Holiday Gift Guide 2011 A Toy Garden Multicolored Beeswax Candle Making Kit Review and Giveaway

A Toy Garden has a lovely selection of open ended, natural, creative and fun toys that are mostly Fair Trade and Made in the USA for children and their families. I love Waldorf and Montessori inspired toys and products because you can definitely see the great quality of craftsmanship and love that is put into these products. This family run webstore has beautiful products that help foster creativity, imagination, play, fun, together time, pretend play and learning.

I received the Multicolored Beeswax Candle Making Kit for free to review on my blog. This Make It Yourself Candle Kit has everything to make 12 or more beeswax candles! It includes 12 8x8 inch sheets of high quality 100% honeycombed beeswax in 12 different beautiful colors, 4 yards of cotton wick and instructions. My oldest 3 children loved making these candles. They created them using cookie cutters we had to cut shapes out of the sheets of wax and then melt them onto other sheets after they were rolled up with the wick inside. They had so much fun creating and decorating these. I helped them cut out the shapes and carefully punch them out of the cookie cutters. They used our hairdryer to slightly heat the wax so that it would roll up easier as directed and it worked very well. My children and I were very pleased with the results. These were so enjoyable to make together.

WIN IT:
Sonya at A Toy Garden is generously giving one lucky reader a chance to win another Multicolored Beeswax Candle Making Kit.

Mandatory:
Go to the A Toy Garden website and tell me what other product you love.

Additional entries:
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4. Blog about this giveaway on your blog and provide me with the link. Make sure you have the link to this post and A Toy Garden in your blog entry or it won't count. (2 extra entries)

5. Give me a brief POSITIVE review on Alexa and provide me with your user name. (3 extra entries)

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13. Tweet this: @finamoon #WIN A Toy Garden Multicolored Beeswax Candle Making Kit http://bit.ly/tHmp7C (Daily Extras are Available)

14. Fan/Like A Toy Garden on Facebook. (1 extra entry)

Make sure you leave me your email in all posts so that I can contact you. Don't forget to leave a comment for each task and the correct amount of entries for each task. This contest ends on Friday January 13, 2012 at midnight (GMT-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada). This Giveaway is open to all 18 years and over in the U.S. only!!

DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: Thanks to A Toy Garden for sending me a Multicolored Beeswax Candle Making Kit for free and another to give away for free. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for doing this review.

Eco-Friendly Easter Baskets

Photo courtesy: http://ecoki.com/growing-easter-wheat-grass/

Easter is so close to Earth Day this year so I figured that there is no better way to celebrate the two than to combine the elements. There are so many great eco-friendly, organic, and / or natural things to put in your child's Easter basket this year! This is not your usual Easter basket with non-recyclable plastic eggs made in China, fake plastic Easter grass, and sugary candy full of preservatives! Take a look at these great additions to put in your baskets this year and I am sure you will agree these will be eggstra special and one of a kind :)

A Tisket A Tasket A Green and Yellow Basket:

01. Reuse containers you have lying around the house. The traditional Easter basket doesn't have to be a basket at all. You can use anything. Use your imagination! Be creative! Here are some ideas: a pot for a plant, a galvanized bucket, a plastic cool whip container, a wooden crate, a lunch pail, a baby bathtub, a tote bag, a child sized laundry basket, an upside down hat, a shoe-box, a oatmeal container, etc.
02.  Use baskets that can be re-purposed after Easter. If you don't have any you can purchase them at thrift stores, antique shops, craft stores or boutiques.
03.  Make your own basket. You can use woven paper, braided cloth, felt, or you can have your children help to make their own out of recycled containers. Here are a few tutorials I have found: Twig & Thistle downloadable paper basket, Pink Penguin fabric basket, Maya*Made felt basket, Moda Bake Shop fabric basket.
04. Buy a beautiful handmade, handwoven basket. Whether it is a Fair Trade Basket or Amish Basket or something else similar. These baskets are gorgeous and one of a kind! Bolga Baskets, Blessing Baskets, these are just a few of the gorgeous Fair Trade baskets out there. A Toy Garden, one of a handful of wonderful Waldorf / Montessori stores I love, has Bolga Baskets for a wonderful price! Amish made things tend to be made to last and have high quality workmanship. You can also search on Etsy or other website for handmade items.


And The Green Grass Grew All Around and Around:

01. Take a green (or other spring colored) hand dyed silk that is dyed with non-toxic dye to tuck in your basket under everything. These can be reused as play silks for your child's pretend play after Easter is over. A small soft blanket or beach towel can also be used as a great liner for Easter baskets.
02. Shred magazines, newspaper, tissue paper, construction paper, or junk mail into strips or confetti (try to avoid shredding receipts as many contain harmful plasticizers called phthalates). Recycle or reuse as packing material. Shredded Plantable Seed Paper is great too because not only is it great for the environment and wonderful for your garden! Green Field Paper Company even makes this plantable seed paper already shredded!
03. Take a green pompom or yarn and cut it into grass cuttings or just unwind a skein of yarn in your choice of color to make a nest in the bottom of the basket.
04. Use left over Christmas tinsel or tinsel garlands (reuse it again and again).
05. Dye cotton balls with a mixture of water and green food coloring sprayed on and dried. Then arrange them in the bottom of your basket(s) for fluffy grassy hills.
06. Use ribbons or disassembled gift bows as Easter grass.
07. Take old jeans or other used fabric or cloth that are no longer wanted and cut or tear into strips.
08. Buy raffia that you can later re-use around the house.
09. Use the offerings of Mother Nature - pine needles, leaves, fresh greens, straw, nontoxic moss, or grow your own wheatgrass. All these organic things can be composted later.
10. Buy Edible Easter Grass. Basically a sugar-free candy "grass" that looks like paper grass and comes in apple, lemon and strawberry flavors.

Great Gifts:
Here are some alternatives to plastic toys and trinkets that may be contaminated with lead or made with PVC, BPA, or phthalates. You can even make up a themed basket for your youngster if you'd like to.

01. Art Supplies: Non toxic and all-natural modeling clay or dough, colored pencils, natural beeswax/soy crayons, paint, sketchbooks, etc. You can find these supplies at Mama K’s Aromatic Play Clay, Glob Natural Paints, Mighty Nest, Clementine Art, Stubby Pencil Studio, PKolino, among other places. Fill a compartmentalized container or tool box with these items instead of a basket.
02. Seeds and Gardening Supplies: Inspire young gardeners with their own seeds to plant. Place a packet of seeds in your Easter basket or one of these cute Egg Pet Plants from Nyokki! Add child-sized gardening tools and gloves in a gardening tote or planter.
03. Bath and Beauty: Lavender-filled organic cotton eye pillow or all-natural effervescent bath balls, etc.
04. Toys and Make Believe: Choose to buy eco-friendly toys made of wood or organic and natural materials. Here is a list of a few good indoor choices: puzzles, train or vehicle sets, blocks or building sets, board/card games, wooden yo-yo, and organic/natural stuffed animals/dolls. Here is a list of a few good outdoor choices: bubbles (homemade bubbles are easy to make), swim toys/gear, sidewalk chalk, BPA free Frisbee, and jump rope with wooden handles.
05. Make your own gifts. Handmade and homemade items that have come from a family member or good friend are always cherished far more than ordinary store bought ones in my house. (examples could be: cards, artwork, music CD's or a CD of you reading your child's favorite books, poetry, etc.)

The Incredible Edible Egg and Other Tantalizing Treats:

01. Make hard boiled (free range organic) eggs and color them with natural dyes or paints or decorate them in many other ways. Fridge them until you are ready to eat them.
02. Buy Fair Trade-certified organic chocolate.
03. Buy or make organic all natural treats in bulk to keep your child(ren) healthy and avoid unnecessary packaging (include cookies, muffins, fruit leather, dried fruit, nuts, fruit, and chocolate). Wrap the treats yourself using natural materials: fabric, cheesecloth, ribbon, twine, etc.
04. If you’re vegan or want to re-use the eggs year after year there is a number of fun ways to make your own out of different materials including wood, felt, beads, etc. Take a look at my Egg Decorating Tips and Ideas!

Do you have any Eco-friendly Easter ideas too? Please share them with us!

Magic Cabin Review and Giveaway

The innocence of a child is a beautiful thing. I love to watch my youngest daughter play. She loves to pretend. I would love to protect and preserve that innocence as long as possible. I think children these days are growing up too quickly. Their are too many toys and games out their that simply take away from good-old-fashioned make believe. I love Waldorf and Montessori approach to teaching and learning because it helps the child learn the world as they should learn it. I have always loved simple, natural things.

Magic Cabin started in 1989 as a small business by stay-at-home mom, Sara McDonald, selling beautiful handcrafted natural-fiber Waldorf-style dolls and kits to make the dolls yourself. Inspired by the enchanting cabin she lived in she named her new company Magic Cabin Dolls. Now Magic Cabin carries a number of different treasures for children. You can also still buy the Magic Cabin Dolls or the kits to make one yourself. I love their selection of toys because it instills open-ended, creative, imaginative play in children. Magic Cabin toys are kid powered and don't require batteries or electricity. In my opinion these are the best kind of toys. Magic Cabin is helping to preserve a child's innocence from becoming extinct. They have a number of products that they have selected from manufacturers that have the same standards and they also have some exclusive items to their shop. Their selections are both beautiful and enchanting, sturdy and safe, and best of all, FUN!

I received the Apple House Play Set and the Melissa & Doug Wooden Food Groups for free from Magic Cabin to test and review. I picked these items out from their online store. The Apple House Play Set a.k.a the Tree House Playset is just darling and my kids needed new set of play food because their cheap plastic set was suffering. I wanted some wooden play food and when I saw this set I thought it would be a great starter set.

The Apple House Play Set is a zip-up fabric apple tree house with fabric forest critters living inside. There are 6 total forest critters: a bunny, hedgehog, fox, moose, raccoon, and red squirrel. The tree house is two stories with a hole inside in which the animals can pop up and down through. It also has a little Velcro door in the bottom and two windows in the top on either side that opens and shuts for the woodland creatures to frolic in and out without unzipping the top. When unzipped the front top of the tree unfolds into a playmat that is whimsically embroidered with a outdoor woody scene. The smaller tree in the scene also has a pocket to put small treasures in if desired. The entire playset can be carried with the padded handle. I am in love with zip-up fabric houses and books like this one that can travel well because then the fun can be taken on long car/plane rides easily and the child will be entertained the whole way to the destination. Teela spent hours playing with this and is learning the names of the animals.

The Melissa & Doug Wooden Food Groups set has play food from all 4 food groups. I really like the set because there isn't any junk food in it and they are durable. As with all Melissa & Doug toys, I have confidence that they are safe and are quality made. This set of wooden play food is great for pretend play and comes with twenty wooden fruits, veggies, dairy, grains and meat. It also has four crates for sorting, stacking and storage. Teela was enjoying playing with them in her Playskool Fold 'n Roll Kitchen that we got second hand off Craigslist and I was trying to teach her which food goes into what food group. I love wooden toys! This wooden food set is great for having a well-balanced meal for your child's play kitchen. My only wish is that it had a green veggie and an apple in the set as well.

Magic Cabin has a Gift Certificate Sweepstakes where every month they give away a $100 gift certificate to their store. ENTER HERE. They also have a clearance sale where you can save up to 50% on select items HERE!

WIN SOMETHING HERE:
Lynn from Magic Cabin has generously offered a Apple House Play Set ($40 value) to give away to one of my readers!

Mandatory:
1. Go to the Magic Cabin website and tell me what other product not listed here you are interested in and why.

Additional entries:
1. Subscribe to my blog by email and let me know. (2 extra entries)

2. Become my fan on Facebook. (1 extra entry)

3. Blog about this giveaway on your blog and provide me with the link. Make sure you have the link to this post and Magic Cabin in your blog entry or it won't count. (2 extra entries)

4. Grab My Button (see sidebar to the left) AND/OR Put My Blog URL in Your Blogroll - Leave Your Link. (1 extra entry)

5. Technorati my blog and let me know your link. (1 extra entry)

6. List this giveaway on any giveaway listing website or blog and tell me where you listed it. (2 extra)

7. Follow me on twitter and retweet this: @finamoon WIN: Magic Cabin Apple House Play Set #giveaway http://bit.ly/c1oH7F
(Daily Extras are Available)

8. Fave me on Momfaves. (2 extra entries)

9. Comment on one of my other posts and tell me which one. (2 extra entries per post)

Make sure you leave me your email in all posts so that I can contact you. If you subscribed by email, blogged about this, listed it, commented on another post, or faved me on Momfaves leave 2 entries saying you did. This contest ends on Friday February 26, 2010 at midnight (GMT-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada). This Giveaway is open to U.S. Only!!

DISCLAIMER: I received products from Magic Cabin free of charge. All information about the products I received from testing the products and information from the Magic Cabin website. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for doing this review.