Pottery Baptism Gift

I made this cross for my godson Lincoln as a baptismal gift. I made the 2 pieces separately and used crazy glue to put them together. To write his name on it I had first tried a Gold Sharpie, but that wouldn't really work over the glaze, so I ended up using gold acrylic paint to paint on his name.

Free Car Seat Rental through Hertz

Here is another perk of your AAA membership. If you have the need to rent a car and do so through hurts, you can get a car seat included free in your rental. This can save you almost $14 a day. 

I don't know if they include more than one if you have more than one child in a car seat at a time but it is worth asking if this is a service you need. 

In the past we have always checks a car seat or a booster seat to bring along with us and now we are almost out of the booster seat Fay as in Minnesota you are required to have a child in a booster seat until 8 years old. There are a couple of exceptions to have them be out of the seat earlier that include meeting a height or weight requirement but my kids will be in it until at least 8 and typically until they are the height requirement.

Fun Stitching on a Baby Blanket

I decided to try out my new sewing machine and all these new FUN stitches I have that I never did before (I used to have a very basic sewing machine but will be giving it to my daughter as a gift).

I made this for my new nephew and thought it would be fun to made a double sided baby blanket and then add decorative stitching on the top and bottom edges.

If you have never made a double sided blanket before, just cut out your fabric (2 pieces) 1/2" larger on all sides. Pin the right sides together and stitch a 1/2" straight seam using a regular stitch and all 4 sides, but leaving about a 2" unstitched gap on the 4th side. Pull your fabric through the gap so that the right sides are out. Fold in the edges of the gap and pin in the place.

I did my decorate stitching on this 4th side so that the gap was stitched closed, then also did it on the opposite side.

In case you are wondering, my new sewing is this Singer 7256 Fashion Mate 70-Stitch Computerized Sewing Machine. I am just loving it so far!

GIVEAWAY and Review: Eco-Nuts Organic Baby Liquid Laundry Soap

I have always wanted to try Eco-Nuts, so I was pretty excited to be asked to review the product at home for my blog readers. I was sent both the Eco-Nuts Organic Baby Liquid Laundry Soap and the original Eco Nut Organic Laundry Soap. You can read all about What Are Soap Nuts? on their website, but in a "nut-shell" (see what I did there, apparently I think I am clever today - Ha!) it is kinda just that - the shell of a berry (not a nut) that naturally contains soap. Like I just said, it is a berry, but these hard little shells look and feel more like nuts, but they are nut-free and are nut allergy safe.

If you are a frequent reader of my blog, you will remember that in the last week or so I have been talking much more about my daughter's eczema flare up that occurred in a season not typical for her and how it was worse that usual winter flare ups. I have been trying a number of things to help get it under control and gone and we are doing really well, as it is nearly gone. One of those things is that I have switched to watching her laundry in this Eco Nuts Baby Laundry Soap. Fragrances and other products in traditional laundry soaps can be irritating for some people, especially those with skin issues. So, I need to be more careful with what goes in our laundry and make sure that her clothes for are being washed with soap that is not irritating. Now, I can't say for sure that it was a cause because I recently made many changes to help rid her of this flare-up, but it is nearly gone now and I will keep washing her laundry in this soap.

I also wanted to add that this is both septic and grey water system safe. I never used to pay attention to that, but since we have purchased a cabin with a new mound septic system, I have become very aware of looking at products that are septic safe.

This laundry soap can be used in both HE and Regular washers. The liquid soap only needs 1 tsp. for an HE washer, so I measured that out to see how many squirts it would be since I don't want to get out a measuring spoon every time and it is exactly 2 full pumps for a 1 tsp. This  oz bottle is going to last me 60 loads in my HE washer. At $12.99 for a bottle, it will only cost me about 21-cents a load to wash my clothes and it takes up hardly any space.

 Also, the bottle is made out of aluminum, so you can toss it right in the recycling with your cans, but in true SGBG fashion I will probably reuse the bottle. It has a sticker label on it that could be removed and I will clean it out inside and fill with either kids paint or refillable hand soap.

Product Description from Eco Nuts:

A certified USDA Organic liquid detergent just for baby clothes and cloth diapers made with organic soapberry (soap nuts) extract!
Does 30 regular loads or 60 High Efficiency loads. Just a few pumps are all you need.
Eco Nuts Liquid Detergent contains no dyes, fragrances, fillers, enzymes or optical brighteners and is never tested on animals.
Comes concentrated in an aluminum bottle with a pump top for easy dispensing. The aluminum bottle is better for the environment than plastic. It recycles as easily as a soda can and saves energy compared to plastic.
Support ocean conservation because turtles are awesome!
*When washing cloth diapers, it is best to use this product for all laundry due to residue left in the machine by other detergents. Eco Nuts Organic Baby Laundry Soap can be used on all regular laundry. No need to buy multiple detergents for the family.

ONE LUCKY READER WILL WIN THEIR OWN BOTTLE OF

ECO NUTS ORGANIC BABY LIQUID LAUNDRY SOAP

ENTER RAFFLECOPTER BELOW

a Rafflecopter giveaway
I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Free Sample of Seventh Generation Baby Wipes

Pop on over to Facebook and Like Seventh Generation Baby and sign up to get a free sample of baby wipes. 

There has been three wipes in their sample pack in the past.

#175 Baby Food Jar Santa

This was a fun craft that we did with another family that came over for a Christmas crafting playdate. It does take a glue gun, so mom's help is needed unless the kids are older.

The first thing we did was have the kids trace a circle around an old plastic lid and then cut it out. Then cut a line straight to the middle of the circle. This will allow you to shape it into a cone and glue it in this shape. Place some glue on the top of the car and place the cone on top.

Next you will want to pull apart some cotton balls and then blue them on the top & brim of the hat and also on the jar as a beard. Then I had my daughter picked out some eyes & a pom pom nose for me to glue on and finally, I used a permanent marker to draw on some rosy cheeks.

I think this turned out very cute!

#160 Make Your Own Organic Teething Biscuits

Man! These were so simple & so cheap to make compared to buying the organic teething biscuits in the store. The last box of store bought organic biscuits I bought cost me a little under $2 and I got 12 biscuits. I made 21 biscuits (so, 75% more) for the same price. And all you need is 3 ingredients: whole wheat flour, jar of baby food & maple syrup.

My son loves them! And what I love is that they are not as messy as the store bought ones and they are lasting longer than the store bought ones too. Makes this mama happy!

Organic Teething Biscuits

2 C organic white whole wheat flour

1 jar of organic baby food (applesauce, pear sauce, or apple & banana sauce)

1/2 C organic maple syrup

Directions: Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a medium size bowl, mix all ingredients by hand until all ingredients are mixed. Then turn dough onto a floured surface and knead (adding more flour as needed) to create a pliable ball that isn't sticky. Roll out dough to 1/3 inch thick and cut out biscuits. If you don't have circle cookie cutters, you can use a rim of a cup for the larger circle and a plastic bottle cap to cut out the center circle. Or you can always cut them into bars too. Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool. They are ready to be eaten as soon as they cool, but will harden even stiffer if you leave them out for 8-12 hours. Store in air tight container and use within 2-3 weeks.

#99 Reuse Baby Food Jars

Ok, so you didn't make your own baby food & instead bought jars of it, or maybe it was just a few jars. Let's make sure you reuse or recycle those jars. My sister recently used hers to store & organize all her spices.

I found this list that is pretty comprehensive of a TON of crafts you can make. I recycled mine from when my daughter ate pureed food, so I don't have any laying around, but with baby boy due in 2 months they will soon be come in the house. I know I said I was going to make my own this time, but probably not everytime. Sometimes it is nice to have a jar or 2 on hand or in the diaper bag since if they are kept sealed you can have them around and not worry about refrigeration.

And you can also use them to put some of your homemade baby food into.

#98 Make Your Own Baby Food

I have to admit, I didn't do much of this with my daughter when she was a baby. I did it a couple times and couldn't get it fine enough for her and she didn't seem to care for the texture. But this time around I plan to make most of the baby food. This time I have a baby food grinder, which I bought too late to use with my daughter. By the time I bought it she was quickly eating more & more finger food and it was not necessary and then started refusing pureed foods altogether.

Now, by buying baby food you are causing the necessary creation and distribution of the packaging materials (plastic, glass, paper or carboard on the outside of the container PLUS the boxes that each grouping of baby food containers are packaged in). And not to mention that you need drive some place to buy the food and the transportation related expenses and environmental impacts that are involved in getting it to the store.

I know you are probably wondering just how much money you will save and I found this handy comparison chart that tells you. Granted, I must comment that prices have risen on the cost of food, but it has risen across the board for both the frozen/fresh food you will buy & pureed and the jarred baby food. So, even if the cost per ounce is more, it will be more on all of them and the ratio of cost per ounce between them will still be about the same. The average on the chart is 3 CENTS an ounce if you make your own (prices look to be non-organic food) whereas buying jarred food will be 17-23 CENTS an ounce.

Every baby eats solids at a different rate, but if you take an average of 4-8 T of fruit and 4-8 of vegetables a day and use the savings of 20 cents per ounce (there is .5 fluid ounces in a tablespoon), then you will be saving 80 cents up to $1.60 on average a day. And even if you saved $1/ day off your food bill, that's $30/month and during the 6 months you would feed pureed baby food you would save $180. That really adds up. And if you kid eats more, you really start to see even more savings. You could save even more if you factor in making your own cereal, although I plan to buy iron-fortified cereal since I plan to breastfeed as long as possible again. I like to buy the Earth's Best Brand. My daughter loved it.

#90 Try Out Freepeats.Org

If you are in the market for items related to maternity, infants or children and live in or near a metro area, you should check out Freepeats.org. It's like Freecycle, but is specifically geared towards maternity, infants & children. It does cost $1 to join, but you can get that dollar back if you post 2 offers before the end of the month.