Sustainability Book Review- Tiny Homes: Simple Shelter by Lloyd Kahn

Tiny Homes: Simple Shelter by Lloyd Kahn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Written as a collaborative work featuring the homes and space, written by the people who built them, Tiny Homes is a great source of inspiration for smaller more sustainable living. Many of the homes and spaces (studios, saunas, offices) were built using salvaged materials, opening up the readers options, not only in size, but also in economy.
Covering a great number of less-than-conventional but earth and pocketbook friendly construction methods, like straw bale, cobb, and palate, and including an article on the basic municipal planning and building approval process, Tiny Homes: Simple Shelter is a valuable resource for people dreaming tiny.
After reading this book, I look around my ridiculously oversized spaces filled with too much stuff and feel compelled to pare down the clutter and live with more of the things I use and less of the things that just take up space.
What makes this book special, beyond the valuable information, is the peak into the lives of the diverse people who have decided to live somewhere tiny and sometimes hand built for very different reasons and in very different places. I also like that tiny home builders featured throughout the book are easy to find and contact because the inclusion of website information from the contributors. All in all, it's a great resource filled with beautiful pictures sure to plant the seeds of a plan in readers' minds.

Tutorial Tuesday: Pillow Case

I like making pillow cases. They're quick, easy, and a great way to add some interest to your bed, or to lug your laundry home from a week camping.

Pillow cases make me happy.

Because I heart pillow cases so much, when I made my nephew a blanket for his birthday, I decided to make him a coordinating pillow case too. 

 I keep thinking that I need to make a set of three matching pillows for our bed, one for myself, one for spouse, and one for the JabberWalky, since we co-sleep.

About this pattern/tutorial:

This pattern makes a Standard sized pillow case.  The method can be adapted for other sizes of pillow, however, I have not yet crunched the numbers, and it would not be as elegant as a simple "one yard." And since I'm putting this pattern out there for free, I'm too lazy to do the other figures right now.

This design leaves no exposed raw edges by using French Seams. They're not complicated, and I explain the process, but you can be proud of yourself for having learned how to do them when you're finished.

Have fun, feel free to play with fabrics, and look forward to seeing variations posted in the future.

For a How-To on how to make the child sized blanket, see my Blanket Tutorial.

Materials:

1 yard quilting cotton

2" to 4" strip contrasting fabric

Matching or delightfully contrasting thread

Tools:

Sewing Machine

Iron and Ironing Board

Scissors

Rotary cutting mat

Rotary cutting ruler

Rotary cutter

Step 1:  Pick out your fabric.  This may take months, it's okay.

Step 2: Wash, dry, and iron fabric. This is crucial to having a long lasting finished item that doesn't look like it was sewn by the cat.

Step 3: Cut a 9" strip of fabric from your one yard piece from selvage to selvage. You will now have two rectangles. One 27"x 42"-44", and another 9"x 42"-44"

Step 4:  With Right Sides Together, pin contrasting fabric to the larger piece of your main fabric.  Stitch together with a 1/4" seam allowance, remembering to backstitch at beginning and end.  Remove pins, press seams flat toward contrasting strip.

Step 5: With Right Sides Together, pin 9"x 42"-44" strip of main fabric to the contrast fabric. Stitch together with a 1/4" seam allowance, remembering to backstitch, backstitch, backstitch.  Remove pins. Press seams open.

Step 6: Fold over and press a 1/2" hem along edge of smaller section of main body. Stitch in place

Step 7: With WRONG sides together, carefully fold down hem so that it completely overlaps the contrasting strip, aligning the seam lines. ( I skipped sewing in my hemline as it's a redundant step, but if you're nervous about alignments, it's a good idea)

Step 8: Pin in place sparingly, flip over, and slowly stitch along the seam between the contrasting strip and the main body.

Step 9: With WRONG Sides Together, pretty side OUT, fold "hotdog style" so that you have a rectangle approximately 22" x  38" (Approximately because fabric widths vary and the width of the contrasting stripe can vary per your preference.)  Pin the long edge and the edge furthest from the contrasting stripe, leaving the hemmed area unpinned.

Step 10: Using a 1/4" seam allowance, sew far and long edges, remembering to backstitch. Pretty side still out.

Step 11: Turn inside out and iron seams so it all lays down nicely.  Now it is Right Sides Together. Pin  along the long side and the far side, so you don't get confused about where you're sewing.

Step 12: Using a 1/2" seam allowance, stitch the long and far sides.  Remember to backstitch where you start and stop. Clip loose threads.

You've just learned how to sew a French seam.  Pat yourself on the back.

Step 13: Turn right side out and enjoy

GREEN TIP*If you are making a pillow case and blanket as a gift, I say fold the blanket neatly and wrap it in the pillow case.  It's cute, efficient, and saves wrapping supplies!

Beading Party

I love a good jewelry party, but I don't really love all the Made-in-China and possibly lead tainted, hopefully not slave labor, and cost more than I should be spending parts of it.
Fortunately, I have a brilliant mother who came up with an idea. A Beading Party.

What you need-
a group of friends
all your and their broken beaded necklaces
some cord/wire/whatever you want to string something new on
new clasps
wire cutters
jewelery or needle nose pliers
creativity
snacks
bowls
baggies

It'd be nice if you had
ear ring hooks
a couple of those special beading trays that let you lay out your beads in order first
everyone bring a package of new beads to play with
background music
a big long table

Once you have your guest list together, it's pretty simple.  Invite your friends, make sure they know what to bring, and when everyone gets there have fun making new jewelry out of your broken old jewelry.  At the end of the day, everyone has their own new creations instead of a hostess gift, and all the left over beads can go in little baggies and go home with whomever brought them.

It's easy, and your friends will probably be relieved to be able to create something new for free or maybe four  dollars in new beads rather than getting the high pressure sales pitch to buy something they really don't feel they can afford.

So go, plan a beading party, have fun, and save some broken but loved pieces of jewelry from sitting there waiting for you to get around to fixing them, or worse, from winding up in the garbage.  You'll have a great time, and in the end you'll be able to be proud of what you've created.

Wordless Wednesday: Tis a Gift to be Simple

Wordless Wednesday 

Buddha Bunz Dryer Balls Review & Art Project

So, I have this friend who makes wool dryer balls. They're awesome. I've bought a few of them and now have a grand total of 8 wool balls.
Basic questions and answers so I can get on to the fun part.

Do they work?
Yes. Very well.
I have been able to dry loads of laundry which normally took two to two and a half runs through the dryer in one to one and a half.  That makes me very happy.
How do they work?
They beat the heck out of your laundry to help soften it while the wool absorbs excess moisture, thus speeding the drying process.
How many do you need?
Buddha Bunz suggests around 9 to reduce your drying time substantially, but I started with three and started noticing a reduction in drying time immediately.
Will they lint-up your laundry?
Nope. I haven't had any trouble with them doing so.
Are they safe to use with cloth diapers?
Yep. And they make it so your cloth diapers actually come out much softer, way faster.
What if I don't use a dryer so much, is it still worth it to own some?
Definitely.  The kids seem to love them as much as I do. Mongoosine likes juggling with them and Snapdragon simply adores playing with them.  I like that they're lightweight and soft enough that I don' tworry when the kids are tossing them about in the house.
Shouldn't I just go ahead and order them from anywhere?
Nope.  I've gotten three different kinds of wool balls, and I've started experimenting with making my own, and here's what I have to say, Melinda from Buddha Bunz does 'em best.  My Buddha Bunz weigh the same as my Wooltopia, but are wound much more neatly and tightly, so all the same ability to absorb, without any of the "hey, could this come apart?" worry, plus they're nearly perfect little spheres.  My other ball, which I bought from a fair, though pretty with swirly black green and yellow (JabberWalky picked it out) is nice and big, but super light-weight, so not nearly as inclined to actually absorb excess moisture.  As for mine, well, lets just say that if I wanted to make them as perfect as my Buddha Bunz, I'd likely give myself carpel tunnel AND an inferiority complex.
Besides, Buddha Bunz are less expensive by the time you add shipping.


There. Done. Now the fun part.
Buddha Bunz sells plain dryer balls, colored dryer balls, and even specially custom designed ones.  They come scented or unscented, and she even makes ones specially as toys with la jingle bell in the center for extra kidlet amusement.  Well, I like the specially designed ones a *lot* but I'm A. cheap, and B. one of those creative types who always wants to figure out how to do things myself.  So, when Melinda from Buddha Bunz was having a sale on undyed wool dryer balls, I couldn't resist the urge to get some plain ones and see what I could do with them.

So, I turned to my favorite know it all, Google, and came up with these two sites on how to dye wool with common household or kitchen ingredients.  No really, very common ingredients.  One is on how to dye wool with kool-aid drink mix (here), and the other is on how to dye wool with vinegar and food coloring (here).

The first thing I noticed about both of these sets of directions was that they're for dying skeins of wool yarn.  Well, I'm dying balls, so it's a little different.

First I decided to try to dye wool using the kool-aid drink mix, so that's what I'll show you here.  I had my heart set on doing a Battlestar Galactica inspired Eye of Jupiter dryer ball, you know, because I'm a geek.

See? Pretty Eye of Jupiter?

So, I gently soaped and rinsed my pretty plain dryer ball, then wet it a bit more as per the instructions I'd read, and then I mixed the contents of a lemonade and a cherry  Kool-Aid drink mix pouch in separate empty clean baby food jars with a tiny bit of water in each, and then a blue raspberry generic drink mix in a third.  I started to paint on the color with a water color brush, but it didn't seem to be working well, though I admit that is likely because I started with the yellow, so I pulled out the baby-medicine syringe and sucked up the mixture into it and gently tapped the color into place until I was happy with my design. I should have taken a picture then.

So, if you're doing a 3 dimensional ball of wool, bear these tips in mind

.

1. if you oversaturate it, the color will settle to the bottom.  

2. the directions i read said to heat set it in the microwave for 2 minutes, let it sit, then heat set it for 2 minutes... well, don't. heat it 30 seconds at a time because at 2 minutes, you start smelling something unpleasantly scorchy, well, i did.

3. if you have a lovely intricate pattern which you've carefully painted onto the ball, be sure to put that side UP when you are heat setting it, even if you're using a non-microwave heat setting method, because you'll be irritated when you open it up to find a hot ball of wool where the color has bled over the bottom half, obliterating half your design.  Also, see tip 1.

See how that started out  Eye of Jupiter-ish but ended up being all red on the bottom instead of nice concentric circles?  Yeah. Dang it.

It's still cool, but that was a bit disappointing.

4. wear gloves

Definitely wear gloves, that way you don't have to walk around with "Red Right Hand" stuck in your head all day, night, weekend, week, month, year, however long...

Well, after I heat set it, let it cool a bit, rinsed it, resoaped it, and rinsed again then wrapped it in a paper towel and rubbed it to verify that it was color fast, I realized two more things.  

A. This smelled good.

B. Melinda is better at it than I am.

Bottom line? Buddha Bunz wool dryer balls are the BEST ever, and it takes a while to wash kool aid off your fingers.

Don't worry, I'll show you what I do with my other ones too.

Disclaimer: I was not compensated at all in any way shape or form for this, and I really hope that my friend Melinda who makes the balls isn't irritated with me for sharing this.  But as I said, you can have her do the messy work for  you, get radder results, and not walk around with stained fingernails for a week.

To My British Friends.

So here's the thing.
BP. It's BRITISH Petroleum.
I've made the mistake of reading the darn comments on some pages illustrating the horrors of the Gulf oil spill clusterf*ck catastrophe and have read lots of comments implying that we're blaming the British.
Let me reassure you, we're not. Well, the rational people aren't.
The rational people are blaming the greed and hubris of corporations, in this case BP, but recognizing that Exxon or any other oil company could have just as easily created this problem, which the rational people also recognize has happened elsewhere without nearly as much media attention.  The rational people blame the notion that because one has been generally successful with their drilling that they don't need to have effective plans for solutions for when something goes wrong.  The rational people recognize that things do go wrong and pretending that they won't is irresponsible.  The rational people are angry at corporations which take great risks with the health and welfare of the planet without contingency plans and at the governments which let them get by with it.
So yes, we're angry.  We're angry with British Petroleum, but only the ignorant are actually angry with the British.

Here's the other thing rational people are doing.  They're not boycotting BP, because that's just hurting small business owners, or if they are they're hopefully taking the meaningful step.
The rational people are reducing their oil consumption.
They're walking when it's reasonable instead of gassing up the SUV to make the quick library run.
They're running all their errands at once and in a fuel conserving order so as to not make extra trips.
They're buying more locally produced foods and other items which have therefore not been shipped so far.
They're car pooling.
They're not driving for the sake of driving.
They're simply thinking before getting in their car or choosing to use public transportation.

Why? Because by using less fuel one can reduce the demand, and by reducing demand one reduces the pressure from corporations to pressure drill teams and rig operators to cut corners and take risks with global risks.

So to my British friends- still love ya, just won't be car tripping this summer.

Hygeia Enjoye Review

Last night I was up pretty late blogging about breastfeeding, how it's portrayed in various articles, my own experiences with it, and some things I feel really need to change.  I talk a little about my own difficulties with nursing my daughter and some ways to help encourage breastfeeding and point out, as is often overlooked that formula should be a last choice after other alternatives to breastfeeding, at the breast, are exhausted, such as expressed/pumped milk and donor milk.
One of the issues I had with nursing my daughter was horrific and painful engorgement which made it nearly impossible for her to latch, so one of the options I tried was to pump a little to relieve the pressure before nursing.  However, my breast pump was pretty awful.  It was a handheld Evenflo manual pump where I literally had to squeeze the trigger mechanism like on a cleaning product over and over again, much to the dismay of my breasts and of my forearms. It was hard to keep my breast positioned right while manually pumping. It was exhausting, there was no decent rhythm to it and all in all, I was lucky to get nearly an ounce.
Fast forward ten years, yet another ridiculous hand held manual pump by Evenflo. This one has a better sized cup and a more ergonomic handle, but ultimately still was a pretty miserable excuse for a breast pump.
I felt pretty overwhelmed at the notion of trying to produce enough milk to spend one feeding away from the house each week.  I felt like a pumping failure.
I'm not going to lie to you and say that when I got to review the Hygeia Enjoye breast pump that all the sudden my yield went way up.  It's not about the magic pump that suddenly makes your breasts behave like a fountain.  If you look at any breast pump expecting it to increase your production in one sitting, you're going to be very disappointed.  But a better pump will pump more efficiently, more comfortably, and with less energy output on your end.  The Hygeia Enjoye does all these things.

                        

I'm not wasting my time and energy on repositioning it and curving my back funny to get my hand into the right position beneath my breast to work the pump mechanism without breaking suction and having all the milk coming out run down my chest instead of into the collection bottle.  This means I don't get as rapidly frustrated and have the opportunity to spend more quality time with my pump, and *that* is what helps build your productivity, so to speak.
My output is still not wonderful, but I know I don't spend the kind of time I need to to build it to where I'd like it. Ideally, I'd like to be able to give my son a breast milk sippy every day at lunch and still have frozen milk saved up to donate. I'm not there yet. But I do like this pump and I think that if I were a little more dedicated, I'd definitely be able to get there.
Let me tell you what I like about the Hygeia Enjoye.

It's more comfortable than other pumps with which I've tried to pump in the past.

It has a really nifty feature where there's this little button, well, two buttons actually.

See the green one? See the black one?  See how it says "Play" and "Record" on it? That's the brilliant feature that allows me to record whatever sound is going to help assist let down and encourage milk to come out best. For some women, it's the sound of their baby crying, mine has this weird hummy "wobba-wobba" noise Snapdragon makes when he's tired, because tired baby means nursey baby.  Does it really help? I think so.

I can pump both sides at the same time, or just one if that's what I'm in the mood for.  I don't like having to slave over one breast for fifteen to twenty minutes while the other leaks through a nursing pad or drips down my belly.  Especially in the beginning I had an issue with letdown on one side meaning let down on the other, and with a dual breast pump, no milk is wasted, and that's a big deal.  I never understood the expression "cry over spilled milk" until I started pumping.

I can adjust the speed and strength of suction.  This means that if I'm particularly sore because *some baby* decided that teething and nursing were great friends, I can use a slower, gentler setting than on a day when I'm right as rain and in a hurry.  Best part? I can speed up without giving myself carpel tunnel.

It's mobile. It doesn't weigh too much more than my husband's laptop computer. (Does this mean he needs a new laptop?) With all of it's accessories, the bag and everything it weighs in at 7.58lbs. That's less than a gallon of milk weighs.  That's not too bad.  Just the pump (though why would I be carrying JUST the pump?) is only 2.8lbs.  With both plug in and rechargable battery options, it's a great option for working moms or moms who will need to pump on the road.
About the weight- I have a Medela Pump in Style that a friend gave me when I was first struggling with my manual pump which feels heavier to me, isn't quite as comfortable, and makes me nervous because it's supposed to be a single user pump and while the added power and convenience was nice, there's always a thought lurking in the back of my head "isn't it single user for a reason?"  You can read about the reasoning in my friend Amy's post "The Problems with Medela."  You can also read her take on Hygeia.

My favorite feature is the one to which I just alluded.  The Hygeia Enjoye is a Green breast pump in that it's reusable by multiple women.  To my knowledge, Hygeia makes the only breast pumps for home use FDA approved for multiple users.  This means that if you buy the Enjoye and it doesn't work for you, you have options other than chucking it in the trash or giving something potentially unsafe to a woman struggling to feed her infant.  It also means that if the Enjoye does work for you, you can then pass it on to your friend when you're done with full confidence that if she has her own Personal Accessory Kit, it's a safe way for her to pump milk for her baby.  Plus she'll have the added benefit of tips from her friend.  It's a win-win-win.

Remember that bit about if it doesn't work for you?  Well if you try it out and just really dislike it, they have a 21 day return/exchange policy called their "Total Compatibility Guarentee."

Hygeia is WHO Compliant.  This means a lot to me because the WHO code helps save lives, and when other companies which make great products don't bother to follow the WHO code, it means other companies feel less inclined to follow it, and it means that mothers get bombarded with the wrong messages, thus reducing the number of children exclusively breastfed at 6 months, which is, in my opinion, a tragedy.  (Which is, I'm sure, quite the run on sentence.)

They have GREAT customer service.  I love that if I have a question about their pump, pumping, or even breastfeeding I can often find @HygeiaKate on Twitter and she's full of good information, very supportive, and has been a blessing to have in the breastfeeding help and support community, even before I ever so much as laid a finger on a Hygeia product.  I love that even if she isn't on, she'll get back to me when she is.

All the parts that you come into contact with, or your milk does, are BPA/DEHP free.  I personally prefer my baby's milk to be non-toxic, so this is total win in my book.

Also, you should know they have a 3 year warranty.

Drawbacks-
It's not my cuddly baby.  Not that any pump is, but if given an option, I still pick the baby.

Baby likes the tubing. he thinks it's fun to play with, makes a pretty necklace, and might make a great teether. Keep the tubing away from the kidlets.

As with all things, there's a learning curve, and without some sort of pumping holder, you're not going to be able to do anything with your hands, like type reviews of nursing pumps or become a sudoku warrior.

In the end, I like it because it works, and works comfortably, for me, is a safe item, is produced by a company with ethical standards, supports breastfeeding at the breast and not just the sales of their products.
They're priced competitively with the nearest similar products from other companies, but theirs is the only recycle/reusable one and frankly, the only one I'm comfortable recommending for that reason.

You can search where to buy or rent a Hygeia breast pump here, or you can order online from the Hygeia website.  If you have any questions, I'm sure their customer service department would love to hear from you and help you out.




*I'm not including pictures of me using the product or of the milk I've pumped because I'm really not comfortable with posting pumping pictures and I don't want to start a discussion on how I can up my yield or whether or not my milk looks like I've eaten too much garlic.  Sorry folks, not today. I love you anyway.

Disclosure: I was sent a Enjoye for free to review and then pass along when I'm done with it, because they're FDA approved for multiple users, so yes, it is temporarily living here, and I didn't pay for that, and the next mom who gets it isn't going to have to pay for it either. She's just going to have to replace the bits that directly contact her and her milk.

What's that Smell?

Yep, I'm back to the underarms.


So, I was looking at something that would smell really yummy on Etsy, mostly because my awesome friend Brooke uses it, and I trust her judgement,  but I wasn't 100% sure after reading the ingredient list that I was absolutely comfortable with it.
I know you shouldn't believe everything you read online, BUT, when I'm researching the safety of stuff, I generally find a few sites saying "oh no, that causes pterodactylitis" or some such, and decide that chemical isn't one I want to knowingly be rubbing on myself.  In the case of that one, I found two which made me raise an eyebrow.  Salicylic Acid and Propylene Glycol. So I Googled them and here's what I found.
Salicylic acid is used in Proactiv, and has wonderful astringent properties, but is recommended that pregnant women don't ingest it, and some doctors recommend they not rub it on themselves either. Well, I'm not pregnant, but that gives me pause.  
Propylene Glycol was apparently originally developed as an anti-freeze and it's Material Safety Data Sheet says to avoid physical contact with the stuff and that it can cause " eye irritation, skin irritation. Chronic exposure can cause gastro-intestinal disturbances, nausea, headache, vomiting, and central nervous depression."(source)
Well, when I was about twelve I developed a problem with gastro-intestinal disturbances, nausea, headache, and vomiting, so I generally try to avoid things prone to cause those things.  I've been living with these chronic issues long enough that they've reached the age of majority, and in a moment of wishful thinking I pondered if there could be any connection.
Like I said, wishful thinking, but dang it, if there's a chance, I'm going to take it, especially when all that taking it means is not rubbing antifreeze on myself.


So, what does this mean? It very well may mean making my own deodorant. There's a handy dandy tutorial here at Little House in the Suburbs and I'm not entirely sure that this isn't what I'm going to end up doing.
That said, I have found a couple Etsy shops which sell deodorants which don't contain aluminum (yeah, I haven't talked about that much, since that's the ingredient just about everyone knows we're avoiding because it is strongly correlated with Alzheimers) Salicylic Acid, or Propylene Glycol.  


They are:


Elegant Rose Boutique (can you say peppermint vanilla?)
Art Spot  (they're from Corsicana, TX, and I've BEEN THERE!!! *and* there's Apple)
Cheryl Mason's Kitchen  (she uses arrow root which is good for the types with yeast issues)


Let me know if you find some more great options.
And yes, I've checked- JASON and Toms both have Propylene Glycol, and the mineral salts have never worked well for me longterm.

The Pits.

What do your arm pits smell like right now?
Yeah, it's a weird question, but that was what my friend Kim asked my friend Brooke the other day and the answer got me thinking.
I'm still using antiperspirant.  I hear it's actually pretty scary unhealthy to do so, since using aluminum to clog your pores is tentatively linked to things like breast cancer, and I kind of hate breast cancer. A lot.  I've also wondered if clogging your pores makes you sweat more to try to clear them.
Oh, sorry, I forgot to mention, this post talks about bodily functions, smelly stuff and might not be the best reading for any pregnant readers who get nauseated at the thought of smelly stuff or bodily functions. Wow, it apparently also deals with nausea.
Where was I?
Ah yes. Toxic Stew.  I don't like the idea of rubbing solidified toxic stew on my body.  I only occasionally fall back on regular shampoo, loving the no-poo for my hair, have recently discovered some delightfully more eco and skin friendly soaps (mmmm, castile soap- so few ingredients, you can count them on ONE HAND, and all but one are edible) and have been working on detoxing my personal hygiene routine as much as possible.
So, I'm asking you.
Are you still using antiperspirant?  Have you switched to a deoderant instead?  If you have, how do you like it? Do you get all wet and gicky or not much more than the rest of you?
I'm thinking of taking the plunge, but I'm scared, so hold my hand, and lemme know, what do your pits smell like.

And at the moment, mine smell like baby powder, which isn't exactly my favorite smell in the world.

Scrub a Dub

Scrub a dub, a boy in a tub sink...

Yep, that's a bottle of toxic behind his shoulder, so no wonder he doesn't look exactly thrilled. Okay, truth? He's irritated because I took his cup away from him for a second. But yes, that's what I have been, on occasion, scrubbing my boy with. I just don't know what to use that doesn't contain nasty chemicals.

I have washed him with baking soda, I have washed him with water. I have washed him with way diluted cloth wipes solution by WeeEssentials (which is to date my favorite). But we have this ridiculous J&J crap, and I am not good at wasting things, and I keep going back to it.

So I'm asking, what are you using to wash your baby that is safe and leaves them smelling like something other than... well... butt? Because I'd like to replace the yellow peril with something a little less, well, evil.

Pink Saturday: My Nativity

This is my favorite ever nativity scene. I made it for an art swap in 2005, and though I was sorely tempted to keep it, I did send it to another artist, who in turn had sent in a delightful nativity painting, which I sent to the artist who had made a plush nativity scene, which is now adorning my china cabinet.

I made this out of a hard book. The kind on which children teethe. I lightly filed the shiny surfaces, gessoed it, and then embellished it mostly with paint, and decoupage techniques.

As you can tell, I was in a bit of a Frida Kahlo fan-girl mode at the time. No, I couldn't resist casting her as an angel, complete with a pinko-commie dress. You can't see it clearly, but the dress has tiny jewel embellishments.

If you look at the wing on the left, you'll see a patch of velcro. That is so the whole nativity book could be closed.
On each page I illustrated different parts of the tale of the birth of Christ. Here I used clippings from an art book I'd deconstructed to to show the annunciation and the marriage of Mary and Joseph, complete with renaissance "shotgun wedding" artwork. I also included the lyrics to some of my favorite carols on each of the pages.

On the page with the typical nativity scene, I included my favorite carol.

Twas in the Moon of wintertime when all the birds had fled, when Mighty Gitchi Manitou sent angel choirs instead. Before their light the stars grew dim and wandring hunters heard the hymn: Jesus your king is born - Jesus is born, in excelsis gloria.

Within a lodge of broken bark the tender babe was found. A ragged robe of rabbit skin enwrapped His beauty round; but as the hunter braves drew nigh,
The angel song rang loud and high: Jesus your king is born- Jesus is born, in excelsis gloria.
I also illustrated, as above, the early life of Jesus, and included (not pictured) an abstract visitation of the Magi.
Here you can see the back of the nativity board book.

I hope you enjoyed this, I had a lot of fun making it, and from what I hear, it was a well received re-purposing of a baby book.

For more of Beverly's Pink Saturday, head on over to How Sweet The Sound.

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.