Hooked On You Review & Giveaway

I am so excited about this review/giveaway opportunity for three reasons.  First, the owner of Hooked On You is a dear friend of mine, Veronica of It's "A" Sweet Life.  Veronica and I "met" through Kelly's Korner when my daughter was just a little Sweet Pea.  I fell in love with her hats and now I am so blessed to call her a friend.  She has been a real encouragement to me and I am so thankful for her friendship.  I can't wait to give her a big hug in person (soon, very soon!).

Many of my blog readers have already heard of Hooked On You hats, because my little ones love are often seen wearing one of her hats.  Seriously, Valerie walks around the house wearing them and, if she can't figure out how to put in on herself, she begs me until I help her put it on.  Almanzo doesn't usually like to keep them on, but neither did Valerie at that age.

Veronica recently added a new product to her shop - Blossom Hair Clippies.  She asked me to help review them and I was so excited for the opportunity.  She was even sweet enough to send me an extra one when I mentioned how much I love the Rainbow Blossom.  Valerie was excited about them too.  When I put one on the other day for Awana, she walked over to her daddy and pointed at it with a big grin on her face so he could see her pretty flower.  I tried to get a picture of her wearing it, but she's a toddler so every picture was blurry.  The first time she wore one, it was out by the end of Awana, but the second time she kept it in until bedtime.  Of course, her hair is still pretty short, so I just might have to order a second one of each of the colors so she can wear them with pigtails.

Are you drooling over the cuteness as much as I am?  Veronica has offered a great giveaway to one of my blog readers so you can have a chance to win some cute Hooked On You goodies for your own little one.  One winner will win a choice of a Hooked On You Hat or set of three (of your choice) Blossom Hair Clippies. 

To enter:
(Leave a separate comment for each entry and make sure to leave your email address if it is not visible on your blog profile.) 

1. Tell me your favorite product from Hooked On You. 

2. "Like" Hooked On You on Facebook.

3. Follow my blog through Google Friend Connect or email (but make sure to verify your email address to complete the email subscription).

4. Follow Veronica's blog.

5. Share this giveaway on your blog.

6. Share this giveaway on Facebook.

This giveaway will end at 2:00 pm CST on Friday, October 1st. 

Disclosure: I received three Blossom Hair Clippies free of charge from Hooked On You to review, but these are my own honest opinions about the products.  I honestly love Hooked On You and would recommend the products to anyone.  Hooked On You has also generously provided the giveaway prize for one winner.

Custom Orders in My Etsy Shop

 Most of the orders I have done through my Etsy shop have been custom orders, which is great for me, because I don't have lots of inventory sitting around...and I love to make unique things just for my customers.  Here are a few custom orders I finished up this week:

Large Diaper Bag

Remember when I posted a picture of the diaper bag I made for myself?  Well, a sweet blogging friend of mine found out she's expecting her third and asked me if I could make her one and I was more than happy to.  The diaper bag is approximately 16" wide, 14" tall, and 5" deep.  It has outside pockets and inside pockets with plenty of room to store all the baby essentials needed for any outing.  With all the time and materials it takes to make one, I'm selling them for $50.  If anyone is interested in placing a custom order for one, please email me so I can set up a custom listing for you.  Also, if you're interested in a different size, let me know too. 

Peek-A-Boo Nursing Cover

I'm just LOVING polka dots lately and was more than happy to make this custom order for Veronica.  If you're interested in a custom nursing cover, you can check out JoAnn's website here to see some of the fabric choices I like to use and then email me with your choice so I can set up a custom listing.  The Peek-A-Boo Nursing Covers sell for $20/each. 

Swaddle Receiving Blanket

These blankets are my most popular custom item.  My customers love them, because they are larger (and therefore last longer) than the store bought ones and they are great for swaddling.  (They are approximately 40" x 40".)  Plus, they are made from a super soft and cute flannel fabric.  They sell for $10/each.  If you are interested in placing a custom order, you can check out the Snuggle Flannel fabric from JoAnn's and email me with your fabric choice(s) so I can set up a custom listing for you. 

Newborn Fleece Diaper Covers

Another blogging friend emailed me after I posted pictures of the diapers and diaper covers I've been sewing for our baby boy asking if I could make her some for her baby girl due in just a few weeks.  I was excited to make my own pattern and have her test it for me.  They are made with a double layer of fleece (a print pattern on the outside and plain color on the inside) and are sewn with 100% polyester thread so they won't leak.  I used Velcro closures and even made laundry tabs to make them easy to wash.  The newborn size will sell for $7.00/each.  If you are interested in the newborn size or a different size, please email me with your request so I can set up a custom listing.

Newborn All-In-One (AIO) Diapers

My blogging friend who ordered the newborn diaper covers also asked me to make some All-In-One diapers for her to try.  I used the same pattern as the diaper covers, but added a layer of terrycloth for absorbency in the middle and flannel on the inside so it is soft against baby's bottom.  The newborn size will sell for $10/each.  If you are interested in the newborn size or a different size, please email me your request so I can set up a custom listing. 

For all custom order requests, please let me know within the next two weeks.  I'm going to be slightly preoccupied with a certain little baby boy in just five short weeks...can you believe it?  

14 Months Old

Our Sweet Pea is officially 14 months old today...and I can hardly believe how much she has grown in the past year. She is definitely well into the toddler stage now. She walks EVERYwhere and has even started to run. She also loves to explore and has kept me on my feet making sure she doesn't get into trouble. We have to be sure to close the bathroom door, because she will splash around in the toilet every chance she gets. She has also tried to climb the bookshelves if there is something placed in front of it for her to use as a step. I'm thankful our house is on one level, because climbing stairs is one of her favorite things to do.

She is still a peanut, but is now wearing 18 month clothes and has outgrown all her medium size cloth diapers. I've been frantically sewing more pocket diapers for her in a large size and have to make some more diaper covers too. Thankfully, the prefold diapers she has will still fit for quite a while. Now that she's walking all the time, she has also been wearing shoes. At first, she wasn't too sure about them, but now she will bring me her shoes before we leave the house. She has tiny feet too - she is just starting to fit into a size 3.

I've also begun to introduce the potty to her. Full blown potty training is definitely months away, especially with a newborn on the way, but I'm trying to get her slowly used to the idea of the toilet. My mom found a little potty seat at a rummage sail that sits right on the toilet. For bath time, I always let Valerie watch me fill the tub, because she loves it. I noticed a few weeks ago that she would start to pee all over the bathroom floor while she watched me fill the tub. So, I decided to sit her on the potty seat while I fill the tub and see what happens. For the most part, she just thinks it's funny and giggles about it. She's very good about not climbing down though. Monday morning when I put her on the potty to fill the tub, I noticed her face getting red and she began to make grunting noises. Sure enough, she went poopy in the potty! I'm not sure if she fully understood, but she did try to look down into the potty afterwards and clapped when I clapped for her. It was pretty exciting - a small step that will hopefully make potty training in the future much easier. Here are two cute videos from the past few weeks of our Sweet Pea for you to enjoy:

She LOVES bath-time...can you tell?

She LOVES music too and has started to twirl in a circle whenever music is playing.

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By the way, I just thought I'd share two new Etsy shops I discovered after winning some fun giveaways:

First, I was super excited to find out I was the winner of WeeEssentials Cloth Pad Starter Set giveaway. Some of you are probably thinking "cloth pads...ew!" which is exactly what I thought when I first heard it. But, after a good friend started using them and told me how much she loved them, I decided I would try them after our baby boy arrives. My friend offered to make me several different styles and when I discovered WeeEssentials' blog I thought it couldn't hurt to enter her giveaway...and I'm really glad I did! The owner of this cute Etsy shop is Candice and she is super sweet. We've been in contact for the past week and I can't wait to see what she comes up with. I'm also planning to order one of her medium wet bags and some cloth nursing pads. She has the CUTEST fabric...now I just have to decide which ones to order!

Second, I won one of several $5 gift certificates by following Monkey Snuggles on Twitter...and I've just fallen in love with her wool longies and leg warmers. I used my $5 gift certificate to purchase these cute leg warmers for our Sweet Pea:

Now I just have to make a cute fleece diaper cover to match these.  They will be perfect for keeping her warm around the house and showing off a handmade diaper cover.  Check out the Wool section - the wool longies and soakers are too cute for words!  It makes me wish I could knit...

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And, while we're on the topic of giveaways...I just found out I won ANOTHER giveaway!  MamaJoss, the super mom of Irish Twins whom she calls Pinkie & MyBuddy, hosted a giveaway for (3) eebee's adventures DVD's.  Here's what eebee's website says about their DVD series:

eebee's adventures are designed to engage you and your baby with rich play experiences that provide powerful lessons that memorizing letters, numbers, colors and shapes simply can and do not.
Watching and, importantly, “doing” eebee's adventures will allow you and your baby to see and learn first-hand what happens when you explore a crinkly, crunchy, smooth and bumpy paper mountain or roll, bounce, bop, bang, slide and toss your way around a world of balls and ramps.

It looks super cute and will be fun to share with our Sweet Pea...and, eventually, our baby boy.  I'm thinking I might save them as a Christmas gift for Valerie, so it will be one less gift I have to purchase.  Now, if only I could win giveaways for ALL my Christmas gifts... 

And The Winner Is...

First of all, thank you SO much to all who entered my giveaway. It's always fun to meet new bloggers and I look forward to checking out the blogs of all my new readers. Now, without further ado, the winner (according to random.org) is comment number...

6

Kristi said...

I love the vintage scarf skirt:) So cute! Would love the have the wet bag for swimsuits and such.
Kristi
guntergirl71@hotmail.com

Congratulations Kristi! I'm emailing you now and will send an email to Amy from Mama Bear Baby Wear as well.

To those who didn't win, please be sure to check out Amy's shop. She makes the cutest diaper covers and I'm in love with her newest product - the vintage scarf skirt. She's also a mommy and I just love to support mommy businesses. Thank you so much, Amy, for offering such a great giveaway!

Mama Bear Baby Wear GIVEAWAY

*** Comments are now closed and the winner will be announced soon. Thanks so much to all who entered! Be sure to check out Mama Bear Baby Wear if you don't win - I can testify that her products are WONDERFUL! ***


I am super excited to announce my first giveaway for another Etsy shop owner - Mama Bear Baby Wear. The owner of this Etsy shop is Amy, a stay at home mom who is also a part-time counselor who specializes in attachment issues.


She started sewing in 4th grade when her grandmother spent the summer teaching her how and, when she became a mommy, wanted to use items and parenting practices that supported secure attachment in infancy. She started with baby carriers, but moved onto cloth diapers when she realized how expensive they could be to purchase initially. She started selling through Ebay and her own website, but decided to join Etsy about a year ago after a friend, Catchick6, also joined Etsy. She says, "I LOVE Etsy, the environment, the clients, the purpose: it's a great community that supports many of the things I really believe in such as WAHM's like me!" She also told me a little secret - she doesn't enjoy the "sewing" as much as she enjoys creating new products and seeing her little ones wear a little bit of her love. What a great way to describe sewing for a mommy - sewing love for our little ones!


I first discovered Mama Bear Baby Wear when I realized my Sweet Pea was starting to outgrow her size Medium diaper covers...and I was SWAMPED with sewing projects in preparation for baby #2. (Wait, I'm still swamped...and I only have 8 more weeks before he's here...oh my!) I talked to my cousin's wife, Julia, and she said they purchased 5 one size diaper covers from Mama Bear Baby Wear when their baby boy was born. At 6 months, he's still wearing them on the smallest setting. She loves how well they work both during the day and at night and especially loves that they are one size, so she doesn't need to buy several different sizes of covers.


I immediately checked out Mama Bear Baby Wear to purchase one diaper cover for my Sweet Pea and discovered that Amy also makes wet bags. I knew I would need a new wet bag, because the one I purchased from Target (Wet Happened brand) was really warped and was too small for a long day outing, especially with another baby on the way. I also liked that they have snap closures, which hold in the smell better than a zipper.


When I received my order, I was so impressed with the quality of the sewing and loved how cute my daughter looked in her brown diaper cover. I've gotten so many compliments when she wears the diaper cover. When we're home for the day, I will often let her run around in just a diaper and t-shirt. I love that Amy's diaper covers have a strong velcro closure that my daughter can't "houdini" herself out of. Also, at about 21 pounds, Valerie is still wearing the diaper in the middle setting, which means it will truly fit her until she's out of diapers.


After using her wet bag for a month or so, I decided I would still need one a little bit bigger for longer outings with two kids, so I did a custom order. Amy was so sweet to work with and got the custom order did super fast, despite the fact that she had just moved and her sewing supplies were still in disarray. She once again impressed me with her sewing skills. I am SO happy with both wet bags. I used the extra large wet bag when Valerie and I went on a mini-vacation with my family, so I could still use cloth wipes. It worked really well to store the dirty cloth wipes and didn't leak or make my diaper bag smell.


Amy has generously offered a custom large travel size snap-n-go wet bag (10.5 in. x 11 in.) to one lucky winner. The winner will be able to choose a color/design of fabric from Amy's fabric stash. Even if you don't cloth diaper, these wet bags are great for dirty/wet clothes (which we all know newborns/toddlers are bound to have) or for wet swimsuits. They are machine washable, so you can easily throw them in with a load of wash too. Plus, they fold up nice and small to store in your diaper bag or beach bag.


Here's how to enter the giveaway:

Mandatory entry - Go to Mama Bear Baby Wear's Etsy shop and tell me what your favorite product is that she has for sale now (or even look through some of the items she's sold to find your favorite).

Extra entries (which only apply after the mandatory entry is complete) - be sure to leave a separate comment for each -

1. Follow me on Twitter and Tweet this giveaway - @Mom2Valerie and MamaBearBabyWear are giving away a snap-n-go travel wet bag! www.tjsmhanesfamily.blogspot.com. Daily tweets until the giveaway ends will also be worth an extra entry - just be sure to leave the permalink to your tweet in a separate comment for each daily tweet (by clicking on the time stamp from your tweet and copying and pasting the url). This is good for ONE extra entry per day.

2. Share this giveaway in your Facebook status or in a Facebook note - make sure you let me know or tag me in the note. This is good for ONE extra entry.

3. Blog about this giveaway and leave me the url to the specific blog post in the comments. This is good for ONE extra entry.

4. Purchase something from Mama Bear Baby Wear for TWO extra entries.

5. Follow my blog here or through email (- see the links on the sidebar). This is good for ONE extra entry.

This giveaway will be open until Thursday, September 10th at noon CST. At that time, I will close the comments and pick a winner with random.org. I will post the winner sometime Thursday afternoon - be sure I have your email address in your profile or in your first comment so I know how to contact you if you win. I'd wish you luck...but I don't believe in luck...so happy commenting!

Shout Out to Mommy Businesses

As a stay-at-home mom, I have grown to LOVE little businesses owned by moms. I started my own little home based business called Sew Inspired By Baby where I sell little sewing creations I come up with such as Peek-A-Boo Nursing Covers and Swaddle Receiving Blankets.


It is a creative outlet for me and fun way to make a little extra money (though my husband would say it's more of a hobby than a business!). When I look for baby things or even unique gifts, I love to utilitize other Etsy shops or little businesses owned by other blogging friends.

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My blogging friend, Veronica, makes super cute and adorable crocheted hats. I've mentioned her business here on my blog and my Sweet Pea has modeled one of her creations quite often. She just spent some time off from her business to make some decisions about where she wanted it to go...and here is the result:



Check out her new website for Hooked on You Hats - you're SURE to fall in love with her creations! Just look at the cuteness of her newest crocheted hats:


I'm already dreaming up an order for matching hats for our Sweet Pea and our baby boy...

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Another blogging friend, Brianna, is doing a giveaway on her blog for another mommy business called Pink & Pigtails.


This is another Etsy shop owned by a stay-at-home mommy who makes "delightfully whimsical bands that are soft (can we say no indent in my baby's head?) and beautiful" according to Brianna. They truly are precious and I would just LOVE to get some for my Sweet Pea. Just take a look at one of the newest headbands for sale right now...


Head on over to Brianna's blog for your chance to win a custom headband...or don't, because I'd LOVE to win one ;) But, seriously, check out Pink & Pigtails Etsy shop and support mommy businesses!