Win a $25 Gift Certificate to the Travel and Toile Store!

YES, IT IS TRUE.  

I'm doing a giveaway!  

You can win a $25 gift certificate to the brand new Travel and Toile Store on Zazzle! (http://www.zazzle.com/travelandtoile)

How do you win?  It's pretty simple.  I'm attempting to decide what photographs to use on my merchandise.  I could just choose the ones that I like best, and trust me, I will do that too, but I also want your opinion.  After all, if you are reading this, you must like something about what I'm doing, and my hope is that, perhaps, you might even want to spend a little cash to own some of it for yourself one day.  Maybe.  So, the way you enter is by giving me feedback.

Leave a comment (of at least four words) on ANY post, here on Travel and Toile, or on any photograph on the Travel and Toile Facebook Page.
(http://www.facebook.com/pages/Travel-and-Toile/171433242888354)

Or, you can leave comments on the Travel and Toile Flickr Page.
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/travelandtoile)

The comment can be positive or negative- just let me know if you like the photograph, or photographs in the post, what you like (or don't like) about it, or, if you would like (or decidedly not like) to see it on a product, or if it reminds you of something spectacular from your childhood (or doesn't), or if you like my composition (or you hate it).  Basically, just leave me at least four words about what you think about my work.  This will help me create products you will like, give me valuable feedback on how I'm doing artistically, and give you a chance to win some free stuff.  It sounds good to me!  

The more comments you leave, the better your chances to win!  There is no cap on the number of comments other than time, and number of posts/ photographs that happen to exist.  And, of course, the size of your sit-at-computer-and-chill-out stash of snacks.  That's important. 

This contest begins at 11:00pm EST on Sunday, June 12, 2011, and will end at 11:59pm EST on June 19, 2011.  All comments posted before that time were definitely appreciated, but will not count for this contest.

While you are debating... check out some of the super-nifty merchandise already available in the store! 

More fine print type things- 

You DO NOT need to have a Google ID to leave comments here.  Just click on  "# comments" at the end of any post, and choose the Name/URL option in the drop down menu.  You don't actually have to put a URL.  However, if you don't leave a name, I can't enter you in the contest.  It doesn't have to be your real name, if you don't want it to be.  It merely has to be consistent.  If you win, I will need your actual email address in order to send you your fantastic $25 gift certificate!  

Unfortunately, you do need to be registered with Facebook in order to leave comments there.  Sorry about this, if you aren't a Facebook user...  I just wanted to broaden the options for entry.  Same thing goes for Flickr, actually. 

Why four words?  It's an arbitrary number, yes, but I don't want people just writing "awesome!" or "this sux!" or "comment..." on a post.  That's not helpful to you, or to me.  Not that, "Wow, that was awesome!" is all that much more helpful, but at least it looks like you made an effort... right?

Why are there so few items in the shop at the moment?  Well, I just opened it yesterday, and I'm working on it.  There will be many, many more items very soon.  Don't you worry.  That $25 worth of free stuff will be very worth your time, I promise.  If I didn't think it would be, I wouldn't be offering this awesome opportunity to you!

Didn't you have a store on Etsy?  I've been wanting to do a giveaway for awhile now, and this seems to be the perfect opportunity.  As many of you know, I used to host my shop on Etsy.  This proved to be extremely unsuccessful.  I dumped a lot of money into the store, and basically didn't get any back.  It was an essentially failed venture, but I learned a lot, and have lots of printed notecards to send to relatives, and magnets of my own work on my metallic front door, so I wouldn't say that it wasn't pointless.  Zazzle offers a wider range of products with smaller monetary gain on my part per item, in theory, but there are no costs up front.  I'm giving it a go!  

As more questions come up, I'll edit them here, on this post.

Thanks for your support, everyone!  

BEST OF LUCK!!