Holiday Sweepstakes from About.com and Shapeways: Winner Takes All

I really don’t want to miss out on the white sandstone Coraline tealight, but I am sort of stuck between the tapas spoons and the multi-colored pencil holder too. And I can’t think of anyone I know, child or adult, who would not get a huge kick out of the catapult (what an ingenious little design, and the perfect stocking stuffer). One lucky person won’t have to worry about what they missed out on at all, as the first place winner for About.com and Shapeway’s Shape My Holiday sweepstakes wins all 10 of the 3D printed gift items voters will be weighing in on.

About.com is in the business of helping people and answering interesting, relevant questions. They are putting these attributes to work during the holidays for you, partnering with Shapeways, the world’s largest 3D printing service and marketplace, to bring a cool holiday sweepstakes to shopping and 3D printing enthusiasts — as well as social media savvy voters —as voting is performing by clicking on the ‘tweet’ button by your favorite Shapeways catalog item. Should you win one, it is 3D printed just for you, or the person you will be giving it to during the holidays.

Entering the sweepstakes is certainly not a difficult task, as all you have to do is vote between now and November 3rd for your favorite item highlighted by home experts. From About.com and Shapeways, 10 experts put their heads together and each came up with one favorite product from the Shapeways catalog for you to vote on. The designs are colorful, streamlined, sophisticated, and fun. As for winners, 48 people who pick the item that gets the most votes will be chosen at random to win that item. The first-prize winner will receive one of each of the 10 elegant items.

The items, from the Shapeways catalog, were handpicked for the sweepstakes by a variety of designers specializing in areas such as:

• Home and Accessories
• Color
• Kitchens
• Card Making
• Family Crafts
• DIY Projects
• Pets
• Interior Design

This is just a tiny smattering of the wonderful objects Shapeways has to offer — they have beautiful, quality ‘custom products designed by over 10,000 independent creators.’ Their goal is to offer 3D printing access and affordability to everyone. Through their website, you can use your favorite 3D printing apps, favorite sculpting and modeling software, and work with ‘the best 3D modelers in the world.’ Shapeways will 3D print your designs for you, and offers over 30 materials to choose from.

About.com offers hours of great reading, ideas, and projects. Most of the 3D printed gifts in the sweepstakes are home-oriented, and About.com specializes in that on their website, with specials areas for interior decorating, freebies, organizational tips, pet tips, and more. You can also find information on food, health, style, and money.

Between About.com and Shapeways, not to mention voting in the sweepstakes, you should have no time to get bored during this holiday season — even if you are just ‘window shopping!’

You can tweet to vote once every day for that item you are hoping to win. Hopefully, you’ll be printing out sugar cookies with your ampersand cookie cutter in no time!

Check out more about Shapeways’ story:

Are you planning to enter the sweepstakes? Tell us about it in the About.com and Shapeways Holiday Sweepstakes forum at 3DPB.com.