Alyse French | Fine Art Portrait Photographer | Houston, TX »

1 For Me // 1 For You

Once upon a time, we held a contest. A contest to get to know you all better. A contest that made me realize even more just how sweet our little blogging community truly is. And then, once upon a week later, Dylan and I came up with a crazy idea. An idea to go down in the history of ideas. Think – the wheel, fire and sushi. We’re talking BIG, people. At least for us. ;)

My whole life long, I’ve had this peculiar love for gift-giving. Be it Christmas (I start shopping in September), or my best friend’s birthday, there seriously is little else more fun than giving gifts you know the recipient will actually enjoy. (Okay, okay.. Except the year I got my mom an Easy-Bake Oven since she’d always wanted one as a little girl. Not sure she put that one to enjoyable use as a thirty-something mother of three. But hey, it’s the thought that counts, right?) Here’s where YOU come in…

The deets:

  • What: Beginning today, we will be running a monthly giveaway called “1 For Me // 1 For You.” Which is, essentially, exactly what the title implies. If I have one of something that I find useful or cool or just plain purty-looking, I get one for you. And by you, I mean, one of you. ;)
  • Who: Anyone and everyone. And their mommas. (Minus mine, of course.) Please see the fine print below for full rules and restrictions on who can enter.
  • When: Kickoff is the first Sunday of each month. You will have until the following Saturday at midnight CST to enter. The winner will be chosen at random using the random number generator at Random.org and announced the next morning (the second Sunday of the month).
  • Where: You must comment (and answer the specific question asked at the end of the post) on the 1 For Me // 1 For You post to enter. Comments left via Facebook, Twitter or elsewhere will not be taken into consideration.
  • Why: Because it’s fun and you could win some pretty sweet loot! :)

Without further ado, this month’s 1 For Me // 1 For You is something I’ve gone 22 years without, for some unknown and crazy reason. I give you: One Vintage Trunk Jewelry Box from Pottery Barn. Wood, hand wrapped in beautiful distressed faux leather, with weathered-iron hardware. No more using ice cube trays to separate my earrings from my necklaces, folks. And I mean it. Now imagine me all Vanna White on you, as I present the lovely item. (Fact: When Dylan was 5, he wanted to marry Vanna White. Today is his lucky day.)

A jewelry box? A super fun prop for a photo shoot? You tell me.And just to prove we’re serious, here is 1 For Me and 1 For You. :)

Question to enter: How will YOU use this item? (Easy enough, right?) Now ready, set, GO!!

Not so fine print: Only one entry allowed per person. All contestants must live within the continental United States and must be able to provide a valid mailing address upon winning. I am not responsible for items that are lost, stolen or damaged during shipment. The winner will have 24 hours to contact me and redeem the item or a new winner will be chosen.
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  • September 5, 2010 - 2:53 PM

    Robin Fuller - I love this it will look great in my office I would love to use it as a short little occasional side table with some magazines on top. Of course I will use it to store my jewelry too!!!

  • September 5, 2010 - 3:02 PM

    Breanna - Hmm lets see how i would use it. You see, currently i have my necklaces and earrings in my eyeglass case holder, and yes with my eyeglasses Lol. So it would be put to great use and my eyeglasses would appreciate there own home back. :-)

  • September 5, 2010 - 3:28 PM

    Peter - Alyse! Is this your new hobby? It could be.

  • September 5, 2010 - 4:01 PM

    Molly - I’m a secret reader of your blog. I read it every week, but I’ve never commented before so this is a big moment for me. This might be lame, but if I won the jewelry box I don’t think I’d keep it. Its not that I don’t like it, I love it! I actually would like to gift it to someone else, but I can’t say who just in case they read this!

  • September 5, 2010 - 6:25 PM

    KimberlyJ - Love the jewelry trunk! How would I use it…I’d finally get all my jewelry in one place. It currently lives in the bathroom, dresser drawer, bedside table… I just discovered your blog and I’m looking forward to cruising my way through it.

  • September 5, 2010 - 11:27 PM

    Jesslyn Amber - This is an awesome idea, Alyse!! You’re such a sweetheart!
    I love the jewelry box trunk– I mean I COLLECT trunks, so this would be perfect in my vintage-y shabby chic apartment! I would use it a.) for my jewelry which is just stuffed into bathroom drawers and b.) as a photography prop. it’s so adorable. :)

    Good luck to everyone! :)

  • September 6, 2010 - 9:14 AM

    Jess M - Oh Lawd! I would definitely use this to organize my jewelry!! Right now, some things are in old candle holders, old trays, stuffed away somewhere. It seems that I don’t wear jewelry as much, because it’s “out of sight, out of mind”. I love this case, its really pretty.

  • September 6, 2010 - 11:31 AM

    Diane - I still think it should be called: 1 for me, 1 for you, 1 for my MOM… but that’s ok :)

  • September 6, 2010 - 4:37 PM

    Juli - I think I would be boring and use it to organize my jewelery. We’re getting ready to remodel our bathroom and this would fit perfectly. Love it! Thanks!

  • September 6, 2010 - 4:55 PM

    Sarah Darbonne - This little trunk is so cute! I don’t know how I have managed to miss it during my biweekly online window shopping at potterybarn.com. I would keep the jewelery box open on my vanity with my jewelery in it of course. I am not a blog following person, but I love your blog! Keep it up, please :)

  • September 6, 2010 - 4:56 PM

    Andi - I am in desperate need of jewelry organization. I have boxes and trays and drawers of jewelry and this would make it all so pretty and organized and would look so cute on top of my dresser to boot.

  • September 6, 2010 - 5:06 PM

    Stef - That’s a really cool jewelry box :] I would use it to organize the mess of jewelry taking over my entire dresser top :P

  • September 6, 2010 - 6:15 PM

    vickie - This is so adorable!!! It would look wonderful sitting on my dresser!!

  • September 6, 2010 - 11:19 PM

    abbi - Okay so growing up my mom use to tell me stories of when she was a little girl her dad use to take her and her sisters rock hunting. When he would get home he would made jewelry out of what they would find. He used real silver and would use Tiger eye and all sorts of goodies. Though he passed when I was 3 I can still kind of remember him. My grandma and mom have given me a few pieces of what he has made and they are amazing. I would definately use this to store them in. My daughters and I go on adventures and hunt shells and rocks but nothing like what he did. I only wish he would have been here long enough to take me on one of his adventures.

  • September 7, 2010 - 1:17 AM

    jenny - You are so cute! I love your writing style, and your photography is beautiful! I would use this for my jewelry and extra buttons.

  • September 7, 2010 - 7:12 AM

    Abi I. - It would look great in my new house in my amazing new room. I have been looking for a great jewelry box that fits the decor.

  • September 7, 2010 - 7:46 AM

    Lisa B - I have a stack (graduating in size) of vintage trunks in my bedroom, it would be the perfect little trunk to top them off! I WANT IT! lol

  • September 7, 2010 - 8:11 AM

    trish - Wow love this. It would look great in my room. I would use it for what it is for my jewelry…wow it would look great!

  • September 7, 2010 - 10:15 AM

    Christina Shippey - I would use this beautiful jewelry box to gather all my jewelry from it’s 10 current locations and put all together in one spot!!

  • September 7, 2010 - 10:16 AM

    Tidbit Tuesday #39 | Alyse French Photography | Houston-Based Wedding and Lifestyle Photographer - […] you missed it, Sunday kicked off a new monthly giveaway by Alyse French Photography. Check out this 1 For Me // 1 For You post for details. September’s loot is pretty fab if you ask me. Winner will be picked this […]

  • September 7, 2010 - 10:24 AM

    pam - I’d totally use this for the masses of jewelry I’ve been picking up lately! It would look so great on my night stand! :)

  • September 7, 2010 - 11:00 AM

    Beth Cleveland - Alyse love, you are the sweetest for doing this and the best becuase i was just looking for a awesome something to put all my Forever 21 jewelry purchases in. I think it is so awesome, i would use this for a. jewelry and b. if the little place settings come out i would use if for a little bag/purse thing if i could. I would love to take it out and show it off:]

  • September 7, 2010 - 11:21 AM

    Jess - OMG I have been looking EVERYWHERE for somewhere to store my jewelry! About a month ago I found this really pretty jewelry box at Bed Bath and Beyond (kind of unexpected), but when I went to get buy it this weekend after we moved, it was gone (along with half the store). This jewelry box is GORGEOUS and if I’m not a winner, I may just check out Pottery Barn myself :) PS- SEE YOU SOON!!! <3

  • September 7, 2010 - 11:39 AM

    Kathy - it would look amazing in my new room! so vintage and gorgeous, i’d use it for make up and jewelery!

  • September 7, 2010 - 11:46 AM

    Amy - So I thought I would join in on the fun…first let me say Alyse dear your taste is impeccable…I love the jewelry box!…I was thinking of how its brilliance could be fully appreciated and as I looked around my terribly sparse, undecorated dorm room I realized that it would be the perfect decoration to not only add to the room but give me a place to store my jewelry as well…=)thats my story…the end!

  • September 7, 2010 - 1:58 PM

    Amy - I would use it to store my beads and jewelry making materials to make my OWN jewelry! :)
    BTW Alyse- you interviewed me at Syracuse once for your class project. I was a “Locavore” for 31 days eating food grown within 100 miles of Syracuse. After we emailed back and forth you start popping on my gchat and I like reading your blog!

  • September 7, 2010 - 2:07 PM

    Stephanie Bruce - I would love to win. I have an old jewelry box my mom gave me shortly before she died. I have a few jewelry items that i keep in a shoe box that cant fit in the little jewelry box

  • September 7, 2010 - 4:02 PM

    Kathy Scott - I would use this on my end table in the living room – because it is so cute- and would be a great place to store tv remotes and nintendo ds games –

  • September 7, 2010 - 4:47 PM

    Bekah - I love love love this! I would actually give it to my sister. She just moved into a new place in a new city and needs something cute for her apartment (and a surprise!) It seems like a perfect size for her jewelry, too!

  • September 7, 2010 - 7:26 PM

    Tiffany Pettey - i need one so bad thanks for the chance to win this

  • September 7, 2010 - 7:27 PM

    Fran Fleckenstein - I love the look of this jewerly box, I have mine in 3-4 small ones and can never find what I’m looking for. I believe this would solve this problem and its so attractive..

  • September 7, 2010 - 9:15 PM

    Kelly B - Okay that is too adorable! I love trunks. I would definitely like to use it to hold my jewelry, but also to hold my lil memories. I have those in a plastic shoe box. Convenient but not very attractive. I used to keep my jewelry in an old cloth covered jewelry box that my mom gave me. It got crushed during our move from Rhode Island to California, and then on my next move from California to Arizona it got coated with an iced mocha. Right now I hold my jewelry in a red Valentine heart box that my husband gave me on our first married Valentine’s day. I’ll always love the box, but I wouldn’t mind upgrading. :) How I go on!

  • September 7, 2010 - 9:16 PM

    Heather - Love this trunk! If I won, I would use it as a jewelry box!

  • September 7, 2010 - 9:50 PM

    Peggy H. - What a very interesting place to keep my jewelry if I win the “trunk”. It looks very exquisite!

  • September 7, 2010 - 10:19 PM

    Sue S - I would display this on our marble top table in our livingroom open with pieces of my great grama’s jewelry which I recieved while she was still with us. She has some beautiful pieces that would “pop” inside this beautiful trunk. It would make a wonderful conversation piece, even down to how I aquired it! thanks for the opportunity to own one just like yours!

    By the way you have great taste!

  • September 7, 2010 - 10:56 PM

    Patricia W - Love the trunk, but I would love you to pick the next person if I got so lucky. I just have too much stuff already…But I love checking in on your blog! and the photos are too deeee-lish!

  • September 8, 2010 - 6:46 AM

    mabyn - Ah! Those are TOO CUTE!
    I’m so getting in on that…does it count if I’m a photog? Hah!
    Well, if I’m eligible I would totally use it in a rockin’ vintage esesh, or senior sesh, oh heck I’d bring it along to a wedding rock it there too! I would use it to carry all of those great little accents that make a gal feel great. I might even carry it around at the mall cuz it’s that amazzzzzzin! Can’t I double it as a purse? I want to! Hah!
    Seriously though, those are great! If I don’t win I may just have to buy one.
    <3 miss you girlie!

    Oh I just realized it's a lil' late for me to enter…ah well…I'd still use it for all those things! hah! <3

  • September 8, 2010 - 11:43 AM

    Katie - My earrings are DREAMING of jumping into this pretty little case!

  • September 8, 2010 - 11:51 AM

    Lindsay - Oh my goodness this trunk is gorgeous!! I would put it on my dresser and display all my jewelry in it!!! Gorgeous!!!
    xoxo,
    Lindsay

  • September 8, 2010 - 1:48 PM

    Karen A. - This giveaway is such a nifty idea. I would use this jewelry trunk as a gift to one of my closest friends who I know would love it! She is into antique things!
    Thanks!

  • September 8, 2010 - 2:09 PM

    stephanie - this is super awesome. it looks like a treasure chest. and since i want to be a pirate when i grow up, i’d use it to store my treasure.

    =)

  • September 8, 2010 - 2:31 PM

    Sarah - I would be one step closer to the organization that makes my heart sing. And it would let me know if my girls had been rifling through my jewelry :).

  • September 8, 2010 - 3:17 PM

    Ai Mei - Oh, its so cute! My poor grandmother leaves her jewelery laying around, I would def. give it to her.

  • September 8, 2010 - 6:29 PM

    Stephanie - Question to enter: How will YOU use this item?

    Answer: I would either put it on my dresser in my room or even on the coffee table in the living room, it’s so pretty!!!

  • September 8, 2010 - 7:12 PM

    Sarah - Okay, so I would use this lovely item as a source of inspiration to redecorate! Simply because I love it and I can envision the kind of space that I would want it to be in! And I might even carry it around like a real suitcase every once in a while, just because I could!

  • September 8, 2010 - 7:42 PM

    jessica - yummy! what would i use this lovely box for…jewelry of course!!! all of my super fun jewelry!! and it would be perfect with my side bed tables i am looking to make…they will be old, stacked suitcases:) yay for your new contest!! you’re sweetness!!!!

  • September 9, 2010 - 1:28 AM

    Pearl - it’s so cute!! I would use it as a jewelry box and keep it on display on my vanity table. I didn’t know Pottery Barn made pieces like this. Thanks!!

  • September 9, 2010 - 9:39 AM

    Kelly - Well, I would put it on my dresser filled with my jewelry and such things, and every time I saw it, I would feel very privileged that Alyse French, has the same thing sitting in her artsy abode (:

  • September 9, 2010 - 11:09 AM

    Lillian - this darling piece of vintage would make its way to the front dashboard of my car – I always need a place to put back-up jewelry and make-up when I’m on the run!!!! And it’s so super for travel; it’s definitely coming with me on my next trip to Nicaragua =)

  • September 9, 2010 - 11:49 AM

    Ashley Rae - Alyse! What an amazing idea!! What a gorgeous thing! WOW…Well I would most certainly take my jewelry from all the miscellaneous boxes from around my room and put it all together in that fantastic one!

  • September 10, 2010 - 12:23 PM

    Kate D - such a fun idea. thought of by such fun people. SO i would certainly use this to hold jewelery. all of which now is spread between several different wine glasses. which isn’t such a terrible way to hold jewelry. BUT this adorable box is much much better.

  • September 10, 2010 - 9:53 PM

    Mickey Coutts - It is SO cute, I honestly think I’d put it on my built-in bookcases in the living room. I’d keep something fun inside, too, maybe keepsakes or small treasures.

  • September 11, 2010 - 6:14 PM

    Crystal Valentine Burhans - This item, if won, is going to my grandmother. She has a lot of jewelry and is always looking for ways to store it. She would adore this piece sitting in her living on the corner table (where she can keep jewelry she wears on a daily basis). It would look like decor and serve her a great purpose!

    Thanks for the entry!

  • September 11, 2010 - 6:45 PM

    Amber Jacoby - hmmm, Oh SO many possibilities! Well I could put it in my room, where I do all my editing, Inspiration piece! Plus, it could double as a jewelry box and hang out with all the other nifty vintage things on my dresser. AND photo shoot prop?! I am always looking for a new suite case to add to my collection for photo shoots :) You’re so creative and always inspire me! Thanks so much for your encouragement!

  • September 11, 2010 - 10:53 PM

    shenais - i would use it as storage- toy storage. i’m looking for decent bins and tubs that aren’t made out of plastic.

  • September 12, 2010 - 8:16 AM

    1 For Me // 1 For You: Winner Announced! | Alyse French Photography | Houston-Based Wedding and Lifestyle Photographer - […] September’s Vintage Trunk Jewelry Box from Pottery Barn is ALL YOURS! Please send me a message via my contact form with your mailing […]

  • September 14, 2010 - 9:27 AM

    Sheree - I would set it on my coffee table in the living room it would look cute there but also hold my jewelry that I have a habit of leaving on the table while watching tv.

  • September 14, 2010 - 9:57 AM

    sara aarons - I think I would use it for display piece. So cool!

  • September 16, 2010 - 7:25 AM

    Nicole - This post stopped me in my tracks when I saw this lovely jewelry case. I would want to redesign my whole closet around it.

  • October 3, 2010 - 3:47 PM

    1 For Me // 1 For You | 2nd Edition | Alyse French Photography | Houston-Based Wedding and Lifestyle Photographer - […] that time again! September kicked off our first ever 1 For Me // 1 For You, a monthly giveaway which is just what the title implies: If I have one of something that I find […]