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I am soooo happy to introduce to you my newest sponsor, Happy Serendipity!  I have been a follower of Happy Serendipity blog for quite some time now and am so happy that I have found such a great friend in Lou!  She is a darling and super crafty too.  She’s got tons of DIY tutorials, inspirations, and pictures of Germany (where she currently resides) on her blog, you must check it out!  But even cooler is that over these past few months, Lou has been working away on making lovelies for her new ETSY SHOP, which opened TODAY!!  And we couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate than with a grand opening discount + giveaway! But first lets…

{MEET THE SHOP OWNER}

Please tell us a little about yourself, the lovely owner of Happy Serendipity.

My name is Luisa (you can call me Lou), I’m 30 years old and live in Frankfurt, Germany. I have a full time job in an advertising agency and my hobby is to sew and do all kinds of crafts. I never took a sewing class or something but once when I had a cast on my foot and couldn’t walk and go to work for a long time I bought a book and started from scratch. I’m hooked ever since. My blog is about my crafty adventures that I like to share with the world. I stumble from one crafty thing to the other and by doing so I discover other crafts that I love so that’s how the name of the blog was born. It’s my creative outlet where I want to show people that it’s so easy to make things by yourself with a minimum amount of time and money (and sometimes without even skills).

What made you decide to open up a shop?

There was this moment where I was in a shop and when I saw all those mass produced items I felt that I don’t want to be one of those people who buy things that I would see on 10 different other people in my office or on the bus. I’ve never been keen on going with the trend and wear things that you can see all over the place so I decided to realize my ideas. Here in Germany, or at least from the area I come from, there are not so many designers or artists who’s stuff I really find good, so the only way for me to make a difference was by making it by myself. Then I discovered the blogging scene and saw all those fabulous indie artists from all over the world and since I’m sewing all the time I thought I will give it a try. I always received positive feedback from my friends when I gave them handmade things for their birthdays which gave me confidence that my items are lovely. I only make things that I would use or wear myself and that reflect my personality and I hope that there are people out there who like it.

Where do you draw inspiration from?

That is one good question I had to think about first. There are – of course – all the fabulous blogs that I regularly read that inspire me a lot. They are rarely written by famous people but women just like me that enjoy to make things. I’m very in love with Dottie Angel’s work and you can see some things in my shop that might remind you of her. I get inspired by typography, photography, music and fabrics. I read a lot of magazines and books, I have my eyes open all the time and see good things everywhere. Whenever I have an idea I write it down (there are tons of post-its in my bag and notebook and on my desk) and I have a board in my work-room that is full of pictures. There are days where the ideas burst out of my head like popcorn and even if it’s just a small little idea it might turn out to something big days or weeks later.

What is your favorite ice cream flavor?

Oh… actually I’m not so into ice cream but what I always like is yoghurt and chocolate. And if there’s a flavor I’ve never tried before I’ll take that.

{GRAND OPENING DISCOUNT}

Good through Monday, November 29, 2010, Lou is offering a special discount to Happy Serendipity just for you lovelies!  You can receive 10% off your order if you enter “SANDYALAMODE1122” in the Coupon Code box at checkout!

{GIVEAWAY}

Lou is an absolute sweetheart and made something just for one lucky Sandy a la Mode reader!  This pouch is made of vintage fabric that is older than 20 years and has a beautiful design that you won’t find in stores anymore.  It is hand-stamped with a delicate peony, has a row of stitched little hearts, and the zipper has a little swallow pendant. The pouch is big enough for some cosmetic items and other things you carry in your purse

How to enter:

1. Visit Happy Serendipity and leave a comment with your favorite item from the shop!

For additional entries (please leave comment for each action):
2. Follow this blog with Google Friend Connect on right (if you already do, please let me know)
3. Like Happy Serendipity on Facebook (if you already do, please let me know)
4. Follow @myserendipities on Twitter (if you already do, please let me know)
5. Tweet about this giveaway (make sure to use @sandyalamode and @myserendipities in your tweet)

Feel free to use this tweet:
@myserendipities just opened up an etsy shop and she is celebrating with a vintage pouch #GIVEAWAY on @sandyalamode! http://bit.ly/bQ5Jcb

This giveaway is open INTERNATIONALLY and closes on Monday, November 29, 2010 at 9PM CST.  Winner will be announced shortly after.

Entries for this giveaway have been closed! Thanks so much!!