Times to Treasure Scrapbooks Candy Jar Review

I recently won a candy jar set in a Facebook giveaway from Times to Treasure Scrapbooks owned by Jackie.  Here's a little bit about Jackie and how she started her business:

My name is Jackie Henderson and I have 3 grown children.  I am a Reading Enrichment Teacher.  I have been doing crafts since I was very young(that was a LONG time ago)!  In 2005 my friends convinced me to turn my passion for scrapbooking and crafting into a business so Times to Treasure scrapbooks and gifts was born!  I absolutely love creating for others.  When I create a scrapbook for a customer, I feel like they become part of my family-preserving memories for generations to come.  I have made so many friends through my business-such a rewarding experience!

Not only does she create custom scrapbooks, she has some adorable home decor crafts she makes.  You can see that she does custom decor wooden blocks.  When I saw the Facebook auction & giveaway through another vendor, I entered to win the candy jar set.  They are so unique and I knew they'd look perfect in our kitchen.  They came with a set of red, white & blue ribbons as well as 3 letters to add some more decoration to the jars.  The letters were U.S.A. which was perfect for the 4th of July and for our family to support Team U.S.A. during the 2012 Summer Olympics!

My candy jars with the ribbons attached to the lids!

Be sure to go check out Times to Treasure's website as well as her business' Facebook page to see all of the wonderful things she makes.

Adventures in the Big Boy Bed (part 3)

I realized its been over a week since I posted on Jack's transition into his twin bed.  If you're interested in reading the first two posts you can do so here and here.

Things have been getting better for the most part!  Jack has only fallen out of bed once since the last post.  He has been sleeping through the night... but instead of sleeping until 7:30-8 a.m., he's waking up at 6:30 and coming to our room.  That's ok... I can handle that, especially since I usually try to wake up to get ready for work around 6:45-7 a.m, but I feel bad for Matt who has to get up earlier in comparison.  On the weekends he will still come to our room, but we can convince him to lay in between us for a bit longer!  The things I'm still not that crazy about, but am not willing to disrupt at this point, are:

1. He still wants someone to lay with him as he falls asleep (usually Daddy), which typically means one of us ends up falling asleep with him.  He's still our little boy, what's wrong with getting some snuggles?
2. Pacifiers, he still has two (one in his mouth & one in his hand), but we've at least gotten him to the point that he knows they're only for when he's sleeping.  Sometimes he'll run into his room and climb in bed just to suck on a pacifier for a couple of seconds.  He usually leaves them right on his pillow, so hopefully we can wean him off those soon enough.
3. We still leave each of our bedroom doors open (cracked) and the hallway light on, and I really hate wasting electricity.  I worry that he'll bump into things during the night if he tries to get to our room... paranoid I'm sure, but there aren't any outlets in our hallway that we could put a small plug-in light-sensing nightlight.

We did end up purchasing a Cloud B Twilight Turtle, which is essentially a fancy nightlight, to step Jack up from the music/light combo crib noisemaker.  He does really enjoy it now, but the first night I wasn't so sure it was a great idea.  He thought it was a great toy and just giggled and kept pressing buttons to change the color of the lights or turn it off & on. 

Pros:

• Plush for the most part (the shell that the stars are cut out of is thin plastic).
• Easy for Jack to turn on (in case he wakes in the middle of the night) and off... and change the color lights.
• The timer; it automatically shuts off after 45 minutes so it doesn't run the batteries down.
• The stars actually form constellations, so we can start showing him those when he's a bit older (right now he just likes to find the moon out of all of the stars)

Cons:

• No white noise/music... and I think this is just because Jack really liked the noise, but I didn't find anything I liked that wasn't meant for a crib.
• Kind of pricey for what it really is (a nightlight); I suppose we could have found another nightlight for a cheaper price, but I got kind of desperate when he kept waking up at 2 a.m.

Disclaimer: The brief review of the Cloud B Twilight Turtle was not solicited in any way.  The information is this post is based only on my experience.

**CLOSED** Rockin' Green Detergent New Remix Formula: Review & Giveaway!

I was recently presented with the opportunity to review a new product from my favorite cloth diaper detergent company, Rockin' Green!  They're known for having the perfect detergent for cloth diapers, no matter what your water conditions (hard v. soft)!  Many cloth diapering parents will "Rock the Soak" when diapers are not absorbing as well as they have.  When we were using another detergent and couldn't get rid of the smells, we used this technique and it helped immensely... we had gotten to the point where we were stripping diapers every time we were washing!  They recently came out with a new product "Funk Rock" that is meant for when your cloth diapers start smelling funky!  I haven't tried it, but people say it works wonders!

Well, the latest new product from Rockin' Green (RnG) is their Remix formula!  I received 3 samples of the remixed Classic Rock formula in the scents: Rage Against the Raspberries, Lavender Mint Revival, and Bare Naked Babies (unscented, this is what we currently use in the "old" formula).  I wanted to try some of their scents, because I am always so paranoid of how Jack will react to using scented detergents.  Here's an overview of how they've changed the formula (information in black summarized from Rockin' Green's website; I've added my own thoughts & opinions in green):

• Remix has a lower pH to be gentler on your diapers in the long run!  Let's be honest, all clothing wears out eventually after repeated washing!  Diapers are the part of baby clothes that are washed more often... in my house a diaper will be washed about 2 times a week due to the size of our stash!  I want these diapers to last through baby #2 and beyond if I can keep them in good shape.
• Safer for sensitive skin; this formula underwent cosmetic testing to see if it caused any irritation (this was done with the Bare Naked Babies, unscented, version).  My guess as to the reason why testing wasn't done on the scented versions is because there's going to be more variation due to different perfumes used (this is pretty typical of any scented product: deodorant, detergent, baby wipes).  I know Jack has sensitive skin, so we've always gone the safe route with unscented products!
• Better cleaning power per scoop to take care of stains with less detergent!  Due to all of the rain in the Midwest this spring I haven't been able to sun my diapers to try and reduce stains.  Jack was on antibiotics a week ago, the effects caused a decent poo stain that I really wanted to get out (see below) because its on one of my favorite diapers!

The first sample I tried is Rage Against the Raspberries Remixed Classic Rock, and I love it!  I love the fruity scent... you need something pleasant smelling when dealing with dirty diapers.  Its a very subtle scent, at least with my allergy stuffed nose, but that's good in my opinion!  My first load of diapers, I decided to change up my wash routine and see how the diapers fared.  Instead of doing my normal routine (cold-cold rinse, warm-warm wash with 1-2 tbsp. of RnG, and at least 2 warm-cold rinses) I chose to shorten the routine and use the approximate same amount of detergent (this amount varies based on the number of diapers I'm washing).  I did one cold-cold rinse followed by my warm-warm wash with 1.5 tablespoons of the remixed formula, then only one warm-cold rinse.... in my high efficiency front loader.  Duh, duh, duh... I took a rinse cycle out and I use a front loader.  I must have felt like living on the edge that day!  Well, my diapers got the sniff test after I took them out of the washer to be dried and hey, no scent!  As opposed to when you're washing clothes or something with a scented fabric softener, this is a good thing when using a scented cloth diaper detergent.  This led me to believe that there was no (or at least very little) detergent residue after my wash routine!

I went to wash my 2nd load of cloth diapers a couple days later (we typically wash every other day) and expected to smell the large scent of ammonia I typically smell after diapers have set in my wetbag for over 36 hours.  Well, this pregnant mama's nose was not overwhelmed by ammonia as is the usual situation (and I'm a chemist, so for chemical smells to bug me, it must be pretty strong).  I did smell some, but I don't know how many diapers were actually washed with the remix formula in the load before (we've got 3 people changing diapers around here, just one variable of which I wasn't going to keep track.)  I'm hoping that the reduced ammonia smell keeps up (and maybe even gets better) because that would really be a sign of the increased cleaning power of the new formula!

For my second load of diapers using the same scent and wash routine as above, I wanted to see how one of my favorite diapers fared.  This diaper was stained by my son's pretty nasty poo brought on by antibiotics last week.  This stained diaper had already been washed once, maybe twice before the pictures I'm going to show next.

You can see the darker stain right in the middle.  This is before I put it in the wash, it was slightly damp with pee and my laundry area is on the darker side & I left the flash off, so there is very little "bleaching" of the photo due to light.

This is after one cycle with the remixed formula, the stain has already been reduced pretty significantly.  This picture was taken on our drying rack (the diaper was slightly damp) and the light was more plentiful than in our shadowy laundry area (I still left the flash off) so that might attribute to the diaper looking as great in this picture, but when I am looking at this diaper in darker conditions I can tell the difference!  Since the weather is nice this weekend, I'm going to stick the diapers outside in the sun to dry to see if that takes care of the stain even more!

Rockin' Green is also currently running a series called "52 Weeks of Clean" where you can receive a tip a week on other ways to use Rockin' Green detergent!  This detergent doesn't have to be just be used for clothes or cloth diapers.  You can get a tip a week via text or via email for one year.

So, on to the fun part... a giveaway!!  Rockin' Green has allowed me to offer one lucky reader a 45/90 load bag of remixed formula in their choice of scent and appropriate formula (Hard, Classic, or Soft).  Here are the details!

Giveaway will end July 3rd, 2011 at 11:00 p.m. EST.

Mandatory entry: You must leave a comment below with what scent you would like to try... and there are certainly some great options: Smashing Watermelons, Rage Against the Raspberries, Motley Clean, Earth, Wind & Orchids, Lavender Mint Revival, Mighty Marshmallow, and Bare Naked Babies (unscented)! 

**Note: All comments must be made with a Blogger account, not anonymously**

Additional entries (leave an additional comment per extra entry):

• Leave a comment (not anonymous) stating which formula you need (Classic, Soft, or Hard); you can use the excellent map from RnG for help if you don't know your water quality. (1 extra entry per giveaway, not per day)
• Be a fan of Rockin' Green Cloth Diaper Detergent on Facebook; leave a comment with your Facebook ID (1 extra entry per giveaway, not per day).
• Follow my blog via Google Friend Connect and make a comment stating this fact. (1 extra entry per giveaway, not per day)
• Follow my blog on Facebook via Networked Blogs; leave your Facebook ID in your comment. (1 extra entry per giveaway, not per day)
• Follow my blog via email subscription (right-hand side) and leave a comment with your email address. (1 extra entry per giveaway, not per day)
• Promote this giveaway via Twitter or your own blog, leave a link to the post or your Twitter ID and the contents of the Tweet below. (1 extra entry per day)

Winner will chosen via Random.org and be announced by 12:00 a.m. EST on July 5th and will have 48 hours to contact me via email.

Disclaimer:  I contacted Rockin' Green after seeing a request from Rockin' Green for bloggers to test and host a giveaway for the new Remix formula.  I received 3 samples of the remixed formula and asked to provide a review on my blog; I was not otherwise compensated in any way for this post.  All comments and observations are my own and based off of my own experiences, your experience may differ.  If the first winner does not contact me within 48 hours of the announcement, a runner-up will be chosen and so-on.  Only the winner's contact information will shared with Rockin' Green so they can ship the prize.  The prize of a 45/90 load of detergent is solely the responsibility of Rockin' Green.

The Infantino Cloud Cart/Highchair Cover

When I was pregnant with Jack, I swore I'd never be that mom that tried to protect her baby from every possible source of germs.  I held true to that pretty well, the one thing I did give-in on wanting was a high chair/cart cover when he was about 5-6 months old.  He was chewing on EVERYTHING and when sitting in either a high chair or shopping cart the handles and bars seemed to be within easy "reach" of his mouth.  It didn't so much gross me out with the germs factor (but it was cold and flu season and he couldn't get the vaccine at that point) but the danger factor that these seats can cause.  Now, most carts and highchairs aren't in that bad of shape, but I had come across quite a few rough wooden highchair and rusty shopping carts with exposed screws.

I recently was approached with the opportunity to try the new Infantino Cloud Deluxe Shopping Cart Cover.  I must say, this is one high quality, and intense, cover!  Here's a picture of the package I received:

Front view with description and uses.

Top view with the handle for carrying when not in use.

I don't have picture of Jack in it because he is at the age where doing anything Mommy wants him to do is not good, but I did eventually get him to ride in a shopping cart with it.  He was just very angry about being in the cart to begin with.  Here are my pros & cons of my experience:
Pros:

• Very comfortable and cushy, perfect for those babies that are just sitting up!
• Adorable pattern
• Machine washable (a must for any baby item)
• Very stretchy, would easily fit on a lot of different shapes & sizes of shopping carts!
• The velcro that keeps the sides together through the bars of the shopping cart.  I like this as opposed to ties for a quick set-up

Cons:

• Hard to put on one-handed (using other hand to hold baby), wouldn't be an issue if I were out with Matt (he'd hold Jack and I'd get the cover on).
• Leg holes seemed small for Jack, but would be perfect for a younger/smaller baby.
• Too big to put in the diaper bag (has to be carried separately), but all covers I have seen are.
• Because it is meant to go across the handle of the shopping cart, if you get a cart with a wonky wheel (which I did while trying this) it makes it very hard to steer the cart.
• Would also be too big for a wooden restaurant high chair.

Overall, this is a great cover!  You definitely need two hands and it would be better for a smaller baby and early sitter, but it is definitely high quality!



Disclaimer: I was contacted by a representative of Infantino Test & Tell Mom program. I received the cart cover to facilitate my review. I have not been compensated in any other way for this post, and my thoughts expressed above are completely my own.