We have a winner!

Thank you to everyone who entered, our sponsors, and Jessica Allen for hosting this series! Minimalist Mama was our winner and she is ecstatic! Stay tuned for more holiday fun and giveaways!

Read More

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens...

Today I want to share some positivity. In this season of hustle and bustle, finding the perfect sale, gimme's, gotta-get-it's, and keeping up with the Joneses... take a minute and appreciate all that you have and hold dear.

 Here is my list

1. My Family You see that header? It's the group of pictures at the top of my blog. Those people make my world go round. Not money. Not things. And if, for some reason, we were unable to wrap presents or trim a tree this year, I know we would all be fine. Because we have each-other.
2. My Kuerig This one makes me chuckle, and it might make you raise an eyebrow. But the reality is that I'm a slow starter in the morning. Ever tried to start slow with 4 kids and a hubby circling round you with requests and needs before your feet even hit the floor? It's not pretty. My Kuerig makes it bearable.
3. Our Home My husband and I have been renters for years. His job moved us around, we chose a few moves, and so there was no point in buying our family home. We made that change this year, and at the start of the summer we moved into our first home. It feels amazing knowing that not only is our money not being wasted, but I can do my wife thing and make it FEEL like a home!
4. Creative Outlets I'm a right brain human through and through. I am left handed, terrible at math, and love to express myself creatively. I write, I sew, I sing, play with makeup and do weird things with my hair, all in the name of creativity. But it's me, and I am so thankful that I have found activities that I connect with that help channel my energy.
5. 8 Year of Marriage... with a lifetime more to come In a country where the divorce rate is 50%, and most marriages end by the 7th year, I feel like we've accomplished something spectacular having made it to 8. We have definitely grown closer over the last year, and even with our ups and downs I look forward to spending every day of the rest of my life with my husband. With a few girl's nights our thrown in there. ;)
6. Friends This might look a little far down on my list {and after the Keurig to boot!} but my friends are such an intrinsic part of my life. I talk or text at least 1 of them on a daily basis, they have held me up through some of the hardest times, and stood beside me when I felt like I was on top of the world. Some of them I have never met in person, but if I saw them tomorrow at the grocery store there would be zero weirdness. Sometimes we'll go weeks or months without talking... and then pickup right where we left off. My friends are perfect for me, and I endeavor to be just as well suited for them!
7. My God "So the last shall be first, and the first shall be last." Matthew 20:16 I leave off with my thankfulness for my God, my faith, not because I thought of it last, and not because I'm more thankful for the rest of these than Him. No, I want this to be last thing you read. I am so thankful that inspite of how badly I screw up on a daily basis I have a God that loves me, forgives me, and constantly gives me new opportunities to challenge myself and grow in Him. 

What are you thankful for today?

Read More

Handmade Holidays {Pinterest in pintastic!}

I think 99% of the planet has discovered the awesomeness that is Pinterest. There is such a huge plethora of information from recipes, to health and beauty, to LOL memes, and everything in between.

In keeping with our Handmade Christmas series, I wanted to share with you some of my favorite Pinterest projects. Some of these I plan to use myself, some I only wish I could complete! Enjoy!

Teacup Candles My mom collects teacups, and so this one immediately caught my attention. Every year the adults in my family throw names into a hat and everyone draws their Secret Santa. I knew if I got my mom's name I would be making this, but alas, I might have to wait until Mother's Day. You could find beautiful cups at a thirft store or garage sales, and even with the cost of the wax, you are spending mere pennies for a beautiful handmade gift!

Fuzzy Slippers These are just yummy! Whatever fabric your {recipient's} heart desires, coupled with soft, sumptuous insides.. anyone would be delighted to receive these!

Pajama Pants If you're like me, you buy your kids Christmas PJs every year. This year I'm going to make them myself, save a few $$, and have WAY more cherished memories because of it!

Cute Bags Have a teen, young adult, or grown woman on your list? Make them a bag. You simply can't go wrong! And my favorite thing about this is you can personalize the style and functionality for the person in mind.

Trendy Pillows Everyone loves when their home is warm, inviting, and beautiful. Giving your friend or loved one a beautiful handmade pillow that compliments their home is so thoughtful!

Handmade Bracelets This is a lovely collection of easy to make bracelets. Woman - Jewelry = WIN!

Fun Fleece Hats Little ones will have so much fun with these easy peasy to make fleece hats! Even if you don't live in a super cold climate, they'll don them and have FUN!

Coffee Cozy FINALLY! A gift you can give a man! Or woman. Well, maybe some men would dig the fleece hats as much as kids, but this one can go to a may-un. Macho it up with buttons, boy colors, and he can wrap his decaf mocha latte with nonfat whip in testosterone infused style.

Earbud Case Say you have a Sister. I do. Say she is connected with her ipod like it's her umbilical cord and it's still attached. Mine does. Say she doesn't always keep up with her headphones so well. Mind doesn't. Or that, perhaps, when she comes to visit your kids take her earbuds and rip them, chew them, or jump on them. Mine don't... but yours probably do. This nifty little gift is a way to help your sister keep up with her earbuds, and away from your kids. Yours. Not mine. Because mine don't do that kind of thing.

There are so many fantastic ideas on Pinterest, and I hope you garner some inspiration from my ideas! Follow me on Pinterest through any of the above links, and keep up with my new pins!

Read More

Merry Fluff Christmas Giveaway {Cloth Diaper Package}

I am pleased to welcome you to the 3rd annual Merry Fluffy Christmas Giveaway Hop hosted by And Then There Were 5. There are over 50 blogs participating, including yours truly,each with sensational prize packages worth $50 or more. Be sure to scroll down and visit each blog and enter their giveaways as well.

Sneaky Green's prize package is comprised of 3 smashing diapers from amazing companies who go above and beyond in their charity work. You get your choice of color/print/fabric when you win this fluffy prize.

Our lucky winner will receive our package worth $64.90.

This package includes...

Little Bee Co. Cloth Diaper {review posted HERE}

SRP $23.95

The Little Bee Co. is all about giving back. For every diaper purchased through their company, another is donated to a baby in need. These purchased culminate in diaper drops delivered round the world. 

Lil Helper Diaper {review coming SOON!}

SRP $25.95

Lil Helper is another fantastic charitable company. For every diaper purchased through their company, another is donated to a baby in need. With unique spec's, like charcoal inserts, you don't want to miss this one!

Glowbug Diaper {review coming SOON!}

SRP $15

Glowbug cloth diapers sells their expertly made diaper in packages ONLY. This saves you money, and you know that each diaper is handcrafted with quality care. 

{NOTE... please read before attempting to enter! Rafflecopter is having issues with some versions of Internet Explorer properly loading the forms. If you are having an issue with my raffloecopter form, try another browser (if you have one available). If you still are having troubles PLEASE let me know and I will see what I can do!}

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This giveaway listed at

Read More

Handmade Holidays Tutorial {Cloth Baby Wipes}

During the holidays we might be tempted to dig ourselves deeply into debt. Buying Furbies and Barbies, Power-wheels and Ipods. Buying any and every hot item to satisfy the whims of our children, spouses, and loved ones.

But what if... 

Our gifts were born of love, instead of luxury.

Our hands contributed more to our giving than our gas tanks.

Inspiration, rather than lists, lead the way to finding that perfect something for that perfect someone.

We put more time and effort into handcrafting heartfelt gifts for those we love, rather than filling up the space under our trees with miscellaneous store-bought goodies just to fill up that space.

I would LOVE to help you make that happen! I plan to have a series of tutorials, aiding you in finding inspiration, and instruction, to make some lovely gifts for your loved ones this holiday season. Here is the first of those tutorials!

{HANDMADE BABY WIPES/WASHCLOTHS TUTORIAL}

What you're going to need

• 2 colors of contrasting fabrics (I used flannel for both sides, but you can also use terrycloth, velour, or any soft, yummy, absorbant material)
• thread (I used contrasting colors for my thread as well, purple on the top spool, and blue on the bottom. It added a really cool effect, and gave different color to each side of the cloths)
• wipe box lid (to use as a pattern for your cloths)
• fabric sheers or rotary cutter
• fabric marker
• Complimenting color bias tape (not pictured here)

Step 1 Start with laying your fabric pieces right side together. Fold this over so you end up with wrong sides of the same fabric touching. This will double your cutting efforts!

Step 2 Trace your wipe lid across your folded fabric, getting the pieces as close together as possible. Mine were actually touching so that in making 1 cut I was actually shaping the left side of 1 wipe, and the right side of the other.

Step 3 Cut the sides and tops of your traced wipes. When you have these cut, your bottom will be connected. slide your sheers in between this fold and cut across. Like so.

Step 4 Your fabric is already in the right position, so now it's time to sew! Check that your machine is threaded properly and start halfway down one of the long sides of the wipe sewing the 2 fabric pieces together. Leave a 1 inch section unsewn, so you can turn the wipe rightside out.

Step 5 This is what it will look like. Be sure to trim any excess fabric from the edges.

Step 6 Turn the wipe rightside out by poking your finger into one of the corners and working it through the hole that your left on the side. Continue this with all the corners, tugging gently to get all the fabric out.

Step 7 You will be left with a small hole in the side. Simply tuck this in on itself to line up with the rest of the edge and begin stitching at this location.

Step 8 Now stitch around the entire edge, as close to the edge as you can get. you can use a more decorative stitch if you so desire. And voila, you're done! Lather, rinse, repeat, and you'll have a handmade set of baby wipes/washcloths in minutes!

Step 9 To add an extra handmade touch and really make your gift pop get a piece of complimenting bias tape. Measure and cut to go around the wipes with about an inch overlapping. Stitch the ends together with a contrasting thread and a decorative stitch and you have a BEAUTIFUL, thoughtful, well put together gift that you can be proud to give to any parent!

Read More

The Little Bee Co. {Bamboo Solids Diaper Review}

When I think of cloth diapers I think of beautifully patterned, fluffy, squishy goodness. I think of well stocked diaper stashes, and endless supplies of absorbent inserts. Unfortunately, for alot of the world their diaper supplies aren't quite so cushy, and in lieu of diapers they use old cloths, or sometimes nothing at all. 

Enter The Little Bee Co.

Where soft bums are scare, and babies are lacking in squishy goodness, The Little Bee Co. is helping. Every diaper that is purchased through their company is matched with another diaper donated to an orphan in need. They have done diaper drops in China, Russia, the US, East Africa, South America, and more. The mission statement "Bee changed and change the world" is one they take seriously. With names like Honduran Sunrise, Cambodian Blush, and Turkish Moon, each of their vibrantly colored diapers is named for a place where children are desperately in need.

I was given the opportunity to try one of their Bee Changed Bamboo Solids diapers, and I have to say it is the softest thing I have EVER felt! The PUL outter is a stunning blue, called African Rain. The inner is a soft, plush, cozy bamboo fleece. Each Bee Changed Bamboo diaper comes with 2 microfiber inserts, or for a few more dollars you can upgrade to hemp and organic cotton inserts. There are 12 different colors to choose from, and this is a one size diaper that will bring your baby home from the hospital, and keep them dry until they are potty trained.

I made sure to give my new fluff a proper test run, so after prepping the hemp inserts I set my princess up for some sweet dreams in her new Bee Changed diaper. I used both inserts, and by morning they were heavily wet, but not thoroughly soaked. And this is with a sippy of milk before bed! Her sheets were dry, and when I picked her up in the morning, my shirt stayed dry too. (You cloth mamas know the dread of a wet spot on your shirt before that first morning diaper change!)

Next up was a several hour outing to the grocery store. Moving around presents a whole other host of obstacles to cloth diapering because the pressure of sitting on the diaper, as opposed to the light weight of sleeping, tends to squish out liquid from the inserts, and more times than I care to admit I've had to change my kiddos clothes because of diaper mishaps. We were in car seats, in shopping carts, and back in the carseat for a good 3 hours (without a change) and when I got home her clothes were still completely dry!

I don't have a single complaint about our Little Bee Co. diaper, and with the adorable Bee Change tag on the back, I found myself wanting to hike up her dress to show off the adorable saying and the gorgeous color. This is one of our new favorites! The inserts are also contoured, and fit in all of my other pockets. Score!

I feel blessed to live in a country where we are able to provide for our family so well. We are not rich, but our babies are always taken care of. I can only wish the same for every child around the world. You can purchase diapers from The Little Bee Co. in good conscience, knowing your little ones bottom will be clean and dry, and at the same time you are providing for another precious baby somewhere in the world. 

To keep an eye on The Little Bee Co. continuing diaper drops check out there Diaper Drops page.

I want to leave you with a Bible verse that is quoted on the Bee Changed Mission Statement page, and I urge you to watch the video below that goes into further detail about The Little Bee Co.'s mission.

"Religion that God our Father accepts as Pure and Faultless is to care for orphans"

James 1:27

Read More

No GMOs & Prop 37

Yes, I live in the South. A long, long, long… long way from California. But with the elections being done, the votes having been cast, and federal, state, city, and county officials finding their places in office, there was a proposition, Prop 37, way out west, that I had my eye on.

Prop 37 would have required all retailers and food and beverage companies to label genetically modified ingredients. For the life of me I can’t think of one. single. reason. not to have our food properly labeled. Except for this. Ignorance is bliss. I didn’t say it was a good reason, but that is the only plausible explanation. It’s easier to stick your head in the sand and play the part of the proverbial ostrich than to meet with change head on and be called into action.

Is that who we are as a nation? Do we prefer to ignore important information in favor of convenience? I guess we really have become the fast food nation.

I shake my head, and hope that some day soon America will realize that knowledge is power. Well, to be clear, prop 37 was only defeated by a small margin, and considering the powerhouse companies fighting against it (Monsanto, Hershey Co., etc) that’s not a bad loss. It was close. Next time, I hope it wins by a landslide. 

Read More