Zephyr Hill

A Family Blog

Maggie Bags Cicily Tote Review and Giveaway

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My thanks to Maggie Bags for sending a tote in exchange for a review!

The totes and purses you find at Maggie Bags aren’t just functional and fashionable, they are utterly unique. By crafting handbags from automobile seatbelt webbing, Maggie Bags keeps large quantities of fabric out of landfills.

They sent me this snappy “Cicily Tote” in lime (retail $76), and I was really eager to give it a test drive! Word of mouth travels far and I’ve heard nothing but good things about Maggie Bags.

This is a really standout bag for several reasons! First of all, the seatbelt webbing is super strong and durable. That gets major points in my book as a mother of six children; my handbags see a lot of action. The seatbelt material is shiny and finely textured; this gives each Maggie Bag its signature look. And there are other nice little touches like the exclusive purple satin lining, Maggie Bag branded zipper closure and nickel-plated feet.

I love that this bag stands up on its own. Floppy purses that bulge when you fill them up, or fall over when you set them on a countertop or seat drive me nuts! The Cicily tote is sturdy but still relatively lightweight and it goes easily from my hands to my shoulder. Inside you’ll find one zippered pocket and four upright/open pockets of various sizes. Two of them are quite small and so would be ideal for tube of a lipstick or lip balm; the others are great for phones or keys (or pacifiers, if you’ve got someone who likes to share space in your purse)….

My only improvement on this bag would be to have a small outside pocket so that I could stow my cell phone within easy reach and not have to open up my purse to answer a call.

Measuring 7″ tall, this is not a really big or deep purse. So it’s not a bag that’s going to hold everything, but at 16 inches wide it’s great for all your essentials and so easy to just “grab and go.”

The cute little Cicily tote comes in beautiful jewel tone colors (which would perfectly compliment a fall or winter outfit), and also in basic black and a black/white “Tuxedo” combination:

Here are a few more popular totes from Maggie Bags, just to give you an example of the range of styles available. Who would have thought that you could turn seatbelt webbing into a chic and stylish accessory?

Maggie Bags started small but can now be found in hundreds of retail locations across America, and you can shop anytime through the online store.

Good news! If there’s a Maggie Bag you’ve had your eye on for some time, now is a great time to jump on it because they have created an exclusive coupon code for my readers! Use ZEPHYR15 to get 15% off your purchase until October 25, 2013.

Here’s how to follow our friends at Maggie Bags!

Facebook                 http://www.facebook.com/MaggieBags
Twitter                      https://twitter.com/Maggie_Bags
Pinterest                   http://pinterest.com/maggiebags/
Polyvore                  http://maggiebags.polyvore.com/
Google+                   http://tinyurl.com/MBgplus
YouTube                  http://www.youtube.com/user/MaggieBagsRock
Email List:                http://www.maggiebags.net/newsletter/

And there’s a GIVEAWAY! Readers in the United States may enter below for a chance at this prize: a Cicily tote (winner chooses color from available stock) just like I reviewed. I hope you’ll visit Maggie Bags and thank them for their generosity; let them know what a great job they are doing!

*GIVEAWAY CLOSED*

The Nuby Step Stool is Built to Last

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A stool is prety much a must-have in our house. There’s always something that one of our toddlers needs to reach, and even the older children find it handy once in a while. Nuby’s step stools have three essential things that I look for in a good stool: safe and sturdy construction, lightweight and attractive.

Our Nuby Step Stool sits solidly on the floor and never slides around, thanks to the four wide legs with rubber bottoms. It’s actually rated to hold up to 800 pounds. Wow! I even used it myself the other day to hang bathroom curtains. Once you are standing on the stool, it is not budging. I love that it stays put when my little ones are on it. So it definitely scores 5 stars in the safety/sturdy department.

If I could recommend an age range for this stool, it would be from older toddlers to adolescents.

This sturdy little stool can easily be carried by Susanna, who’s just 18 months old. So it also gets high marks for being very lightweight. Because it’s so portable, the children can move it from room to room without constantly needing my help.

Susanna likes using it as a little seat, too.

Here are the bright and cheery colors you get to choose from! Once again, Nuby gets high marks for looks. I am hoping to pick up another one locally in another color (maybe the yellow/orange) to keep downstairs in our basement since we have a lot of things kept on storage shelves.


If you’d like to pick up a colorful Nuby Step Stool for your family, try retailers like Amazon and Bed, Bath & Beyond. They retail for $16 and up. It’s a very small amount for a great investment!

Here’s how to connect with our friends at Nuby:

www.facebook.com/nubyusa
www.twitter.com/nubyusa
www.pinterest.com/nubyusa
www.instagram.com/nubyusa

Did you know that there’s a Nuby Instagram giveaway going on right now? Two winners will be chosen June 1, 2013!

Which color is your favorite? Would a sturdy step stool get a lot of use in your home?

A Quiet Pencil Sharpener that Works!

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Today I’m going to talk about sharpening pencils. Yes, I know it’s not as exciting as counting flowers on the wall or matching up socks, but it’s something that needs to be talked about because we go through a LOT of pencils around here, and I’m fed up with the little hand-held sharpeners! They love to get lost. They love to create messy little piles of shavings on our table. And they especially love to devour the ends of our pencils. Getting a pencil sharp really shouldn’t be such a headache.

Troy DeCoff sells what he calls the “Quietest Classroom Pencil Sharpener” over at Classroom Friendly Supplies. The sharpeners are $24.99 with free shipping. He generously sent us one of his Classroom Friendly Supplies sharpeners to try out in our homeschool. It’s a burr-style sharpener with an 8 mm hole.

Upon its arrival, I was quite taken with the “old school” look of this sharpener. The shiny chrome and cherry red paint give it a nice retro feel. But it’s not just pretty. This sharpener is quite heavy, and is composed of mostly metal parts. The exception to that is the see-through drawer at the bottom which collects pencil shavings. Our sharpener also came with a clamp which mounts it onto a table edge.

Up to this point, we’ve always used the little hand-held sharpeners. They are cheap and readily available. However, these dollar store offerings have many flaws: we tend to lose them constantly because they are just so small. Quite often, we lose just the top or the bottom half. If you get the kind with a compartment to hold the shavings, you must constantly dump it because the hold capacity is ridiculously tiny.

And did I mention that many sharpeners will often eat the tips off pencils? The main reason for this is that you don’t know exactly when sharpening is complete, so you just keep on grinding. All of a sudden, you hear that telltale crunching sound. Your pencil sharpener is having a snack!<

Because of all these headaches, I was very curious to see how the Classroom Friendly Supplies pencil sharpener performed. I was especially hoping it would work well on colored pencils because we use as many of those as we do regular pencils.

I let Joseph give it a test drive. He pulled out the feeder and inserted a pencil into the sharpening mechanism. Little teeth help to grip and hold the pencil in place, so you can just let go. Joseph used his left hand to steady the sharpener and his right hand to work the crank.

I sharpened up one pencil with our little dollar store sharpener, and another with the Classroom Friendly Supplies sharpener. The results? It hones the edge of pencils to a finer point than our hand-held version. It also contains the mess in a nifty little compartment.

I also tried the sharpener on a broken-off pencil. It was a casualty of one of our cheaper sharpeners, and I’ve found they are almost impossible to sharpen back up without peeling back some of the broken tip and exposing the lead. I inserted the broken tip into our Classroom Friendly Supplies sharpener without doing any type of remedial work on it first.

The result? You’d never know it had been broken.

For review purposes, I did mount it on our table for a while. It was easy to install (no tools needed) but I found that after a lot of use, it loosened ever so slightly and wasn’t staying put as well. This wasn’t a big deal for us since we actually preferred to just use it unmounted. I like being able to quickly take it from place to place.

My thoughts about this sharpener overall?

PROS

  • It’s quiet and makes a gentle grinding sound during operation.
  • The auto-stop mechanism keeps your pencil from being sharpened too much. When it’s done, you’ll feel all the resistance in the crank handle disappear.
  • The handle operates smoothly and quickly.
  • My children can use it without any difficulties.
  • It looks great!
  • It sharpens pencils to a super fine point, yet without leaving a “point” at the tip that is so needle fine that it immediately breaks off when you start to write.
  • The price, compared to other burr-style metal sharpeners, is very competitive.
  • When leads do get stuck, it’s easy to remove the crank handle assembly and get the piece out.
CONS
  • Like many other standard sharpeners, this one doesn’t work as well for colored pencils. The tips tend to break off more easily and clog the mechanism. Classroom Friendly Supplies shares this advice on their Facebook wall: “I have told my own students to only sharpen the colored pencils partially. This means only turning the crank 2-3 times. This allows for a sharpened tip and less jamming issues.”
  • The teeth that hold your pencil in place are so sharp that they cut into the wood. For regular pencils, we really didn’t care too much, but the children didn’t like having their “pretty” and “fun” pencils getting marked up like that.
  • The clamp mechanism performed well for a time, but eventually loosened up. After reading feedback from other users on the Facebook page, I found this is a common issue.

I’m quite happy with how this sharpener handles all our regular pencils, and I can highly recommend it to anyone who’s looking for something sturdy, reliable and attractive.

At Classroom Friendly Supplies, you can find this same great sharpener in your choice of color: red, blue, black or green. There are also replacement blades for sharpeners that really take a beating (think daily classroom or office use). There are package deals with discount pricing to save you money when buying lots of sharpeners all at one time.

You can connect with Classroom Friendly Supplies on Facebook and Twitter. To purchase a sharpener for your home, office, or school for $24.99, visit the online store. And stick around, because very soon I’ll be giving away a FREE pencil sharpener on my blog!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cradle & Thread Baby Clothing Review & Giveaway

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Marriage and children have changed the way I shop. More and more, I keep an eye out for classic, high-quality clothing that will serve us well. With six children in this house, it’s important to me that the products we buy will stick around for the long haul. Especially baby clothes. Thanks to spitup, blowouts, leaks and food messes, infant clothes get washed and dried a lot. So I’m not just looking for soft and cute – durability is right at the top of the list, too.

My husband works at a family-owned manufacturing company, so USA-made is also something that’s very important to me. We know firsthand that American goods help to keep productivity and prosperity here at “home.”

The baby clothing at Cradle & Thread gets 5 stars from me in all the above departments! Their soft, adorable knit clothing for babies is made of 100% American grown and sewn cotton. They are meant to last. And yes, they are incredibly soft and cute! Even better, there’s “Giving Sewn In” the clothes you buy from Cradle and Thread. Here’s how it works: They will donate a set of clothing to a child in need for every $100 in purchased goods. Even if you don’t spend a hundred dollars all by yourself, that’s ok! Your purchase will be combined with others, and every time the $100 mark is reached, another set is donated. It’s a team effort!

My wonderful friends at Cradle & Thread sent Erik this lovely bundle in blue and white, size 3-6 months:

Erik is 12 pounds now and just over 3 months. Everything in the set fit to perfection, except the legs of the pants were a bit long. He’s a short little guy; all my babies tend to be. 🙂 He looks so cozy and sweet in his little Cradle and Thread ensemble. I just want to kiss him!

The Little Sumpin’ Sweater (retail $23) and the Knotty Hat (retail $10) are two of the most versatile pieces in this set. The sweater is perfect for light layering on a cool day, or even in warm spring weather when there’s a breeze or when the air conditioning inside is too chilly. Erik wears this sweater almost daily. I really need to buy another one to keep in the diaper bag! And the Knotty Hat is so clever. You can quickly adjust the size by tying the knot higher or lower. Baby can wear it from the newborn stage forward. This wardrobe staple is just $10 so it’s a great little investment. It would also make an ideal baby shower gift.

Buying classic styles like this really makes sense to me because they are so versatile. Erik can wear the whole outfit to church just as easily as he can around the house. The onesie and pants together make a perfect little “pajama” set. His Little Sumpin’ Sweater can be worn with pretty much anything in his wardrobe – a simple footed sleeper or a dressy church outfit. The styles you find at Cradle and Thread will last through more than one child, and stay cute and fresh no matter what the latest trend is. Everything in our bundle is made of soft, sturdy cotton with good strong seams.

The small up front investment is well worth it in the long run!

* SHOP FOR YOUR LITTLE ONE *

Now is a GREAT time to grab some wardrobe essentials
for your baby from Cradle & Thread – code SPRING2013 will get you 25% off!
Plus shipping is FREE on orders over $25.
 
* ENTER TO WIN *
Use the easy Rafflecopter form below to enter for your chance to win
a “Perfect Gift” bundle from Cradle & Thread, which includes
1 sweater, 1 bodysuit and a pair of pants (choice of size and color)!

 
*GIVEAWAY CLOSED*

Comfort & Harmony Portable Swing Review

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It seems like I’m always looking for a nice, safe spot to park baby Erik when things get busy around here. He does have a big brother and sister who love to hold him, but every once in a while all of our arms are occupied!

Enter the Comfort & Harmony Swing in Sandstone Fashion.

After pulling it from the box and noticing how lightweight it was, I thought to myself that it must be a very basic infant swing. But I was very pleasantly surprised by all of the features we discovered.

  • There are two positions for the seat – recline and semi-sitting. After Erik has fallen asleep, the tilt mechanism allows me to smoothly and quietly lay him back without disturbance.
  • The swing has six speed settings, and can be put on a timer. The music volume is adjustable.
  • There’s a little plush pillow that attaches with velcro, but it’s higher up on the seat so Erik’s head doesn’t reach it yet. I’ve put it aside for later.
  • At 23 inches high and 23 inches wide, the Comfort & Harmony swing does not take up a lot of floor space.
  • My 9 and 10 year old son and daughter can easily lift the whole swing and move it from place to place; sturdy non-skid feet mean it’s not going anywhere once we set it down.
  • The “Sandstone Fashion” design features soft plush fabrics accented with cozy animals, and is neutral enough to compliment almost any room in your home.
  • The toy bar is detachable and can be tilted up or down to align with your baby’s field of vision.

One more nifty feature I wanted to mention is the plush lion pad which flips down to cover the buckle (demonstrated below). Not only is it cute, but it deters your baby from reaching down to fool with the safety straps (which are fully adjustable from the back).

Erik weighs about 13 pounds and I noticed that to get the swing really moving, a higher speed setting is required. So it seems that more weight slows it down a bit. The lower speeds would probably only work for newborns. The swing uses four C batteries; with light use I discovered that they last a good while. But honestly, this is such a cozy and soft little spot for Erik that half the time I don’t even use the swing feature. He just loves to sit in the seat, and “talk” to the little stuffed animals and see what’s going on all around him.

At $59.99, I would say it’s worth the price you pay. It’s available online, exclusively at Target.

To learn more about the adorable Comfort and Harmony lineup, connect with them on Facebook and Twitter!

 

This review was made possible by Double Duty Divas and Comfort & Harmony. 
I was provided the featured product free of charge to facilitate my review, but all opinions are 100% mine.”