Inspired By Finn Review and Giveaway

I suffer from headaches, quite regularly and  I hate having to pop pills all the time.  So I am always on the lookout for natural ways to relieve my discomfort.  I started going to the Chiropractor, which helped, but with two weeks in between visits I still get headaches.   After looking around a little online, I found a company called Inspired by Finn which offers Baltic amber and Hazelwood jewelry as a natural way to ease pain and discomfort.  I have heard of moms using amber teething necklaces to ease their child's teething discomfort, but I didn't really know much about how it works, and that adults can wear them also.

Besides being beautiful, amber contains Succinic Acid which is a component of plant and animal tissues and its presence in the human body is very beneficial.  Baltic amber has some of the highest concentrations of this acid.  When worn against the skin, your body's warmth releases small amounts of healing oils from the amber.

Although wearing amber may not cure everything, it has been proven to benefit you.  Baltic Amber is known to relieve pain, help break a cycle of chronic inflammation, restore energy (I need this!!) and maintain wellness. 

Baltic Amber comes in many colors and Inspired By Fin offers many styles for adults as well as children.  They also have more information about the benefits of wearing amber on their website.

I was sent a necklace to review.  I chose the disc shaped  beads.  It is beautiful and the beads are really smooth.  The necklace is very comfortable to wear.  I have not had a headache since wearing the necklace, but I have only had it for a few days so far. 

Disc Shaped Beads

I have been wearing the necklace 24/7 as recommended and I love the honey color of it. 

The nice people at Inspired By Finn are offering a discount if you find them on facebook!

If you "Like" them on facebook you can save 20% off of your order at Inspired By Finn by using the code FB20 at the checkout.

If you use the "suggest to friends" option you can save 25% off your order by using the code FB25 at the checkout.

*** Please make sure you meet the requirements prior to entering the code!***

WIN IT:

One lucky reader will win any piece they choose that is in stock on Inspired By Finn, 16" or SMALLER!

MANDATORY ENTRY:

Visit Inspired By Finn and leave me a comment telling me what you would choose.  Please leave me your email address in your comment so I have a way to contact you if you win!

Additional Entries:

Please leave a separate comment for each entry

Follow this blog via Google Friend Connect (3 entries)

Become a fan of Inspired By Finn on Facebook (3 entries)

Follow me on Twitter (3 entries)

Blog about this giveaway (please leave me the link in your comment) (5entries)

Put my button in your sidebar (leave me a link to your blog) (5 entries)

Make a purchase at Inspired By Finn (10 entries)

Giveaway will end at midnight on August 14th, a winner will be chosen via Random.org and emailed.  Winner will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen.

Good Luck!

 
The opinions is this review are 100% my own.  I was given a necklace to review and was not compensated in any other way**

Friday Blog Hops

Once again is Friday!  Hello to any new followers stopping by, don't forget to enter my giveaways while you are here, there is one ending tonight at midnight for The Love Tree Necklace from Beads Story.  Leave me a comment so I can come visit you!

    
  

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

We have a winner for the CSN Stores $40 gift card

Domestic Diva!

comment #5:  Domestic Diva said...


I'd get a guidecraft kitchen helper. Thanks for the chance!


Winner was chosen via Random.org  sorry I don't know how to paste the little box/generator into this post (trust me I tried) so you will just have to believe me.  An email was sent.  Thank you to everyone that entered, and if you did not win this one, try your luck at one of my other two giveaways ending soon.

Lighter Banana Muffins

I have no idea why I have been baking lately, it's so hot outside and the oven heats up the house.  Maybe it's because I'm secretly waiting for fall (you know back to school, apple orchards, cool crisp air....)  Anyway I found a great recipe for lighter banana muffins.  Just a note before you begin, do not use any wheat flour in this recipe (I tried to do half and half) because the muffins will be pretty dry.  Ok here goes...this makes about 10 muffins

You need:

2 eggs, beaten                                                 1 teaspoon salt
3 very ripe bananas, mashed                           3/4 cup white sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour                                 1 teaspoon baking soda

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin cups.
2.  In a medium bowl, mix eggs and bananas.  In seperate bowl mix flour, salt, sugar, and baking soda.   Stir in banana mixture into the flour mixture.  Pour batter into muffin cups.
3.  Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

Last day to enter for $40 to CSN

Don't forget!  CSN gift certificate for $40 ends tonight at midnight.  Still pretty low entries.  I have some new giveaways coming up as well so stay tuned.

Random.org hates me...

I have been entering giveaways left and right and not winning anything, what gives?  So I am entering a whole bunch on One Savvy Mom, she has some really good ones going on right now including a Sansui 32 inch widescreen TV. This would be perfect for my husband for his upcoming 30th birthday!  Keep your fingers crossed!

Garden FAIL!

As you may have noticed I have not updated you on my garden for quite some time.  Well there is a great reason, it has turned to crap!  My tomatoes got that "spot disease"...can't remember what its called, but the leaves get spots then fall off.  Since my garden is all organic, I refrained from using anything to treat them and tried to control it naturally.  I trimmed off infected leaves and kept the other leaves dry while watering to prevent spreading it.  I now have a bunch of stems full of half ripe tomatoes.  Lets move on.  The area in which I DID NOT EVER plant zucchini or squash sprouted a neat little row of what I thought looked like zucchini at first.  Figuring I had plenty of room in that spot, I let it grow.  What it looks like now is a 5 foot tall jungle, full of what I'm calling squashini...cross between spaghetti squash and zucchini.  It has taken over my garden and literally "squashing" (no pun intended) my brussel sprouts.  I give up!  So here is a photo of me at my grandmother's house a loooong time ago.

Much Love...

Giveaways Ending Soon, Low Entries!

I have a couple giveaways ending soon, check them out on the right left side bar.  (Thanks Sarah).  Plenty of ways to enter and LOW entries!

Make at Home Lip Gloss

I got this idea from Char at Crap I've Made and I had to try it with my daughter.  What you need is some kool-aid packages, Vaseline, and a little container with a lid. 

Alexis chose these, not sure about the green but we gave it a try.

We emptied the powder into 3 separate little bowls and added a few drops of water to each.  Then we stirred it to make a sort of kool-aid paste.

Then we mixed the paste with some Vaseline and put it into our little containers.

I'm not exactly sure where the container came from, but it worked perfect!

Online Schooling

Recently I was given the opportunity to take a closer look at online schooling at Online School Solutions  offered by KC Distance Learning.  I was a little skeptical at first because I had taken online college courses myself and was not impressed by them.  I was given a few links to check out.  One of the links was for Elluminate, where I was able to view a live collaboration session between an online instructor and his students.  Well the first thing I liked was the web cam.  In my online courses I only got to communicate with my instructor via email so already this was much better.  The web cam made me feel like there was an actual human interacting with the students.  There was also an option for chat and ways to "raise your hand" and answer questions.  It was fun and I wanted to participate.  The other link gave me some more information about online schooling and all the various options.  I found out that online schooling was available for children as young as 6th grade all the way through 12th grade.  Some of the schools had open enrollment so you could begin anytime.  How perfect is that to maybe supplement homeschooling.  I also learned that you can choose between public and private online schools and that the public ones were tuition free!  They also followed along with the curriculum of traditional schools.  The plus side to the private schools was the open enrollment as well as having a full 12 months to complete courses.  What I thought was really neat was that not only could you work with students from the U.S. but also with students from around the world.  Another great thing about online schooling is that you can learn at your own pace and choose to go over difficult material over again.  I think this is very important because, at least for me, some material was gone over to quickly or not in depth enough when I went to school.  This is something that I wish was around when I was younger.  Actually the town I live in has great elementary schools, but the middle and high schools are not so good, this might be something I do with my kids as they get older.  I really love the idea of being able to do the work at your own time and pace.  This is also great for kids that may be having a hard time in traditional schools, weather it is learning difficulties, being bullied, gangs or peer pressure.  This is also a good idea for military families that move around a lot.  Their child can get consistent education without the stress of constantly switching schools.  It is amazing how far technology has come even since I was in high school, I love this and will definitely look into it for my kids.

Review sponsored by KC Distance Learning, all opinions are 100% my own.

Quick and Easy Kid Heat Pack

My daughter has this issue where she claims she never feels good.  This happens most often at bedtime, teeth brushing time or when she is asked to pick up her room.  As a matter of fact, I hear her say it so often I offered to make her a T-shirt that says "I don't feel good" so that she could just wear it instead of saying it all the time.  To keep her from getting out of bed 10 times every night with all of these ailments, I offered to make her a heat pad.  Now this literally took me about 10 minutes to make, and she is using it as we speak.  I found some super soft fleece fabric to make it out of but any cotton fabric should do the trick.  You will also need a bag of rice, that's it...fabric and rice.

I traced two rectangles...yes I used a DVD for my pattern...I told you I was fed up with her not feeling good story, I wanted this done fast!  Put the two rectangles together with the nice sides inside, facing each other.

Sew the pieces together leaving a small opening to turn inside out and fill with rice.  I used a straight stitch and then went over it with a zig zag stitch to keep the rice from falling out.  Please pay no attention to my horrible cutting and the jagged edges, again this project took about 10 minutes and was done due to my sheer frustration.

Flip the "sack" inside out so the design is on the outside now.  Use a small funnel to fill it with rice.  I did not have time to look for a funnel so I made one by rolling and taping a piece of paper.

Close up the opening, I recommend the zigzag stitch just in case. 

And Voila!  You have a heating pad ready to stick in the microwave!

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE

Either do the microwaving part yourself or supervise your child, if microwaved too long this will be HOT!  For a pack this size and the amount of rice we used, 1 minute was plenty.  Since rice amount and microwaves will vary, start by microwaving yours for a minute then check it.  If it seems like it needs to be warmer then microwave in small increments (like 10 seconds)  Also this is not recommended for use by small children, my daughter is almost 7 and understands that if its hot, not to leave it directly on her skin for a long period of time.  Other then that, it should work great for sore muscles, headaches, growing pains...etc....etc...etc... :)

Preeschool screening?

My son had his preschool screening today, that was an interesting experience.  Well let me backtrack, when our daughter just turned 3 we put her in a private pre-school (Montessori).  It was pricey but she learned so much that year, I really believe that it prepared her (and more) for kindergarten.  She is well above her grade reading level, and loves school.  I'm not trying to brag just explain the situation a bit.  Since then we have moved back to my hometown, which has only two options for pre-school, a state-funded pre-K and a private one at a Lutheran Church.   Well, little man just turned three and both my husband and I think that he needs to be enrolled in a pre-k, not only to learn but because he is craving some more social interaction.  We have been going back and forth about which of the two choices would be better.  Although I am perfectly fine with enrolling him in the Lutheran pre-K, it is really expensive for the amount of time he would actually be spending in school (3 days a week, 2.5 hours each time).  So we decided on the state-funded one, which is kind of hard to get into.  Well today was his screening..... my son definitely has an attention span issue.  He was really excited to be there and full of energy, so he did not really pay attention to everything he was asked to do.  I'm not sure he did so well on his screening, and I'm not sure if he will get in.  I didn't think the screening gave them an accurate depiction of my son, he knew all the things he was asked to do...he just was to excited to do some of them.  For example, during his hearing test he was asked to wear headphones and tell the lady when he heard a beep.  Instead, he put on the headphones and started dancing and beat boxing (he is very musical)...it was hard not to laugh.  I guess we will have to wait until the first week of August to see if he got in...cross your fingers :)

Crofoot Designs Review and Giveaway!

I know I have mentioned to you all before that I looooove jewelry.  I don't just like any jewelry, I like pieces that are unique, individual and especially if they are handcrafted (I totally support handmade art!).   I want to introduce you to Amy Crofoot of Crofoot Designs and her beautiful jewelry.  Amy was kind enough to send me her Filigreed Steampunk necklace, which I might add is even more beautiful in person.  Really, this piece is a showstopper and I have been getting nothing but complements on it!

Kudos to my 6 year old for getting this shot! :)

Really, this picture does not do it justice at all!

Along with this gorgeous piece, she included a handwritten letter telling me just how much she loves to make jewelry.  Amy says that she finds herself becoming "attached to certain pieces and actually

say good-bye to some before I send them to their new homes"  Her jewelry is detailed and interesting, and definately one of a kind.  Amy's passion for her craft really shows, just look at some of these beautiful creations

Amy makes a variety of different styles including Steampunk, victorian, classic and wire wrapped.  You really have to visit her Etsy store to see everything she has to offer.  She is also offering 15% off of everything in her store during the month of July.

BUY IT:

You can purchase any of these pieces as well as many more at Amy's store Crofoot Designs.

WIN IT:

Amy has graciously offered to give one lucky winner a $25 gift certificate for her store.

MANDATORY ENTRY: You must do this first in order for any other entry to count.  Visit Crofoot Designs and take a look around, come back and leave me a comment telling me which of her pieces is your favorite (good luck choosing just one!)

Extra Entries:  Please leave me a comment for each additional entry, and make sure you leave me your email address so I have a way to cantact you if you are the winner!

+3 If you follow this blog via Google Friend Connect

+1 for each additional one of my current giveaways you enter

+3 if you blog about this giveaway (leave me a direct link in your comment please)

+10 if you make a purchase from Crofoot Designs

This giveaway will end at midnight August 8th and a winner will be chosen via random.org.  The winner will be contacted through email and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen.  Good Luck!!

The featured product in this post was provided to me free of charge by the artist and I was not provided with any other compensation . All opinions expressed in this review are 100%  my own and not influenced in any way by anyone. 

Saturday Night Ranting...and a Blog Award

So my husband has been away since Thursday morning (working out of state) and wont be back until tomorrow afternoon.  I know some of you may be thinking that a few days apart might be a nice break but for me this is very stressful.  I have some weird anxiety issues when he is gone, I kind of don't know what to do with myself.  I tried to get out a little with the kids so that I wasn't just sitting at home stressed out, but now its Saturday night and it has all caught up to me (plus I'm stress eating everything in sight).  I was attempting to clean the house since the kids are asleep but I can't concentrate....so I'm on the dang computer again.  So I'm trying to cheer myself up, I recieved an award this week from Laurie at Scene of the Grime.

Thank you Laurie, I am honored!

I will now pass it on to some other bloggers who totally deserve it.

Dolly Donations

All You Need Is Love and some strong coffee

Backyard Farming

And now to share somethings about myself....hmmmm

1.  I cannot whistle (have tried for years, can't do it)

2.  I have some weird obsession with time, have to know what time it is ALL THE TIME, cannot be late (unless you want me to start yelling) and have to know travel times etc.   It sort of controls me.

3.  I don't like gum, at all!

Ok, so now that I have exposed my weirdness, I feel a bit better....here are some pics from the County Fair we went to yesterday...

 

That's my kid inside that ball

Typical boy

It was like 100 degrees out but we still had fun!