Attiser Pillow Giveaway

Ugg, still out sick! Sick baby + sick Mama = not a very happy home. But we are on the mend with some antibiotics and some grandparent visits! All I have to say is thank goodness for grandparents.

I was able to wrangle you another fabulous giveaway to apologize for my absence. This one is from Attiser, their motto is "Kindling passion in color, discovering beauty in imperfections." I love that!

Attiser has a beautiful line of linens ranging from bedding to shower curtains, Table linens to curtain panels all with a colorful bohemian feel!

I am Loving the blue print on the shower curtain but I am seriously in love with the pink sheet set and quilt. 

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Today they have offered one lucky reader a chance to win a set of their Amethyst Amore Throw Pillow Covers!!

They are 17" x 17", 100% cotton throw pillow covers. Each pillow is printed individually, by hand using wood blocks!  I love their bright bohemian feel!!

Here's the Details: 

To Enter: Like Attiser's Facebook page, come back and let us know you did. It's that simple!
Bonus Entry: Visit Attiser's Site and let us know what your favorite item is, come back and let us know.

Prize: A set of Amethyst Amore Throw Pillows
Open to: Canada and the United States
Contest Closes: Nov. 6, 2013 11:59pm

Sassy Steal Giveaway

 I am so excited to share today's giveaway with you today. I have been locked up at home with a sick little baby, poor Hudson caught a bad cold with a fever that wouldn't go away. But we are both on the mend and to celebrate we are giving away a $50 gift certificate to Sassy Steals.

Sassy Steals offers daily online deals on Woman's jewelry, trendy clothing and other handmade crafts. And by Deals . . . they really mean deals!!! Many of their deals are under $10, like this set of stainless straws for $5.99!

Or these bubble necklaces for $8.99.

Or just in time for Christmas some personalized gift tags or mailing labels. They also have some fabulous burlap stockings that I am ordering for our mantel this year.

Of course this is just a sampling of what they have to offer and it changes daily! I love that so many of the deals are handmade items and the prices really are a steal,  I saw a peacoat for $20.99 on there last night!! ;)

Enter Below and Good luck!!!

For those of you who want to get your Sassy Steal on now, they have offered our readers a coupon code for 15% off your first purchase . . . just type in Sassy15

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Easy Biscuits and Butter

If this blog was to be called something else . . . I would seriously consider calling it Biscuits and Butter! I highly question if there is something better than warm biscuits out of the oven with butter . . . or jam . . . or both. 

I am neither a Grandmother, nor am I from the South so I don't blame you if you are skeptical about my biscuit knowledge, but I am going to break the southern grandmother stereotype and this Canadian Girl is going to share her easy and delicious biscuit recipe! haha

2 cups Flour
3 Tbsp Sugar
3 Tsp Baking Powder
1 Tsp Salt
1/4 Cup of Cold Butter (or shortening)
2/3 Cup of Cold Buttermilk  (if your dough is too dry add a splash more milk)
        * You could substitute regular milk if you don't have any buttermilk
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

Sift all dry ingredients into a large bowl. Cut in Butter with a pastry cutter or if you work quick enough not to melt the butter use your fingers.
Add Milk and stir until the dough combines, add more milk if it's still too dry. 

Roll out dough until it's 1/2" thick. 

Using a round cutter cut out your rounds . . . if you like them more rustic then just cut them into squares.

Then you arrange them on an ungreased baking sheet. Now, if you like crispy biscuits, like I do, arrange them about 1" apart on the sheet. If you like softer biscuit arrange them so that the edges are just touching each other, I thought that was pretty cool . . . my granny taught us that!

In a 425 degree oven, bake them for anywhere from 10-13 minutes. Keep an eye on them!!

There you have it . . . biscuits worthy of any Southern Grandma.
Always served with some warm Sour Cherry Jam!!!

Lastly, I am in LOVE with these ceramic berry containers from Anthropologie!! I love it when ordinary, disposable items are made permanent. So cute and odd at the same time. I love items with a little bit of quirk to them . . . like my white ceramic gnome.

I hope you'll try this simple biscuit recipe, they may have you say'in:

"Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit, that girl can bake!!"  :) haha

Baby Kit!

The number 1 rule around here seems to be "Don't Wake the Baby!" haha.

It seems like as soon as I mix a bottle, grab the baby, grab the pillow and sit down on the couch . . . I will immediately need something, a pacifier, a burp cloth, the nail clippers (because the only time I can clip his nails is when he's asleep on me). I was tired of having to wake up a sleeping baby to grab any of these things. So I set up a "Baby Kit".

A Baby Kit just contains all the little bits and pieces that come with having a baby in the house.

• First, since I always change Hudson upstairs but there has been an "incident" or two that required an emergency diaper so I keep an extra diaper or two in the kit.
• WIPES, very very important to have easily within reach. 
• Bibs!! He's a bit of a drool machine right now, so having a few bibs in reach is a must have. These bibs are from Ikea, and they are super cute and cozy. 
• Nail Clippers.  
• Sock, extra baby socks are always good to have on hand, because apparently baby feet repel baby socks.  
• Dimpleskin Naturals Boo Boo Goo. Good for any little scratch or rash. 
• Natural teething remedy, some Camilla Drops! I am not convinced they work but they definitely distract him from his gums for a minute or two. 
• A Thermometer. Ours is the Kidz Med scanner. It good because I am a little paranoid about him over heating so this thermometer let's me check him with out waking him up! :)
• A dangly elephant that rattles.
• A wood rattle.
• And a pacimal! A pacifier attached to a stuffed animal. These are perfect for little babies that can't keep the pacifier in their mouth. 

 And of course . . . Aden and Anias Burp Cloths!!!

I keep the kit, in a 3 Sprouts bag, complete with a little mouse! I like these bags because they have pockets on the outside and they are lined on the inside so they are waterproof!

I hope you like the "Baby Kit" as much as I do. It has really helped control the baby clutter in our living room.  

A living room to LIVE in!

This whole living room situation (as Lee likes to call it) takes some explaining, stick with me it will make sense in a second.
Back in May we had finished our Homestudy and had our minds on baby (although there was no baby yet). We knew that the original way we had our living room set up wasn't going to work . . . there was NO open floor space and no where to put a swing or an exersaucer, or even a little blanket on the floor. We also wanted to move our sectional sofa into the basement where it could be used for movie watching.
So,
We bought our existing sofa from Homesense for $240 . . . it's really more of a loveseat but it would work and it would give us way more room for baby items. Thank goodness we did the living room change up because not even a month later we had Hudson home, along with all the baby gear!

The rocking chair was in the corner by the TV but that thing is more uncomfortable than sitting on your bony grandmother's knee. I thought something wicker would be nice since it's kind of rustic . . . I found these two chairs at Ikea in their as-is section for half price almost $50 each. The white seat cushions were extra but well worth it.
These Ikea Byholma chairs are actually very comfortable! With the thick seat cushions they are a bit high but we are both tall and don't seem to notice, it was actually a vertically challenged friend (aka. a short friend) of mine that pointed out that they were high as her feet dangled above the floor.

We also replaced the large coffee table with a small farmhouse bench we've had forever. The coffee table switch up definitely gave us more room for a wiggly baby. I don't think the bench will stay in the living room forever . . . eventually I would like to see a round tufted leather ottoman in the middle of our living space. But for now the bench works just fine and gives Hudson tons of room to do his tummy time and general baby floor wiggling.

Since it was fall we also layered in our red ikea rug! For a little fall interest.

And Lastly, it's a bit hard to see but we found a sofa table off Craigslist. It's originally an ikea Stockholm table I believe, but I don't think they still sell it. It wasn't exactly what I had pictured behind the sofa, but the price was right, the scale was right and with a little paint and maybe some wheels it will be perfect!

So there's our living room as it looks today . . . okay, maybe not exactly how it looks today. Add in a nursing pillow, a baby activity mat, an exersaucer and some random wood toys around and you'll have EXACTLY what it looks like. ;)

Baby Must Haves

I am so excited to share my Baby Must Haves with you today!!! Before I share them, I will say that I think all babies are different and what our little Hudson LOVES might not be loved by all babies ;). But I will also add that there are other little babes we know (I'm talking about you Emma) that also love some of these Must Haves.

It seems like almost all of our Must Haves fall under the same few companies, Mamas and Papas, Aden and Anias, Skip Hop and Seventh Generation. 

First, Bed and Bath Products.

Although they hardly need my endorsement after Royal Baby George was seen in their swaddle blanket, I LOVE Aden and Anais products. Hudson's bed sheets, blankets, change pad cover and burp cloths and bibs are all made by Aden and Anais! I can't get enough.
1) Muslin baby Swaddle blankets in the Up, Up and Away pattern. They were perfect for summer, but now they make Cozy Muslin blankets for Winter.  We have 6 of them and they are well used!
2) Cozy Sleep Sacks also made by Aden and Anais. We have two in each size as well as a thinner summer one, I love the Liam the Brave pattern.
3) Baby Bee Diaper Ointment. This stuff WORKS. Hudson has insanely sensitive skin and this cream gets rid of any signs of diaper rash. We went for 3 months without any diaper rash, then he got a touch sick and he got a little bum rash, we were using California Baby diaper cream but it didn't make the rash any better, then 2 days of Baby Bee and it was gone!! 100% natural!!
4) Aden and Anais Burp Cloths. These things are amazing!! They are HUGE so they cover your whole shoulder (very important), they are super absorbent (also very important), and as a bonus they have a little snap and they turn into a bib!! We have 4!!
5) Aden and Anais Bamboo Security Blankets. I noticed Hudson was always grabbing his blankets or his outfit, I mentioned it to my friend Sara, and she said she noticed that as well and bought her baby girl these little security blankets and that she loved them. I pick up a pack for Hudson (they come in a pack of 2) and he LOVES them!
6) Silkberry Sleepers. They are so soft, and so stretchy! They are expensive but worth it, we have 3 of them and Hudson has basically lived in them!
7) Seventh Generation baby shampoo and lotion. Like I mentioned before Hudson has very sensitive skin, and the shampoo and wash doesn't irritate his skin. The lotion has helped us keep his eczema away, any sign of dryness the lotion goes on and so far we've been able to keep any flare ups at bay!

Next, Meals and Wheels baby must haves.

1)  Mamas and Papas Loop high chair. This was a recent purchase for us, but I already regret not getting it sooner. He loves to sit in it and watch me make dinner! It tilts back and it spins, but the main reason we bought it is because the height is easily adjustable so I can feed him standing in the kitchen or sitting at the dining table.
2) My Petunia Pickle Bottom diaper bag. It turns into a back pack if it gets too heavy . . . enough said! ;)
3) Glass Dr. Brown's Bottles, we didn't want to use plastic bottles and I had heard that Dr.Browns help with colic (Hudson wasn't colic but why risk it) haha. I noticed that he had way fewer toots and burps when using these bottles. They are a PAIN to clean though.
4) We are getting close to solid food time, I am planning on making Hudson's baby food so I needed little jars to store it in. I found and LOVE these little glass Wean Tubs. Again, we didn't want to use plastic so we were willing to spend a little more for the glass tubs.
5) Again my friend Sara found this product, this Skip Hop stroller caddy has saved more than one shopping trip. It's a perfect cup holder and it also has a detachable wallet in the front, and space for all the little bits and bobs that come with leaving the house with a baby. It will fit a bunch of different strollers as well, it fits my Urbo and my friends Britax.
6) Speaking of our stroller. We have a Mamas and Papas Urbo, and we LOVE IT!!!! Couldn't live with out it. It is definitely made for Urban life . . . so no off roading with this guy. It is so light, and so maneuverable, I can hold a door open with one hand and wheel the stroller in easily with the other. The frame is metal so it's super sturdy. The handle telescopes in and out so it fits me at 5'9" or Lee at 6'8". And best of all it fits into the back of my tiny car (Toyota Yaris). We Purchased the Bassinet in addition to the seat it came with, we weren't sure if we should or shouldn't get the bassinet but it was worth every penny!!! We still use that bassinet even though his little legs are starting to hang out the bottom!! I loved that the seat can either face us (for when he's little still) or face out for when he's older (the seat is rated up to 55 lbs).
7) This bottle drying rack is not only cute!! It's also really functional. It fits all 8 of his bottles and all the bits and pieces that come with Dr.Brown's bottles. I would definitely recommend this!!!

Next, TOYS!!!

1) Skip Hop Mobile. What's not to love Owls, birds! I thought I could get away with a simple pastel mobile but one look at his friends brightly colored mobile and suddenly we had to get him one too . . . I know I know, get use to it right!!
2) Skip Hop Activity Gym, I love it, he loves it. It is by far the least ugly play mat I could find.
3) Skip Hop wood blocks. I love wood toys! Give me the option and I will choose wood over plastic any day! And what little boy doesn't love building blocks??
4) A wood rattle. He has two versions of these wood rattles, both made by Hape. We have a love affair with Hape toys right now. So so cute!
5) Lastly, Hudson's Favorite toy!!! This crocheted Snake made by Pebble. He can't nap without it. I do find it funny that the snakes head rattles but not his tail . . . but I guess they weren't going for realism (because a blue and teal snake is soooo realistic).

The down and Dirty must haves.

 1) Seventh Generation Diapers. They are great for Hudson's skin, we haven't noticed any diaper rash (except for the week he was sick), and they are Chlorine free!!
2) Seventh Generation Wipes. For the same natural reasons as using the diapers, plus they are thicker than other wipes I've tried. I like the thickest possible barrier between my hand and the contents of diapers (Definitely enough said).
3) Natursutten Pacifiers. Pacifiers made from natural rubber, with no creases or crevices.

And last but not least . . . . .

A SLEEP SHEEP! Hudson LOVES his sleep sheep!

That's my list!! But I am dying to know what's on your baby must have list???