NEW Giveaway You Won't Want to Miss!

Autumn Beck of All About Cloth Diapers is hosting a HUGE giveaway she's calling My Favorite Things! She is giving away a new gift every day for 12 days (skipping sunday). She's giving away cool items from Bee All Natural, Monkey Foot Designs, Ragababe, and Abby's Lane. There are lots and lots of different ways to enter and you can complete one entry or do them all. Best of all you can win MORE THAN ONE PRIZE! Today is day 4 and she's not done yet! So get on over to All About Cloth Diapers and enter to win her My Favorite Things Giveaway!

If you like giveaways, be sure to go to my Facebook fan page, for our Windy Willow Pond store and "like" us! When we get to 38 fans we'll have a giveaway AND offer a discount code to ALL our fans too!

Thanks for reading! And come back soon, we're working on some new articles on lots of different topics!

Be blessed!
Staci
 
ps: you can find it here.

It's a great time to try cloth diapers!

Yep that is a giraffe on my baby's butt!

 Cloth butts are adorable! Cloth diapers are awesome! They're better for your baby, better for your wallet and lets face it they're so stinkin cute! Who can resist! AND The best part is that today's cloth diapers are not your mama's or gramma's cloth diapers! There's no stinky vinyl, no fancy folding techniques, diaper pins are optional, and no dunking poopy diapers in the toilet! There is a ton of info on the net about cloth! One of my favorite info places is All About Cloth Diapers. There has never been a better time to try cloth diapers! Cloth diapers are the easiest they've ever been, and disposable diapers are more TOXIC than ever before! Cloth diapers are fun, healthy, cheap and easy to make, and disposables are boring, monotonous, full of chemicals and cost a small fortune! Need I go on?

Another great reason to try them is the giveaway going on right now! You can enter to win a free diaper making pattern. The giveaway is for a Rocket  Bottoms diaper pattern, and is done at the Crazy 4 Cloth blog. They're fun and easy to make! Plus you can even use old receiving blankets or trendy t-shirts to make the absorbent part of the diaper.

For the outside you'll need PUL, a special water proof fabric, and I have some for a great price on my hyena cart store, Windy Willow Pond.  I have a friend who also sells diaper making fabrics on hyena cart, named Monika and her store is Diaper Fabric Fanatic. With diaper fabrics easily available for cheap or free, and now a free diaper pattern, why not start making your own diapers today! Save lots of money, deck out your sweety in something that really reflects their cuteness and feel good about protecting their health. See for yourself why so many mama's try cloth and never go back!

^"13She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands." Proverbs 31:13 KJV

Blessings,
Staci

ps: if you don't win the pattern, you can find a many free diaper patterns online. Just google it! Celtic Cloth has a good one.
Oh and if you visit any of the links be sure and tell them I sent you! :-)

new giveaways to share!

SOMETIMES THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE FREE! AND WE HAVE A COUPLE FREEBIES TO SHARE WITH YOU TODAY!

These giveaways are from a some other great bloggin mamas. And I didn't want to keep them all to myself. So here they are...

One for raw honey

and another for Simply Organic gluten free mixes.

And here is a great FREE FOR ALL! Its called Free Pattern Month at Grosgrain. For an entire month they're posting a free pattern every day, in a wide variety of styles, mama, baby, toys, household. How exciting! I love patterns and I love free!

And just to spice things up even more, we're offering a free shipping special at our stores, go to our Windy Willow Pond Etsy shop, or our Hyena Cart Windy Willow Pond shop and make a purchase. Then tell a friend by sharing our links on your facebook page or your blog and we'll refund your shipping! Just drop us a note letting us know about your qualifying purchase and where you shared it! Yeah for FREE SHIPPING! (This offer is good until May 31)

ENJOY!

Staci

Family Unity and an update on winners

The picture above is a puzzle based on a story about a whole family needing to work together to pull a giant turnip out of the ground. ~This is us lately. The original story was an old Russian folk tale. You can find many new and old versions on Amazon. The significance of the story is everlasting for any strong Christian family, or any family for that matter. When you have everyone working and pulling together for the good of the family you can accomplish a lot more. 
My most recent observation was of our family trying to clean house. Working independently the children were scattered and disorganized, and we as parents were frustrated. But when we coordinated our efforts we got the cleaning done in record time because we were all working together and happy to do it, since we weren't doing it alone. It's kind of a funny combination of "share your joy" and "misery loves company". The jobs we have aren't always fun, but the joy shared in our hearts can make it bearable. The best blessing of this unified work habit is that we ALL get to enjoy the relaxation time or play time together. It's really funny how the earthly mind will work. 

         I observed the following scene one day... Daddy was sitting on the couch enjoying his coffee while the children played roughly making chaos and mama begrudgingly prepared and served breakfast alone. Then later in the day mama rested while daddy washed dishes and the children were again in chaos. THEN the children were assigned work while mama and daddy took a brief moment to talk. In the end EVERYONE felt they had been working while everyone else sat around. In the context of timing each person was right, but in the context of work done we were all wrong. Our earthly minds had fooled us into feeling sorry for ourselves while the others "played". 
       Then on another day we all worked together to prepare breakfast and clean up and finish chores, then we all enjoyed a happy time of playing together. All of us walked away from it feeling a sense of accomplishment as well as the joy of our play time. What a joy that day was for us. I find it so funny to think that unity is a Godly idea and yet we hear continuously "we all have our OWN responsibilities". While there is some truth to that in theory, let us put the focus on unity rather than ourselves and OUR OWN tasks. Selfishness is a slippery slope that can often disguise itself in many ways.

¹⁶"From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love." Ephesians 4:16 KJV

(BTW- ~ The puzzle pictured above is made of wood, hand painted, and is available at Peace Fleece.)

Blessings from our family to yours!  
Staci

WINNERS Please read: I'm still waiting to hear from Mary and Jessica, I'll give it another week or so for you to get back to me. For the tea winners we have Mary and Jessica! Thanks for playing! Whoever emails me first gets to pick their flavor! So don't wait!

To all our lovely ladies, thanks for playing along and don't worry, family stuff and health emergencies have kept me away from the computer and the post office, but your goodies are on their way!

We Have New Giveaway Winners! - plus details for next week!

UPDATE ON WINNERS: For the tea winners we have Mary and Jessica! Thanks for playing! Whoever emails me first gets to pick their flavor! So don't wait!

To all our lovely ladies, thanks for playing along and don't worry, family stuff and health emergencies have kept me away from the computer and the post office, but your goodies are on their way! Blessings to you and yours! Staci

Just in case we have anyone who's joining us for the first time, I want to welcome you and tell you you've picked the perfect time to join in! We're announcing this weeks winners and spilling the details for next weeks prizes, and how YOU can get them! So the first thing you want to do is head on over to my good friend's new website gracenotes and then check out this blog entry that tells you all you need to know about our awesome giveaway!

Now for this weeks winners we were drawing first for the Arnica Muscle Salve!

             AND THE WINNER IS JAIME LYNN!

And for the next item up for grabs is the All Better Butter!

                     OUR SECOND WINNER IS dontfencemein - JAMIE!

Ok, well that's it for this week! But look what next weeks winners get! A couple really great specialty tea blends. They're called sample sizes, but each bag will make about 8 servings! So you'll get plenty to try and enjoy. For our giveaway we've got a bag of the elegant

Lavender Lemongrass- here is what they have to say about it:  

"We brought this unique combination of herbs together to make a delightful, light, refreshing herbal tea that the whole family can enjoy. 

Lemongrass is know for having a calming effect, relieving insomnia and stress.  It also helps detoxify the body and stimulates digestion, circulation, and lactation.

Lavender is an excellent tonic for nervous tension and restlessness.  It is also known for relieving pain, enhancing circulation, and assisting with respiratory problems."

Next we have the rich Vanilla Rooibos - and this is why they love it:

"Smooth and delicious 

Rooibos is naturally caffeine free.  It is considered a "red" tea, although it honestly reminds us of an exceptionally mild and mellow black tea.  We have added vanilla to our Rooibos to create an especially delightful blend.

We especially love Vanilla Rooibos sweetened (with sugar or a natural sweetener such as agave or honey) and then we add milk for a wonderfully mild and creamy taste."

 Lets Do a recap- so far you can get an entry for emailing, blogging, facebooking, or tweeting about the giveaway, telling me what product on her website you'd most like to have, sharing a new product idea, following my blog and asking for that entry, and last but not least, my absolute favorite fun entry... tell me what dreamy flavor would you like to see in a sugar scrub? (if you're just joining in you can use the comments on this page to add in your entries too!)

So far that's a total of 8 possible entries and for this week I'll add another...

For your final entry you can comment below,

~tell me what body care item you own that is a total luxury but one you wouldn't want to live without?

I look forward to your responses! and thanks again for playing along!
Blessings to all!

Big Birthday Giveaway Winner!

Ok, first an apology, I meant to post last night but life got so busy I wasn't able to get on, Sorry! But I did have a wonderful birthday and it was definitely worth the delay!


 NOW FOR THE WINNER OF THE BIG BIRTHDAY PRIZE!

Chosen by my wonderful son

The winner is... J & A
Congratulations! You've won your choice of flavor in the full size sugar scrub! Contact me to let me know what you want and where to send it to! Thanks for playing along!

And don't forget everyone there is still time to get additional entries for tonight's giveaway! (click on the link for info if you missed the last post) We'll be giving away the Arnica Muscle Salve 1/2 oz size, and the All Better Butter 1/2 oz size. These are great products to have around the house for sore muscles and little owies on your little ones!

Tonight we'll also give info on how to get another entry for next week!

Until tonight! Blessings!

Gracenotes in your life! Time For Another Giveaway!

 I know you love giveaways! I do too! It's fun to give and fun to receive! And I am so blessed to be able to give away a few totally awesome items from a new shop! Some friends of mine, a mother and her daughters have opened a neat online store called gracenotes! What is gracenotes? well I'll let her tell you...

"In music, gracenotes are those wonderful little notes that come in quickly and have no purpose except to embellish and enhance the music.  They are simply there to bring pleasure to the listener.  (We also think they're fun to play!)

That's what we want our products to do in your life.  We hope that our body care products, salves, jewelry, teas, sewn items, and anything else we might add in the future, will be those little embellishments that make your life just a little bit nicer...kind of like a gracenote does for a lovely piece of music.

The blessing is that they're new enough to be fresh and exciting, but their doors have been open long enough to have some satisfied customers who've given great reviews! I have had the pleasure of using some of their products personally and I'd like to tell you they offer affordable luxury! 

One item that has been a particular blessing to me has been the Arnica Muscle Salve. My husband has bad knees and when they act up I rub his knees with this stuff and it brings him relief. It's natural and helpful! Another blessing is that many of their products are available in trial sizes so exploring their products won't cost you a fortune! (It wouldn't even with the regular sized items, but this is even MORE affordable.) 

And if you're joining us from Raising Homemakers, the beauty of their business is that the mother has raised her daughters with a focus on raising Godly joyful homemakers, and this venture is just another joyful way for them to spend time together blessing others with what they do. I really love this lady and her website! So needless to say I'm just a little excited to offer these goodies up to you! So for the giveaway...

I get to offer up to you a lovely assortment of their products! I'll start the first one today, and to make things easy, I'll announce the winners next Thursday! That announcement will also have the info on the next weeks drawing. I'll be drawing 2 winners each week with a big surprise giveaway on my 30th birthday! (in just 2 weeks!) Your entries will count towards the next weeks giveaway too! 

Here's what you can do:

1: Share this giveaway on your blog, facebook, twitter, or email. (1 for each thing you do!)

2: Visit the gracenotes site, explore around and tell me what item you would most like to have!

3: See her Input page and comment here about what new products you'd like to see!

So that's it for now. You have 6 chances to enter this week! Comment below to get your entries! And Check back next week for the first weeks winners and info on how to add more entries!

Let me also say this. The most important gift that can be given is the gift that is given to us by our Heavenly Father, the free gift of salvation, available to anyone who will receive it. 

 

¹²"Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God." 1 Corinthians 2:12 KJV

  

I welcome you to contact me if you have questions or need prayer. 

Extra special blessings on your day!

UPDATE: This weeks giveaway is for a yummy lip butter sampler and a wonderful bergamot scented Epsom foot scrub sampler!  A wonderful and free way to get your lips kissable and your feet ready for sandal weather!