Review Amber Regina

Amber Regina is a great shop on Etsy that markets fine pieces of amber jewelry.  There is so much infromation about the healing properties of amber but I honestly was not sure if it really worked or not.  Hopefully after my blog post you will understand why it is something that I believe in and why I am actually hoping to purchase my own to test it out with the arthritis in my back.  I do not want to live on pain killers but the longer that I go in between massages, the longer that I seem to be having bad back spasms and issues where I sometimes feel like there is nothing that I can do to make my back feel better.  In some of these cases I can not even get out of bed and have to roll to get up in the mornings.  This is so hard for me to do.

First off let me state that I love the looks of the adorable necklace that I got from Amber Regina.  It is so cute and it looks great with nearly every outfit.  My dear, Adeline wears hers all of the time and when she does not, I always regret it so it is pretty much on her all of the time.  I did purchase a second amber necklace from somewhere else but she seems more whiny and fussy in that one than she seems in this one so I typically grab this one.



How can you resist a cute little baby wearing a necklace?  I just think that this is the cutest thing ever and here is my story of why I believe that this is one of the greatest things ever.  It is something that I wish I had known about when I had my other three children.

So recently we took a little trip out of town to Kansas City where we were six hours away from home.  I noticed that Adeline was a bit more cranky thank usual when we started our drive.  Six hours into it I was wondering what was going on with my typically happy baby.  She seemed so much grumpier than she was.  I talked to her and tried to comfort her and I had one of my children in the back trying to play with her.  Nothing was working, all she would do is fuss and cry.  When we arrived at our destination I noticed that I had forgotten to put the teething necklace back on.

Could it be that she was really having teething issues and the necklace made that much of a difference? 

Of course, me being the skeptic that I am, I thought that it had to be something else.  We hung out with the family and then went to bed.  It was the longest night that I have ever had with Adeline.  She kept waking up and crying and was just not herself.  This is when I decided that it was the disappearance of the necklace that was the cause of our problems and that she was teething.  The next day I took a trip to Buy Buy Baby to purchase some teething goodies.  I got all homeopathic stuff some wipes and some drops and honestly neither one of them, even when combined with infant's Tylenol worked as well as her baltic amber necklace does.  For this reason and this reason alone there is going to be a spare in our diaper bag when I get it all organized.  It will go in the first aid kit bag.

So if you have a baby then you need a baltic amber teething necklace and Amber Regina is the perfect shop for you to get one.  Amber was wonderful and friendly to deal with and one of the first people that offered me a product for review on my blog.  I know any future amber purchases that I make will all be through her.  I do not plan on ever purchasing amber from anyone else and I honestly plan on purchasing quite a bit of amber in the future for gifts, etc.

There are many items in her shop that I'd like to purchase either for myelf, someone in my family, or as a gift.  This is one of the shops where I could easily spend too much money and one of the shops that I have items on my wish list from.

I really think that this necklace is pretty.

This necklace is one of my favorites and the one that is on my current Christmas wish list.  (Yes, I start this list early too so that I can think of enough things to tell people.)

She has bracelets like this adorable one that I really like too.

Just keep in mind that if you have any amber needs that you should contact Amber at Amber Regina because she has some great goodies and tons of wonderful amber pieces for you to choose from.



Review MADKs Creations

I love handmade goodies and I love hats so when MADKs Creations offered to send me a few hats I was ecstatic.  She was generous enough to offer me two hats for my girls.  One of them was a gorgeous pink bucket style hat with a flower.  We ended up sending this one to my niece because my girls have very small heads and it was just too big for them and didn't look like something that was going to fit them anytime soon.  That being said the brown beret style hat is adorable and looks cute on both of my girls. 

The pink bucket hat was so cute.  I love the purple flower and the color was bright.  It was high quality and seemed to be very well made.  Obviously since it is summer I can not attest to how well it would last but it seemed to be very tightly crocheted and I would assume that it is gonig to last for some time and that it could possibly last through more than one child.

I do have to state that the pink hat is marketed as a sun hat.  My kids do not do well if they get warm and since it is made of wool it was a bit too hot for their heads.  I do know many people who would not be bothered by having a hat on in the summer but it is hard for me to keep even the thinnest cotton sunhats on mine, again a great concept but for us it would be a winter hat had we kept it.

I must show off the brown beret on my daughter.  She looked so cute it in and she seemed really happy to be wearing a hat in the middle of the summer too, don't you think?  (I'm just referring to her great face that she used to make when a flash would go off in her eyes.)

Here is a picture of the beret without it being on one of the girls' heads.

She was so tired.  I was going to take a better picture but I think that the sleepy look with the big smile is just too cute to pass up!  I hope that you all enjoy it as much as I do.

Here she is wearing the pink bucket hat.  I am not quite sure why but it was not her favorite so she was throwing a bit of a fit when I put it on her.  We decided that we have gotten quite a few hats and mommy had already bought some so we donated this one to my neice.  I will have to post a pic if my sister in law sends me a picture of her in this one.

Debbie the owner of MadKs Creations is wonderful.  She was a pleasure to work with and someone that I would definitely contact if I had a need for something crocheted in the future.  She is a thirty three year old mom to four, wife, and a student so we have a lot in common.  (For those of you who do not know me I was a full time student as well but had to quit my online school because of problems that occured medically while I was pregnant.)  She is studying to be a paramedic. 

Many people have asked Debbie about how she came up with the name of her shop and she wanted to share that the name came from combining her children's names.  She began crocheting as a way to relieve stress after she lost her mother to cancer thirteen years ago.  Her mom had crocheted and had attempted to teach her but she was not successful at this time.  After she lost her mom she was able to just pick up a hook and some yarn and start working.  She really enjoys special requests and the majority of her hats have been from someone's idea of what they would like to have for themselves or for their chidlren.

Her children are two, eight, twelve, and fourteen and she will be celebrating another birthday next month so if you have the time you should swing by her shop and even if you do not purchase anything, wish her a Happy Birthday.  She started making hats for your youngest and when she was continually told to sell them she opened her shop in November of 2011.  She has recently added some additional items to her shop that are not hats. 

So since there are new items in the shop and a lot of really cute hats,  I thought that I would show you some of the things that I really liked.

I am recently obsessed with LaLaLoopsy dolls.  I love them and I love that they look like broken rag dolls.  Althea has several of the small ones and one of the bigger ones.  She loves them as much as mommy does so I am sure that she will accumulate more in the future.  Being that I love LaLaLoopsy dolls so much I must show you this adorable hat that was inspired by them.

Now I have to show off the Rapunzel hat as well because Althea is obsessed with Rapunzel.  She is constantly having me tie a scarf around her head or hair so that she can have long hair like "tangled."  So I am going to have to order one of these hats when I have the extra money because she would be obsessed and love it so much.  If nothing else maybe this hat will be one of the stocking stuffers for her Christmas this year (yes, I realize it is July but this is when I start thinking about and picking up items for Christmas for my kids so that they can have a nice Christmas and we can remain credit card free).



I personally could see myself wearing this bandana, yes I love it!



And since my mom, dad and Shane refer to me as a bag lady I will throw in this picture of one of the bags that she has made.



Best of all you will notice that her prices are crazy reasonable.  She offers everything at MadK's Creations for $25 or less.  Who can resist super cute things that they can actually afford?  If you can I might need to take note because I sure can not.

 

A Few of the Things I've Seen on Pinterest that I Plan on Doing

So if you are like me, you repin and repin some more and really end up with a ton of pins that you do not end up using.  Well I thought that I would add all of the projects that I would like to complete in the near future to a list.  When I decided to do this I thought, "hey, why not make it a blog post instead?  Surely others will be interested, right?" 

This is that blog post.  Some of the pins would not redirect to the right webpages and even after searching for them I could not find the pins that I was looking for.  Therefore I will include what information that I have from these with the pictures that I am posting.  When I get one of these pins done I am planning on doing a blog post about it and then showing you all how it worked out for me.  This will be a great way to be able to help you to see what I do and will be good accountability for me to get it done in a timely manner.  When I am done with this list, if I have new pins that I would like to complete then I am going to be making a blog post about them.  I also plan on including a little shopping list with each of the projects so that I can stay organized.  If you do any of these projects I would love to hear about how it works for you.  So please comment and send me a picture if you can to my email so that I can include it in a future blog post.

This one just requires the purchase of some clear plastic make up/travel bags and some label stickers (I still have these from something else.)  The pin said that it was from www.bhg.com but I could not find it anywhere on the website even when I did a search.



I really want to use this idea from Darkroom and Dearly to organize the entire family's drawers.  I just can't imagine the reduction in stress that I would feel if I were to have drawers that looked this nice.




I would eventually like to do the entire survival kit that is advertised by Your Own Home Store but I think that it is going to be 100% necessary for me to do the family binder as soon as I have the time.  It is so handy that she offers everything that you need to get this done and to do it right.  In general this blog is awesome and something that I will be stalking in the future.  I do not plan on doing this list in order and I think that this is for sure going to be one of the last ones that I do because it is so intense and involved.

There is also this amazing list of 50 ways to get organized with kids that was posted on Attempting Aloha.  This list was so much fun but these are the projects that I plan on putting to use in my near future.

She had this great idea for storing Barbies, too bad I don't have a door in the area where the Barbie house is. 



She reposted this great tip from Something to Do to organize art and craft supplies.



Maybe I will find the time to check out Ana White Homemaker's plans that are to recreate this type of bookshelve.  Since this one costs $600 this would be the only way that I could afford it.



I acutally have planned to do something similar to this with an old bookshelve and a "Princess" wall hook sign.  I can't wait to have the time to get this one done and to show you all just how crafty I can be.  This one came from A Turtle's Life For Me.



I really love this idea for game organization and although I do not plan on doing it now, if I move into a house that has a separate play room or family room this is something that we are doing for sure.  This idea came form Infarantly Creative.





I love this idea too and I think that it would be perfect in our entryway.  It would look so much better than what we have going on right now.  Grade 2 Happenings is the one who created this great idea.



I saw this awesome picture on Etsy and just have to make something similar for my home.  I am not going to copy it per se but am going to do something that is very very similar.  You can purchase one just like this here.




I plan on creating a similar wall to this with our current pitures.  I love this look!




This is another one from www.bhg.com.  I love this idea though and have seen it done in a variety of different ways.  I think that I am going to do it because it would look so nice.




And It's Rustic Living used a hanging wine rack to store towels.  I love this just as much as the free standing wine rack.




I really love this idea especially since we have so many ticket stubs laying around.  This would look so cute in our room.  This idea came from a custom frame shop in Chicago called Four Sided.



Apartment Therapy had this great idea to make your own fabric wall hangings.  I have a lot of fabric scraps that will be used for this purpose.



Apprentice Extrovert had this awesome sitting area and my patio has the perfect corner for it.



Jen at Simply Living had this awesome idea and this is something that needs to happen with all of the plastic drawers in our bathroom.  This would look so much better.



I want to create some signs that are similar to these but with my kids' names in them and what they need to do.  I think that it would be quite different from this idea that was shared by a pinner that did not credit the website.



If I ever have a big enough play room or family room this idea from Project Nursery is going to be the way that we store all of our stuff.



I also love this idea from Clean and Scentsible.  I think that is the one that is going to go into the kids' rooms so that they will be able to display their own artwork as they wish.



This mirror (only with different colored flowers) is going to look so cute in Miss Althea's room and she loves nothing more than looking at herself all dressed up pretty so it is sure to be something that she loves.  Thanks for the idea Ann-Kay Home.



What a cute wall design that was shared by Less Than Perfect Life of Bliss.



These are just a few of the projects that I would like to start with/make my own.  I will post lots of information for you as I complete each one of them.

This Week's Goals--July 9th to July 15th

Goals for the week

1.  Finish all laundry
2.  Get curio cabinet from basement set up in dining room
3.  Clean dining room and have it all ready to eat in and neat and organized
4.  Keep up/catch up all laundry and get it all put away
5.  Finish organizing our bedroom
6.  Create a fabulous three tier Barbie rainbow cake and cute rainbow cupcake cones for Allie to take to church
7.  No yelling at the kids (This is going to be hard b/c when they do not listen yelling is natural.  My goal is to yell no more than seven times the entire week.)
8.  1200 calories per day or less
9.  Start running and trying to train for a 5K (going to be hot in the heat but my goal is to run at least three days this week)
10.  Exercise every day with yoga
11.  Exercise a bit more at least three times

So let's see what I can accomplish.  Next Sunday I will reflect back on these goals and set a new post with goals for the new week.  I have so many goals for our house, so many things that need to get done but I think that the best thing to do is break it down in weekly goal lists that I can accomplish in one week.

Where Have I Been?

So if you are following me, you have probably wondered where I have been lately, right? 
I guess I will give you all a bit of an update to my life and explain some of the things that have been going on that have kept me from you.  I have a new list of goals which will be posted next and yes there is a goal to at least make one post per day.  For now I have to share with you what is going on in several areas of life to express this situation.

First off, things with my oldest son's father are not good.  It is causing a lot of stress in our home because of things that my son tells me or says about me to him.  He is just manipulating the situation trying to make all parties feel sorry for him because of what is going on with us not getting along at all.  Let's face it, we do not just not get along.  No instead we are in a situation where we have problems all of the time.  So is life.  The sad thing is that we do not have problems because of my son. 

There are many isssues that we have problems over.  Most of them stem from some weird obsession that he has with me.  I say this because when I was living with my second ex-husband (gasp!  I know it is not cool that I have been married and divorced before 30 but life sometimes doesn't do what we think and I promise to tell you those stories one day) he would tell people that I was not happy with him.  He was really easy going and relaxed and did not pull half of the stuff that he is trying to pull now.  Enter Shane and I am the happiest that I have ever been in my entire life.  Well now there are problems.  He is so jealous that I am happy that I have a good life and that I have the life that I have always dreamed of.  I have everything that I wanted when I was with him and for some reason this is just not something that he can stand at all.

So my life is a constant world of strife and problems that stem from him wanting to control things that he should not even care about.  What goes on in my home, as long as his son is taken care of, should not matter to him but he is so nosy and he pressures my son into telling him who comes over, who we hang out with, and all kinds of things that he should not even want to know about.

Now there are lots of happy things about my life.  Let's see I am pursuing my dream of being an author.  I am talking to publishers and am actually in the process of writing my first novel.  I am hoping that it will be published sometime around the end of this year/beginning of next.  The best part about this for me is that I am turning thirty and I will be accomplishing my goal to be published during the same year that I hit this milestone age.  I have four amazing, smart, and gorgeous children.  I have the man of my dreams, who is so much more than I could have ever imagined.  I am writing for a living now with freelance work and some stuff that I am working on under a pen name because of the nature of the style of writing.  There's more but I won't bore you with what I love about my life.

On top of this stress, I have been taking my older daughter, Althea to the eye doctor and trying to cure a bad stye.  It is a horrible thing to have to hold her down to put the warm compresses on or to do the medication.  So this has been a lot of stress, a lot of additional work, and many trips to the doctor who is located about an hour away.  Plus she is turning 4 next Sunday so I have been shopping for birthday gifts (a make up set from ULTA and a Brave costume from mommy and daddy, a new Balerina princess doll to put into her requested "Barbie" rainbow cake--this will be featured in a post complete with pictures, and from the other kids a Brave crown set and wig).  We are not having a birthday party for the kids.  I am making cakes or cupcakes on each of their birthdays and we are taking trips instead of the parties.  We will have kids' parties when they are old enough.  Andrew is getting a party with the kids from Cub Scouts on his actual birthday. 

We have not planned the summer birthday trip because we are waiting to find out about her eye and whether or not she can go swimming because for now she can not.  We will be planning a fall/winter trip in November in the following years for the other three birthdays but for this year it is going to be for two so that we can still have a special first birthday party for the baby.

So as you can tell, life is crazy!  I am far busier than I could have imagined that I would be and I am going to be working hard to be posting more on here.  I have weekly goals that I am going to post every Sunday night for the week to  come. 

Rave for ULTA

So I have to admit that I have a problem and that I am a cosmetics and product junky.  I love beautifying myself and getting goodies to use when I want to beautify.  I am in the process of being more simple and trading out my favorite brands which were Chanel, Lancome, and other high end and expensive brands.  Since I am a stay at home mom I just could no longer afford $200 jars of face cream.

What I have found is that the ULTA line of cosmetics is cheap but very high quality.  I was an employee of Sephora and I never liked their store brand.  I still drool every time that I walk into a Sephora and love the brands that they carry more than those that are carried at ULTA but I find that I can no longer afford those indulgences since I am no longer working.  What I have found though is that ULTA satisfies my craving for high end cosmetics and products and offers me tons of options that I love.

I just had to rave a bit because there are such awesome sales going on at ULTA right now.  I actually had been talking to my other half about how I want to reorganize my diaper bag and have everything ready to go instead of having to pack and unpack it all of the time.  So I have been wanting to buy some second products to have a small "to go" make up bag.  I am going to share all of the details of my diaper bag makeover after I get some goodies that are on their way to me.  I am excited to unveil this to you and show you all of the things that I want to accomplish and how neat and organized I can be.

Anyways I was able to just purchase foundation, powder, concealor, mouse blush, 2 eyeliners, mascara, and lip gloss for just $31.50.  Yes this was a huge sale.  It would have normally been a lot more and I was able to use a savings code to get free shipping.  I was so excited b/c I thought that I was going to have to wait a while to order the make up that I wanted.  Now I have it all on my way.  One of my next big projects is to go through all of my make up and organize it so that it is no longer a disaster or hard to find things.  I am excited to get this done and have all of my goodies available to me.

My next list of beauty purchases includes all new face care.  I want a morning cleanser, night time cleanser, mist--one of the things for my diaper bag make over, moisturizer for day, moisturizer for night, night time serum, treatment for my redness, eye cream, mask, exfoliator, and toner.  I think that I am going to try the following items.  If you have any experience with them or any feedback then I would appreciate hearing from you so that I can make sure that I get something that I like.

Morning Cleanser--Yes to Carrots Daily Cream Cleanser
Night Cleanser--So Totally Deep Pore Cleanser
Mist--Thermal Spring Water Facial Mist
Day Moisturizer (SPF is necessary here)--Yes to Cucumbers Soothing Sensitive Skin Daily Calming Moisturizer SPF 30
Night Moisturizer--Liquid Oxygen Anti Acne Facial Moisturizer
Night Serum--ULTA Daily Renewing Face Serum (my big splurge on the list!)
Redness Treatment--Rosacea Treatment Gel
Eye Cream--Yes to Cucumbers I love Cucumbers Soothing Eye Gel
Mask--Deep Down Detox Cleansing Mask
Toner--Liquid Oxygen Facial Toner

The best part of all of these is that the total cost is going to be right around $100 my old skin care regime was no where near this cheap.  In fact a couple of the products were more than the total on their own.  I am hoping that the results will be what I am looking for but in the end I know that I can not buy my old favorite creams and potions so I have to be willing to try something new and something else.  I am going to watch for sales but am a bit bummed that I don't have the money now b/c there are some good sales and I could get it all for about $90 shipped to me so I would save quite a bit.  I would even get some additional products when I save the money.  :)

Oh well, so is the life of the mom.

Cloth Diaper Hop Giveaway

Wow!  I am so excited to be offering you this opportunity to win an amazing giveaway.  This awesome hop was hosted by Mommy's Favorite Things and it was such an honor to be able to be a part of it.  I would like to give a big shout out to all of the wondeful sponsors that I had and to than them for being willing to sponsor me.  I feel that it was a privilege to be able to be a part of this. So again thank you to Mommy's Favorite Things, Sunbaby Diapers, Wild Mountain Mommies, Modified Momma Creations, Graham Bear Wear,  Dear Baby Donna Creations, Simply Cloth, Brown Cow Cotton, Little Bitty Bug, Cloth Dipaers Inc and Emmi Loo's Designs.

The best part of this hop is that I have a prize package that is valued at over $200 and many of the other bloggers have packages worth $100 or more as well.  There are over 50 bloggers that are participating in this event.  You can visit each blog to enter their giveaway and in the end you could end up with more than enough cloth diapers to last your little one.  Or if you are like me, enough that you don't have to buy new ones for a few months.  If I haven't said it before, cloth diapers are such an addiction.

First up is a Sunbaby diaper size 2 in circles.  This diaper is not only gender neutral but cute and fun.  It is valued at $6 and is a great diaper in my opinion.  If you'd like to learn more about these diapers you can check out the companies website or just check out my spotlight and review.  Even though these diapers are inexpensive does not mean that they are not great quality and a good diaper to use.



Next is a cover by Wild Mountain Mommies.  You can pick out your own fabric.  If you'd like to see the choices you should look through their Facebook page here.  They sent me a cover that has become the new favorite at my house.  If you would like to see pictures and my review check it out here.  The value of this cover is $12.99.



Modified Momma Creations has a great collection of materials for you to choose one wipeaple cover from.  The cover comes with a snap in insert and is valued at $22.  You can check out their Facebook page here and you can read my spotlight and review of their products here.



Graham Bear Wear has generously offered a one size fitted for the winner of the giveaway.  You can check out my review of their fitteds and look at their Facebook page here.  The one size fitted is valued at $28 and you can choose your own print.

Dear Baby Donna Creations has offered a $10 gift certificate for the winner to use towards anything in her store.  This store has some of the best vintage fabrics that I have ever seen.  You can check out their Facebook page here and my spotlight and review of their products here.



Simply Cloth on Etsy has offered you a $15 gift certificate towards anything in their store.  You can check out my review of their awesome Bum Genius snap conversions here.  She has also sent a set of wipes for a total value of $25. 



Brown Cow Cotton on Etsy has also offered a great set for you.  She is offering a natural organic cotton cover and two natural organic cotton trifolds for a total value of $27.



Little Bitty Bug from Etsy has offered two items to add.  One of these is a pair of longies in the gender choice and size choice of  the winner valued at $10, a fleece soaker and a pack of wipes valued at $15 for a total value of $25.



Cloth Diapers Inc has generously offered a few items for this giveaway.  I am so excited to announce that they have added a FuzziBunz PS in your choice or color and size and a CDI zip tote in your choice of color.  Now to win these items you must like their Facebook page.  The diaper is valued at $13.95-21.95 and the tote is valued at $10.95.



Emmi Loo's Designs is the final sponsor of my giveaway.  I was given a $25 gift certificate for you to be able to use on anything in their amazing shop.  There are some awesome bloomer style diaper covers that would be great for your little one's first birthday and there are also some adorable boutique quality clothing items.  Please check out my spotlight on the shop.

Now it's your chance to enter to win.  I hope that you enjoy this!


You can also enter all of the other giveaways that are a part of this hop.

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