Extra Entries (leave 3 separate comments) if you put my cute button up on your blog. Please leave an address where it can be found.
3 Extra Entries (leave 3 separate comments) if you blog about this giveaway linking back to Thanks, Mail Carrier and Sweet Arts Design. Please leave an address where it can be found.
5 Extra Entries (leave 5 separate comments) if you make a purchase from Sweet Arts Design during this giveaway. Let me know what amazing item(s) you chose!

Giveaway will end on December 18th at 11:59pm CST. The winner will be chosen by random.org and announced here as well as emailed. The winner will have 48 hours to contact me or respond to notification or a new winner will be chosen. Giveaway open to U.S. residents only.

A huge thank you to Amy at Sweet Arts Design for providing me with a softcover personalized alphabet book as well as one for a lucky giveaway winner. Your talent is amazing and your designs are gorgeous! The opinions shared are my own and if you really need to see more, click here to see how I roll.