Healthy Child Healthy World Party.

Healthy Child Organization is a fantastic company that began after 5 year old Colette Chuda died of a rare form of non-hereditary cancer linked to environmental factors. Her parents Jim and Nancy Chuda, turned their grief into action and formed Healthy Child Healthy World in 1992. 

You can visit Healthy Child website and get tons of information about issues affecting our children and families, read about recommended products and actions you can take to make your home safer, find out how you can help, and so much more. The amount of information that this website makes available is amazing!!!

http://www.healthychild.org

The way I chose to be involved was to host a "Healthy Child Party". Already over 4,000 people have chosen to host and I can absolutely see why!

The website will walk you throught the process of obtaining your Healthy Child kit. 

It's simple: "Sign up with a tax-deductible $25 donation for shipping and handling and within three weeks you'll receive a kit filled with educational materials, party planning tools, as well as a variety of natural product samples and coupons from over 15 brands, including LUNA and Earth Friendly Products!"  

Hosts invite up to 15 friends and family to meet on an appointed date at a home, business, school or community center. Together, they view the DVD, distribute the samples and discuss Healthy Child's 5 Easy Steps—with the goal of making long-term changes to protect their kids' health.

I was beyond amazed when out large box arrived. The amount of coupons, samples, info packets, full sized samples and product information was incredible. Everything from snacks, to beauty care products, to household products, and tons and tons of literature.

I decided to host a play date at a local park with a pot luck style picnic. I used facebook events and invited a few local moms and kiddies. We had PB&Js, cheese and crackers, fruit, juice boxes and other goodies. It was very informal and Healthy Child provided a DVD with info we let play in the background. 

Each mommy got a really great bag from nordic naturals vitamin company, inside contained a few samples, coupons and information from the sponsor companies. I also brought the larger sized products so moms could get a hands on feel. 

The mommy grab bags

Some of the larger sized products

Some of the products included in the kit

-Bona Hardwood floor cleaner

-Eco store pure oxygen whitney laundry soap

-Eco store Baby Happy Balm

- Eco store citrus based spray cleaner

-Burts Bees Shampoo and wash

-Burts Bees all purpose balm

- Episencial bubble bath

-Earth friendly Dish mate, Parsley spray and laundry soap

-Plum kids snacks

-Nordic Natural- small bags and canvas large bag, vitamin samples and coloring books

-Luna protein bars

-Cliff Kid organic fruit ropes

-Do Naturals spf 32 sunscreen samples

-Dapple baby bottle dish liquid

And so, so much more!!

Even if you can do one of the 5 step process they recommend, your making a change which is the whole purpose of Healthy Child

5 Easy Steps

1. Avoid Pesticides

2. Use Non-Toxic Products

3. Clean Up Indoor Air

4. Eat Healthy

5. Be Wise With Plastics.

You can find Healthy Child Healthy World here

http://www.healthychild.org/main/

Or their facebook page here

https://www.facebook.com/HealthyChild

Thank you Healthy Child Healthy World and thank you to the mommies that came to our picnic!

Snuggle Bug Review and Giveaway

I was thrilled to find yet another cute shop with so many wonderful handmade options. Snuggle Bug sent us a few of their best sellers to review. The colors and fabric choices they use are great and very kid friendly. I was originally drawn to their reusable snack bags but once I looked around her etsy shop I saw she made so many options. Check out their great selection here.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/SnuggleBugBabyBits

These snack bags are so cute! Pictured is the large sandwich, med veggie, and small cookie bags. They use heat sealed ribbon tabs to make opening easier. There is also velcro from inseam to inseam to ensure good closure. These bags are machine washable or you can turn inside out and wash in the top rack of the dishwasher. Re-suable bags are great because they fit nicely in the diaper bag unlike bulky plastic containers, and they also are great for the environment, by reducing the amount of ziplock bags. With the easy tab opening I think it is also easier for the little fingers to operate and reduces the amount of spilled snacks. 

The boys loved their new snack bags. Green is Nus favorite color so he was happy.

There are so many cute options on snuggle bugs etsy page form pee-pee tee-pees, to taggie blankies, to hair clips, sock monkeys and sensory toys.

Below are a few pictures from snuggle bugs shop

hes so cute!!

Snuggle bug also sent us a few products to host a giveaway with, 1 lucky reader will win

1. Sensory Owl- made with fleece, ribbon and bright colors. The ribbons are heat sealed and double stitched to withstand tugging, chewing and lots of play. This can be washed with like colors and laid flat to dry, to not loose the "crinkle", there is also a attachment ring included. Retails $7.50 

2. Double sided bib- has 2 snaps so it will grow with your little one. Flannel on one side and 100% Terry cloth on the other for extra softness and absorbency. This can be washed and dried regularly. Retails $7.50 or 3 for $20.00

3. Ducky Rattle- Stuffed fleece rattle with solid formed plastic rattle, it has a side ribbon loop to keep the rattle off the floor and easy attach-ability. This can also be washed with like colors and tumble dried on low. Retails $8.50

4. The small cookie reusable snack bag- The animal fabric print is super cute and with its compact size is easy to bring along.

Make sure to check out Snuggle Bug on facebook and let them know Nu and Nugs Adventures sent you.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Snuggle-Bug/166406413392795

Also see below for entrance details to win the prize pack pictured above.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Pinterest Inspired Wall Project, revised!

So I have no clue how Martha Stewart did her crafts pre-pinterest! I have found more inspiration, humor, ideas and solutions on that website than google, facebook and myspace combined.
The latest project I tackled was a combo of a few pins I have pinned.

The first one being from this blog
http://jandaandco.blogspot.com/2012/02/you-are-my-sunshine-gallery-wall.html

That is the great thing about Pinterest. For those of you who dont know pinterest is a online site where you can save "pins" or pictures of items that interest you with links to the original internet post. You can save them to "boards" to orginaze projects, ideas or thought Almost anything you can think of is avilable and if its not you can create a pin and add it.

So back to my project. Oringinally I thought this would be a great project for the wall that separates Nu and Nugs room. I thought I wanted to do a "brother" wall but it ended up being more of a family wall.

The second pin I took ideas from is
http://pinterest.com/pin/1477812347933350/

Now this is where this one gets a little tricky. This is a picture from a website linked below
http://www.smallchichome.com/2011/06/organic-bloom-frames.html
That takes you to a site where they sell beautiful frames, too expensive for me and hard to obtain, you must know a photographer that is able to purchase from.

So this pin states that Hobby Lobby has knock offs you can paint a wood piece, and deco podge a pict onto for a copy cat look for $1.  Being the cheap skate I am $1, im sold!. My wonderful hubby, in his travels one day to the other side of the world, where Hobby lobby is located stopped in to pick them up.
First they are NOT $1. They are $2.99, still MUCH for afortable than the original frames. They also dont come in as unique shapes as the ones above. I told him get me a few of the crazyest shapped ones you could find. Bless him and his amazing self came home with 10! yay....

Now it was time to get this started.
First I sprayed the wood plaques and a fabulous board my neighboor was throwing away with a light coat of white primer

My lovely assistant

I also pulled inspiration from a another pin

http://www.simplymal.com/diy-wood-sign-made-with-stickers/

We tell our boys "I love you to the last star and back" every night before they go to bed so I knew that was the saying I wanted to use.
I found a local mommy who's hubby does vinyl lettering and they were super reasonable and made it totally custom for me.
Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Riffle-Sign-Design/139853122712073 and tell them Nu and Nug sent ya.

I did the "painting the board over the vinyl letter technique" then came back with a skinny brush to add some white to the letters (half way done here)

I picked up the yellow paint from Lowes in the ooppps section for $.50 and the blue was a sample container for less than $3. The green is a sample of our exterior home color. There wasn't much used from each container at all.

I used a sponge to apply the collage-pauge. It makes for a smoother look. I love how it makes almost a protective coat to the picture.



I also love letters for names, my house has its share of "H's" around. I purchased this through the website http://www.groopdealz.com/index/index-alldeals which has daily boutique deals. The sellers link is listed below.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/BlessHerHeartDesigns?ref=search_shop_redirect
Very sweet girl. I had received a broken H and emailed her and right away she sent another one.
The H did not have hooks attached so back to pinterest for a solution

My version, using Gorilla Glue

 *******SEE LINK BELOW FOR GIVEAWAY FROM BLESS HER HEART DESIGNS*****

I took this idea, a free 11x14 print, and a canvas from walmart
http://pinterest.com/pin/1477812348061676/

My version

I used a brush to add the pauge, I like the sponge look much better, although this did end up with a canvas texture.

ok so drum roll please........


Final product and I have to say I'm kinda ehhhh... I don't know if it was end of night kids, bathing/delirum/crazyness/no dinner for momma and dada but Im not 100% pleased. I think I defiantly
 need more stuff at the bottom but I'm kinda feeling cluttered. Not sure if I should move to the playroom and start all over, that defeats the purpose of the "star" sign... grrrrr
Maybe I should space more to bring to floor?? Ps its not the best pict due to camera distorting the colors and giving a bad glare so this is the phone pict version...
Ill do a revise soon but for now I'm throwing this to the wolfs to find a general consensus

     **************** EDITED POST*********************

So After pondering this wall for a few weeks I decided I defiantly needed to move and separate the top. We also obtained a silhouette portrait of the boys from a recent downtown disney trip I knew I wanted to incorporate.. So the new and improved version is....

Again the pict quality is poor but you can get the idea..

Taa Daa.... This newer version makes my brain hurt a little less....

 And great news WE HAVE ANOTHER GIVEAWAYYYYY (said in my best Oprah voice)


Brittney at Bless Her Heart Designs has agreed to giveaway a letter from her etsy shop!!!!
Make sure you like her facebook page and let her know Nu and Nug sent ya! Qualified participants will be included in giveaway, make sure you enter in the raffle box below....




a Rafflecopter giveaway

Green Kid Crafts Review

Green Kid Crafts is monthly subscription company that promises-

"Fun, creative and earth-friendly craft projects, delivered each month!

Our Discovery Boxes come with at least 3 different projects each month, all approved by our very own panel of experts."

We were so happy to recieve our Kids craft box this month, This months box theme was feathered friends. The box was perfect for our 3 yr old and he loved all 3 crafts included.

Nu is big into recycling lately and can spot the recyclable sign on almost everything he touches so it was nice to see all the recyclable info provided. Green kids is a great company because they keep the environment in mind when designing every craft project. They avoid plastics and foam in favor of supplies that are natural, recycled and good to the earth. They use minimal, and 100% recycled shipping materials and all of the crafts are packaged in plant-based compostable cello bags

The first project we started was the bird house. 

The house was easy to construct and the paint choices were bright and colorful. The info cards provided were nice because as we crafted we were discussing which birds might come and make a home in our new birdhouse

That day we also took on the spotted owl & whooping crane paper bag puppet project.

This was was also very easy and while I cut the felt pieces he was able to apply, Our owl looked slightly different but still so cute..

The whooping crane also turned out cute and we had a puppet bird show for Daddy. 

A few days later we did the birdwatching spotting scope, ours didn't turn out as cute but to a 3 yr old it was great!

LOVE LOVE LOVE this company, Love the message, Love the intention, Love the time I get for one on one with big brother, love the simplicity. Green Craft kids = One very impressed momma...

Contact info and details=


http://www.greenkidcrafts.com/default.asp


https://www.facebook.com/greenkidcrafts


Cost is $19.50 a month plus free shipping...


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Boys can have cute clothes too!!!!

So I admit it I'm  "that mom". I love to dress the boys alike, I love special themed birthday shirts, I try to find clothes that coordinate with parties and events we attend, and I spend hours and hours browsing etsy.com to find that perfect image that is in my mind for a upcoming trip or occasion.  I was sooo happy to come across Bayjorders shop on etsy called jst4kidz, check out her shop here.

 http://www.etsy.com/shop/Bayjorder?ref=seller_info_count
she also has a facebook page here
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jst4Kidz/295984853745754

Her shop is great because it has both boy and girl iron ons that you can personalize to your event. I LOVE the ties and mustaches, and was thrilled when she sent some for Nu and Nug to try out. Im visualizing disney trips, christmas pictures, a dinosaur party we have coming up and of course the Thomas tie all in our future.

I used a yellow american apperal shirt we got from wittlebee and a blue shirt from walmart $3.88. The instructions for iron on were easy and the fabric stuck very well. Bayjorder also notes you can sew along the edges to make sure it stays put, but just ironing seems to have a very strong bond.  

 I love shirts without wording or charters, my husband calls them "big boy" clothes.

The mustache is perfect for Nug, our little man

Nu got the tie, love the argyle print, very handsome.

There are so many options on her etsy shop and I'm sure if she doesn't have it she can find it..

Some other pictures from her etsy site are listed below

Bayjorder at Jst4kidz has been generous to offer a $10 credit to her etsy shop to one lucky reader. Most of her iron ons are around $3 so $10 will go far, you can also get a already made item from her shop. See below for entry link.

Thank you Jst4Kidz!!!!
We actually got 2 positive comments while out and about today running errands on the mustache shirt!

a Rafflecopter giveaway