Handmade With Love by Rainbow Souffle

If you follow me on twitter, you might have noticed that lately I've been suggesting that one of the ways to help the 99% get ahead is to put your money where your mouth is and buy American, Local, and Handmade.
Emphasis on Handmade.
Between now and December I plan to highlight some of the rad handmade shops out there that I love.

Rainbow Souffle is one of these. You may have known Rainbow Souffle from the Beaufulah, but Rainbow Souffle is a lot easier to remember. ;-)

Reasons I love Rainbow Souffle-
Well made children's clothes.  Our Robot/Stripes reversible pants got worn all the time by the toddler, and washed frequently, and alas, they still look delightful, even though my little bean sprout has long since outgrown them in length.

Whimsical. Toddler's been sporting stripey pirate pants from Rainbow Souffle lately with a delightfully playful mustache shirt designed and acrylic printed, by hand, from the same shop.

Open Minded- You can find LGBT friendly designs like "My Moms Rock," or "My Dads Rock," because Rainbow Souffle is inclusive and wants to make sure that everyone's kids can feel good about being able to wear cute shirts appropriate for their families.

Human. Rainbow Souffle rocks, on a personal level. Follow @Rainbowsouffle Twitter for the occasional glimpse into the creative and big hearted woman behind it all.

Rainbow Souffle also carries delightful felt hair clips, one of which I own, and love. It's a TARDIS.  Yep, Rainbow Souffle is that cool.


So check her out!  Handmade in the USA and wonderful.



Disclaimer- She's my friend, I've bought from her and she's gifted us stuff. I've gifted her stuff. Life works that way. She's awesome, and I'm not getting money for this.  Have a nice day.

Wordless Wednesday: a Breastfeeding Doll

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DIY Holiday Cards

Somewhere in my basket of holiday cards that I can't bear to throw away (what if it's the last thing Aunt Tilda ever sends me?) I have so many duplicates that sometimes it makes me snort giggle.  Further, I used to buy holiday cards in bulk, so I'd have to remember which box I used for which part of the family, and be sure not to repeat next year for the same people. If I sent inappropriate reindeer cards to my mom's side last year, better not send anyone the leftovers, or they'll think I'm off my rocker, twice.
Of course, the boring "Happy Holidays" message doesn't do a good job of reconnecting with the people who are important enough to me to send a card in the first place, so then I end up thinking, I might as well write the dreaded "Christmas Letter."  Now, if you're like me, you're shuddering for two different reasons right now. The idea of writing a Christmas Letter is in and of itself daunting. It's time consuming. You have to include enough information about the last year to bring people up to date, but you have to gauge your language, not come off whiny or boastful. That's harder than it seems, hence the shuddering. The other reason you might be  shuddering?  If everyone sends you a letter, then you have to *read* and *retain* the information, rather than run away in horror.
Best solution? Make your own holiday cards. Cards with personality, cards that say what you want to say, without having to hand write it or fill a whole page.  Cards with your own artwork of family photos. They're personal, they're fabulous.
Last year I told you how I had begun making my own simple cards, and the nightmare that was trying to print them myself. Well, it turned out that having Shutterfly print them for me was a great idea. I also had them print up some notecards  and greeting cards for other occasions too, all of which have come in handy over the last twelve months.  (Seriously start thinking ahead now for birthdays, Mother's Day, Father's Day, and even graduations, you won't be sorry that you did.)

Last year, this is the card I went with.

I *still* love the bright colors, and I got a lot of compliments on it. It stood out and let's face it, kids are cute.

I also did a few with this fun Ho Ho Ho design-

It's entirely possible I was just looking for an excuse to include their Halloween pictures from last year. By entirely possible, I mean that was my entire point.

For this year, I'm leaning toward the Happy Everything card, though they have a fabulous Snowflake Star one. I love the Happy Everything one because it doesn't have to be any holiday specific, really, and since so many of my friends and family don't really do Christmas, I won't get any "uh, you do remember I'm an atheist" emails in late December.  It's also a bright-colors winner as well, and I'm so easily seduced by color.

Of course, I never got around to making that calendar for my grandparents last year, but I'm nearly done with that cookbook I'm working on. I really love the photo books, and I'm excited to finish compiling all the family recipes and pictures of the family member most responsible for them, and by finish, I mean, finally get my aunt to part with a certain frosting recipe.  Want a sneak peak of just one recipe?

Yum.

So, while I'm busily telling you why I like to make things myself, I'd like to extend the opportunity for THREE of you to try out their services too.

What's that? A giveaway? Sweet.

I have three promotion codes for 25 cards each!  If you'd like to win one, comment below with:

Mandatory:
Which Shutterfly card you like the best. Be sure to leave your email address in a non-spam-bot-friendly form with your comment if your email address isn't readily viewable in your blogger profile.

Optional:
Where you spread news of this giveaway. (twitter, facebook, G+, pinterest, your blog/lj/myspace/public billboard wherever. Just leave a link so I can check on it if you win.) You can do any of these once a day, just don't irritate your followers. It's not fun if you're irritating your followers.

Winners will be chosen Tuesday November 1st by number randomizer and notified by email. After winner responds, I'll email them their code. If you don't respond, I straight up have to find someone else who is going to respond, since codes languishing in in-boxes is just s.a.d. Alternate winners will be picked based on my mood and how much whimsy is in the air. Yes, it's a weird giveaway timeframe, but I'll be taking pictures all next weekend looking for something slightly cooler to put on my Happy Everything card.  I'm thinking Zombies, since I think Halloween pictures look great on a Christmas Card.


Disclaimer: Yep, I'm getting a promo code for offering this giveaway too.  No, I'm not getting paid, and frankly, I wouldn't be writing this at all if I didn't like the product I've gotten from Shutterfly in the past.  I started out as a happy customer, not a grabby blogger. Have a nice day.

ISO a good home

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You let him out of the house like that?

I'm a firm believer in (reasonably) letting kids have a good deal of say in what they wear, even when it's a helmet to go to the play area at the gym.
Sure we get strange looks, but he's happy.
What do you let your kids wear out?
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Tick Tock Goes the Clock

My toddler started singing the Tick Tock Goes the Clock theme from Doctor Who (Night Terrors, most notably, but also Closing Time and The Wedding of River Song). But to get the lyrics, I had to do a bit of a web crawl, and I haven't included the verse I read flying around twitter, (his friends they watched in sorrow/ the doctor dies tomorrow) though I'd place it before the final verse if including it, which we often do around here.


Tick tock goes the clock
And what now shall we play?
Tick tock goes the clock
Now summer's gone away? (Missing from video)

Tick tock goes the clock
And what then shall we see?
Tick tock until the day
That thou shalt marry me

Tick tock goes the clock
And all the years they fly
Tick tock and all too soon
You and I must die

Tick tock goes the clock
We laughed at fate and mourned her
Tick tock goes the clock
Even for the Doctor

Tick tock goes the clock
He cradled her and he rocked her
Tick tock goes the clock
Even for the Doctor.

Tick tock goes the clock
He gave all he could give her
Tick tock goes the clock
Now prison waits for river
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Review: Burt's Bees Natural Skin Solutions for Sensitive Skin

I've been doing the BzzAgent thing for a while now, and it's fun. I get to try new things. Some of them I don't like, some of them I do.  Right now the tween and I are trying out Burt's Bees Natural Skin Solutions for Sensitive Skin, because I tend to break out fairly easily when I use just about any product on my skin. Sunscreens, moisturizers, cleansers, anything.  I end up using water and rubbing alcohol on my face, except in the winter when that's far too drying and I can try something like Oil of Olay for sensitive skin once a week and pray that my skin doesn't go into red and itchy mode, which it often does.

So, it was with some fear and trepidation that I used the facial cleanser for the first time.  I'm a big baby about smells, so I was glad that it didn't have a strong smell. It smelled, well, like Eucerin Calming Cream. It was a light, slightly yeasty smell.  While I live in constant terror of teh yeast- as a nursing mother, thrush is not on my to do list, I'd used other products that smelled the same long enough to not panic.  It didn't sting, so that was a good sign, it seemed to rinse away pretty well and didn't leave my skin feeling tight or tingly, two more good signs.  When I got up in the morning, my skin hadn't gone into freak out mode, so I was happy.  The tween seemed pretty happy with the results too.

In theory, I was supposed to try it with the moisturizer too, and my skin has been getting a bit dry with the turning of the season, so I decided, after I knew the cleanser didn't cause a total skin meltdown (I don't mean like when the Flesh disintegrates on Doctor Who, but rather itching, flaking, or breaking out in pimples or funky rashy bumps) that I could go ahead and try the moisturizer.  Of course, it took the toddler getting his little hands on the container and asking to try it to get me to suck it up and do so.

So I put a little on his fingers and a little on mine and we both put it on our faces.  My skin is still clear, still not itchy, still not flaky, red, or irritated, and toddler is still sweet little baby-faced.

I looked on the Skin Deep site to see how these products rate, but they're not yet listed in database, so I can't tell you all the finer details I like to list in a skincare product review.  If you have any more information on that topic, please do share.

All in all, I'm fairly pleased with the products, but I suspect the tween will get more mileage than I will, because I'm fairly conditioned not to use a lot of product on my skin.  If you have sensitive skin and want to try something new, I think it's worth giving a go.


Disclaimer- yep, I got to try it for free, though I wasn't required to write a blog review, I just chose to.  I'm not getting paid for this, but you know, I think I should be.  The writing, that is, not so much the reviewing. 

Cupcakes and Eggs- Breakfast of Champions.

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NaNoWriMo - Full In.

I did NaNoWriMo in 2006 and 2007.  In 2007 I didn't start until after November 20th, and still managed somehow to finish.  Then in 2008 something happened. The economy soured, we couldn't afford to stay in our home anymore, and we moved in with my husband's mother.

It turns out, she's not a big fan of watching people sit a computer if it isn't "work" related.  She kind of has this notion that if you're not outside of the home with a typical job, then you're not doing anything worthwhile.  So I said "this year, I think I'll skip NaNo." Besides, I argued, my computer had died shortly before moving and it was all just too complicated. I was pregnant and depressed, and it was easy not to do it.

A year later, 2009, I was busily nursing a baby, changing diapers, and dealing with life coming far too fast for me to handle. Good reason to skip it, right?

2010. Baby is walking. Baby is talking. Baby is hard to keep up with. Delightful new computer, but still, not a good year for me.

2011. This is it. I do it this year or forget that I used to write. So I'm going all in.  This is me, doing NaNo this year.  These fingers learned to type so that they can write, and write I'm going to do.  Sure we're sort-of moving that month, but no more excuses.

Want to join me? Sign up at NaNoWriMo for a thirty day whirlwind of writing and fun starting November 1st, and GET WRITING.

Unequivocal Proof of Fall

The pumpkins are out, annd families are starting to take advantage of the crisp cool air.

What do you do to get into the fall spirit?
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