Post-Quarantine Shopping? Support Independent Artists and #ShopRedBubble!

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Sivan Social. All comments and opinions are my own.

If there's one thing an ongoing pandemic has taught me, it's to stop taking things for granted and to look for silver linings through hardship. Many people turned to online shopping during the pandemic - but for me, part of the fun of shopping is being able to make a conscious choice about where my money is being invested. I love finding hidden gems in the local business community and supporting them whenever possible! As a small business owner myself, I can't imagine doing anything else. So where can you find a silver lining in a pandemic-shopping world where all the local shops are closed? 

At the beginning of the 2020 quarantine, I was looking for face masks that would fit my personality as a theater teacher. I have a vintage/eclectic sense of style and that is not something that is always readily available in a big box store! So I googled "Broadway masks" and stumbled across a wide variety of options in a hidden gem of an online store - RedBubble.

Not familiar with RedBubble? It's a little corner of the internet where over 700,000 independent artists and designers have joined together to share their passions with the world. The company, founded in 2006, is located in Melbourne, Australia - but artists around the globe use the platform to gain exposure and offer their creations for sale.

My mask-searching was actually not my first experience with RedBubble - I have purchased several items from them over the past few years, including my very beloved stained glass window phone case. This case has held up to my incessant mistreatment of my phone (I drop it routinely) for years now! I wasn't planning to buy a new phone case, but when I saw this one, it was instant love. 

RedBubble is a fantastic place to shop since they are able to offer a variety of extremely unique items. Hundreds of designs can be printed onto just about any product that you could dream up - t-shirts, notebooks, stickers, laptop cases, clocks, blankets...you name it, they've probably got it! I have ordered from RedBubble multiple times in the past and have always been pleased with the quality of their items. I was so thrilled to pick out a few favorite things to share!

I've been obsessed with stickers since I was a child, so I gravitated toward the selection of stickers very quickly! A few favorites that I snagged include this plant sticker, an "I can't - I have rehearsal" sticker (#dramateacherlife), and this absolutely adorable bike sticker. Now if only I could find that purple bike cruiser in real life and keep it in my garage! I also could not resist this Together in Paris sticker, and plan to use it to continue to spread love for the greatest movie of all time. 

Savings.com is giving away six $50 e-gift codes and one $100 e-gift code to spend at Redbubble! Contest is open now through May 20, so get your entries in fast! And let me know what you find when you #ShopRedBubble!

Thank you to Sivan Social for sponsoring this post. For more information, you can read my Disclosure Policy.

Kale and Spinach Vegan Green Muffins Recipe

Everyone likes muffins. There's no contest. A good muffin has it all. It's basically a cupcake, but you can eat it for breakfast and not even feel guilty because it's not technically cake. You can fill up muffins with fruit or nuts or chocolate, bake them to glorious perfection, then share with family and friends...or just keep them for yourself. The latter will probably be the case with these Kale and Spinach Vegan Green Muffins. If you decide to eat a whole batch of these on your own, I won't rat you out. They're super healthy, have minimal sugar, and give you the option to add some chocolate in case you're having one of those days. These are kind of similar to the Dairy and Egg Free Toddler Muffins I posted a couple years ago - but so much prettier.

Kale and Spinach Vegan Green Muffins
Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1/4 cup melted coconut oil (or another oil of your preference - see the end for a note on this)
3/4 cup almond milk (any milk will work if you prefer something different)
1 bag of baby kale & spinach mix (between 4oz and 6oz)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup banana, mashed
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup white chocolate chips


You could use nuts instead of chocolate chips if you want it to be even healthier.

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with either silicone or paper liner. Or spray them with non-stick spray.

2. In a bowl, mix the dry ingredients until combined.

3. In the blender, add the coconut oil, milk and your green veggies. Blend well on high until completely pureed.  Next add the mashed banana and vanilla and blend again, just to mix, no longer.

4. Pour the veggie puree into the dry mixture and fold together until combined. Add the chocolate chips and and fold a few more times until evenly distributed.

5. Like any other muffins, fill the muffin cups 2/3 full and bake for 15 minutes. Do the toothpick test, if they are still moist, bake for an extra 3 or 4 minutes - or until the toothpick comes out clean.

** In my oven they were done in about 17 minutes.
** I have made these using canola oil and coconut oil. Both are really delicious, however - with the coconut oil you will notice a slight texture difference once they cool. You should be able to substitute without a problem!

What occasion will you invent to make these vegan green muffins? They're perfect for after-school snacks, St. Patrick's treats, or gifts for a health-conscious friend.

Pair them with a smoothie and they're perfect!

The Secret Garden & Don Quixote - New Releases from BabyLit

Disclosure: BabyLit sent me samples to review. No other compensation was received and all views expressed are my own. This post contains affiliate links. 

I've written before about my love of BabyLit, the adorable classic literature board book series designed for the youngest listeners. I've been reading these books to my kids since they were very small. There is now an extensive collection of titles available from BabyLit, including Pride & Prejudice, Alice in Wonderland, Romeo & Juliet (one of Addie's favorites), Jane Eyre, and many more.

The latest two titles joining the collection are The Secret Garden, based on the book by "Little Miss Burnett" and Don Quixote, based on the book by "Little Master Cervantes."

The Secret Garden is one of my favorite tales, and holds a special place in my heart since I had the honor of directing a community theatre production of this story a few years back. The board book is designed as a "Flowers Primer" and incorporates lines from the story with delightful, whimsical illustrations from Alison Oliver. Author Jennifer Adams, as usual, does an excellent job of putting together a very concise book for little ears, while maintaining the quality of the original material.

The kids have enjoyed learning the different types of flowers mentioned in this book, and we actually happen to have columbines and roses planted in our front yard, so we can reinforce the new knowledge in person after reading!

My Adelaide Rose with a rose.

The second title, Don Quixote, is a "Spanish Primer" and introduces kids to basic vocabulary in a foreign language. As I've been intending for years now to start my kids learning Spanish, I was especially excited to read this book with them.

This title features bold, jewel-toned illustrations. There are some words you may expect – man, horse, friend, plus a few that are more surprising – armor, windmills, and goat!

Listening to Addie work on Spanish pronunciation has been one of the highlights of my week! As usual, we're thrilled by these new titles from BabyLit and can't wait to see what they come up with next!

Find out more about BabyLit on their website, or follow on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest for the latest updates!

Disclosure: Thanks, BabyLit, for the samples! No other compensation was received and all views expressed are my own. For more information, you can read my Disclosure Policy.

Welcome, Kansas City Live Viewers!

Good morning and welcome to DirectorJewels.com! If you're visiting for the first time after hearing about us on Kansas City Live this morning, we're so happy you decided to stop by.

If you missed the live spot this morning, you can view it online here!

I hope you'll take a peek around while you're here - we do a lot of fun toddler crafts and some of our favorites are the Pipe Cleaner Sea Anemones, Paper Plate Fish Aquariums, and DIY Bird Feeders. Sharing birthday party ideas is one of my favorite things, too - a few popular ones are from our Octonauts party, Owl first birthday party, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse party! I'm also particularly proud of our Super Mario Bros nursery!

Today on KC Live, I was able to feature some lovely Baby Shower Gift ideas that are a little outside the box. Yes, every mom wants a wardrobe of adorable newborn attire for her bundle of joy, but when she's awake at 3am with a teething or crying baby, she'll be grateful you went another route with your gift.

Here are the ideas we talked about this morning, plus a few extras!

Crane Animal Humidifier - there's nothing worse than trying to comfort a child with a stuffy nose in the middle of the night. These adorable designs may bring a smile to a sleepy, achy little one's face.

Mommy’s Bliss - the Sweet Slumber Family is a 3 step system designed to relax little ones for a good night sleep. With a Baby Wash, Massage Cream, and relaxing Sweet Slumber Mist, both mom and baby are much more likely to get the rest they need. Also try new Mommy’s Bliss Baby Probiotic Drops to soothe and regulate the infant’s digestive system with natural probiotic bacteria cultures!

Kid's Relief Homeopathic Products. I always turn to natural and homeopathic methods before resorting to medication for my kids, so I think these options are great. They offer options for allergies, teething, and colic!

Xlear Baby Banana Brush & Kids Spry Tooth Gel is what we use in our house faithfully, since we have dealt with early childhood tooth decay. Both the tooth gel and nasal spray from Xlear feature Xylitol, a natural sweetener that is great for oral health.

Most of the products listed above use some combination of essential oils. We are just discovering Young Living essential oils in our home, and so far we love the results. Feel free to reach out if you want more information on how our family uses these oils for more peaceful sleep, focus issues, and more - or you can check out all that Young Living offers here.

I really love including something handmade with each of my baby shower gifts, as well. I try to make things myself most of the time - and I keep my Etsy shop stocked with the extra items I create!

Thanks again for stopping by my little corner of the blog world! To keep up with me and my family, you can follow along on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, or subscribe to my email newsletter. Have a lovely day!

Interview with Lincoln: 4 Years Old

The little boy who made me a mommy turned four years old yesterday. I'm not really emotionally ready to address that yet, but I didn't want to miss the chance to see how his answers have changed in our annual Birthday Interview. You can view the answers from his age two interview and age three interview for comparison!

When I first started the conversation with him, it went like this:

How old are you? Four

What makes you happy? Three! Nothin', nothin', nothin'! Just nothin'.

and continued that way through the next five questions, so I gave up. Later in the day, I started asking him a few questions at a time and managed to come up with more realistic answers!

(my notes are in italics)

How old are you? Four

What makes you happy? Nonis (macaroni and cheese) and macaroni and cheese and pizza! And cheese! He's on a dairy-free diet right now, so he's missing this stuff a lot!

What is your favorite toy? Octonauts!

What is your favorite stuffed animal? Clifford the big red dog.

What is your favorite real animal? A polar bear!

What is your favorite thing to sleep with? Nothing! The answer is actually Mommy.

What is your favorite color? Blue! Just blue! I just like blue! That's my favorite color.

What is your favorite fruit? All of 'em. (apples, pears, strawberries)

What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Cereal!

What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Noni...no, pizza!

What do you want to eat for your birthday dinner? Nonis and pizza.

What is your favorite drink? Water! Just real water, not Vitamin C! Last week, he had a cold and I made him drink Vitamin C powder dissolved in water. He was not impressed.

What is your favorite dessert? Candy bar (Larabars) and marshmallow.

What is a food that makes you want to puke? Vitamin C. "What about vegetables like carrots and broccoli?" And carrots are yucky, I forgot!

What is your favorite thing to do? Play in the snow and get pizza and have cereal. And playing Octonauts.

What is your favorite TV show? Octonauts.

What is your favorite movie? I don't like long movies!

What are you really good at? Running and walking.

What is your favorite song? Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

 Who is the Coolest Person on Earth? Me! I'm the goodest, coolest person! Oh boy. 

What do you and your mom do together? Bake cakes (ummm...I don't think we have actually done this all year) and play Octonauts!

What do you and your dad do together? Play Mario game. That's all the things I can do! Oh, and play with my car.

When you were little, what did you do? I don't know. Crawl! Go outside and play!

If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be? The puppy shop. (This may be the pet store? He's never been to one!)

What do you think your parents are too strict about? (He didn't understand this question. I think he finds it ridiculous that we don't let him lick us, we don't like water thrown out of the bathtub, and we limit how fast he can run in the house - especially after he split his chin open last week.)

Who is your best friend? Grace and Connor. No, Bun and Pa! "What about me?" Oh, and you, Mommy. And Daddy. And Addie, too!

What are some of your favorite things to say? Nothing! Fa-fa-fa-faffffffff. Woof, woof. (followed by lots of random, silly noises.)

What is your favorite thing to do outside? The swingset!

What is your favorite book? Pigeon! by Mo Willems.

What do you want to be when you grow up? An "ambience" (ambulance) driver.

This whole birthday interview thing? It was SO much more fun this year, now that he has a wide range of ideas and opinions that are all his own. I'm so glad I started this series two years ago, because the full collection of interviews is going to be priceless when he is grown!

Questions compiled from A Beautiful Ruckus, Ali Edwards, and Paper Nook.  Thanks!

DIY Wall Christmas Tree & Put Out the Fire Game with Free Printables - #PlanesToTheRescue

Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #PlanesToTheRescue #CollectiveBias

My kids love Christmas and they love any sort of vehicle - whether cars, trains, or planes, they'll play with them for hours! I've been meaning to make them a Christmas tree that they can play with (so that we avoid things like the time Lincoln knocked down our tree), and it was a no-brainer to add in an element of play based on the success of our Firefighter Birthday Party Game.

So, it was decided: we would make a Christmas tree for our wall that featured FIRE! The kids would have to use their awesome Disney Planes rescue toys to put out the flames and save Christmas! With everyone sufficiently excited, we headed off to Walmart to grab all the supplies we would need.

Lincoln was all too happy to select a set of Disney Planes Fire & Rescue Die-Cast Vehicles, 3-Pack and I was excited that they were on Rollback to $14.97. At less than $5 each, this set of three die-cast vehicles made a welcome addition to our toy collection. 

There's nothing better than a surprise Rollback just in time for Christmas! We had a tough time deciding which toy to buy. Although Lincoln ultimately chose the die-cast three-piece set, we also considered the Disney Planes Flight to the Finish Speedway (Rollback to $24.97), Disney Planes Fire & Rescue Deluxe Talking Vehicle Assortment (Rollback to $19.97), Planes Character Assortment die-cast set and the Disney Planes: Fire and Rescue Character Assortment die-cast set (both on rollback at $4.97).

With so many toys to choose from, I'm surprised that Lincoln made a confident decision! I was pretty proud of him!

After our toy choice was decided, we picked up the other supplies we would need to make a large Christmas tree and headed home. Once we were there, Lincoln waited approximately 0.442291 seconds before declaring "Mommy! Get them out of the box! And let's make our Christmas tree!"

I was worried that the Christmas tree project would be really complicated with two toddlers involved, but with the help of daddy, it ended up being not too bad. And I only got one spot of green paint on my nicest yoga pants.

If you want to make a tree for your kids this week, here's how!

DIY Wall Christmas Tree for Toddlers

Supplies Needed:
-Poster Board (I used two sheets)
-Packing Tape
-Acrylic Paint and Paintbrushes (you could also use markers or crayons - or just buy colored poster board to save the trouble!)
-Cardstock and a Printer
-Sticky Tack or some sort of wall adhesive

Directions:

1. Tape your Poster Board sheets together and cut out a Christmas Tree shape. We went with a very simple design - just a triangle, but if you're more motivated than me, you could do individual branches, too!

2. Let Toddler Decorate Tree. We threw on a paint smock (aka one of my old t-shirts), gave Lincoln a couple of paintbrushes, and let him go to town. We did end up helping him finish the green paint - it's a big tree!

3. Print off some Decorations, Ornaments, and Flames. You can print the ones we designed here! The flames are pre-colored, but we let Lincoln and Addie use acrylic paint to decorate each of the ornaments, candy canes, and strands of tinsel.

4. Let Paint dry, then laminate to increase sturdiness. We don't have a laminating machine, but were able to take the pieces to a local shop and have them covered for a nominal charge.

5. Use Sticky Tack to Adhere Tree to Wall. This was the easiest part!

6. Apply Sticky Tack to each decoration and let toddlers decorate and re-decorate to their heart's content! This has been so fun for the kids - they love having something Christmas related that is on their level that they are actually allowed to play with!

7. Don't forget to add Flames to your tree - then gather up all of your willing Disney Planes Fire & Rescue toys! We used regular straws as "water hoses" and this created hours of play as Lincoln pretended to put out fires with the planes.

He was even creative enough to connect the straw to his Dusty!

Both the tree and the fire rescue game have been a huge success and I think we'll probably add more decorations to our wall tree each year.

I'm all about projects that entertain my kids for more than five minutes - and this one definitely did!

What fun things are you doing with your toddlers to get ready for Christmas this week?

Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. For more information, you can read my Disclosure Policy. #PlanesToTheRescue #CollectiveBias

Clickin' Moms Gifts for Photographers - #HolidayGiftGuide2014

Disclosure: I received sample products for review. No other compensation was received and all views expressed are my own. 

I wouldn't call myself a professional photographer, but I do dabble in the art whenever I have the chance. And even without a professional job description, I love to receive photo-related gifts! Maybe it's the scrapbooking obsession I carried for years? Something about photos just makes me happy.

Clickin' Moms, a one-stop photography resource, offers online workshops, a professional level application only program, a print magazine, a blog, and a store that's loaded with unique gifts for photographers and photo-loving mamas. They kindly agreed to send me a few items to check out, and all three of them top my would-love-to-receive-this list this year!

Mom's Gonna Snap Tee - perhaps the best shirt with a double meaning ever, this tee is so comfortable that I wear it all the time. Literally. It's like my new go-to errand- or under-a-hoodie- or pajama-shirt. Particularly fun is watching someone else's lightbulb moment when they notice the camera above the phrase and "get it." 

Let's face it. I try to be an awesome mom, but I don't have it together all the time. This shirt is a reminder to me to take myself and my kids a little less seriously. Life is easier when you're laughing!

Lenspen - this clever little tool is small enough to fit in a pocket or camera bag and is so nice to have on hand. I hate cleaning my lenses and don't keep up with it nearly the way that I should. It features a retractable dust removal brush and a special non-liquid cleaning element, designed to never dry out. It's super easy to use and my photos are all much clearer as a result of having it on hand!

Wooden Toy Camera - is there anything cuter than a child who likes to mimic mom and dad's hobbies? This brilliant wooden camera, designed by Twig Creative, lets Lincoln and Addie tag along and take photos with me - without the noisy and flashing lights of every camera toy I've ever found on a store shelf.

I can't even handle the cute.

It's available in a variety of colors and measures 2.25"H, 3.5"W, 1"D. The lens twists (just like mommy's camera!) and there's a spring loaded shutter button so that kids can get used to the action of taking a photo. The 30" cotton strap can be removed when used by kids younger than 3 who might unwittingly hurt themselves.

I love that this toy gives them a realistic glimpse at being a real-life photographer! Simple toys are definitely the best.

You can follow along with Clickin' Moms online, shop the photography gift ideas in their store, or keep up on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram for all the latest updates!


Disclosure: Thank you to Clickin' Moms for providing my review samples! I received no other compensation and all views expressed are my own. For more information, you can read my Disclosure Policy.