Playtime! A WAHM event at EG Baby Design Review and Giveaway!

Do your kids like to play kitchen? I know mine do. Tabitha loves to go into her little kitchen and pretend to make us cakes and cookies and drinks. I remember playing chef when I was little, its an important time n a child's life. EG Baby Design has teamed up with some other awesome WAHM buisnesses and created the event Playtime: In the Kitchen, which will run April 28-May 26th. They have a ton of amazing finds for your little ones.

 Here are some of my favorite items for sale:

The Wooden Cookie Baking set by Kat and Company

The Tiny Breakfast Chef set by EG Baby Design

The Deluxe Sandwich set by Little Picklepottomus. 

The Little Sweet Orange Set by EG Baby Design. 

There are tons of other cute things in this special sale for kids of all ages. And the best part is that the prices aren't out of this world. I've seen adorable kitchen stuff like this before and they were all over priced but these are great quality and an affordable price. 

How would you like to win something from this awesome event? EG Baby Design is giveing one lucky Crafting in My Closet Reader a Sweet Oranges Tiny Chef set of a diaper and a chef hat! 

How cute is this?!

Ready to enter?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I was not compensated for this post. All views are my own.

Interactive plush pals review

I don't know about your kids, but mine LOVE music. Tabitha sings all day and loves to listen to music. So I was excited to have the opportunity to try the Interactive Plush Pal Freddie Frog from Viatek. These cute animals are a fun new way to listen to music for kids and adults. Tabitha is a huge fan of Phineas and Ferb, so I plugged freddie into the headphone jack of my ipod and put on some music for her. The first time I tried it Tabitha was sleeping and it was just Eva up with me. Eva was freaked out and started crying, but by the next morning she was interested in it and kept trying to make it sing. Tabitha thought it was so funny to see the frog singing one of her favorite songs.

The Viatek Interactive Plush pals come in three varieties, Freddie the Frog, Patch the Dog, and Manny the Monkey. All three are adorable and sure to be a fun way for kids to listen to music. The speaker is really good quality too. You can even plug the interactive pals into your smart phone's headphone jack and watch as Freddie the frog talks for your friends!

There are a few things I would change about this product. First its very top heavy. It falls over fairly easily. So with small kids I had to keep putting it back upright every time they touched it. Its not really a problem if you put it out of small kids reach. Also I would either like it to have a pocket to put your ipod/phone in or a longer cord. The Cord is not very long and as we were trying to let my 3 year old play with it, the 1 year old kept grabbing the cord and pulling the ipod away. It would be nice to be able to put your ipod/phone in a pocket on the back so that there were no cords hanging out to get caught up on. The cord issue aside I think this is a really fun toy and we will definitely be using it for our daughter when she wants to listen to music in the future.

The Interactive pets take 3 AAA batteries which are not included and retails for $39.99.
I received the Viatek Interactive Pal Freddie the Frog for the purpose of reviewing this toy and all views are my own.
This post was originally featured on Mommygaga.com as a guest post.

Melissa and Doug Terrific Twenty Toy List and Giveaway!

Do you know Melissa and Doug? They make the most fantastic toys out there! Tabitha has a bunch of Melissa and Doug toys. We love them, they last forever! We have this little Melissa and Doug piano and I swear I'm yelling at Tabitha not to climb on it its not a stool at least 3 times a week. We've had it for 3 years and it still looks brand spanking new! Most of our favorite toys are Melissa and Doug toys, they last the longest of most of our toys. Their toys are exceptionally well made and you don't have to worry about lead in the paint or poor craftsmanship with Melissa and Doug toys.

Melissa and Doug have their Terrific Twenty holiday Gift guide out and believe me the gifts are amazing! May favorite? The Trunki.

I love this little ride on suit case for kids. It holds everything they need and its cute and functional! Tabitha saw one online and is in love with it. I can't wait to get ours for her! She is gonna love it!

Melissa and Doug are holding a facebook giveaway to give one toy a day from the Terrific Twenty Holiday Gift Guide to one lucky fan! Head on over here to enter to win. 

There are so many awesome gifts at tons of different price levels and all different ages on the Terrific Twenty list. Go check it out to see what gifts you can pick up for the special children in your life. I'm very excited to get a Trunki for my little girl. And Guess what? Melissa and Doug have generously offered to give a trunki to one of you AWESOME Crafting in My Closet Readers! YAY!

To enter to win leave a comment for each entry.

1. Like Crafting in My Closet on Facebook

2. Like Melissa and Doug on Facebook

3. What item on the Terrific Twenty is your favorite. 

Thats it! I will choose a winner using Random.org on Wednesday night at 10pm MST. 

Make sure you enter the daily giveaway on Melissa and Doug's facebook page too! 

I was compensated for this post. Regardless all views are my own, and I would never recommend any products or services I don't believe in. 

Uncle Milton Rainbow in My Room Review

Have you heard of Uncle Milton? They are a great toy company who make a lot of fun toys that I really wish I had as a kid! Uncle Milton was kind enough to send me the Rainbow in My Room for Tabitha to try out as part of the keeping kids creative giveaway hop.

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Sponsor Spotlight: Green Toys, Natural Newborn event

Have you heard of Green Toys? The Environmentally friendly Eco toys, that are BPA and Phthalates free? They are made from 100% post consumer recycled materials how cool is that? They are also packaged in 100% post consumer recycled cardboard with no twist ties or plastic that has to be thrown away.  I first heard of Green Toys when Tabitha was 1, she got a Green Toys sand play set for her birthday from a friend.

Two years later we still have this entire set of sand toys, because unlike other sand toys, Green toys are built to last. I was really excited when I contacted Green Toys about sponsoring this giveaway hop and they said they would love to. They sent me a Green Toys School Bus, which is perfect, because Tabitha is OBSESSED with school busses, and Eva Loves anything with wheels. It says it is for children 1+, but Eva is 6 (almost 7) months old and loved playing with it. Tabitha is 3 years old and had a ton of fun as well. 

 

 


The girls Love this toy, and I love that not only is it something that they both love, but its is good for the environment!
Some of the things I LOVE about Green Toys:

• All toys and their raw materials are produced in California, which means less transportation of materials and less green house gasses. Also California has some of the strictest regulations for toys, so you know that they are the cleanest toys out there.
• Environmental Packaging: All Green Toys are packaged in minimal packaging consisting of post consumer recycled corrugated cardboard, with no twist ties, plastic or cellophane, which makes them easy to open and ready to recycle. 
• Green toys are SAFE! No BPA, no Phthalates, no lead paint. Every toy passes a number of safety protocols. 

Green Toys main ingredient is HDPE A plastic made from recycled milk jugs, yep the very same milk jugs you recycle every day! 

Tabitha and Evangeline give Green toys two big smiles! 

One Lucky Reader will win one of these awesome Green Toys School Bus' in the Natural Newborn Giveaway Event Starting on 8/17! I hope you are all excited for this event!

Make sure you check out Green Toys and Like them on Facebook!

Disclosure: I was sent this toy from Green Toys for the purpose of my review. I would never recommend a product that I wouldn't personally use, and don't personally love. I stand behind this review. 

Summer Fun With Kids: Make your own puzzle

I'm Super excited to have my Awesome friend Catherine here today to share this fun tutorial. I've known Catherine since before we were both married with kids and I just love her blog Cat on a Limb. She always has beautiful tutorials and yummy recipes to try. I'm really excited to try this tutorial out.


First off I'd like to thank Teresa for including me in this great series! I'm excited to see everyone's ideas, as I frequently need new ways to help keep my kids entertained and occupied throughout the entire year, but especially the summer.

My kids love puzzles and my 6 year-old son is getting rather good at them. However once they have built the puzzles a few dozen times they've usually lost interest in that particular picture. So instead of going out and buying new puzzles all the time, I've started making them. It's very easy and doesn't take much time.

I start out asking my kids what they want for a picture on the puzzle, then do an internet image search for that subject (and selecting "large" for the image size). I then print out the photo on a regular piece of printer paper. I usually print them to a full 8.5" x 11" size, but you can also print them smaller. Then I print a jigsaw puzzle outline on the back side of the photo (also found through image search). Or you can draw your own puzzle shapes.

I run it through my nifty little laminating machine and cut apart the pieces.

Then the kids go at it.

I also print out a smaller version of the photo and glue it to a small manila envelope for storage.

And there you have it! It doesn't take much effort, but keeps the kiddos busy for a while. My kind of project. :)

Craigslist is my new best friend!

So I just have to say it, I L-O-V-E Craigslist! Seriously.
While you probably more often than not find that the ads are a total dud, (ie gee let me charge $75 firm for a very used slide that goes for $80 new) sometimes you hit the jackpot!
I totally have been lucky in hiting the jackpot when it comes to craigslist for some toys for tabitha. We got just a bunch of random toys including a fisher price dino with balls a few months ago for way cheap, but my major find just happened last week. I have been looking for a slide for tabitha but I didn't want a huge one since we are moving. Well craigslist to the rescue! I found an awesome step 2 slide for only $20! Sweet! plus the lady selling it gave us a bike for tabitha for free! AWESOME!!!!
So now her little backyard playground is complete! She's been having the best time on her "new" slide lately!

And even though she can't reach the peddles on her bike yet she likes to sit on it and have us push her around.
She's starting to actually be a toddler and less of a baby everyday.

Tabitha"s first cristmas!

Tabitha had a pretty good first christmas. On Christmas eve we went to the Chipman's for Chipman's corner. It was a lot of fun and tabitha had fun playing with melonie chipman.


we read the christmas story and opened christmas eve pj's her's were from her Avo Bob, and she looked so cute in them.
The next morning we woke up (at 9am!) and went down to eat breakfast.



then we opened her stocking. She got a ball that i made her, a fresh food eater (basicly a mesh bag on a binky ring so she can eat food without choking on it. ) new binky clips i mad her, and two new binkies. she also got a new hefelump. in the pic it doesn't really look like she cares all that much but she did love it.


Then we opend all her other presents which she seemed to like. My favorite was her new car seat that her granny and grandpa walt got for her. We're so excited about that one!
Tabitha on the other had does not look so excited. but we put it in the car today and she likes the cup holders. she made a mess with jo's o's today and I picked them up and put them in the cup holder and she loved that. she just sat there eating out of the cup holder for a good 10 min.
on another note, morgen got me a sewing machine bag and some more drawers for my fabric and a small set of drawers that goes on my desk to hold my thread. i was really excited about that one. and morgen's parents got me a gift card to jo-ann fabrics i'm so excited i get to go there and buy something for myself! also they got us a gift card to olive garden and a movie and are going to babysit for us so we can go on a date! thats super exciting!

Today was not such a good day unfortunately. I had back spazums all night so i was super tired and tabitha had a hard night because she got scared when i was in pain and she wanted me to hold her but i couldn't so she cryed for over an hour. when i was finally able to get up and cuddle with her she went right to sleep. but today was a crabby day for her. We went and got our errands done, she was still upset that i couldnet carry her since my back still hurt, but we managed. We got my oil changed, went to old navy and got some jeans ($15!) and went to costco to get my eyes checked. then we came home and took a nap (it was already 5pm by this time). Then she ate dinner played while we packed and went to bed. Morgen is still packing and we'll be leaving tomorrow after sacrament meeting. Can't wait to spend a week with my family!