Lipstick to Crayons » Stuff Kids Like

Diplaying Quilts as Artwork, Creating Heirlooms

lipsticktocrayons — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 17:17:55 +0000

I’ve shared with you that one of my prized possessions is a quilt made by Campus Quilts from the baby clothes of my three children. And now, Campus Quilts is in the process of creating another quilt for me that will honor my late father’s memory. I wrote about that here and I will enthusiastically share pictures as soon as it arrives.

My dilemma, however, has been how to display these treasures. I want everyone who enters my home to see them! Well, my problem was solved when I found Chuck Pederson and Generation to Generation Heirlooms. Chuck handcrafts a Website full of products that are certain to become family heirlooms, including children’s toys, quilt ladders and quilt racks. Here is the gorgeous 7.5-foot quilt ladder he made for me:

As you can see, I am proudly displaying my baby-clothes quilt on the rack and will soon be adding my father’s memorial quilt above that. It fits perfectly in the corner of my room, with an angled design at the top so it leans securely against the wall.

Chuck makes all of his products by hand with the utmost care and attention to detail. The solid construction of this quilt ladder is amazing, and the silky-smooth finish on it is absolutely beautiful. Due to the size of this ladder, Chuck constructs it to fold in the middle for shipping and some minor assembly is required when it arrives. Just so you know, I intended to add that project to my husband’s “honey do” list, but the instructions Chuck sent were so simple and easy to follow that I completed it all by myself using the tools he suggested: A screwdriver and wood glue. (He pre-drills the holes for the dowels, good man that he is).

You can purchase any of Chuck’s heirloom treasures on his Website (quilt racks, children’s toys and quilt project hangars) and he will ship them to you. Prices range from $100 for a Toddler Town Car, $300 for a handcrafted Rocking Horse, $100 for a traditional floor quilt rack and $125 for the 7.5-foot ladder (plus shipping). All of the toys from Generation to Generation Heirlooms would make perfect Christmas presents for children. And unlike the latest toy made of hard, molded plastic and running on batteries, these toys are certain to last through the generations, becoming family heirlooms as Chuck intended.

If you live in/near California, you can see the items in person at the following craft shows:

October 21, 22 & 23 – Independence Hall Quilters Quilt Show, Ironstone Vineyards, Murphys, CA

November 12-13 – Tuleburg Quilt Guild Quilt Show, Scottish Rite Masonic Center, Stockton, CA

Chuck’s other tentative shows for 2012 are listed here.

Please visit Generation to Generation Heirlooms to check out Chuck’s products. You won’t be disappointed.

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Must-have New Toy for Preschooler — Mickey Mote!

lipsticktocrayons — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 22:43:59 +0000

Don’t you just love it when your child interacts with something she is watching on television. It makes you feel good about letting her watch T.V. when you hear her counting with Mickey or singing with Minnie or learning her ABC’s with Big Bird or conjugating verbs in Spanish with Dora.

Well, the new Mickey Mote, which Walt Disney studios home entertainment released on store shelves yesterday, is a kid-friendly remote that lets kids interact with their favorite Disney DVDs (it works with all Disney preschool dvd’s that include discovery mode — that’s the interactive watch and play mode on the DVD that offers different levels). there are lots of titles available with this feature, including two new ones that also debuted yesterday: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Handy Manny Big Construction Job.

So, I’ll tell you why I like this fun preschool toy, but first watch it in action:

So here’s why I like it:

Setup is easy and the instructions are given right on the screen. You’ll need to find your current DVD remote to use during setup — likely among your child’s toys. I’m hoping that will happen less now that she has her own.]

The Mickey Mote is a shaped like Mickey’s ears and it’s bright red, so it looks fun.

There are only 4 buttons on the Mickey Mote — a star, circle, triangle and square. So, it’s not too complicated for your young preschooler to operate. (I wish MY AT&T Uverse remote only had four buttons!!!)

As I said, the Mickey Mote works with any Disney Preschool DVD that includes Discovery Mode™, and once it’s setuup, you select the Discovery Mode feature on the menu screen and within minutes, your child will be easily responding to questions, throughout the story. Discovery Mode features include two levels of play, which provides more challenging questions as the child grows. I think Level 2 is a little difficult for a 3-year-old, but Level 1 was perfect for my kiddo. As the DVD plays, the child is asked questions and she can push one of the buttons for her answer. Then she gets an immediate response.

Once families have purchased a Disney Preschool DVD that comes packaged with the Mickey Mote, they can continue to build their Disney Preschool libraries as the Mickey Mote works in compatibility with any Discovery Mode enhanced DVD. For example, kids can immediately use the remote with any of the following titles:

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Road Rally
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Mickey’s Adventures in Wonderland
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Mickey’s Choo Choo
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Minnie’s Bow-Tique
Handy Manny: Manny’s Motorcycle Adventure
Handy Manny: Manny’s Big Race
Little Einsteins: Fire Truck Blast Off
My Friends Tigger & Pooh: Super Duper Super Sleuths
My Friends Tigger & Pooh: Bedtime With Pooh

Note: Discovery Mode can also be played using any DVD remote control.

The two new videos are awesome and retail on Amazon for about $26.99 including the Mickey Mote!

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Numbers Roundup features more than 100 minutes of content with five exciting, numbers-themed adventures. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is the #1 program on Playhouse Disney as well as the #1 series with children between the ages of two and five years. Bonus features include a never-before-seen (until 1/1/11) bonus episode as well as the Discovery Mode feature.

Handy Manny: Big Construction Job is a fun-filled, full-length adventure that takes Manny out of Sheet Rock Hills and to a new construction project out of town! Introducing new tools, new songs and a never-before-seen episode, Handy Manny stars Wilmer Valderrama (TV’s “That 70’s Show”) as the voice of Manny. It is a top 5 television series with preschoolers 2-5, and is an Emmy®-nominated show, set in a multicultural, multi-generational community and follows a curriculum that models problem solving and the importance of community.

So, my recommendation: If you’ve got a toddler or preschooler, this is a for-sure purchase on the holiday gift list.

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Children’s Products (Toy) Award Winners & Giveaway

lipsticktocrayons — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 21:52:21 +0000

The National Parenting Publications Awards (NAPPA) has announced the winners of its 2010 Children’s Products Competition. After evaluating hundreds of outstanding submissions, NAPPA’sexpert judges and family testers selected 83 products to receive the esteemed NAPPA Gold Award and 122 products for NAPPA Honors.

And if you want to win one of the award winners — the Ground Force Drifter — go here. The contest ends Nov. 19.

Among the 2010 NAPPA winning products are:

Kinect for Xbox 360—Microsoft, $149.99; Xbox.com; ages 6 and up

In this video gaming experience, you don’t have to hold any controller! With a special motion capture sensor that sits in front of your television, Kinect for Xbox 360 puts all players at the center of gameplay. Kid testers LOVED it!

MobiGo Touch Learning System—VTech, $59.99; VTechKids.com; ages 3 and up

“Edu-gaming” at its finest! A touch screen and slide-out keyboard on this portable, handheld gaming console system are accompanied by clear voice and excellent video quality. Insert cartridge to play and learn about numbers, letters, music, problem solving, and more. Additional games can be downloaded.

Beautiful Oops!—by Barney Saltzberg; Workman Publishing, 2010; $11.95; Workman.com; ages 3 to 103

Readers and listeners alike learn that there are life lessons for all of us in every “oops!” of a mistake. The author/illustrator creates a multi-media experience by showing—even more than telling—how to use our imagination to turn life’s little glitches and blips, spills and smudges, drips and smears into something positive and, in this case, a surprisingly beautiful and whimsical piece of art.

Ground Force Drifter—Razor USA, LLC, $299.99; Razor.com; ages 8 and up

This steel-framed, rechargeable battery-operated go-kart lets kids zip through the neighborhood at speeds of up to 12 mph. Thumb tab acceleration and a rear-wheel hand brake put control in the palm of kids’ hands; torque and tires give the power and precision for spin-outs, fishtails and 360s.

Minotaurus—LEGO Systems Inc, $24.99; LEGO.com; ages 7 and up

In this first game collection by Lego, players build their own game board using Lego pieces. They then strategize how to get their heroes through the labyrinth to the temple, without confronting the Minotaur. Limitless changing of the “game-scape” makes for super creative and imaginative play.

For a complete list of all 205 winners, including a printable shopping list, visit www.NAPPAawards.com. The new NAPPA website allows visitors to easily navigate by product category—toys, games, books, DVDs, music, software, and storytelling—and sort by age group. Quick lists including Best Values, Top Picks, Family Fun, and Rising Stars are also provided. To make holiday shopping even easier for busy parents, the site now provides an Amazon.com shopping cart.

About NAPPA

For 20 years the National Parenting Publications Awards (NAPPA) has been the go-to resource for the best products for families. NAPPA’s team of independent expert judges, along with family and child testers, select the most innovative and enduring products as NAPPA Gold and Honors winners in two annual competitions, Children’s Products and Parenting Resources. Far more than a seal of approval, a NAPPA award signifies that a product has been rigorously evaluated against stringent criteria and stands out among hundreds of other products from around the world. For more information, visit www.NAPPAawards.com.

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Company Kids Hooded Towel Review & Giveaway – Closed

lipsticktocrayons — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 13:46:56 +0000

Company Kids is one of those stores where you always find something cute and something just a little different from the other places you’ve been shopping. In other words, you find “just the right thing.” From bedroom and playroom accessories to clothes and travel gear, Company Kids gets it right.

Getting bath time right can certainly provide a smoother end of the day and an easier transition to bed time, and Company Kids hooded towels are a perfect “tool” to make that happen.

These towels are large enough to be beach towels (50 inches wide by 30 inches long) and the hoods are so adorable. Kitty cats, ducks, poodles, bunnies, pandas . . . so many cute towels. The towels are colorful, warm, 100 percent cotton and are offered in imaginative styles that kids are sure to love.

The towels retail for $29.50, but if you’d like to win one for free, enter the contest below.

Giveaway Guidelines:

To enter the contest, you MUST become an email subscriber to Lipstick to Crayons. The subscribe button is in the upper right corner of the site. Once you subscribe (or if you are already a subscriber), leave a comment below telling me you did so, and make sure the email address you provide is the one you used to subscribe. After completing this mandatory first entry method, you can gain additional entries by doing any or all of the following (but be sure to leave a separate comment for each thing you do):

Blog about this contest
Tweet this giveaway on Twitter (you can do daily tweets, but leave a comment each time you do)
Favorite Lipstick to Crayons on Technorati
Stumble this post
Add Lipstick to Crayons to your blogroll or my button to your sidebar
Become a fan of Lipstick to Crayons on Facebook.
Post a link to this contest on your Facebook page.

This giveaway closes at 11:59 p.m. Central time October 14, 2010. Be sure to include a valid email address with each of your entries. Winners will be randomly chosen via random.org and will be notified via email and announced on this post.

If any winner does not claim the prize by October 16, 2010, she will forfeit the prize to an alternate winner who will be drawn at random.

USA residents only please!

THIS CONTEST IS CLOSED. CONGRATS TO MARIA K.

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Very Unique Gift for Young Girls and Tweens

lipsticktocrayons — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 02:01:32 +0000

You’ve heard of the friendship bracelet and friendship necklaces. And you’ve probably seen tote bags that can be personalized with paint pens or jewelry kits that girls can use to make personalized accessories. But have you heard of friendship fashion? Or clothing that can be personalized again and again?

Mia My is a one-of-a-kind friendship jacket that allows girls to show off their unique personality and/or their best friends. It’s a stylish white blazer that comes with four yummy scented colorful markers for the girl’s to decorate or for B.F.F.s to sign their chic jacket. And if they want to restyle their Mia My jacket, just toss it in the wash and the ink is gone!

Mia My asked me to review one of their jackets, but my 15-year-old shot me down. “I am NOT wearing any such thing,” she declared. I’m thinking it really is for the tween set and younger. So, I asked my neighbor’s adorable daughter, Ava, to put the product to the test. She was delighted to do so, and what you see here is her third design on the jacket. She wasn’t satisfied with her first two designs, so her Mom washed it and voila — ALL TRACES of the previous design were gone!

Ava loves the jacket because it provides an outlet for her creativity. And she has something that no one else at her school has. Plus, she has some ideas for decorating it for school spirit day, St. Louis Cardinal’s Day, various holidays, etc. What FUN!

What impressed me about the jacket was the quality of the design. It is constructed like a well-made designer piece. The fabric is thick, the seams are sturdy and the cut is tailored and stylish. It’s not the kind of quality construction you can find in just any children’s clothing — this is boutique-quality stuff.

What impressed Ava’s Mom was the fact that no matter how dark she colored her designs, they washed out easily in the laundry. She did say she thought the markers were “running out” rather quickly, but you can buy additional marker sets for $4.99.

The Mia My jacket comes in two different styles, the one you see Ava wearing in the above pictures is available in sizes 4, 5 and 6. And a teen size jacket that ties around the waist is available in sizes XS, S, M, L, and XL. The jackets sell for $49.99, so they are rather pricey for a birthday party favor, which is one idea suggested by the company. I’m sure that would make for some kind of fun birthday party activity, but it would be expensive. Of course, the birthday girl could perhaps receive the jacket as a gift, and then her friends could sign their birthday wishes onto her jacket, and that would be fun, too.

I personally think this would be a great birthday or Christmas gift, so if you’re starting your shopping early this year and want something unique, Mia My has my endorsement.

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St. Louis Moms — You Gotta Sign Up for This!

lipsticktocrayons — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 21:05:25 +0000

If you’re a Mom (or a Dad) living in the St. Louis area, you absolutely must sign up for STL Kids Club Deals. These deals are launching this month, and will work similar to Groupon. STL Kids Club deals will offer special discounts of up to 75% off at the retailers, restaurants and service providers that parents and families in St. Louis use most. In other words, they will cater to the needs and busy lifestyles of families and they will arrive in your email Inbox if you’ve signed up for the deals.

It’s free to join, and you won’t be bombarded with all kinds of spam — just one or two emailed deals a week that you won’t be able to pass up! I have it on good authority that the first deal is amazing! (I won’t tell you what it is, and I’m not sure what day it will be distributed, but it will be this month. You’ll want to be signed up so that you don’t miss out, because I know it will go fast.)

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Gap Coupon Codes for Back to School

lipsticktocrayons — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 19:04:30 +0000

Here is a Gap coupon codes that is valid online and in stores for 25 percent off regular-priced kids and baby back to school styles: GAPBTS25 — expires Julye 25.

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Win a Disney Vacation

lipsticktocrayons — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 19:29:47 +0000

Two lucky Funjet Vacations and Walt Disney World® Resort fans will have the chance to win a Funjet Vacations trip for four to Walt Disney World® Resort through Funjet’s Magical Vacation Giveaway, July 1 – 31, 2010.

To qualify for the chance to win, contestants need to tell Funjet Vacations who their favorite Disney character is and why at www.Funjet.com. Two grand prize winners will be randomly selected from the eligible entries.

Each grand prize winner will receive roundtrip airfare for four to Orlando and a 5-night Magic Your Way® Package Plus Dining with accommodations at a Walt Disney World® Resort Deluxe Hotel and a 5-day Magic Your Way® Ticket with Park Hopper® and Water Park Fun & More Option.

In addition to the grand prizes, Funjet Vacations will be randomly selecting daily winners from eligible entries to receive fun Disney merchandise.

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Lots of Free Admission Events July 16-18 Courtesy of Target

lipsticktocrayons — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 12:55:22 +0000

Target is partnering with more than 80 cultural and art institutions in 30 cities throughout the country to launch the Target Arts & Wonder Free Family Event. From July 16 to 18, 2010, museums, galleries and other institutions from coast to coast will offer friends and families the opportunity to explore and learn about art together in an engaging and playful atmosphere – for free.

All participating institutions across the country, courtesy of Target, will offer a wide range of fun hands-on activities including mosaic paintings of the Target Bullseye dog, dance classes, educational workshops and more. To see a complete listing of institutions and cities participating in Target Arts & Wonder Free Family Event, go here and scroll down a little so you can enter your city of interest.

Target supports the arts year-round by sponsoring 2,200 free events and reduced-price performances at more than 120 museums, theaters and cultural organizations across the country. Following is a sample of participating cities and cultural institutions nationwide.

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Chick-fil-A Free Combo

lipsticktocrayons — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 12:29:04 +0000

It’s become a holiday at Chick-fil-A — Cow Appreciation Day.

This Friday, July 9, Chick-fil-A will give a free combo meal to anyone dressed like a cow! You don’t have to be completely “cowed up” — I suspect a white t-shirt with black spots would work. But if you’ve got a complete cow costume (?), go for it. And dress up your kids, too, because according to Chick-Fil-A’s dress like a cow Web site, calves get free meals, too!