Monday Give-Away

Congratulations to Hullabaloo Boutique and Annette for winning last week's engraved silver barrette! All of us over at The Warm Biscuit Bedding Co. look forward to helping both of you personalize this gift for your favorite special girl.

I was an active kid growing up, and my boys are the same way. When they come home from school they need to do something active and hands on. I'm grateful that my husband is able to find the energy to coach their soccer league after work-- I know my boys benefit so much from being able to play a team sport.

My littlest kid is not quite ready to join a sports league though. His play still has to take place on an individual level at home. Which is why I still love having playful toys around the house, like the hippity hop toy, this week's prize for the Monday Give-Away. The hippity hop toy comes either as a pink unicorn for your little princess or as a brown horse for your aspiring cowboy. These hippity hop toys easily inflate, and the removable covers are machine washable, so they are easy to keep clean.

Here's how to enter the give-away to win one of these hippity hop toys.

1. Leave a comment on your favorite toys as a kid.
2. Mention how you found this site
3. Check out the Warm Biscuit Bedding Co. to see what kinds of kids toys they feature.
4. Make sure I can contact you! Either leave an email address in your comment, or make sure that you have contact information on your blog profile.

You can receive an extra entry towards this giveaway if you link to this give-away in your blog and put that link in your comment.

The give-away is open for entries until Sunday, October 5th, at 11:59PM. Winners will be chosen at random, and announced Monday morning. Good luck!

Note: At this time, the Warm Biscuit Bedding Co. cannot ship give-away items internationally. They apologize for the inconvenience to all of you great people living outside of the U.S.

Family Weekend Getaways

TGIF!

Thank goodness it's time for the weekend again. I don't know about all of you, but here in New York the seasons are starting to change. The temperatures have started to cool, reminding me that there are not too many weekends left to enjoy the outdoors with the family. So don't delay a fun day out any longer! Here are some ideas and resources for planning your trip:

1. Hit the road!
Sometimes a great day out means nothing more than a day spent flying kites and playing catch, with a tasty picnic to keep you energized. But of course you first have to get there, and not all routes are created equal. As a kid my dad would always pour over maps to plan the most scenic road trip possible. Here are a couple of sites that have compiled lists of great routes for you and your family to enjoy. Over at the Warm Biscuit Bedding Co. we have a fun bright lap desk which is great for helping kids keep clean while eating and drinking in the backseat. It's also a great surface to play the games found in our Travel Journal, or for playing our Travel Parcheesi Set.

2. Get out of the city!
For those of you who live in new york city, this site is a great resource for different weekend trips to get you and your kids out of the concrete jungle. It's a great listing of farms to visit, festivals, and other fun events. They often focus on listing ideas that are cheap or free, making it one of my favorites to check out every week.

3. It's festival time!
This site here compiles hundreds of festivals around the country, and one of their category is for those that are geared towards kids. I sure wished I lived near Fairfield, California, for their candy festival on October 11th. My boys would love that! Also in October is the largest family expo in the Northwest on the 18-19th in Tacoma, Washington. And in Aurora, Illinois, there is a big Babyfest that very same weekend! Kids love festivals--the food, the games, the crowds--it's impossible not to please anyone.

Lastly, here is a fun quiz you can take to help suggest what trip is best for your family.

Have a great weekend!

Fabric Find of the Week

If the economy is falling apart, let's get stitching!

All joking aside, while the news lately might seem all doom and gloom there is no reason for your home decor to reflect this! Even a simple additional accessory or splash of color can turn any room in your house from drab to fabulous. I've got a couple of fun, quick and simple ideas that you can use to spruce up your house without breaking the bank.

1. Pillowcases
Making a pillowcase is a great way to add some cheer to any room. Pillowcases can look great with patterns, plaids, or solids--plus it can be a great way to use up some scrap fabric. I particularly think the green lattice fabric to the right is a great addition to any living room. Check out these two sites for some free sewing patterns.

2. Framed Fabric
Believe it or not, framed fabric can be the ultimate cheap art. I find this works best with big prints. I particularly like the yellow avery and and Autumn bird fabrics for framing. Looks great for kitchens, living rooms, or bedrooms. For frames, check out these two sites.

3. Lamp Shade
This is so simple! You can either entirely cover a lampshade, or if you are worried about blocking out too much light, just add some stripes! I'd recommend our blue ticking stripe--turned on the side it's great.

If you want to order any of the colorful fabrics highlighted over at the Warm Biscuit Bedding Co. in this post and mention that you saw them on the blog, our customer service staff will give you a 10% discount for any order of 2 or more yards.

Monday Give-Away

Congratulations to Grace and Happyathome for winning last week's Monday Give-Away! We hope their kids both enjoy their new personalized custom Halloween trick-or-treat bags as much as we do over at The Warm Biscuit Bedding Co.!

For this week's Monday Give-Away we shift from Halloween to hair accessories with our very own engraved silver hair clip. I know as a little girl my friends and I could spend hours giving each other crazy hairdos. This barrette will look good on any little girl, and you get to request either her initials or name to be engraved on the front for a great personalized touch. Even if you're not a mom of a girl yourself, this can make a great gift for a birthday or the holidays! Once again, we will be giving away two of these this week.

Here's how to enter the give-away to win one of these silver engraved girls barrettes:

1. Leave a comment on your favorite type of jewelry you wore as a kid.
2. Mention how you found this site
3. Check out the Warm Biscuit Bedding Co. to see what kinds of personalized jewelry they feature.
4. Make sure I can contact you! Either leave an email address in your comment, or make sure that you have contact information on your blog profile.

You can receive an extra entry towards this giveaway if you link to this give-away in your blog and put that link in your comment.

The give-away is open for entries until Sunday, September 26th, at 11:59PM. Winners will be chosen at random, and emailed Monday morning. Good luck!

Note: At this time, the Warm Biscuit Bedding Co. cannot ship give-away items internationally. They apologize for the inconvenience to all of you great people living outside of the U.S.

Fabric Find of the Week

Scrap Fabric!

The weekend is almost here, and sometimes there is nothing I like more than taking an afternoon to do a craft. If you're into sewing like I am, you know how easy it is to quickly accumulate scraps of fabric. I find it impossible to ever throw any fabric away, especially if it's one of my favorite prints. Luckily over the years I've found plenty of ways to turn fabric scraps into beautiful creations. Here are some of my favorites:

1. Scrap Fabric Flower Pins
These are just wonderful. They make nice gifts, like great placed atop wrapped presents, in your little girls hair, or worn as a pin. They do take some time, but it's the perfect project for a rainy day. For step by step illustrated instructions, go to this site.

2. Scrap Fabric Vintage Wall Art
Do you have a room in the house that could use some more color and cheer? This idea for wall art is a great solution! Really easy, and it works great as a series, so this will do the trick no matter how much wall space you need to cover.

3. Quilted Scrap Fabric Card
This is a unique way to make a really personalized card. My original inspiration came from this site and since then I've really gone crazy with these. I personally love cutting out shapes and creating little scenes and illustrations. Sometimes I even sew in cut outs from extra photographs. This project can also be included in the "for kids" list below if you have older children.

The great thing about scrap fabric is that there are plenty of projects easy enough for your kids can do. Here are some of my family's favorite fabric craft projects:

1. Scrap Fabric Pencil Case
Kids love this! Plus in the end you have a tool to help your children keep organized, and one that will teach them how easy and fun recycling can be. All you need is scrap fabric, a pair of scissors, a paint brush, some glue, and an imagination! Have your child cover an old tin can with their favorite fabric, then water down some glue and cover it with a thin layer to decoupage, and voila! You've got a beautiful eco-friendly creation.

2. Stuffed Animal Clothes
Kids love to dress up their favorite stuffed animals, and a great way to do this is with scrap fabric. While some outfits might be hard for your kids to do, some are easy for any child. The best is a bib. The example of this site is a great start. Let you kid have even more fun by adding on buttons, cut out shapes, bows, and other fun scraps.

3. Scrap Fabric Bookmark
Encourage your kids to read and give them a fun craft to do! These bookmarks are just gorgeous. All you need is some stiff paper--the artist here uses watercolor paper, scrap fabric, and some string or trim for the tassel. If you don't have watercolors or want a less messy way to decorate the paper base, just have the kids use markers, crayons, or colored pencils. Do be aware though, if you use markers these will run should they ever get wet, unless you laminate them. I especially love this project as it's fun for both the kids and myself.

If you don't have oodles of scrap fabric already, a great way to get some is by buying up the tail ends of fabric on sale. Over at The Warm Biscuit Bedding Co. we always have some fabric bolts with just a few yards left that we sell on discount. Currently we have some fun craft fabric patterns like cherries, daisy, a fun girls purple print.

Hope all of you have a creative and crafty weekend!

Back to School Lunch

A few weeks back into the school schedule, and already I was feeling stumped for ideas of what to make my kids for lunch--not to mention for myself! Thankfully I'm lucky that none of my kids are too picky about what they eat, but it is still a challenge coming up with new things to pack them every day.

So it was straight to the internet to brainstorm!

After searching through my favorite food blogs, cookbooks, and old newspaper clippings, I came up with some tried-but-true (and maybe even a few new ideas) that will be great for both you and your children. If you have any of your own ideas, feel free to share them with me and the rest of the readers by commenting.

1. Egg salad.
I know, not exactly novel, but I do think egg salad is often overlooked. Not only is it a good source of protein, but it is versatile enough to be good for both you and your children. While picky kids might just want it kept simple with just eggs and mayo, you can use this as a base for a more gourmet adult version. I like to add celery, fresh herbs, chopped cucumber, and add some fresh lettuce with it. It's super tasty and filling--great for a long day of work.

2. Alphabet Pasta Salad
This is a great way to trick the little ones into eating healthy food. The alphabet shapes will make eating seem fun--and let you sneak in nutritious food like tomatoes, cucumbers, green and red peppers, cheese cubes, apples, and nuts. The great thing about pasta salad is that it is a great way to use up and whatever scrap fruits and vegetables you have one hand.

3. Zucchini Apple Muffins
I just love these! This is the season where the end of the zucchini crop and the start of the apple harvest overlap, and these two examples of great fibrous produce make an excellent combination of flavor in a muffin. A great way to mix a green vegetable with brown sugar so your kids have no idea they're eating something with nutritional value. Plus this is an easy recipe to double, so if you have three kids like me it's a snap to double or even triple the yield to keep you and your kids stocked for days!

4. Snack Mix
It's hard not to love a snack mix. I never met a kid who would refuse to eat it, it's easy to make in bulk, and once you've got a knack for it you can easily get creative and experiment with different additional ingredients. The advantage of making your own as opposed to buying a premade mix is that, besides saving money, you can tailor your mix to match you kid's personal likes. My boys adore pretzels and peanuts, so I always add an extra amount of these.

5. Shepherd's Pie
As the weather starts to cool, nothing is more warming than a casserole, and Shepherd's Pie is one of my favorites. I love the fact that it combines almost all the food groups into one. When I'm planning ahead of time, I make up one of these and then after it cools divide it into portions before freezing. That way whenever I'm in a pinch, I know I can always just put one of these into my sons' lunch box--or bring it to work for myself!

So I hope this helps!

And don't forget, while what goes in the lunchbox is what is most important, the outside matters too! We at the Warm Biscuit Bedding Co. have a wide range of fun lunchboxes for boys and girls, many of which include personalization.

Monday Give-Away

Congratulations to Carol and Noreen, the winners of last weeks Monday Give-Away. We at Warm Biscuit look forward to making a personalized pencil case for them! We hope it helps their kids stay organized this school year.

Following in line with our fabric finds of last week, our give-away this time focuses on the upcoming holiday--Halloween! I do just love this holiday; the candy, the costumes, the parties, the spooky decorations...there is just so much to get excited about.

Perhaps its because it is the first holiday of the season, but I remember as a kid that I always anticipated Halloween with a lot of excitement. Not only was it hard to wait to don my new costume, but I was also very eager to bob for apples, take a whack at a pinata, and join my friends on a walk around the neighborhood to collect a bag full of chocolate and candies.

This week Warm Biscuit Bedding Co. is going to give away two personalized Halloween trick-or-treat bags! These bags are super cute, and any kid is sure to love them. There is a bag with ghost, a witch, a pumpkin, and a scaredy cat. Each personalized bag is hand-stitched with cut-out felt accents and soft, comfy handles.

Here's how to enter the give-away to win one of these personalized Halloween trick-or-treat bags:

1. Leave a comment on either your favorite Halloween tradition or candy.
2. Mention how you found this site
3. Check out the Warm Biscuit Bedding Co. to see what other kinds of Halloween fabrics and goodies are offered.
4. Make sure I can contact you! Either leave an email address in your comment, or make sure that you have contact information on your blog profile.

You can receive an extra entry towards this giveaway if you link to this give-away in your blog and put that link in your comment.

The give-away is open for entries until Sunday, September 13th, at 11:59PM. Winners will be chosen at random, and emailed Monday morning. Good luck!

Note: At this time, the Warm Biscuit Bedding Co. cannot ship give-away items internationally. They apologize for the inconvenience to all of you great people living outside of the U.S.

Fabric Find of the Week

For me, every year Halloween is a long trip down memory lane. After I had decided on what I wanted to dress up as, my mom would start on her end of the creative process.

Though it would be awhile till I learned how to sew, there was one step along the path to my costume creation that I always looked forward to with great excitement.

Fabric shopping!

I could spend hours scanning all the different prints and colors the fabric warehouse in my hometown when I was young, and things have not changed much.

I know it's still September, but starting ahead of time always makes the process more enjoyable for both you and your child. Halloween is a great chance to pull out all your creative punches and teach your kid the joy of making something from scratch.

Polka dot fabric is great for clown costumes, whether for the main suit or an adorable hat to top it all off.

And if your little girl is hooked on the Wizard of Oz like and wants to be Dorothy like I did one year, blue gingham fabric makes a perfect dress for any prairie girl.

A super easy and cute costume for any baby is to make them a member of the pumpkin patch by simply making a pouch of orange fabric with some black felt cut out in a jack-o-lantern smile.

If you want to use a sewing pattern, there are lots of sources on the web to get you started. Simplicity patterns has costumes for your baby to you pet dog, and sewing patterns also has a wide selection for this Halloween.

So, I hope some of this helps you plan your kid's Halloween costume design this fall! And of course, if you have any tips for costume design, sewing, or patterns, I'd love to hear from you.

Monday Give-Aways

Congratulations to Ginny for winning the Collection Box! The custom corner over at The Warm Biscuit Bedding Co. looks forward to creating the perfect gift to help her two little girls keep all their toys and treasures organized.

This week we are continuing with the theme of organization and back to school. I remember how as a kid my big imagination sometimes got the better of my attention while in class. Luckily my parents were on top of my needs, and provided me with lots of tools to succeed even if my head was in the clouds.

What better way to help your child keep together all their school supplies (scissors, glue stick, pens, pencils, whole-puncher, etc.) with their very own monogrammed pencil case. This durable pencil case is made with oilcloth, so it will last all year long. Plus it comes in either Pink Polka Dot or Blue Gingham, with six different color options for the personalized monogrammed name. This week we will be giving out two, so your chances of winning are even better than last week!

Here's how to enter the give-away to win one of these pencil cases:

1. Leave a comment on how you tried to stay organize as a kid (or how you help your own kids)
2. Mention how you found this site
3. Check out the Warm Biscuit Bedding Co. to see what kinds of organization tools they they feature.
4. Make sure I can contact you! Either leave an email address in your comment, or make sure that you have contact information on your blog profile.

You can receive an extra entry towards this giveaway if you link to this give-away in your blog and put that link in your comment.

The give-away is open for entries until Sunday, September 13th, at 11:59PM. Winners will be chosen at random, and emailed Monday morning. Good luck!

Note: At this time, the Warm Biscuit Bedding Co. cannot ship give-away items internationally. They apologize for the inconvenience to all of you great people living outside of the U.S.

Moms--Let's get organized!

Whatever your politics, it’s hard to not recognize the challenges faced by John McCain’s vice presidential nominee, Sarah Palin.

As any mom knows, whether you have a job or not, the demands of young children simply never end! I know the hardest struggle has been finding ways to juggle the needs of my three boys with running my own business.

It is all too easy for moms to feel overwhelmed and stressed. I would love to know if any of you have any strategies for coping with your day to day challenges!

As for me, I know that any system that keeps me organized is super helpful. This is why I made sure that the Warm Biscuit Bedding Co. offers a comprehensive organizer and day timer geared just for moms. It makes it easy to keep track of so much:

• PTA meetings
• babysitter numbers
• afterschool activities
• your favorite recipes!

  

And remember, the burden is never all on you. Your children can be your greatest allies and helpers!

Kids love to take on responsibilities, especially when they’re fun. I know my sons have enjoyed many fun-filled hours filling out their own School Year Scrapbooks, and their Birthday Scrapbooks.

What I love best is that it not only does it occupy the kids and give me some time to get things done around the house, but in the end I’m left with a wonderful keepsake that I know I will treasure forever!

New School Shoes

My youngest surged ahead of the older boys in great anticipation of his first REAL day of school.

He was ready...he knew how to spell not only his first, but his last name, he was sporting his own backpack (jammed with the requested back to school supplies) over his brand new shirt. He happily skipped along with the help of his new shoes!

Wesley had proudly set out his new sneakers the night before. Now, this morning he eagerly put them on and dashed down our hall at Olympic speeds, shouting to all of us..."Let's GO!"

He was bursting with energy as he entered the school yard. No second thoughts and no hesitation as he briskly kissed my nose and whispered...Bye, Mom!

Wow. My youngest was embarking on his academic adventure with confidence and enthusiasm.

I choked up with tears and turned into to my husband's chest.

All the cliched words my mom and grandma have said to me over the years, washed over me at once...

• "They grow up so fast."
• "Before you know it, they're in college!"
• "Savor every minute, it goes by quickly."

I could still feel his hand...now empty where he had clasped it so tightly this morning. My nose tickled slightly where he kissed me good bye and my ears could still hear his excited whisper..."Bye Mom!"

I slowly brushed my lone tear off my cheek and shouted, "Bye, Baby...see you tonight!"

Monday Give-Aways

Congratulations to GroovyTeach and Socialnetwork4kids for winning the Fisher Price Chatter Phones!

This week's featured artist is Vicky Vinson. "If I'm not painting, check my pulse!" quips Vicky Vinson, manager of the Custom Corner, the Warm Biscuit Bedding Co.'s custom furniture division in Skiatook, Oklahoma."No surface is off limits." Vicky paints and designs all of Warm Biscuit's furniture.

Vicky is going to be making a beautiful custom treasure box for the winner of this week's give-away. The treasure box can be painted any of 16 different colors and decoupaged with any of 19 different accents, as well as being personalized by the child's name.

The custom keepsake box measures 14 L x 7 W x 6 H, and is perfect for any type of collectibles like old coins, favorite treasures, jewelry, trinkets or love notes.

Here's how to enter the give-away to win one of these custom keepsake boxes:

1. Leave a comment on this blog telling me what (if any) crafts you do as a family
2. Check out the Warm Biscuit Bedding Co. to see what kinds of crafts they feature.
3. Make sure I can contact you! Either leave an email address in your comment, or make sure that you have contact information on your blog profile.

You can receive an extra entry towards this giveaway if you link to this give-away in your blog and put that link in your comment.

The give-away is being extended to Saturday, September 6th at midnight (because of our Labor Day late start). Winners will be chosen at random, and emailed Monday morning. Good luck!

Note: At this time, the Warm Biscuit Bedding Co. cannot ship give-away items internationally. They apologize for the inconvenience to all of you great people living outside of the U.S.