Handmade With Love Feature Interview: SerenityLure

The Handmade With Love Winter Giveaway is just around the corner and I have a second sponsor to introduce you to this week; SerenityLure! Please read below to learn a little about SerenityLure and take a look at the luxury beauty products she has to offer in her Etsy shop.

Detox Cherry Blossom Himalayan Bath Salt

Please tell me about yourself. 

I work as a full time registered nurse, and, in the relatively small amount of time I’m not working as a nurse or building the business, I love read, especially self help books. If you’re looking for a recommendation, “The Magic of Thinking Big” by David Schwartz; “Write it Down and Make it Happen” by Henrietta Ann Klauser; “The Greatest Salesman in the World” by Og Mandingo, and the old favourite “How to Win Friends and Influence People” are among my current favorites to name just a few. In terms of my favorite things in life, I enjoy a beautiful massage, dreaming, and making a difference in the lives of others one person at a time.

What kinds of products do you offer?

We’re developing new ideas all the time, but the current core range is a collection of creamy body crèmes, premium lotions, soothing aromatherapy soy candles, moisturizing organic soaps, and elegantly divine scrubs.

Honey-Oat Butter Dream Organic Handmade Soap

How long have you been in business?

We started out in 2009. I learned about the importance of skin care while in nursing school. I’m a big fan of natural products, so I started to try out different formulations, making my own skin care products and trying out other products designed and made by friends. I really loved the outcome of my experiments, so I took the decision to make my favourite tried and tested formulas available to other people, in conjunction with some of the people who took part in the experiments.

What is your most popular product?

That’s a difficult question to answer, as everyone seems to have their own favorites. If I had to go purely on sales, though, the Le Voyage body crèmes are quickly gaining a cult following, and our Lemongrass Tea organic body soap is very popular – it’s so refreshing and perfect for all the family, so I can see why our customers get through so much of it!

What inspires you?

My personal inspiration hasn’t changed since I started out in nurse training. It has always been both inspiring other people to be the best that they can be, and being a resource for those around me.

Aphrodisiac Warm Vanilla and French Lavender Cream

Where do you see your business heading in the future? 

We’re expanding pretty rapidly, and we already ship directly worldwide. I want to put my own inspiration into action more and collaborate with women’s shelters in our local area. My long-term goal for the company is to open our own medical spa. For now, though, I’ll content myself with putting a little bit of affordable luxury in people’s lives, one bathroom at a time; and making homes around the world smell beautiful, the natural way!

Which countries do you ship to?

US, Canada, Worldwide

How can people find you online?

We have a website at www.serenitylure.etsy.com, where people can find out more about the products and order for delivery anywhere in the World.

Alternatively, people can come and visit us on Facebook, find our page at SerenityLure, or on Twitter @serenitylure.

Teaser! Here's what you will have a chance to win!

Exotic Floral Body Creme

Visit a spa at home…for a sensual massage

Our Spa Energy range of body conditioning treatments is tailored to a range of moods. In ‘Relax Body Cream’, rich and deep yet gentle, sweet and sensual ylang ylang, a native of the Polynesian rainforest, envelops your senses. Its name means ‘flower of flowers’, and you’ll soon discover why when you melt into this rich body soufflé.

With base notes of calming, relaxing lavender, conditioning silk proteins and soothing aloe, our winning blend of soybean and sunflower oils and rich, luxurious shea butter, provides a haven for bodies that need a little TLC. Ylang ylang is more than a beautiful scent and perennial favourite of the fine fragrance houses; it’s also an outstanding skin conditioner in its own right. Our Spa Energy body treatment is free from parabens, so enjoy a little sensual healing, the natural way!

Thats not all - SerenityLure has offered two prizes! One winner will receive the Exotic Floral Body Creme pictured above, and a second winner will receive a Gift certificate for 30% off of any item in her shop. Code will be e-mailed to the winner.

Bonus Entry!

Visit SerenityLure and comment here with your favorite item before the giveaway goes live at 12AM EST February 2nd for an extra entry!

I would love to win this giveaway...

Photo borrowed from Memoryexpress Meghan

This Facebook giveaway caught my attention and I'm asking YOU to help! The giveaway is for a 320GB Western Digital WD Elements Portable Hard drive which would be great for keeping my photos so that I never lose them again. The person who's comment has the most "likes" by February 3rd wins. So if you have a chance, please take a look for my comment (Missy Misfit-Momma) under this photo and click "like"!

If you need a vote on something, leave a link and I can return the favor!

Handmade With Love Feature Interview: Mabel & Nanny's Designs

This weeks sponsor for my Handmade With Love Winter Giveaway is Mabel & Nanny's Designs! Nanny is one of the many ladies who I have made internet friends with over the last few months and I wish her & her Mother the best of luck with their new endeavor. Please read below to learn a little about Mabel & Nanny and take a look at the neat up-cycled bags & beaded goodies they have to offer in their new Etsy shop. If you like what you see, take advantage of the discount code they have offered to my readers!

Pretty Flower Drawstring Pouch

Please tell me about yourself.

This is a Mother and Daughter run operation.

Mabel is a Work from home, Grandmother and avid crafter. She takes care of her special needs grandson full time. When time permits she does odd sewing jobs out of her home. For the last few years she's sold her items at craft fairs

Nanny is a stay-at-home mom of two children. She likes to do various crafts as a way of staying sane. She's an avid blogger and you can find her at http://nannyshodgepodge.blogspot.com

What kinds of products do you offer?

We sell a verity of items from beaded works to handmade bags and purses. Nanny does the beaded designs jewelry such as bracelets, necklaces, and book thongs.

Mabel creates up-cycled handbags, purses from gently use clothing. As well as quilted tote bags.

Sky Blue Bracelet

How long have you been in business?

Mabel has been visiting craft fairs with her wares for many years now, she just recently in Feb of last year decided to try and sell her handmade bags via Etsy.

Where do you see your business heading in the future?

We are hoping to expanded into making homemade lip-balm, and perhaps other beauty products. I'm also hoping to add some crocheted items in the near future. We've discussed adding sun-dress for the coming spring and summer. But basically we'll continue to try this and that and what ever we find interesting and fun.

Which countries do you ship to?

US & Canada

Key to Romance- Sm Book Thong

How can people find you online?

http://www.etsy.com/shop/MabelsDesigns

You can find Nanny @ Hobby Hodgepodge- http://nannyshodgepodge.blogspot.com

Twitter- http://twitter.com/mandndesigns

Is there anything else you would like to mention to my readers?

Readers of Misfit Momma can use the promo code MISFIT for a 10% discount on their order.

Teaser! Here's what you will have a chance to win!

We're offering a blue with white flowers canvas tote bag. Also a bracelet with blue glass beads and silver plated moon/sun and dragonfly spacers.

Bonus Entry!

Visit Mabel & Nanny's Designs and comment here with your favorite item before the giveaway goes live at 12AM EST February 2nd for an extra entry!

Get this kid off of me!

I breastfed my oldest child for 9 months, but stopped at 4 and 5 months for my middle two. Not once did I imagine that my little toddler would still be grabbing at me shouting "Boobie! Boobie!" past the age of 2! (She turned 2 in December)

She is rarely actually doing it to drink milk. She does it when she's trying to go to sleep. She does it when she's cranky, tired, upset or just bored. I can't sit at the computer without her squeezing herself into position so that she can force my shirt up to try and help herself. I can't lay down without her wanting her boobie. Most nights I can't even get out of bed to have some time to myself because she wakes up when I'm not next to her!

I wanted to wait until she weaned herself. It doesn't look like it's happening. She really isn't even breastfeeding anymore, simply breastsuckling for 1-5 minutes at a time (besides overnight). She drinks milk from a cup & I'm her human pacifier. A position I never thought I would be in, and I want out! I'm tired all the time, my nipples have little to no feeling left in them, and it's about time my older kids stop seeing her expose my breasts throughout the day. Not only that, she has made it a habit to pinch and squeeze the opposite nipple while she's suckling, and the lack of feeling doesn't help there because I can most definitely feel it and it's not nice.

It isn't bad when we aren't home. She seems to accept when I tell her "Not now, wait until we get home" but since we are home 95% of the time this is only a small relief. I looked for tips online, and one I found suggested putting vinegar on my nipples just before feeding. Now, I thought this sounded a little strange but decided to try it anyway. First, vinegar on nipples stings! I guess I should have, but didn't expect that. Next, toddler latched on, pulled back to make a funny face and a hm sound, then latched on again for a minute before heading off to the kitchen.

Did she go to the kitchen to play with the toys? Color at the table? Pull the containers out of the cupboard? Nope. She went to the kitchen and grabbed the vinegar that I left on the counter. She must have liked it so much that she was now dabbing it onto her finger and licking it off. How did she even know!?

My baby is a genius. Any ideas for me? Am I stuck breastsuckling until she decides she's done?

EdenFantasys Review: Spanish lace peek a boo set

The Spanish lace peek a boo set by Leg Avenue is made out of 100% nylon. The material isn't terribly itchy or horrible like some lingerie lower priced can be, but it does feel very fragile and I wouldn't trust this one to be machine washed. The directions do say to hand wash which is something I don't like doing, but when the other option is to have the garment fall apart... well sometimes we do what we've got to do. The label does say that it is Ok to tumble dry but it's thin enough that it doesn't really take a long time to dry on its own so hand washing isn't that big of a deal.

The piece has no back coverage, and as you can see there is barely any front coverage either so this is definitely not something that you will wear if you are hoping to keep warm while looking seductive.  The included matching G-String is made out of the same material which is too thin to be used for everyday wear. As in it's definitely for "lingerie use only" if you get what I mean. The G-String does fit me with full frontal coverage, but it gets twisted when pulled on and off so figuring out how to untangle it can be a pain. Though it is nice that the triangle in front isn't extremely small like some I have tried on.

Figuring out how to put it on can be slightly confusing at first. When everything is untied, it resembles an apron that you would wear around your waist. The shoulder straps are made out of a stretchy elastic that isn't much bigger than a ribbon, and the strap that ties front & center is a ribbon. Along with the two ribbons on each cup, you basically have this half circle shaped piece of red see through fabric with two black triangles (the cups) and a lot of ribbons hanging off of it! To put it on, you need to drape it around your back and then pull it together to tie it at the front and around the back of your neck. I do think it is more see through than it appears in the photos because it doesn't really hide anything.

I purchased this set several months ago, and unfortunately like most lingerie this does not look as good on me as it does on the model. I have grown used to the fact that the term "one size fits all" generally means "this won't fit me" but once in a while I decide to give it a chance. I really dislike the peek a boo cups because even though I do not have particularly large breasts, it feels like I would have been better off with an open cup style because the slits do not stay closed well enough to keep anything contained. Instead of having a small space in between my breasts, the gap is large even if the fabric meets where it ties in the center. This also makes it so that the material which covers the models belly so nicely, doesn't cover mine at all.

I guess it isn't terrible for a set that is priced under $20, and most men will think it looks fabulous regardless of what we think of it but if I don't feel good in what I'm wearing myself I have a hard time enjoying it. If it had even been a little larger in the cup size, it may have had an overall better fit. I think this may fit great on someone with a very small build but can't imagine this fitting well on anyone with larger than a B cup. While this set didn't work out for me, there are plenty of other pieces to choose from over at EdenFantasys and I would happily recommend them for your lingerie and adult shopping needs.

With just a month left until Valentines comes around, this is an excellent time to shop for a little romance! Use the code LOVEis before February 15th to save yourself 14% off at the checkout!

$16.99Spanish lace peek a boo set Peek a boo babydoll and panty set by Leg Avenue Material: Nylon Buy from EdenFantasys

Years of photos... gone

Once upon a time, I had four computers up and running. Lets give them each a name to make things easy to understand.

One of them several years old and extremely slow compared to what you can buy today. This one technically still works, but it is honestly so slow that no one really wants to use it so it has been unplugged for some time. We'll call this one "Old Fart". I don't have anything else to say about this computer, I just wanted an excuse to name it "Old Fart".

The next one was around 5 years old, but since it was a gaming rig it was still pretty fast. It was mine. The case was black & red and the side was a spider web. It held all of my photos, all of my software, and was lovingly named "Spider".

The third computer was the first one that we had bought in one piece - I had no say in it and would have been against it if I had. I prefer to buy parts and put them together myself. My Husband doesn`t know the difference between one part or another and has no clue about putting them together so one day he came home with "My Toy" as he called it.

The fourth, the one I am on now, is the Husbands laptop. He is convinced that my computers crashed because I used Tweet Deck, kids games and other softwares so won't let me install anything on this one. My usage is limited, but at least I can get online.

Now, "My Toy" was the fastest while it worked but it was the first to crash a few months ago. With the motherboard, hard drive, and disc drive all being quite literally fried from a power surge it was unrepairable. It was a material loss, since the majority of my photos were stored on "Spider".

"Spider" started acting up just a few weeks after "My Toy" crashed. None of the scans I did could find any viruses or errors. I un-installed everything that wasn`t necessary. I moved all of the important files that I wanted to keep to one place so that I could get them off of the machine before the impending total crash and that was as far as I got. Before I had the chance to upload the photos online, Spider shut itself down for the last time.

I held on hope that I would be able to save the contents of the hard drive, and put off doing it for some time. Sadly, I can now say with certainty that everything is gone. I'm glad I have uploaded many of the photos to Photobucket, but there were hundreds that I hadn't uploaded yet.

All of those newborn photos that I didn't think were nice enough to share yet wanted to keep for myself. All of the birthday and Halloween videos from the last 5 years. The sexy photos that I didn't dare post online.

All gone. Sad Momma. Next time,  I'll start uploading them right away just in case. For now, a new computer along with an external hard drive or other photo storage device is first on my wishlist. Soon, I hope.

Handmade With Love Feature Interview: Bluesblossom Designs

I'm happy to introduce you this week to the next sponsor for my Handmade With Love Winter Giveaway; Bluesblossom Designs! Please read below to learn a little about Sara & Beccah and take a look at the neat coasters they have to offer in their new Etsy store. If you like what you see, take advantage of the discount code they have offered to my readers!

Please tell me about yourself.

We are Beccah and Sara, co-founders of Bluesblossom Designs, a handmade home decor company based out of Indianapolis. We met in middle school and have been best friends since. We both love to craft and decided to take our favorite hobby to the next level and make it into a business.

What kinds of products do you offer?

We currently sale coasters and switchplate covers but plan on offering several other home decor products in the near future.

How long have you been in business?

We opened for business on January 1, 2011.

What sets your business apart from others in your niche?

Sara is a perfectionist and Beccah has an insatiable urge to try new things. Because of this, we are constantly improving our current products and developing new ones. We are very excited about creating new, quality products for your home.

We are very personable and love meeting new people, both online and offline.

What is your most popular product?

Coasters.

What inspires you?

Music, nature, passionate people inspire us. We always try to remember this quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm."

Where do you see your business heading in the future?

We have been working on making clocks, wall hangings, table runners and much more. Our coasters will soon be available at the Irvington Iris Tea Room in Indianapolis, Indiana. We plan on attending our first craft show this year.

Which countries do you ship to?

Worldwide

How can people find you online?

www.bluesblossom.etsy.com

Is there anything else you would like to mention to my readers?

We are offering 15% off to readers of Misfit Momma thru the end of February. Just enter the coupon code MISFIT.

Note about proper use and care:

Our products are not dishwasher safe. Wipe clean with a damp cloth.

Teaser! Here's what you will have a chance to win!

Winner will have their choice of 1 set of Blueblossom Designs Valentine's Day coasters which can be seen here.

Bonus Entry!

Visit Bluesblossom Designs and comment here with your favorite item before the giveaway goes live at 12AM EST February 2nd for an extra entry!