Mamas Like

Lauren at Sunthings Charming has found a way to bring awareness to skin cancer and help promote skin protection.  A former science teacher, Lauren uses UV detecting beads to make her beaded chains, Turner Tags, that can be attached to keys, strollers, diaper bags, or baby slings (out of reach of baby).  These beads turn colors when exposed to UV light, alerting you to get out of the sun, apply sunscreen, or cover up exposed skin. 

I personally think this is a great idea.  You’d be surprised at how many UV rays come through even on overcast days.  My middle son has Vitiligo (an autoimmune disease that destroys the pigment in his skin causing white patches that burn within a couple minutes of sun exposure.)  Lauren not only ships the handmade beaded chain, but she also includes information from the Skin Cancer Foundation and a single, individual bead to test out your sunscreen.  Coat the bead with  your sunblock.  If the bead changes color in UV light, then you need a stronger sunscreen.

You can completely customize your Turner Tag!  Pick out the color beads and the charm you’d like and Lauren will make it up for you.  Email Lauren through her contact information page and put ”free tag” in the subject line.  She will pick the winning name a week after the review is posted.  You can go ahead and place your order now and she’ll reimburse you if you’re the winner of the free tag.  And just for Mamaslike readers, get 10% off your order by using coupon code “MamasLike” at check out.

Wickless Wonder creates some truly yummy smelling goodies!  I mean, she makes the kind of soap you want to eat because it smells so good!  I swear I didn’t take a bite of my soap though.  Why are you looking at me like that?  No, those aren’t bubbles coming out of my mouth!

Wickless Wonder sells scented wax to melt in a tart burner, handmade soaps, lip blams, body sprays and much, much more! 

I got some Wonder Melts in “Breeze in the Keys” fragrance and oh boy, do they smell gooood!  This particular scent is like B&BW’s Coconut Lime Verbena (one of my faves!)  I also got a bar of handmade soap in the Chai Latte scent.  This is the one I want to eat!  Yum! 

At Wickless Wonder you can coose from over 140 difference fragrances!  With delicious scents like… 

Bermuda Shorts – This refreshing blend of tropical fruits with a twist of citrus and a hint of coconut will take you away!  No need for Calgon here!  Cabana boys available to the right!

Butt-Nekkid – So fresh, clean and just yummy!  Fresh fruit notes of granny smith apples, honeydew, strawberries and pears.  Hints of spice round it out.

Chai Latte – Just Yummy!  This warm, delightfully spicy blend is the perfect complex blend of spices with a touch of vanilla.  So smooth and delicious smelling, you’ll want to kick back and have a cup!

Christmas Splendor – Sleigh bells ring…are you listening?  Ring in the Holiday season with this fruity, spicy bouquet of cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and juniper all on a sweet musky background.  How many more shopping days until Christmas???

The only problem is choosing which ones you want the most!  Check out Donna’s FAQ for some interesting information about her products!

Oh, and Donna packages her products carefully.  Each item is individually wrapped and labeled, so there’s no chance of shower gel leaking out all over everything.  Scents don’t mix in shipping so you won’t end up with soap or scented wax in applebananacoconutlilacpeachchaichocolatesweetpeacucumber fragrance.

Now until November 25, take 15% your order (excluding sales items and shipping) when you use coupon code MAMASLIKE!

Maureen at Samica Bags has found a way to “save the earth in style” with her Grocery Pods! Samica Bags’ mission is to educate adults and children on using sustainable products.

I love my grocery pod, and I must admit, I was surprised at just how much it holds! It’s made from strong, durable fabric in a variety of stylish colors and patterns. These pods are constructed in a circular design, making the most use of every inch of space. You’ll be amazed at how much these pods hold.

The Samica Bags website is full of information and articles on recycling, plastic bags, and carbon offset. After reading, you’ll definitely want to do your part to cut down on plastic bag usage. I especially like these grocery pods because I do most of my shopping at Aldi (a store where you either have to buy bags, or bring your own bags from home).

These bags can also be used as school bags and tote bags or for packing a picnic lunch and carrying library books. And when you place your order now, enjoy 10% off your purchase when you use MAMASLIKE in the promo code. And don’t forget to check out the new unique and stylish handbags while you’re browsing!

When I was a kid, my sister and I always looked forward to Christmas with much anticipation. To help make those long days until Christmas pass a little more quickly, my grandmother used to make us advent calendars by tying pieces of candy to a long, red ribbon. Each day from December 1st until Christmas, we enjoyed a piece of candy. This made waiting until Christmas a little sweeter!

As an adult I looked forward with much anticipation to the birth of each of my babies. I marked days off my calendar until I reached my due date and usually beyond! Sara from Norwood Arts has come up with a fun way to count down to baby’s due date. Her countdown boxes come with ten individually boxed items. You open one item every day starting ten days before you’re due.

You can order a baby girl, baby boy, or gender neutral box. Each box contains such goodies as nail clippers, a bib, booties, a pacifier, teether, or a spoon. What a fun, different gift for a baby shower! If you love the idea of the countdown box, but want to choose your own items with which to fill the boxes, you can order a countdown box complete with ten smaller boxes that you can fill with whatever you’d like.

Norwood Arts has the cutest selection of photo cards for Christmas and Birth Announcements. Visit the site to check out the huge selection of cards available just in time for Christmas.

Sara is giving away your choice of a Countdown box or set of Holiday Cards to our readers. Leave a comment for your chance to win! A winner will be chosen on November 21st and contacted by Sara. (When leaving a comment, please do not leave your contact info directly in the comment box.)

Have you checked out The Rocking Pony? Karen, from the Rocking Pony created, out of necessity, the “Just the Essentials Diaper Case“.

This is perfect when you don’t want or need to bring a whole diaper bag along. For example, I don’t generally bring a diaper bag with me when I go to the library, but just a few weeks ago, wouldn’t you know, my daughter needed a diaper change while we were there. I ended up cutting our library jaunt short so I could go home and change her. Now if I’d the Just the Essentials Diaper Case tucked into my purse, I could’ve changed her and continued to play at the library until one of my kids got bored and started throwing a tantrum!

This is a great, handy way to keep a couple diapers and wipes in your car as well. As Karen says, “When you’ve got older toddlers who don’t need an entire diaper bag of gear, it’s nice to be able to tuck a diaper and a small wipes case in your purse and go. But don’t you hate it when the diaper gets rumpled and starts eating things in the bottom of your purse?” Her very well-made diaper cases keep the diapers neat and clean, the wipes easy to get to, and everything together in one place instead of smashed at the bottom of your purse or spread across the van floor amid stale fries and homework papers.

But the really cool thing, according to my husband, is that this handy diaper case is available in this fabric…

It is WAY cooler to carry your kids’ diapers in a case adorned with classic cars, than it is to carry it in a froo froo, girly diaper bag.

Features:

~ Fully lined, no exposed seams inside
~ Back Pocket is lined for added strength and looks
~ All fabrics pre-washed to minimize shrinkage
~ Snaps reinforced with interfacing
~ Machine wash warm, tumble dry
~ High quality cotton that wears well
~ Carry wipes case in back pocket OR inside, whichever you prefer

While you’re shopping for your new Just the Essentials Diaper Case, browse through Karen’s collection of unique, one of a kind shirts, bibs, blankets, and much, much more!

Karen supports Down syndrome research, and she is actively involved with Personal Ponies, Ltd., helping differently-abled children learn independence and confidence through the love of a Shetland pony. (PersonalPonies.org)

The Rocking Pony is giving away a $25 gift certificate for every 100 comments. (Please leave only one comment as an entry. DO NOT leave your contact information in the actual comment.) Receive 20% off your orders with The Rocking Pony by using coupon code BLOG20.

Olive Kids personalized floor pillow, that is. My son is loving his pillow. Know how I know this? He carries it everywhere. This week I’ve seen it on the kitchen floor, by the front door, before the TV, in my bedroom, on his bed, on the toilet seat (sometimes you get tired and need a little rest while pooping), and on the couch. I actually get Clay to lie on this pillow while watching a movie earlier today. Well, he lay there for ten minutes anyway.

An awesome “mom feature” of this pillow is the super soft cover that’s removable and machine washable!

I really like Olive Kids designs. They don’t use cartoons and characters the kids are bound to outgrow in a year. It may seem like a good idea to decorate your child’s room in Bratz or Spiderman now, but when your child decides they no longer like dolls with enormous heads and feet or web-slinging crime fighters, you’re either stuck redecorating or they’re stuck with decor they don’t like.

Not only does Olive Kids sell personalized floor pillows, but they offer matching clocks, wall art, bedding, placemats, shower curtains, rugs, and much, much more! Olive Kids’ website is easy to navigate and lets you shop by product or by design so you can easily coordinate all your kid’s room decor with the click of your mouse.

It’s not too late to win a Personalized Floor Pillow! Email Olive Kids with your contact information. A winner will be chosen and contacted on November 14th.

I’ll admit. I am NO cook. I’m a food fixer/heater/preparer/microwaver. When I received my copy of My Family Meal Planner, I thought it was going to be just another cookbook fibbing to me about easy cooking.

Much to my joy, I was happy to find the My Family Meal Planner includes VERY simple, normal meals that are really easy to modify and prepare. The BEST feature of the My Family Meal Planner is the shopping list. The Planner’s writer, Lindsay, is kind enough to include 12 months of Shopping Lists that follow the weekly meal plan.

I believe that Lindsay is a real person who is cooking for real people. I believe this because every week’s plan doesn’t include 7 days of meals; it includes only 4. Realistically, what busy family eats all 7 dinners at home that were cooked from scratch? Definitely NOT my family. Thanks to Lindsay, you have help with 4 dinners a week!

The Planner includes great recipes for simple dinners that even your pickiest of eaters will enjoy like baked pasta, tacos, and sloppy joes. If you are a fancy-pants chef, this planner is not for you. This planner is for the everyday family in need of some help in the kitchen (like me).

Just in time for holiday gift giving, Lindsay has added a 2nd Planner to her store. Now you can have 2 Planners on hand for any family.

Just for our readers, Lindsay is offering 10% off your orders using coupon code MAMASTEN. This Planner is a GREAT gift for “everyday” family.

What looks like an adorable ballet dress, but can’t be worn?  Give up?  It’s a cute bow holder from Bambina Ballerina!  Tricia created Bambina Ballerina bow holders to be fun and functional.  Not only do they hold all your bows and barretts and keep them neat and organized, but these holders are a beautiful addition to the decor in your little girl’s room.

She has many premade bow holders from which to choose or you can design your own custom made bow holder! 
Trisha’s ballerina bow holders come in two sizes also.  The large one is 28-30 inches long from the top to the bottom and gives you about 6-7 feet of ribbon where you can clip your bows.   The mini holders are about 15 inches from top to bottom and they give you approximately 2 1/2 feet of ribbon for attaching barretts and bows.

Here’s the best part - these super cute, girly bow holders are all on sale!  Save $5 - $15 on premade bow holders when you place your order now!  For more information or to ask Trisha a question, just click here.

We’re looking for companies who would like to be featured on our Holiday Gift Guide EXTRAVAGANZA. We want to support the “little gal” and invite our readers to do their Holiday shopping with fellow women (and men) readers. By promoting products that are sold, manufactured, developed, and/or marketed by small companies, Mamas Like wants to do two things at once: give our readers great gift ideas and provide small companies the exposure they deserve.

If you are interested in providing a product and/or website to be featured in our Holiday Gift Guide EXTRAVAGANZA, please email us by Monday, November 12th. In order to be considered for the EXTRAVAGANZA feature, your product must meet the following requirements:

*provide a sample product to be reviewed no later than Monday, November 19th (products cannot be returned and the majority will be donated to charity)
*website and/or product must be owned, run, or made by a small or up-and-coming business
*the company providing the product must have sufficient stock of their products to meet the demands of our readers
*a discount or coupon (ie. 10% off, BOGO, free shipping) for our readers

In your email, please include a link to your site and a link to the product you will be sending. You will not need to be approved to be a part of the EXTRAVAGANZA. All products received will be listed in the Guide to be published Thanksgiving weekend. If we really like what you’ve got, we’ll say so in the Guide!

We know it’s last minute, but we’ve only been “live” for a few weeks. But in that little amount of time, we’ve had a tremendous response to our product reviews. We’re very excited to give as much exposure as possible just in time for holiday shopping.

We will be contacting anyone who emails us who would like to be featured in the EXTRAVAGANZA with our shipping information on Monday. PLEASE don’t email us if you are not the actual person who can submit a product or site. (”I know this lady who makes this thing…”) If you know of someone who would benefit from this exposure, please ask them to send us their info.

If your website or products have already been reviewed by us, you’ll automatically be included in the holiday gift guide. If you’d like to offer any new discounts or specials, let us know and we’ll be sure to note that as well.

We’re looking forward to seeing the great gift ideas that us “little gals” have to offer our readers for the Holidays!

Mom to the sixth power! Yep, that’s me and I have the shirt to prove it! Dana, owner of Couture Moms, offers a fun line of shirts for moms with just a bit of bling. Have two kids? Order a Mom squared shirt! Have three? It’s Mom cubed for you then! These shirts are available in both long and short sleeves and a variety of colors.

Dana’s Momology 101 line includes shirts with hilarious sayings like -

mom∙ology: the science of mastering the laundry, the carpooling, the house cleaning, preparing the meals, the mail sorting and doing the kids’ homework but making it look like they did it…all without breaking a sweat.

mom∙ology: the science of mastering the the temper tantrums, the picky eater, potty training and successfully belting them into the stroller while putting the lid on the sippy cup, holding the car keys, your latte and the diaper bag.

That about sums it up, doesn’t it?

I love what Dana has to say about motherhood…

“It is time to celebrate Moms!” With four children, I understand the importance of being a Mom.
I wanted to find a way to bring laughter, creativity, and a little glamour to the daily rituals of motherhood.

Visit Couture Moms and receive free shipping on all orders over $50.