Giveaway #3 love1111 necklace set

Love1111 is a great shop on Etsy.  It has quickly become one of my favorite shops and the one that I check out before any others.  I would love to be able to keep this adorable necklace set so you are all so happy.  This set is valued at $24.95.  You can check out my review of the shop here.

There are many different ways that you can get entered into the giveaway. 

Chance #1--Follow my blog and comment below.  Make sure to give me an email so that I can make sure to contact you if you win.  Also make sure that you comment individually for each of the chances.

Chance #2--check out love1111's shop and let me know the thing that you like the most out of the shop.

Chance #3--like my blog on Facebook

Chance #4--follow me on Twitter @momtoAJandAllie

The giveaway will end on June 15th.

Review love1111

I have to tell you that love1111 is my new secret pleasure or guilty pleasure no matter how you want to look at it.  I am obsessed with visiting her shop and checking out the new threads that she makes.  I love everything that she has.  It is all so cute so when I was in contact with her and she offered to allow me to review one of her skirts I jumped on the chance to review the awesome Rainbow Brite rainbow skirt.  I love rainbows and Rainbow Brite was one of my favorite cartoons as a child so it was the obvious choice for me and I must tell you that I love it.  I was super impressed with the quality as well and the fact that she used vintage material for this one.

I was so lucky to be working with this amazing woman that I loved every minute of it.  She was so much fun to talk to and she said that she loved knowing that people were wearing her goodies so I must say that I had to give you a preview into her shop before getting into the items that I was given to review and talking about how much that I love these items.  Her shop now has grown a ton and she has so many more items than she had when I was originally looking.

One area that I was really impressed with were the apron dresses that she has.  One reason that I was so impressed is the price point at which she has these listed.  These are all under $30 and she uses some awesome vintage fabrics in them including 101 Dalmations and cabbage patch.  This one is my personal favorite and I guess that I am taking a chance by posting it on here because one of you could potentially grab it and buy it before me.



I think that it is adorable and I know that her quality is good.  I've bought a lot of patchwork over the years and I have some now that was not nearly as good as hers was with uneven seems and other issues but hers looks great. 

She also has some amazing apron shirts and almost all of these are less than $20.  There are so many different choices available and the unicorns were my personal favorite from these.

 

The unirorns are something that I thought was cute and I love that it reminds me of something that I would have owned as a child, although I am a bit bummed as I realize that things from my childhood are officially considered vintage because I tell you I don't feel that much older than I did the day that I graduated from high school.

Her patchwork skirts are amazing.  They are so detailed and there are so many patches but what is most amazing me to me is that they range from $29.95-34.95, can you believe that amazing looking patchwork could be so affordable?  I know that I couldn't.



Of course since I chose Rainbow Brite goodies you can imagine that one of my favorite spots on the website is the area in which you can shop for a variety of goodies that are made from vintage Rainbow Brite material.  There are a ton of items that I like here.

These dresses are amazing!!



The next area that I fell in love with is the vintage Smurf area.  This is something that is great.  I love the material and I love the Smurfs in general.  I adore the vintage smurf dress shirt that costs just $23.95.


I also love the dress that is made with the smurf material.



She has goodies that are made out of Vintage Woodsie the Owl, Strawberry Shortcake, ET, and the Care Bears.  They are all amazing and here are a few of the items that I loved the most and might one day be lucky enough to make mine.

This one even has pockets!!!!!









I mean come on, can you think of many shops that have cuter goodies than love1111 because I can't. She also features a ton of jewelry and they are all equally cute.

I was lucky enough to get one of the Rainbow Brite rainbow skirts.  I love it so much!  The skirt was valued at $24.95.

There was also this amazing earring and necklace set that I love (sorry it's a bit pic heavy because I could not help but show you the details and then show you how great it looked on).  This set was valued at $24.95

So as you can tell I love the jewelry.  I have found that I really enjoy it.  It is so much fun.  Best of all it seems to be very well made and quite high in quality.  Miss Althea (she's 3) has even "borrowed" the necklace a few times and it continues to look great.

Now if you love this necklace as much as I do then you will be happy to note that I have one to offer as an amazing giveaway.  I was also given a $15 gift certificate to love1111 to offer as a second love1111 giveaway. 

Here are some pictures of the giveaway set which is valued at $24.95.

To be completely honest with you this is something that I hate to give away.  I wanted to keep it so bad!!  So one lucky person out there is really going to enjoy getting to use this beauty.

Here are the links to the two giveaways:  the necklace and the gift certificate.  Plus you have a third chance to win with the referral contest.

love1111 is owned by the lovely Lilly who loves to create things.  She was taught as a young child how to sew and knit by her grandma and she puts a little bit of that love into each of the peices that she creates.  You can really tell how much time and care she takes with them and she personally prides herself on having high quality items that are going to last you for years to come.  Her goal with all that she makes is to make sure that it is going to last you for yearse to come.  She was delighful to work with and seemed genuinely happy knowing that I was wearing the stuff that she had made.

Giveaway #5 Little Bitty Bug

I just love the Little Bitty Bug shop on Etsy.  It has quickly become one of my favorites.  I love so many things that they have to offer.  You can read my review of them here.  You can also check out their shop for yourself here. 

This adorable fleece soaker is up for grabs as a giveaway.  The lovely Lisa from Little Bitty Bug has offered it to you.

Chance #1  To win you must first follow my blog and then comment below with your email.  We are still doing things the old fashioned way for the time being so you will need to make a comment for each of the different chances that you want to have.

Chance #2  Visit Little Bitty Bug's shop on Etsy and tell me your favorite item that she makes. 

Chance #3  Read my review and let me know what item my baby needs. 

Chance #4  Like my Facebook fan page

Chance #5  Follow me, momtoAJandAllie on Twitter

Good luck!!  :)

Review Little Bitty Bug

I am so excited to announce that I was able to review some of the amazing longies and see a soaker from Little Bitty Bug.  The momma that runs this shop is more than generous so I have a giveaway of a soaker for you all and a prize from her to add to that referral package.  So exciting for everyone to be able to win some prizes or to snag a giveaway item.  There is so much coming that you all should be happy and pleased when you find out what there is. 

Little Bitty Bug has a unique shop that offers quite the choices for you if you are interested in finding the best options for your cloth diapering needs or just finding cute stuff for your baby.  I love their unique bibs.  These are just a few of my favorite styles.







I do have to admit that there is just sometheieng about the watermelon that makes it a personla favorite.  :)

If you are interested in trying out one of her bibs for yourself you can take your chances with my referral contest.  This bib, valued at $8, is being added to the prize package that is available for the most referrals.

I received these amazing longies that my little girl is going to grow into around the fall/witner time so they will be perfect for night time and day time as well.  I really like them and am excited that she has more longies because longies are my favorite!!!

Little Bitty Bug was so generous that I was also given this great soaker which is valued at $7.  If you'd like to win it you can try your luck at my giveaway which is located here. 

Lisa Sharp is the talented momma behind this awesome litle shop.  She is thirty one years old and has four boys between the ages of one and eleven.  How she finds the time to still do the upkeep of this shop and create new things I will never know.  As a mom to four I know how busy life has to be for her but I think that little boys are more work and I only have two boys and can barely keep up so I have no idea how she is able to do it all but I am sure glad that she does.  She began sewing and crocheting as a teenager and has continued to do these things into her adulthood.  She actually taughter herself to do both and says that she has always been "crafty."  I'd personally call her a little more than crafty becuase I consider myself crafty but am no where near the level that she is at. 

At first she didn't think about selling her goodies because she made them for family and friends or gifts.  She had a good friend suggest that she join Etsy and start selling on there.  In addition she has her goodies in a local shop in her area.  Everything that she has used in her shop has been tested and approved by her own children.  This has helped her to make sure that she only puts high quality products out there that really work with kids.  She was a joy to work with and I have a little wish list of longies to get for my DD before winter time sets in.  I have resorted to the idea of getting longies and tops for her rather than choosing pjs because I love longies so much and love that they help soak up any excess wetness that she might have while sleeping.

These are just a few of the pairs that I personally would love to own.



I mean how can you not smile when you see chubby penguins!!  :)



I must say the only thing that is missing is more choices of longies which I am hoping that she will have available once it is closer to fall/winter.

There are a ton of other goodies in the shop that I loved.  The sandwich bags are awesome and there are some great choices like these, which would definitely be a huge hit with Andrew, my oldest.



The other items in the shop are tag blankets, building blocks, seek and find toys, and crocheted goodies.  I had to post a few pictures of the favoirtes that I found in these categories at Little Bitty Bug.


Some girly owls (you'd know that I would have to post the owls, right??).



Some owls for boys (yep couldn't leave them out!).





We don't own any of these large sized seek and fine bags but I am sure that they are on my shopping list ofr Christmas because my daughter is in love with the mini one that we have so I want to ger her a big one for her stocking.

And I think that the baby really NEEDS these.  (giggle, if you saw our close you would understand how much need she has)



And I'm thinking that my littlest man might need this.

Why Oh Why Today??

Why is it that as a mom do we always end up sick at the most inopportune times.  I ended up not feeling well last night after eating and thinking that something just upset my stomach, ignoring the headached that I had.  Then this morning I woke up with the horrific headache so daddy got up with our littles and let me sleep in.  I was hoping to start feeling better but honestly it just has not happened.  I still feel horrible and think that I am going to end up sick once again.  I am going to be doing as much as possible on this blog but I had to let you know why I am a bit MIA and what was going on in my life that made me that way.  I have a lot of fun stuff to post and such so I will be doing that as much as possible.

Crazy Headache

Hi all...I just wanted to quickly apologize. My gorgeous three year old has her first ballet recital tomorrow. I had to make treats...pink & purple sparkly cake balls (sadly they're more like cake blobs), pink & purple and purple & pink layered cupcakes. I'll be serving sparkling princess punch with it...it's my personal healthy alternative to regular punch...light Hawaiian punch, kiwi strawberry Sierra Mist Natural, and a bag of frozen mixed berries...delicious and yummy!!

Anyways I will be making a ton of posts over the weekend but b/c of the killer headache I have I'm just exhausted! However I did want to apologize for falling a day behind!

Becoming a Vegan Momma

So eating vegan was the most difficult thing that I have ever done in my life, but it was also the most rewarding.  My body felt great.  I felt amazing and there was nothing that could stop how great the weight loss was.  Plus I was never hungry and I was always full.  So I am going on that journey again.  I love the fact that I can get so many great options now days and have so many things since there are ever expanding markets and products for those that are eating vegan.  I can even have my delicious Body by Vi shakes. 

I have found my first cookie recipe for this weekend because my daughter has her dance recital and I am making cupcakes for this.  It was hard to imagine not getting to have a sweet treat with my family so I found this amazing looking vegan peanut butter cookie recipe and I am going to be eating that.  It looks delicious.  But of course if you know me you will know that I never use a recipe as it stands so I have adapted this one to be one that I will enjoy and one that is much healthier than the first.  Plus it is so simple.  Simple and yummy those are some bonus points in my book.  Now of course this would not be a recipe that I was cooking if I did not adopt it a bit to mystyle so I am going to list the ingredients that I am using so that you can see that this is something that you too can make easily.

Easy Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies  

1/2 cup maple syrup
Stevia equivalent to 1/2 cup of sugar
1/4 cup oil (vegetable based)
1/4 cup vegan butter melted
1 cup peanut butter
splash of vanilla (natural extract...the good stuff not the imitation stuff)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup white flour
1 cup oatmeal

 Preheat oven to 350.  Mix all wet ingredients...the maple syrup, peanut butter, oil, vegan butter, and vanilla.  Then sift the dry ingredients (minus the oatmeal) into a bowl, mix in the oatmeal and then mix these dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.  Form the dough into small balls and place these on a cookie sheet that has been sprayed.  Then press the tops down with a fork and bake about 20 minutes.  I am going to check them after 15 minutes.  I will let you know how they taste!

You can see pictures when I update these all together.