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.

I Cherish Planet Earth Review & Giveaway

CLOSED
You may have missed it, but in my household, we're really trying quite hard to go a little greener. So when I was offered the opportunity to review I Cherish Planet Earth, a game which pairs the age old delights of pair-matching with ecologically relevant affirmations, complete with colorful and delightful artwork and a story book "A Love Letter to Our Planet."

It's fun, and encourages ecological thinking from an early age, and that's key to making green a way of thinking and acting as a native quality in our children, instead of having to deprogram them when they're older consumerists. Also, I Cherish Planet Earth has won the Dr. Toy 2009 Best Green Product award.

How it's green:

It promotes green thinking.

It's compact, no bigger than a children's book and with no extra bulky boxes and packaging other than the shrink-wrap, it avoids all the nasty packaging waste associated with most children's games and toys.

It's printed on recycled paper with vegetable oil based inks, and is made in the USA.

All this means it's not only green, it's UnEvil.

I Cherish Planet Earth comes complete with a 48 piece pair matching game and drawstring cotton bag, and a 32 page full color story book.

In all honesty, we haven't played with this much. I've looked at it, enjoyed the artwork and message of the book, and I like it, but I Cherish Planet Earth is right up Mongoosine's alley. She will like the positive environmentalism and affirmations as opposed to the scare-tactics of most ecologically conscious toys. I love the friendly tone of the book and game, and so will she. She's the girl who likes to throw B-Earth Day parties where we plant things. So this is her sort of thing. So much so, that this baby is going to go under a certain conifer which just might have beads and other trinkets decorating it, hint hint. It's designed for the whole family, ages 4 and up. Better still, unlike some games which involve loud rattling dice, this is a game that doesn't have to get headache-inducingly loud. That's a double win for me.

I am not sure if I like the positive tone of I Cherish Planet Earth or the artwork better. I am sure Mongoosine will prefer showing off her mad matching skillz to anything else, but such is youth. But what I think the affirmations and game extensions are probably the most meaningful, because not only do they help children to internalize a deeper sense of connectedness to the planet, but they also encourage meaningful thought and positive ecological action.

If you'd like I Cherish Planet Earth for the child, children, family, or school in your life, you can buy it at any of the following:

Amazon

Three Sisters
MyToysMart.com
Tree Hollow Toys
My Little Green Room

If you'd like to win your own I Cherish Planet Earth, I've graciously been given the opportunity to give one to one of my followers.

Mandatory Entry:

Leave a comment telling me what lesson you want your children to learn about the environment.

Additional entries:

1. Leave a comment letting me know what username you follow Challenge&Fun on twitter.

2. Leave a comment letting me know you follow my blog.

3. Leave another relevant comment here on my blog and leave a comment here to let me know where I can find it. (unlimited entries)

4. Blog or tweet about this giveaway, linking back to this post. Leave a comment with the permalink. (tweet up to once daily, blog once, don't irritate your followers)

5. Grab my button and leave a comment with the URL where I can find it.

Please leave your email address in your comments if it is not easily accessible via your blogger account.

Giveaway will close December 9, 2009

Open to US and Canada

Winner will be selected via a random number generator and will be contacted via email, as well as announced on this blog. Winner will have 48 hours to respond to notification email, else an alternate will be selected via whichever ridiculous methodology moves me. Iguana racing or some such nonsense.

Disclosure: I received a free I Cherish Planet Earth to review.

UnEvil Guide to Holiday Gifting

Education, eco-friendly, made in the USA, WAHM made, forward thinking, or just downright UnEvil. I hope these gift ideas inspire you to feel good about your holiday gifting. Please check back often, as I like to add things as inspiration strikes. Thank you, and happy holidays!

Kids of All Ages:

Hugg-a-Planet!

They're extra-tasty-crispy not-evil educational and environmentally conscious. And lets be honest, a huggable gobe for your kids? How cool is that?

Labyrinth Balance Board

Made in the USA, encourages movement, and not all plastic-i-fied.

I Cherish Planet Earth

Made in the USA, encourages eco-activism, made of recycled content and vegetable inks.

Reusable Sandwich and Snack Bags!

There are so many makers, though I've liked looking at these for a while now. They personalize your kids' lunches, while reducing the waste impact of their daily life, and they offer a great conversation piece for your budding environmental activist.

Handmade dolls

I am a huge fan of WAHM-made goods, and found these diverse dollmakers on etsy, like ProjectGrabBag and HollyHobbyShop

Handmade Stuffed Animals

Did I mention, WAHM-made means supporting moms and families? I love these and these from etsy. This shop even has a robot plush doll.

Ethical Chocolate

Candy for kids, that no kids were involved in the making of. Sweet.

You can go to ChocolateWork.com for sources of Slave-Free chocolate. You'll feel better about it.

Baby:

Felt Food!

WHAM made. Because babies love food, we just don't want them all eating it.

Baby Blocks

There are some awesome Baby Block sets on etsy. Like the Rockin' Blocks Skull n Bones alphabet blocks by beebles.

Grown Ups:

Make a donation to a charity which is meaningful to them. I personally am a huge fan of Heifer International.

Magazine subscriptions. Preferably UnEvil ones. You know, the type that focus on ways to live in better harmony with the planet or something educational.

Reusable Bags

I personally am in love with HautTotes for their stylin' individuality and flair, but for something simpler, there's Cathy's Totes.

Conversational Games

They're great because they bring people together, and that's UnEvil.

Here are some party games that are made in the USA.

Nursing Dyads:

Baby Wearing apparatus.

It's nice to be able to nurse on the go, and Mei Tais and Wraps make that really easy, while promoting bonding, and bonding is UnEvil. Dittany Baby makes Mei Tais and Pouch Slings which are made in the USA, and that's even more UnEvil.

Nursing covers.

Sometimes a little cover can be a good thing. There're types that drape over the pair. Types that go between the pair, and even clips to convert a blanket on the fly.

Disclosure: I have not been compensated to specifically include any product in this list as of the original posting. Should I receive any products to include in this list, I will denote said products by marking them ^ and will disclose appropriately following this statement.

Labyrinth Balance Board CLOSED

Mongoosine is one of those hyperactive kids. You know the type. The can't hold still through dinner, has to be running, jumping, thumping, clapping, snapping, bopping, dancing, drumming, twirling, hopping, jumping up and down and making mama dizzy types.

Well, I am loving the Labyrinth Balance Board because it has her, at least ocassionally, focusing all this exuberance in a manner that doesn't make me feel like I'm going to have a (boom-boom-clap) nervous (boom) breakdown (de-clapty-clap).

Here Mongoosine is tackling the Labyrinth Balance Board with two of the three large wooden marbles. She's trying to make them both go in, which is harder than making them go out.

I think it's great that as she gets better there are different challenges she can try. She can use one marble and make it work it's way out of the labyrinth, or if she's feeling talented, she can work it toward the inside. Then she adds more marbles. She hasn't quite figured out how to move one inward while moving the other outward, but is having a good laugh (and secretly working her core muscles trying not to fall over) trying to figure that out.

As she gets better, I'm thinking of getting out a timer from one of our underplayed board games to see if she can beat the sand. I appreciate that there are many routes to upping the difficulty of this toy.

I haven't quite had the guts to get my less than skinny self up on the board, but her cousin seemed to think it was grand fun the last time she visited.

What I love about the Labyrinth Balance Board

It makes me work on my spelling (labyrinth labyrinth labyrinth).

It's made in the USA! (Score one for the home team!)

Problem solving skills and motor skills, all in one game.

It's durable. Mongoosine has mad skillz when it comes to breaking things. All she's managed to do is scratch the bottom of the balance peg using it on the rough sidewalk. Unlike her bunk bed rail, she hasn't broken it.

It's wooden. I don't know why, but wooden toys make me much happier than plastic ones.

The not so awesome:

It's hard for me to keep track of the 3 wooden balls which come with it.

Overall, I like it. I think the Labyrinth Balance Board is a good option for the kids. It's recommended for ages 5 and up, and since my 10 year old has been caught enjoying it, then I take the "and up" seriously, which is nice, since so often the "and up" really means "anyone older wouldn't be amused," but this time, "and up" means "your ten year old will play with this too, and possibly your teen." Today she says that she thinks that it's probably better suited for kids a little younger than her, but I'll be shocked if she doesn't drag it out again later this evening. Ah tweens.

Want one?

Buy it. You can order your very own Labyrinth Balance Board from Challenge & Fun or Museum Tour.

Win it. That's right. You can win one, just in time for Yulemas! Christanzaa? Kwanakuah? You get the idea.

Rob from Challenge & Fun has generously offered to give one of my readers their very own Labyrinth Balance Board, just enter below.

Mandatory Entry: Head over to Challenge & Fun and tell me what other of their awesome products is your favorite. Leave a comment letting me know which it is. If you don't do this, you can't win. You need to include your email address in your comment if it isn't publicly attached to your blogger account (username [at] host [dot] com or something similar). If I can't contact you, you can't win.

Extra Entries, because we all like to get extra entries.

1. Follow my blog and leave a comment letting me know you do.

2. Follow Challenge & Fun on twitter and me, and tweet the giveaway up to once daily. Leave a comment with the permalink to your tweet. Tweet MUST include a link back to this giveaway, and mention @ChallengeandFun. (For permalink- click the date/time below your tweet and it will take you to the page with the permalink as the URL)

3. Blog about this giveaway linking back to it and Challenge & Fun. Leave a comment with the link of your specific blog post.

4. Grab my button and put it on your sidebar, then leave a comment letting me know where I can find it.

Congratulations to RockerByeBaby, #29, for winning! You have 48 hours from the time of my email to get in touch before the competitive haiku begins!

Fine Print: Contest open through 12/2/09. Winner will be selected using a random number generator. Winner will be emailed and announced on this blog. Winner will have 48 hours to respond or another winner will be selected via some bizarre and creative method like competitive haiku. Don't make me get creative.

Giveaway open to US residents only. Sorry Canada, it's bulky.

Disclosure: My family received a free balance board for the purposes of this review. I was not otherwise compensated.

Why so quiet?

If you're wondering why I've been a little quiet lately, wonder no longer.
We've been gearing up for a babywearing event in December, which means lots of babywearing, and less time blogging.
Looking for a guide to an UnEvil Guide to Holiday Gifting? That's coming soon too.
Shameless self-promotion: I'm still looking for sponsors for both my babywearing event and my UnEvil Guide to Holiday Gifting. If you'd like to sponsor, email me!
I'm planning some great babywearing reviews, at least one giveaway, babywearing artwork, and a tutorial or two.
For my UnEvil Guide to Holiday Gifting, I'll be waxing enthusiastic about some eco-friendly, developmentally relevant, creative, non-toxic,WHAM made, US made, free trade and/or ethical options for gift giving.
So be sure to pop back by every so often. I'll be going UnEvil shortly before Thanksgiving, if all goes as planned!