The Sling Lady

The CMA staff has had a wonderful time reading your words about what kind of carrier you’d love to have and how you found the babywearing love.  So many stories, some funny, some touching, and all of them super sweet!  Thanks so much to everyone who joined the fun.

And now (drum roll, please), I have the pleasure of announcing our contest winner:

Julianne Creeden!

Congratulations to you, Julianne!  While Julianne’s name was chosen at random from all the entries (with extra entries allotted for bonus points), I’m sharing with you her thoughts on finding the babywearing love:

I first found the babywearing love shortly after the birth of my darling son.  With my daughter, we had an Infantino Easy Rider and liked it, but I knew there had to be something better out there and just had to find it.  My older sister told me about how she wrapped her baby and I was honestly confused.  She bought me a Moby and I have never looked back!!  There is nothing more wonderful in the world than wrapping a warm squishy new baby up tight.  That was just over 2 years ago and now I have another warm squishy to wrap!  I love when we’re out and about and people stop to ooh and ahh and ask questions about my carriers.  I have no shame in saying I LOVE TO WEAR MY BABIES!!! 

Congrats again to Julianne, who will be choosing her perfect pair of carriers from CMAs stock!

I’m pretty excited about our new contest “Share the Babywearing Love.”  It launches today and will run through 2/28/10.  While I myself have a huge stash of carriers, I think it’s perfectly possible to achieve baby carrier perfection with just two carriers – Your Perfect Pair!  You can read my musings on that here.  At any rate, the Grand Prize winner of our contest will choose from:

a mei tai (Kozy or BBO) OR a buckle carrier (ERGO, Pikkolo, Beco or Scootababy) OR a wrap (Moby, Wrapsody)

AND

a pouch (Hotslings, Kangaroo Korner) OR a ring sling (Maya Wrap)

Best of all, entering is super simple.  You even get a chance to win bonus entries by spreading the love around the net!  Full details here.

Carry Me Away is featured this week on Mama Manifesto (one of our favorite mommy blogs) for their Friday Giveaway.  This is your chance to win a free Baby Sling Starter kit, including a pouch or ring sling of your choice, plus a free Skype tutorial with the SlingLady! 

It’s easy and free to enter.  Check out giveaway details at Mama Manifesto. 

While you’re there, check out some of their great content!

This just in: the Kozy Carrier website is holding a contest that you want to know about!  Think up an original quote (from the perspective of your baby) and submit it to KozyWare by July 31, 2009.  The winner gets  a free Kozy carrier with your quote on it!  Details here.

Kozy carrier mei tais are a great addition to your carrier stash.  Comfortable and big enough to hold a toddler (or even an older child), they offer flexibility and versatility.  The SlingLady carried Madeline in our Kozy from birth until 3 years old!

Just in case you don’t win your free Kozy, shop Kozy Carriers here.   And for a limited time, get a free babywearing mirror with purchase of any Kozy mei tai baby carrier!  Code: MIRROR.

It was so hard to choose between all the fabulous photos submitted to the Carry Me Away Photo contest, that we decided to pick a runner-up.  Congratulations to Ann-Marie Rodgerson who won a $25 gift certificate with her entry titled “Swing Around.”

Our judges loved this because it shows how much fun you can have wearing your baby, and how older kids benefit from a baby being worn, too!

I loved seeing all the wonderful photos you submitted to the first CMA photo contest!  After much debate and deliberation, the judging is complete.  Our winning photo is both gorgeous and beautifully fits this year’s theme: What I Love About Babywearing.

Our congratulations to this year’s winner – Heather Ablondi.  Heather won a gift certificate to Carry Me Away for $100.

Here’s the winning photo, with Heather’s notes below.  Heather is wearing her daughter, Bethany, age 10 months, in an Olivia Bolivia Mei Tai.

For me babywearing means that my children get to experience the world around them from a vantage point not available through traditional means western means of transporting our children. It is amazing moments, such as seeing her explore the colors and textures of different flowers. As the mother of two daughters, ages 2 and a half and 10 months, I do not know I would survive without babywearing. It allows me to complete household chores, to experience the world around us and to spend special time snuggling with my angels. I cherish these days, because I know that all too quickly they will be grown and cuddling children of their own. My hope is that I have started a tradition that will be passed down from generation to generation.

Later this week, we’ll announce the runner up.  Watch this space.

I’m so excited to announce our very first baby carrier photo contest!

What do you love about babywearing? Send in your pictures that show us. Whether it’s the joy of being close, the convenience of getting great things done while carrying your child or simply the beauty of a child who feels safe and secure, we want to see!

The winner will will a $100 gift certificate to be used at Carry Me Away.  Entries will be judged on the creativity, beauty, photographic quality, and effectiveness in conveying what babywearing means to you.

1. The contest begins today and ends Wednesday, September 17, 2008 at 12 midnight, PST. Late entries cannot be considered.

2. Photos should emailed to info@carrymeaway.com. If you would like to mail in your photo, please contact us at info@carrymeaway for details.

3. If you have a blog, please link below, using the Mr. Linky.

4. You may submit as many photos as you like. However, more photos does not necessarily increase your chances of winning!

5. The winner will be notifed by email. The winner will be given a voucher code in the amount of $100 USD to be redeemed within 1 year at www.CarryMeAway.com

6. Images should be submitted in JPG (at high quality) or TIFF format. If you are having difficulty with these parameters, contact info@carrymeaway.com for help.

7. With the image, please submit the names of the people in the photo, the child(ren)’s first name(s), their age(s), the carrier(s) being used and a few sentences about why you love using your baby carrier(s). We love these stories, so please include them!

8. Entries must be submitted by the original photographer. Do not submit a photo taken by someone other than yourself. You must be the sole owner of the copyright of any image submitted. Your submission of the photo and entry form is your guarantee that you are the author and copyright holder of the photo.

9. By entering the contest, photographers agree that their submitted photograph becomes the property of Carry Me Away, and may be used for advertising, publicity, news releases, or any other purpose deemed by Carry Me Away, and possibly displayed on the www.CarryMeAway.com website without any fee or other form of compensation. They agree that Carry Me Away may make and retain copies of the photograph for archival and publicity purposes. Photos will be credited to the photographer named upon email entry.

10. Read the legalese here.

11. HAVE FUN!