Beenevolence Lip Balm

*Disclaimer: I received this product for review. All opinions are my own.*

The product: Beenevolence Lip Balm is made with everyone in mind. They are packaged in a simple tube that is gender neutral to appeal to both men and women. The three varieties are natural, peppermint and cinnamon. These all natural lip balms are made in Austin, Texas.

What I thought: I like having a simple, no frills lip balm around. They are especially great for the boys in my house. It's nice to have a healthy, natural product, and the added bonus of something without frills makes it a product that we can all use and enjoy.

Where to buy: You can check out Beeneveolence Lip Balm at their Etsy shop.

Elle Naturals Lip Balms

*Disclaimer: I received this product for review. All opinions are my own.*

I love finding products that are from small, US companies and naturally made. It's not always easy to find such things that meet high standards we have for the things we use. Here is a lip balm that will live up to your expectations.

The product: Elle Naturals is a small company located in Austin, Texas. They produce lip balm from natural ingredients on a small scale. They use things like plant oils, beeswax, and essential oils as ingredients in their lip balm.

They make their lip balm in the following flavors: Coffee Butter French, Coffee Butter Vanilla, Green Tea Butter Lemon, Green Tea Butter, Mango Butter Coconut, Mango Butter Lima Lip, Shea Butter Grapefruit and Shea Butter.

What I thought: I was happy to find a nice lip balm that is made naturally. I'm also happy that this supports a small business. I like the variety of flavors that they offer too.

Where to buy: You can purchase Elle Naturals from their website https://www.ellenaturals.com/.

How to connect: You can find Elle Naturals on Twitter and Facebook.

MUPPETS MOST WANTED Not Nominated for Awards

Can you believe it?!!

Disney’s “Muppets Most Wanted” takes the entire Muppets gang on a global tour, selling out grand theaters in some of Europe’s most exciting destinations, including Berlin, Madrid, Dublin and London. But mayhem follows the Muppets overseas, as they find themselves unwittingly entangled in an international crime caper headed by Constantine—the World’s Number One Criminal and a dead ringer for Kermit the Frog—and his dastardly sidekick Dominic, aka Number Two, portrayed by Ricky Gervais. The film stars Tina Fey as Nadya, a feisty prison guard, and Ty Burrell as Interpol agent Jean Pierre Napoleon.

Disney’s “Muppets Most Wanted” is directed by James Bobin and produced by David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman. Bobin wrote the screenplay with Nicholas Stoller, who is also executive producer with John G. Scotti. Featuring music from Academy Award®-winning songwriter Bret McKenzie, “Muppets Most Wanted” hits the big screen March 21, 2014.

Starring Ricky Gervais, Ty Burrell and Tina Fey, Disney’s “Muppets Most Wanted” takes the entire Muppets gang on a global tour where they find themselves unwittingly entangled in an international crime caper.

NOTES:

·         Director James Bobin returns to Muppets mania. For his work as Disney’s “The Muppets” director, Bobin was nominated for BAFTA (Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer). He co-created HBO’s “Flight of the Conchords," which he wrote, directed and exec produced.

·         Bret McKenzie, who won an Oscar® for best original song for “Man or Muppet,” returns to the Muppets stage as music supervisor. McKenzie created, co-wrote, executive produced and starred in the hit HBO television series “Flight of the Conchords.”

·         Ricky Gervais is the creator of “Derek” and the Golden Globe®- and Emmy®-winning series “The Office” and “Extras.”

·         Ty Burrell is an Emmy® Award winner for his role in TV’s “Modern Family.”

·         Tina Fey is a Golden Globe®-, Emmy®- and SAG Award®-winning actress and writer Tina Fey (“30 Rock,” “Mean Girls,” “Date Night”).

·         In the grand tradition of the Muppets, the film features a host of cool cameos. Revealed so far are Danny Trejo, Tom Hiddleston, Celine Dion, Salma Hayek, P Diddy, Christoph Waltz and Ross Lynch.

Get the Look: Lizzy Caplan at the Golden Globes

Hitting the red carpet for the 71st annual Golden Globe Awards, "Masters of Sex" star Lizzy Caplan dazzled as the epitome of understated glamour. "Because Lizzy's beautiful dress is so structured with amazing gold beadwork, I wanted to keep her makeup relatively simple," said Burt's Bees Lead Makeup Artist Katey Denno. Katey began with Burt's Bees Peony Lip Shimmer ($5, www.burtsbees.com), followed by a super-hydrating coat of the Burt's Bees Caramel Daisy Tinted Lip Balm ($7, www.burtsbees.com) to lock in the subtle color. "To achieve a perfect red-carpet glow, I added a cream blush and a cream illuminizer along the highlights of her face, and used three shades of eyeshadow along with a black-gold liner and black mascara for a sultry eye," says Katey. 

*This article is shared with permission. Watch for my upcoming review of the products mentioned.

I Love Making Crocheted Baby Hats!

I have a new little hobby. 

Making baby hats.

Gotta love the crossed-eyed newborn look!

Before my youngest was born I crocheted a cute little newborn owl hat. It was so much fun. He didn't wear it a lot, but it was cute for some pictures. Of course after he was born I had my hands full, so I didn't make many new hats. But a few months later I started seeing different baby/kid hats online and was inspired.

This pumpkin hat is knitted.

I made more owl hats, a pumpkin hat for Halloween. Then it started. I would make owl hats now and then for friends who just had new babies too. It was a fun little gift I could easily make. Other people started asking about them, so I started making a few for friends and family. Then more people wanted them, so I made more hats.

   

At some point my cousin asked if I could come up with a minion hat. I was able to alter the pattern I have for the owl to create a cute minion hat. These were an even bigger hit. I was busy making them for many family and friends for many Christmas gifts and Halloween costumes.

 

Since the craze slowed a little bit I started doing some new patterns and making some new creations of my own. For Thanksgiving I crocheted Jonah a turkey hat and babylegs to match. For Christmas it was a gingerbread man and Rudolph. So cute!

       

My latest creations are a snowman (with top hat!), polar bear and fox hat. I just can't help myself. They are so cute on my little guy. We get stopped everywhere with compliments about these hats. It's a fun hobby for me. And it inspires me to make more. My little guy has quite the collection!

 

If you are interested in purchasing one, I'd be glad to talk to you. My prices are very reasonable and I can easily customize colors and size. Just comment here, email me, or connect on Facebook or Twitter.

*Quite a few patterns have come from Repeat Crafter Me. The rest are my own creations (some of which I remembered to write down).

New

Happy New Year, everyone! A new year means a fresh start. I see people around me already making their resolutions and trying to make themselves better.

I don't normally make resolutions. I find that for most people, they are just empty goals. Lofty dreams. It's just something that you do each year. Then when you look bad, you feel bad about the things that you didn't accomplish.

However, this year, I've decided to set some goals. Most of them are small and easily achievable. They are things that I've been talking about doing and haven't done. They are things that will better myself, my family and my home. They are things that even if I only do a few times, I will have accomplished something good.

One of those goals...blog! That's exactly what I typed down. Do I want to blog every day? No, not really. I know that's not feasible for me right now. But I want to make sure that I keep blogging. The last few years have been difficult for me to keep up with my writing and reviewing here. But I want to honor my commitments to companies who are sharing their great products with us.

I also want a place where I can share about things that are happening in my life. For the most part, I have kept that separate from this blog. That will change. Things have changed in my life. Having a new baby after 7 years has changed a lot of things for me and my family. So much about raising a baby has changed in 7 years. I am doing things differently in some ways this time. I would like to write about those things, so I can share with people who are like-minded or just interested in what I have to say.

For now I'm much better about sharing things on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook. So if you want to keep up with me, you can find me in those places. But I look forward to sharing and doing more here. I'd love to interact more with my readers too. I want to get to know you, so don't be afraid to leave a comment, tweet me, post on my Facebook wall.

And of course there will still be plenty of product reviews and giveaways to come!

Happy New Year!! I'm looking forward to what 2014 will bring.