Cee.Jay.Elle Review and Giveaway

A while back, I was contacted by Ami, the owner of the Cee.Jay.Elle Etsy shop about doing a review and giveaway of her t-shirts/onesies.  One quick look through her store (and the adorable custom clothing she makes) and I was in love!  With a little girl and a new baby boy on the way, it did not take me long to decide that I "needed" the big sister and coordinating little brother shirts for my kids!!

Ami was absolutely wonderful to work with!  She knows her stock and was able to help me decide on what size and fit for the t-shirt would work best for my 3t going on 4t daughter.  She was also wonderful in helping me to customize the shirts for my kids (hair color, eye color, names, etc!).  She is extremely friendly and very willing and happy to make your item to your specifications!  

As for the shirt and onesie...all I can say is that they are so stinkin' adorable!  The pictures really do not do justice to just how cute they are!  In addition to cute, they are extremely well made!  The applique and embroidery stitching are very well made and durable.  I have only washed these 2 times, but so far there is no evidence of wear or breakdown!  

Overall, I love these shirts!!  They are absolutely adorable and incredibly well made!  Add to that, a mama to knows what she is doing and who is willing to work with you to customize your item and you have a great resource for all of your specialty shirt needs!  Just a few of the shirts she makes are birthday shirts, sibling shirts,  name shirts, holiday shirts, and more!!  She also makes bibs, bows, wipes cases, and a ton more!  And if you do not see what you want, she is always willing to work with you on a custom item!

My one and only complaint...I have to wait until June to see how the onesie looks on baby J!!!  :)

This is a great mama to work with and I love her shirts!  You may contact her and visit her store here.  Or visit her on Facebook to see photos of her other works of art!

Total Stars:  ★★★★★

Miss A in her shirt...she was NOT having picture time!  I will have to post a new one when baby J arrives with both of them sporting their shirts!!

Newborn Fluff - Think I'm Ready?

So, baby boy J's due date is just coming closer and closer, and I have finally gotten my newborn stash up to par!  I think the only thing left that I need to buy (and soon) are some newborn prefolds!  Other than that, I think my stash is ready!  What do you think?

And of course, be ready for reviews on all of these!

1st row (back to front):  Applecheeks Size 1 Dark Blue, Applecheeks Size 1 Coriander, Tot Bots Tiny Fit Blueberry x2, BumGenius AIO XS in Butternut, Moonbeam, Clementine, Moonbeam, Ribbit, Butternut, Ribbit, and Noodle, and Grovia NB AIO in Ice.

2nd row (back to front):  Grovia NB AIO in Ice x9, Vanilla, Nature, Owls, and Planes.

3rd row (back to front):  Fuzzibunz XS in Choco Truffle, Watermelon, Mac n Cheese, Kumquat, Light it up Blue, Spearmint, Mint (aplix), Buttercream (aplix), and Apple Green, and Lil Joeys in Rootbeer x2.

4th row (back to front):  Happy Heinys Mini in Yellow and Squares, Swaddlebees Newborn Simplex in Monkeys, Owls, Cow, and Swirls, Kissaluvs NB AIO in Lagoon Blue, Lil Joeys in Spring x2, Lil Joeys in Lazy Lime x2, and Charlie Banana XS in Periwinkle.

5th row (back to front):  Best Bottoms Stay Dry Small inserts x8 and 1 overnight, Charlie Banana small in Under Construction, Thirsties Size 1 Duo Wrap in Mango (aplix), Honeydew (aplix), Ocean Blue (aplix), Honeydew (snap), and Family Tree (aplix).

A close up of some of the adorable prints:

What are you most excited to see pics of on baby J or what are you most excited to see a review on?  Anything that you think I should add to my stash?

June 6th...come on!  I'm ready!!!

Babyville Boutique Review and Giveaway

Today's review was completed by guest blogger (and dear friend) Laura B.  She and I have been friends FOREVER and have been lucky enough to share our love of cloth diapering.  I had received the Babyville Boutique supplies LONG ago, but due to sewing machine troubles, I was never able to get this review completed!  So I begged Laura to do this review for me, and she graciously (and nervously) agreed!  So a HUGE thank you to her!!!  ~Laura


If you have ever thought about making your own cloth diapers...here is a new brand that has made making your own diapers a cinch!!!  Included in what I received to review were a three pack of PUL fabric, Fold Over Elastic (FOE), EZ Adjust Tape, and the Instruction manual.

First of all I’d just like to thank Laura D. for letting me be a part of this awesome blog!  I will be honest though, I was very nervous to try making a cloth diaper cover.  I have used cloth on my children since my son was 9 months.  My two kids are 4 and 2 ½, so we are now out of diapers.  I’m anxiously awaiting the time when we’ll be able to use them again! I have never had the ambition to make my own, until having all these things so easily available and such a great book with the how to’s!   

I decided to go with the newborn hook and loop diaper cover.  What I received came with a how to book, which had pictures and instructions to follow.  Also it had patterns for all the sizes and types of diapers listed in the book.  As a novice sewer, I decided to go with what seemed to be the most simple version.  I had been given the adorable pul material with frogs and turtles on it, with matching green EZ Adjust Tape and fold over elastic.  I’ve used many different brands of pul covers and I have to say the quality of the material and supplies were great!  The EZ Adjust Tape was nice and strong and would hold up nicely! The choices of patterns and colors are great as well! It could become addicting with all the choices and appliqués available!   

I had been putting off making the cover, since I had never done anything with fold over elastic before.  When I finally got up the nerve to try it, I was at my mom’s so I had back up! ;)  Luckily she was only moral support, because everything was easy and self explanatory.  I didn’t need her for any advice while making it.  The book was fairly easy to use.  There were a few times I had wished the picture would have shown more details.  Though after reading what it said to do and studying the picture, I always got it right.  It’s fairly straight forward.  I had very little issues with it.  I did have to redo one of the leg areas, but it was my own error.  I know the more I would do the technique of stretching the elastic while sewing, it would only get easier.  It wasn’t hard, just something new that I hadn't done before.  I was actually pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to complete.  Cut out the fabric with the pattern, sew on the aplix, and go around it with the fold over elastic.  That’s all, hardly any steps!  So it really doesn’t even take much time to complete.  I would say I had it done in between 30 and 45 minutes.  Definitely doable in a naptime!  Which is when I find the time to sit down and sew uninterrupted!   

The pattern was easy to cut out and pin to the fabric. The pattern was well labeled and easy to understand.  The fabric cut really well and was so simple to use.  The fold over elastic is FANTASTIC!  I can’t imagine it being any easier, really!  I really enjoyed sewing it and felt very accomplished when it was complete.  I am looking forward to making more covers!  There are just so many cute possibilities waiting to be made!  If you have sewn at all, you can make yourself a cloth diaper cover.  It really went so well and I was pleasantly surprised.  You will be too! I made it yesterday and am already itching to get my sewing machine humming with another one today!  Thanks again TMG!! 

Overall Stars:  ★★★★☆  It was easy to sew, had all the nice materials to work with, but the pictures on in the book weren't always the most helpful. If it could have had a bit more pictures with the details being shown it would be a 5!


Finished Product

Bonnibuns Rapid Dry AIO Diaper Review

This diaper was purchased with my own money and was not sponsored by the company or any retailer.  All opinions are my own.

Fits:  8-40 pounds (4-18 kg)

The Bonnibuns Rapid Dry Diapers are made by Australian Company Bonnibuns.  And before I even start the review, I want to note that apparently the American diaper terminology is different than Australian diaper terminology since this diaper is considered an AIO to them and an AI2 to us since this diaper comes with a snap in/out insert and an outer shell.

Price Per Diaper:  ★★☆☆☆  Each diaper retails for $28 (AUD) which converts to $29.69 in US dollars.  I am unable to locate a retailer in the US, and I have no idea what shipping would be from Australia, so this could be a pricey venture.  However, I was able to snag this diaper off of BabySteals.com for a deal of $15.49 plus shipping.  This site has made this diaper more affordable and available to US customers.  And at $15.49 plus a couple dollars for shipping, this makes this diaper more of an average price.

Leaks:  ★★★★☆  This diaper consists of an outer shell made of PUL on the exterior and suedecloth on the interior.  There is a trifold snap in insert made of  6 layers of bamboo and 1 layer of suedecloth on top for next to baby skin.  I found that this insert was extremely absorbent and we did not have many leaks.  I did find that when we did have a leak, the main problem was around the legs.  Due to the way the legs are made, the suedecloth can roll out and cause leaking.  Also, even if you have all of the suedecloth tucked in, if your insert is getting saturated, wetness can wick out those legs.  Overall, I was quite shocked and pleased that the insert absorbed as well as it did, but the leg holes can be problematic.

Fit:  ★★★☆☆  This is hard to rate.  This diaper is an OS diaper, but does not have rise snaps.  This diaper only has two rows of waist snaps (including a cross over set of snaps) to make the waist smaller.  The back waist also has elastic to give a better fit around the waist.  I found that the rise on my 2 1/2 year old was a little lower than I would have liked and I can only imagine that the rise would be pretty high on an infant.  Also, on my tall/skinny 2 1/2 year old, I still had the waist snaps on the smallest (without crossing over) setting.  This means that this diaper has tons of room for chunky kids, but for smaller babies especially skinny ones, I am not certain that you will find a good fit.  This is just my opinion, obviously I have no way of testing this.

Ease of Use:  ★★★☆☆  As I mentioned above, the fit could be quite problematic depending on your child's stature.  I also did not love the actual tabs on the diaper.  When you snap the diaper on the smallest setting without crossing over, the two tabs bunch up on one another.  The actual function of the diaper is very easy.  The trifold insert has seams where it folds, so it folds quite easily and nicely.  There is only one snap at the back of the diaper that holds the insert in place which is extremely simple.  Likewise, washing is also a cinch due to having just one snap.  The hope of this diaper is to be able to reuse the shell and just replace the insert.  I found that every time my insert was wet, my shell suedecloth was as well.  I am not certain that you would be able to to reuse the shell unless you caught your child just as they peed and it didn't make it to the shell.

Washing:  ★★★★★  This diaper was extremely easy to wash.  With just one single snap, there is not much touching involved to separate the shell from the insert.  Everything washed well with no staining or wear noticed after many washes.  The bamboo has stayed very soft and does not make the diaper hard under baby's bum and the suedecloth has also stayed soft and repelled stains well.  Due to the design of the diaper, it is as the name implies, a Rapid dry diaper!  This diaper did not take near as long as some of my other diapers to dry and would definitely cut down on dryer time and gas/electric bills.

Overall:  ★★★☆☆  There were definitely things about this diaper that I loved and definitely things that I didn't love.  I love the trifold bamboo insert and how well it absorbed.  But I didn't love the possible fit issues or the fact that this AI2 cannot be used as such; the shell had to be washed after every use and could not be reused as intended.  I think with a few simple improvements such as fixing the suedecloth at the leg holes and adding rise snaps, this could be a fantastic diaper.

Total Stars:  20/30