When I think about the dog days of summer, one of my most favorite treats is a refreshing slice of watermelon. Enter this week’s giveaway – a watermelon smartphone case for your iPhone or Samsung phone.

Here’s how to enter:

Post a comment on Facebook, Twitter or here on the blog and let us know one item on your end of summer bucket list and let us know which phone you have.

For an extra entry, follow Elements on Instagram!

We’ll pick a winner Friday afternoon and announce it on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Good Luck! For a little summer fun, we put together a watermelon moodboard – check it out!

Clockwise from left: Watermelon on picnic table by Studer-T. Veronika via Flickr ::

Watermelon mojito from ‘7 Summer Cocktails’ via Punchbowl.com ::

Watermelon opsicle soap by Soapmuchlove via Etsy ::

Cut watermelon via Mama Say What? ::
(Have you seen the cool tips on how to cut a watermelon floating around on Facebook this summer?)

The post Giveaway Thursday :: A Sweet Phone Case appeared first on Elements.

We don’t know about the rest of you, but here at Elements, we are ready for spring! With the threat of snow this week, we collectively groaned and are keeping our fingers crossed for sunshine and crocuses. We love nice weather – and we also love innovative companies, which is why we’ve chosen this week’s Giveaway Friday for our fans.

This week’s Giveaway Friday is a Bouq. You heard that right, a Bouq. It’s short for bouquet, and it’s the hottest new way to send flowers.

The Bouqs is a new company that is doing away with the old way of sending flowers – you know, you get ‘sold’ on a beautiful bouquet that’s $19.99 and by the time you pay a care fee, handling fee and delivery fee, you’re out 75 bucks! And the arrangement looks nothing like what you ordered, and a day later, Grandma’s flowers are dead.

The Bouqs team is taking a fresh approach on floral delivery. They offer 40 elegant, minimalist bouquets (think: no baby’s breath) at three prices – $40 (Original), $50 (Deluxe) or $70 (Grand). It gets better – all of their flowers are sustainably grown on a volcano in South America – and they’re picked the day you order them, so they arrive beautiful and fresh, not half dead like some of those other floral companies. And guess what? Always free delivery, with just three clicks to checkout. How awesome is that?

They even have a concierge service, where you can set up a schedule to have flowers delivered to that special someone (mother, co-worker, best friend or spouse!) for special occasions (never forget that anniversary, Mother’s Day or birthday again!), or for the best occasion to send flowers – no occasion at all! (Hint hint, husbands of Team Elements!…) Just customize your dates, and The Bouqs will send you email reminders with up to 25% savings – risk free. You can cancel at any time.

This week’s lucky winner will receive an Original Bouq of their choice – sent to themselves, or a special recipient of their choosing. Here’s how you can win:

1. On Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or our blog:: Post a comment and tell us which Bouq you’d like with the hashtag #elementsdesign – AND
2. If you SHARE our contest on Twitter or Facebook with the hashtag #elementsdesign, we will enter your name a second time in the drawing.

Enter by Monday, 3/31 at 7:00OM EST, and we’ll pick a winner and announce it on our Facebook and Twitter pages Tuesday, 4/1 at 5:00PM EST.

That’s it! Simple, right? We’ll follow up to find out who we should send it to and where.

As The Bouqs team puts it: “Honestly though, when you get down to it, we’re not in the business of flowers. We’re in the business of helping you to be the best husband/boyfriend/son/daughter/brother/friend/cousin/colleague/whatever you can possibly be. And we’re gonna make it easy on you.” This is the same way we feel about our wonderful clients – we’re in the business of helping our clients be as successful in their marketing as they can possibly be. And we’re gonna make it easy on you, too! (Hey, a surprise bouquet to that special someone can’t hurt!)

Good luck, and as always, thank you for reading!

The post Giveaway Friday :: Spring has ALMOST sprung… appeared first on Elements.

This year’s gift theme was Mix It Up – inspired by our own decision to mix up our marketing in 2014. We’re taking our own advice by moving away from efforts that have been successful for many years – but are no longer reaping the rewards they once did. We are jumping headfirst into some new and exciting projects, so stay tuned throughout the year to see what we’re up to. This year, we also included an online component with our gift – our Mix It Up 2014 blog, where every Monday, every week this year, we will post new ways to mix it up in 2014.

This week’s Giveaway Thursday is our delicious gift – a 2-part gift pack of both our delicious salted caramels from The Caramel Jar and spicy cajun peanuts in custom silkscreened jars – and of course, our lovely foil-stamped Mix It Up 2014 card. Also included are a pack of six 5×7 Mix It Up notecards (sans Elements logo) with matching foil-stamped envelopes and silver gel pen – perfect for mixing it up all year long!

To win the first giveaway of 2014, here’s all you need do:

1. On Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, our blog or our Mix It Up blog :: Post a comment and let us know how you plan to mix it up this year – OR
2. SHARE our contest on Twitter or Facebook – just be sure to tag us – and we will enter your name a second time in the drawing for a prize.

That’s it! Simple, right?

UPDATE: We have extended our giveaway until Tuesday afternoon as a ‘snow surprise’! Enter by Tues. 2/4 by noon EST, and we’ll pick a winner and announce it on our Facebook and Twitter pages Tuesday at 5:00 EST.

Good luck, and as always, thank you for reading!

The post Giveaway Thursday :: Mix It Up 2014 appeared first on Elements.

First, our food giveaway will be this large tray of a dozen beautifully decorated, delicious freshly-baked Thanksgiving cookies from Nats Sweet Bakery. Enough for the whole family (that is, if you chose to share)! These will arrive the week before Thanksgiving. Perfect!

Next, our family giveaway will be this beautiful 11 x 14 hand-lettered printed illustration perfect for framing in the heart of any home – the kitchen. This lovely Pumpkin Pie Poster celebrates a long-time family tradition of passing down and sharing family recipes. My mouth is watering already!

And finally, our thankful giveaway will be to donate three weeks of meals in your honor through Feed America’s “Give a Meal” program. You can feel good this holiday knowing that your prize is helping to provide a healthy meal for three weeks to someone who really needs it just by reading, entering and sharing this blog post. Giving the gift of a meal to someone who is hungry is, I think, the best prize of all. So, thank you.

To win November’s Family, Food and Thankfulness giveaway, here’s all you need do:

1. On Facebook, Twitter or our blog :: Post a comment and let us know what you are most thankful for this year.

2. SHARE our contest on Twitter or Facebook – just be sure to tag us – and we will enter your name a second time in the drawing for a prize.

That’s it! Simple, right?

Remember – you have a chance to win one of the three prizes above – so we will have THREE WINNERS this month!

We’ll pick a winner late Friday afternoon and announce it on our Facebook and Twitter pages.

Good luck, and thank you for reading our blog!

~Amy

The post Giveaway Thursday :: Food, Family and Thankfulness appeared first on Elements.

november comes
and november goes
with the last red berries
and the first white snows.

with night coming early,
and dawn coming late,
and ice in the bucket
and frost by the gate.

the fires burn
the kettles sing,
and earth sinks to rest
until next spring.

~Clyde Watson

{images: november // connecticut}

The post Noted :: Welcome, November appeared first on Elements.

{photo credit: Jen Stewart, via Flickr}

At Elements, we work really hard – so, when the holidays come around (Fourth of July, St. Patrick’s Day, Halloween…you name it!) we like to celebrate big. This year, we’re sharing the party via our end-of-month Giveaway Thursdays.

We have a whole host of fall holiday-related giveaways lined up for the next few months, so be on the lookout for some extra special treats!

This week’s giveaway is something near and dear to our hearts here at Elements – candy corn! During the month of October (and, ok, September too) we can’t keep the candy bowl full enough.

Speaking of bowls, as if a bag of delicious candy corn isn’t enough, you’ll also win a handmade spooky candy bowl, a perfect addition to your desk.

{photo credit: LesperanceTile}

As the ceramic artist puts it, “This is perfect for serving treats with a trick ending – as the treats disappear, the spider web appears!”

To win September’s sweet and spooky giveaway:

On Facebook, Twitter or our blog :: Post a comment and let us know one tricky business or marketing challenge you have faced in the last year.

We’ll pick a winner late Friday afternoon and announce it on our Facebook and Twitter pages. Good Luck!

The post Giveaway Thursday :: A Sweet and Spooky Treat appeared first on Elements.

It was Amy’s back-to-school marketing post that inspired todays giveaway. While searching through Etsy I discovered these fun, cute and creative pencil cases by downstairsDesign and today, we’re giving one away!

These pencil cases are the ideal item to start your back-to-school marketing efforts. They have a lightly interfaced classic striped ticking exterior and are lined with a darling cherry red and white polka dot cotton. They are also personalized with a tag that says “create” and “write” – perfect for all of the innovative and creative marketing strategies you’ll be starting in the Fall.

To make the giveaway even more awesome, we’re stuffing the case full of our popular “Let’s Sketch It Out” Elements pencils – sharpened, and ready to go! Are you ready to write down all of your marketing “to-do’s” for Fall? Here’s how to enter:

On Facebook, Twitter or our Blog :: Post a comment and let us know one item on your back-to-school to-do list. {It can be marketing or non-marketing related.}

That’s it – its that simple!

We’ll pick a winner late Friday afternoon and announce it on our Facebook and Twitter pages. Good Luck!

~Allyson

The post Giveaway Thursday :: Let’s Sketch It Out appeared first on Elements.

It was actually Amy’s summer bucket list post that inspired todays giveaway. While searching through Etsy I discovered these beautiful, colorful bucket list journals by Blue Toad and today, we’re giving one away!

These journals have color washed covers with an original hand carved lino cut bucket image on the front cover. It has 260 pages, that alternates between graph paper, 60lb sketch paper, bristol paper, and vintage maps. With all those options it’s perfect for bucket list writing, sketching and plotting where you want to go on your next adventure! We love all the amazing journals in this shop, be sure to check it out!

One of my favorite pieces about this journal is the saying that comes attached on a tag:

What’s on your bucket list?
What do you want to do in this lifetime?
Where do you want to go?

{photo credit: Blue Toad, etsy shop}

We want you to start your own bucket list and write everything down on your journey. Are you ready to put some check marks next to your list? Here’s how to enter:

On Facebook, Twitter or our Blog :: Post a comment and let us know one item on your bucket list.

That’s it – its that simple!

We’ll pick a winner late Friday afternoon and announce it on our Facebook and Twitter pages. Good Luck!

~Allyson

The post Giveaway Thursday :: What’s On Your Bucket List? appeared first on Elements.

Happy Giveaway Thursday everyone! It definitely feels like Summer today and I know one of my favorite Summer activities is reading at the beach. That was our inspiration for today’s giveaway – along with Amy’s popular book reviews here on our blog. So we decided to give away three of our favorite books along with one surprise title that we think you’ll love. We’re always learning and wanted to share our knowledge with these three books:

– Made To Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die –  {Amy recently reviewed this on our blog};

– Likeable Social Media: How to Delight Your Customers, Create and Irresistable Brand, and Be Generally Amazing on Facebook (and other social networks);

–  Best Practices for Graphic Designers, Grids and Page Layouts: An Essential Guide for Understanding and Applying Page Design Principles – {This is the book Amy and Ben authored that released last summer};

– AND, don’t forget about the surprise book…

Are you ready to read? If you want to win this this literary giveaway, here’s how to enter ::

We’re going to make it easier then ever for you to enter and win…

On Facebook :: Like our post about the giveaway then hit the “Share” button and post it to your own page

On Twitter :: Retweet our tweet about the giveaway

That’s it – its that simple!

We’ll pick a winner late Friday afternoon and announce it on our Facebook and Twitter pages. Good Luck!

~Allyson

The post Giveaway Thursday :: Good Reads appeared first on Elements.