Wow I can't believe it's been months since I last posted! Life has been very busy for my family and me. I returned to work outside of the home. I am still running Little Piddles of course:) I never worked outside the home with 2 kids, so finding a way to balance work and home life took some adjustment time. In honor of Labor Day I'd like to offer all of you a Labor Day coupon for $5 off any purchase of $25 or more. Enter coupon code LABORDAY09 at checkout. Valid from now until 9/8/09. Have a safe and Happy Labor Day!
Take Care,
Jennifer
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Friday, April 3, 2009
"Green" Ideas
With Earth Day soon approaching I thought it would be a good time to become more Eco friendly. Do you have any great tips you'd like to share? Any great ideas to get the kids involved? One of the reasons I love natural products in because it is not harmful for kids to be around. I'd love to learn new ways to have my kids help out and help make a difference. Below are some things that I do.
1. Wash laundry in cold water (except towels and sheets)
2. Use hand towel in dryer (helps absorb water which dries clothes faster)
3. Cut dryer sheets in half
4. Use natural laundry detergent
5. Use Borax for laundry softener and cleaning (love this stuff)
6. Use natural cleaning products...I used to use vinegar and water most of the time, but recently switched to a hydrogen peroxide and water mix and LOVE it! Cleans great and better yet no smell!
7. Online billing to save on paper waste
8. E-mail my newsletters to customer to save on paper
9. Use ceiling fans
10. Use natural soaps and lotions (Love, love, love my Ciao Bella line)
11. Buy fruit from local market (just started doing this a month ago)
12. Pass Miss K's clothes to Miss A or family and friends
13. Make my own natural products (make some of my own make-up, facial astringent, deep hair conditioner, etc..There are many more great recipes I have found online that I am itching to try out.)
14. Recycle, re-use and re-purpose (always trying to improve in this area)
1. Wash laundry in cold water (except towels and sheets)
2. Use hand towel in dryer (helps absorb water which dries clothes faster)
3. Cut dryer sheets in half
4. Use natural laundry detergent
5. Use Borax for laundry softener and cleaning (love this stuff)
6. Use natural cleaning products...I used to use vinegar and water most of the time, but recently switched to a hydrogen peroxide and water mix and LOVE it! Cleans great and better yet no smell!
7. Online billing to save on paper waste
8. E-mail my newsletters to customer to save on paper
9. Use ceiling fans
10. Use natural soaps and lotions (Love, love, love my Ciao Bella line)
11. Buy fruit from local market (just started doing this a month ago)
12. Pass Miss K's clothes to Miss A or family and friends
13. Make my own natural products (make some of my own make-up, facial astringent, deep hair conditioner, etc..There are many more great recipes I have found online that I am itching to try out.)
14. Recycle, re-use and re-purpose (always trying to improve in this area)
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Valentine's Day Sale & Review
As you can see by when my last blog entry was it's been a busy month. I made many changes to my STORE and there are still more to come. If you check out my STORE I changed how my categories are worded to make it easier for you to find what you're looking for. I also removed and added many products. Over the next few weeks I'll be adding lots more and also changing how my store looks. Time to kick it up a notch and give it a make-over.
Right now all bath & body products by Ciao Bella are 15% off in honor of Valentine's Day. Ciao Bella has the yummiest products. Some of my personal favorites are their Vegetable Soap, Hand & Body Lotion, Bamboo Sugar Scrub, and Body Scrub. Not only are they all natural, but they smell and feel wonderful on your skin.
If you pop over to My Colorful Treasures Blog you can read a little bit about me. Lisa will be featuring new women in business companies that she interviews on there often. I was fortunate to be interviewed by her this week. Thanks again Lisa!
Right now all bath & body products by Ciao Bella are 15% off in honor of Valentine's Day. Ciao Bella has the yummiest products. Some of my personal favorites are their Vegetable Soap, Hand & Body Lotion, Bamboo Sugar Scrub, and Body Scrub. Not only are they all natural, but they smell and feel wonderful on your skin.
If you pop over to My Colorful Treasures Blog you can read a little bit about me. Lisa will be featuring new women in business companies that she interviews on there often. I was fortunate to be interviewed by her this week. Thanks again Lisa!
Monday, January 19, 2009
Review and Giveaway
Leah over at Bookieboo just gave birth to her newest edition recently. As soon as I heard I asked her if I could do her birth announcements. She was very sweet and wrote a review on them on her blog. You can read it HERE. Also make sure to check out her other website HERE for great fitness tips.
Shera over at A Frog in My Soup is hosting a virtual baby shower for one lucky mom-to-be. She is also offering giveaways over the next few days so make sure to check often. Just a tip this Thursday, January 22nd the giveaway is for a pack of Bumpy Name Labels sponsored by yours truley. Today's giveway is for 25 Mommy Calling cards designed by her. So what are you waiting for pop over and enter for you chance to win.
Shera over at A Frog in My Soup is hosting a virtual baby shower for one lucky mom-to-be. She is also offering giveaways over the next few days so make sure to check often. Just a tip this Thursday, January 22nd the giveaway is for a pack of Bumpy Name Labels sponsored by yours truley. Today's giveway is for 25 Mommy Calling cards designed by her. So what are you waiting for pop over and enter for you chance to win.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Top 100 List Re-Vamped
I want to thank Lisa from My Colorful Treasures Custom Website and Graphic Designs. She just re-vamped my boring Top 100 List and made it elegant. As usual she was a pleasure to work with. I have worked with her many times now and the I highly recommend her for all your website design needs as well as jewelry. You can check out her sites below.
http://www.webdesign.mycolorfultreasures.com
http://mycolorfultreasures.com
If you want to check out my new Top 100 List click HERE
http://www.webdesign.mycolorfultreasures.com
http://mycolorfultreasures.com
If you want to check out my new Top 100 List click HERE
Friday, December 19, 2008
Holiday Time Savers
So with all the holiday madness why not save a little time when we can. I put a few times saving tips below that might come in handy.
Not enough time to clean:
Drizzle a few drops of orange-scented Pine-Sol on a clean cloth and hide it in a bookcase. It’ll give the room that just-been scrubbed smell minus the work.
Way to share your holiday photos:
Do you take a lot of pictures and want to share with family and friends? A great way for them to feel like they live close by is to upload your digital pictures to a place like www.winkflash.come so they can view your pictures and order copies for themselves.
Craft to do while the kids are on vacation:
Tired of all those broken crayons? Instead of throwing them in the trash re-use them. First heat oven to 250 degrees (oven temperature may vary). Fill a mini muffin pan ½ way with broken crayons and bake until crayons appear to be completely melted. Allow to cool completely BEFORE removing from pan. Crayons should easily pop out when the bottom of pan is tapped. Experiment with color combinations! Also look for fun shape molds like hearts, they make great Valentine’s gifts for friends at school.
Need to make room for new toys:
Trying to eliminate toy clutter? Take all the toys you know your child hasn’t played with for a long time and put them in a pile. Allow your child to select 6 of those toys to keep. Also take your child with you when you donate the other toys and explain how less fortunate children will love their new toys. I did this with both my kids and even have cousins and friends come over and take toys home. Since I started this at a young age, they never cried about giving their toys away. Now when I want to get rid of old toys my girls actually jelp me. They also know that they need to make room foo new toys for Christmas so they are more than happy to help:)
Don't want to fight with the plastic wrap to cover left overs anymore:
Store plastic wrap in freezer to make pulling it out a cinch. This is one of my favorite time savers as I make my husband’s lunch 5 days a week for work so this saves me lots of agrivation…lol!
Extra potatoes from your holiday dinner:
Cut them in half and cut shapes out with cookie cutters. Your child can use fabric pant and decorate a custom shirt for themself. Great activity to do when your child is home from scool on vacation the next few days.
Not enough time to clean:
Drizzle a few drops of orange-scented Pine-Sol on a clean cloth and hide it in a bookcase. It’ll give the room that just-been scrubbed smell minus the work.
Way to share your holiday photos:
Do you take a lot of pictures and want to share with family and friends? A great way for them to feel like they live close by is to upload your digital pictures to a place like www.winkflash.come so they can view your pictures and order copies for themselves.
Craft to do while the kids are on vacation:
Tired of all those broken crayons? Instead of throwing them in the trash re-use them. First heat oven to 250 degrees (oven temperature may vary). Fill a mini muffin pan ½ way with broken crayons and bake until crayons appear to be completely melted. Allow to cool completely BEFORE removing from pan. Crayons should easily pop out when the bottom of pan is tapped. Experiment with color combinations! Also look for fun shape molds like hearts, they make great Valentine’s gifts for friends at school.
Need to make room for new toys:
Trying to eliminate toy clutter? Take all the toys you know your child hasn’t played with for a long time and put them in a pile. Allow your child to select 6 of those toys to keep. Also take your child with you when you donate the other toys and explain how less fortunate children will love their new toys. I did this with both my kids and even have cousins and friends come over and take toys home. Since I started this at a young age, they never cried about giving their toys away. Now when I want to get rid of old toys my girls actually jelp me. They also know that they need to make room foo new toys for Christmas so they are more than happy to help:)
Don't want to fight with the plastic wrap to cover left overs anymore:
Store plastic wrap in freezer to make pulling it out a cinch. This is one of my favorite time savers as I make my husband’s lunch 5 days a week for work so this saves me lots of agrivation…lol!
Extra potatoes from your holiday dinner:
Cut them in half and cut shapes out with cookie cutters. Your child can use fabric pant and decorate a custom shirt for themself. Great activity to do when your child is home from scool on vacation the next few days.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Help Save Handmade Products
The following is from an e-mail I received by my friend Angie from Made by Angie. She's a fellow WAHM who will be affected if the law below is passed. Many of us will go out of business if this law is passed. Please take a moment to read her e-mail and help us stop this law before it's passed. And if you need a stylish diaper case make sure you check out her website. She has many adorable fabrics to choose from:)
Thank you in advance for helping out!
Jennifer
*CORRECTION* Law is already passed. I put that it wasn't, sorry about that.
In 2007, we were shocked to learn that so many of the toys our children were (are) exposed to were tainted with lead and phthalates. Large toy manufacturers outsourcing to China and other developing countries sold numerous products within the US that simply put, made kids sick.
Rightfully reacting to this mess, the US Congress cracked down on the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) and passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) in August 2008. Essentially, this law requires mandatory safety testing for all toys and products g eared towards children ages 12 and under.
In theory, we as parents and consumers should be thrilled with this action. However, the law lacks specifics and without modification, the reality is that thousands of small businesses who produce handmade toys and children's products will be forced to close our doors because the testing procedures are prohibitively expensive. Does this really make sense for the cloth diaper business using 100% organic cotton materials? Or the craft fair artisan that sold you a hand chisled wooden train set? Or the adorable personalized hand appliqued birthday t-shirt you just ordered from etsy.com?
On February 10, 2009 (coined "National Bankruptcy Day")-- this law will go into effect, forcing us to provide certification of thousands of dollars spent on third-party testing. Testing for chemicals that don't exist to begin with in the materials we use. Now more than ever, with our economy hanging on by a thread we need these small businesses who provide innovative, unique and SAFE products and help to keep our handmade in the USA industry thriving.
Here's what you can do to help.
1. Start by forwarding this information to everyone you know. Parents of young children are not the only ones touched by this legislation. There is a "forward" button at the bottom of this email.
2. Vote for amending the law on Change.org. With enough votes it will be presented to President Obama in January!
3. Find your congress person and senators and write a letter like the sample here. Particularly if they serve on the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection or the House Committee on Small Business.
4. Send an email directly to the CPSC or contact chairperson Nancy Nord at 301-504-7923.
5. Sign this petition, to be submitted to the CPSC.
6. Check out these additional resources: Facebook -Help Save Handmade Toys from the CPSIA and Handmade Toy Alliance
Thank you for reading!
Thank you in advance for helping out!
Jennifer
*CORRECTION* Law is already passed. I put that it wasn't, sorry about that.
In 2007, we were shocked to learn that so many of the toys our children were (are) exposed to were tainted with lead and phthalates. Large toy manufacturers outsourcing to China and other developing countries sold numerous products within the US that simply put, made kids sick.
Rightfully reacting to this mess, the US Congress cracked down on the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) and passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) in August 2008. Essentially, this law requires mandatory safety testing for all toys and products g eared towards children ages 12 and under.
In theory, we as parents and consumers should be thrilled with this action. However, the law lacks specifics and without modification, the reality is that thousands of small businesses who produce handmade toys and children's products will be forced to close our doors because the testing procedures are prohibitively expensive. Does this really make sense for the cloth diaper business using 100% organic cotton materials? Or the craft fair artisan that sold you a hand chisled wooden train set? Or the adorable personalized hand appliqued birthday t-shirt you just ordered from etsy.com?
On February 10, 2009 (coined "National Bankruptcy Day")-- this law will go into effect, forcing us to provide certification of thousands of dollars spent on third-party testing. Testing for chemicals that don't exist to begin with in the materials we use. Now more than ever, with our economy hanging on by a thread we need these small businesses who provide innovative, unique and SAFE products and help to keep our handmade in the USA industry thriving.
Here's what you can do to help.
1. Start by forwarding this information to everyone you know. Parents of young children are not the only ones touched by this legislation. There is a "forward" button at the bottom of this email.
2. Vote for amending the law on Change.org. With enough votes it will be presented to President Obama in January!
3. Find your congress person and senators and write a letter like the sample here. Particularly if they serve on the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection or the House Committee on Small Business.
4. Send an email directly to the CPSC or contact chairperson Nancy Nord at 301-504-7923.
5. Sign this petition, to be submitted to the CPSC.
6. Check out these additional resources: Facebook -Help Save Handmade Toys from the CPSIA and Handmade Toy Alliance
Thank you for reading!
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