As soon as I opened the box and had the AYA in my hands, I could tell this was not only a beautiful bag, but very well made.  The first thing that hits you after you remove the dust cover is the wonderful real leather smell. The exterior is made from a soft leather that appears like it will be very durable. The AYA comes in several colors (white, black, green), but the one I received is three beautiful shades of pink. The exterior stitching is top quality… straight, with a nice matching color thread. Both sides of the bag are identical, so there is not a front or back.  Tucked behind the handles on both sides are zippered pockets that are a good size for smaller items that you may use more frequently.

The interior of the pink AYA is one of my favorite colors. It’s a satin burgundy color that goes perfectly with the three exterior colors. On one side is a padded laptop pocket that would hold most laptops with screen sizes up to around 15″. I did a quick measurement and the pocket is about 14 x 11 x 2 inches in size. The top of the pocket is secured with a wide velcro flap. On the outside wall of the laptop pocket are two small open top pockets that would be great for change or small items. Opposite the laptop side is a zippered pocket that is about 9 inches wide and 8 inches deep. Next to the laptop compartment there’s plenty of room for all your other stuff such as power cords, a book or two and whatever else you may need during the day.

One of the nicest things about this pink leather laptop bag, it that it doesn’t really look like a laptop bag at all. You could use this bag with or without your laptop. Take it to the office during the day and then take it out a night. Stylish, modern looking and functional! This bag is currently only available on the Mamtak website for just over $200 USD. Mamtak is a company based in Amsterdam, but they ship worldwide. We will hopefully have this bag and other future pink Mamtak bags available on the Rainebrooke website in the near future.

Winner:

Congrats to Carolyn G. @carogonza ! Carolyn’s comment was the winning comment number. Thanks to all those who entered!

Giveaway! (Win this Pink AYA bag)

Would you like to win this AYA bag that we reviewed? Read on and it could be yours.

• Open to US & Canada only
• One winner will be chosen at random from the comments by using Random.org
• Giveaway closes on Monday, Dec. 5th at 11am CST

To Enter:

• Visit Rainebrooke and comment here telling me which is your favorite pink laptop bag.

For Extra Entries:

• Follow @rainebrooke on Twitter
• “Like” Rainebrooke on Facebook
• Follow @mamtakbags on Twitter
• “Like” Mamtak on Facebook
• Blog about this giveaway, with this blog title linked back to “Rainebrooke”
• Tweet about this giveaway using this Rainebrooke giveaway tweet (once per day)
• Note: post a new comment for each extra entry method above.

The fine print:

• One bag will be given away. We are giving away the bag we reviewed. While new, is has been handled by us during review. It will be shipped by Rainebrooke, not the manufacturer.
• Giveaway is open to anyone in the US & Canada.
• We will pay for shipping (Ground) within US & Canada. Outside US: any duties and taxes are the responsibility of the recipient.
• We reserve the right to remove comments that we can not confirm from the entry methods above.
• This bag will not have any guarantees or warranties.
• The winner will be notified by the email at the address which they provided with the comment. The winner will have 48 hours to reply to the winning email notification. If we don’t receive a reply within 48 hours a new winner will be chosen.

The holiday season is upon us, so we’re going to spread a little holiday cheer with several giveaways over the next month.

First up in the giveaway that started yesterday at Ten 23 Media. This giveaway is for a Allie pink laptop bag. Entry instructions can be found here. Ends 11/15.

Starting today and then again on Nov. 11th and 16th are giveaways being sponsored by Miva Merchant. Miva is the shopping cart system that we use on the Rainebrooke.com website. These giveaways are for an Allie and (2) hot pink Zoey iPad bags. Entry into these giveaways can be done by going to the “Sweepstakes” page on the Miva Facebook page.

On Monday Nov. 14th, the Parenting Tips Blender website will be hosting a giveaway for one of our pink laptop bags. Visit the Parenting Tip Blender Blog on 11/14 for details.

Tuesday Nov. 15th will mark the start of the giveaway we will be doing right here.. on the Rainebrooke blog. Visit our blog on Nov 15th for details on how to enter.

In addition to these giveaways, keep an eye on our Twitter account @rainebrooke. We’ll be tweeting out limited time specials throughout November and December, along with Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals.

From time to time we have laptop bags which have very small imperfections. Since they’re not perfect, we hold them to the side and don’t sell them. Now that we have a few boxes of these bags we’re ready to clear them out.

All of these free laptop bags are new, but have minor imperfections such as as loose threads, misaligned stitching, mis-cut padding or trim, or may have a small spot or imperfection on the material. If you don’t care about a minor imperfection, then we would be happy to give you one.

Who can get a free laptop bag…

1. If you place an order for any pink laptop bag on our site, we’ll send you one of these defect bags for free. We will even cover the shipping (within US) for the free bag.

2. Don’t want to place an order? No problem. All we ask is you cover the cost of shipping & handling. The bag is free!

How to get your free laptop bag…

1. (Required) “Like” us on Facebook. Go to Rainebrooke’s Facebook page and click the “Like” button.

2. If you placed an order for another bag on our site (for orders placed after 8/5/2011), email us at customercare@rainebrooke.com. In your email include your name, order#, and which bag below you’re interested in getting for free. If the bag you want is still available, we’ll ship it to you for free (within US).

3. If you didn’t place an order, email us at customercare@rainebrooke.com. In your email include your name, full shipping address, and which bag below you’re interested in getting for free. If the bag you want is still available, we’ll email you the shipping options/costs. Once you pay for shipping & handling, we’ll send you the free bag.

Free Bags Available…

Updated list 9/7/2011 – Below is an updated list of the free blemished bags that we currently have available. Please note that this list is constantly changing. Limit of 2 free bags per person.

• (1) Emily (hot pink) – does not have shoulder strap
• (5) Metro Lite (hot pink)
• (5) Metro Lite (light pink)
• (1) Metro Lite (light blue)
• (5) Slim Line (light pink)
• (4) Slim Line (hot pink)
• (7) Zoey (light pink)
• (3) Zoey (hot pink)

Below are photos of the free bags currently available. There are limited quantities of each, so act fast if you want one. Be sure to check the dimensions of your laptop with the dimensions shown below. There are no shipping refunds. Please note: Each bag has a different type of imperfection… some worse than others. While you can select the type of bag you want, you won’t be able to select the type of defect the bag has.

Zoey iPad Bag (light pink). Fits the iPad and tablets up to 9.56 x 7.47 x .5 inches

Metro Lite - light pink. Fits laptops up to 15 x 11.75 x 2 inches

Metro Lite - hot pink. Fits laptops up to 15 x 11.75 x 2 inches

Metro Lite - light blue. Fits laptops up to 15 x 11.75 x 2 inches

Slim Line - light pink. Fits laptops up to 14.25 x 11.25 x 2 inches

Slim Line - hot pink. Fits laptops up to 14.25 x 11.25 x 2 inches

Slim Line - red. Fits laptops up to 14.25 x 11.25 x 2 inches

CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE... Allie laptop tote. Fits netbook and laptops up to 14.25 x 11 x 2 inches

* Limit of 2 free bags per person.

Enter to win today… maybe you’ll be lucky and win both

Giveaway #1 can be found at Blissful Bee Blogging (@missblissfulbee) … ends 11/21

Giveaway #2 can be found at Born 2 Impress (@born2impress) … ends 11/26

Steph is also hosting a giveaway for a free Allie pink laptop bag. Head over to her blog, watch the video and then enter to win! Update (7/12): congrats to Nicole @wordforteens for winning our giveaway.

While your on Steph’s blog, take a look at her debut novel “Girl Saves Boy” and pick up a copy for yourself in September.

We’ll be tweeting out “Hello’s” to cities, states, and countries around the world.
Each time we tweet “Hello” to a location, if you live there you can save or win!

Our tweets may be for huge discounts, a free bag, or just something else we’re in the mood to give out.

A few example tweets:

• “Hello Dallas! … 50% Off for 2 hours. #rainebrooke”

If you see this tweet and you live in Dallas you’ll get 50% off your entire order if you order anytime within 2 hours of the tweet. Use the coupon code Dallas to get your discount.

• “Hello New York! … 30% Off an Emily Tote for 4 hours. #rainebrooke”

If you see this tweet and you live in New York you’ll get 30% off an Emily laptop tote if you order anytime within 4 hours of the tweet. Use the coupon code New York to get your discount.

The key to getting the discount is using the name of the city, state or country as a coupon code. The discounts will not be applied automatically; you must insert the location in the coupon code field during checkout. e.g. Dallas, New York, California, Canada, Australia, etc.

If the tweet is for a giveaway, the details on winning will be provided in the tweet.

Follow Rainebrooke on Twitter, it’s the only way you’ll get the deals. Retweet our deals so your friends can get in on the specials too.

Don’t want to wait for your city, state or country? No problem. If you tweet the following “I want a pink laptop bag from @rainebrooke! http://tinyurl.com/y8mm4jn #rainebrooke”, we’ll have a special discount for you too …keep an eye on your Twitter Direct Messages (you must be following us to receive our direct message).

Follow us today!

Lindsey’s name was randomly drawn by my daughter Brooke (pictured holding the winning name). Her sister Raine helped out by holding the pink Allie laptop bag which held all the names of our Facebook fans.

Keep an eye on our Facebook page, blog and follow us on Twitter. We’ll be giving away more laptop bags, special deals for our followers and other cool stuff.

Check out our current giveaway going on now @Born2impress … details here.

When you’re a fan of Rainebrooke’s on Facebook, you’ll be automatically entered into our giveaway contests. You could be the next winner of one of our laptop bags. Our next drawing is when we reach 100 fans… we’ll be giving away a blue Metro-Traveler laptop bag.

If you’re looking for the latest special deals and news from Rainebrooke, follow us on Twitter. Not only do we tweet about our deals and news, but you’ll find helpful tweets on topics like technology, entertainment, shopping, business, marketing and the occasional completely off topic tweet

Our contest was held on the popular laptop bag review site Funchico.com where visitors and customers could submit names in round one and then we picked 5 finalists which were voted on last week in round two.

The name Black Candy won the popular vote with 62% of the votes.

Here’s the final vote (Name, % of vote):

• Black Candy (62%)
• Roxy (17%)
• Soda Shoppe (12%)
• Cityglide (7%)
• Patent Plush (3%)

Thanks to everyone who submitted names, voted and to Kate at Funchico.com (@funchico on Twitter) for hosting the contest.

Stop by and visit Kate’s other sites:

• Funchico.com
• Funky, Chic and Cool Laptop Bags
• Funky, Chic and Cool Laptop Sleeves
• Funky, Chic and Cool Laptop Backpacks
• Cool and Stylish Laptop Bags for Men
• Funky, Chic and Cool Knitting Bags
• My Name is Kate
• LintBucket Media

Our new Black Candy laptop bag will be available soon, so check back here, visit our site or sign up for our newsletter and you’ll be the first to know when it’s available.

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The 5 finalists’ names for our new laptop bag are:

• Black Candy from Shannon (Shannon’s blog, @zchamu on twitter)
• Cityglide from Iris
• Patent Plush from Jennie
• Roxy from Karyn
• Soda Shoppe from Karen

Vote for your favorite name by visiting this page at Funchico.com

Voting ends on Friday 4/24/09, so vote today!

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