20% off And Free Shipping On All Felt Stories

Love is in the air at Glitterful Felt Stories! They are offering 20% off on all felt stories plus free shipping until February 14, 2010. (Use coupon code Love).

This special is valid on their main website only www.glitterfulfeltstories.com

FREE SHIPPING AT GLITTERFUL FELT STORIES

We are kicking off the New Year with a Bang! We have over 30 new felt stories with more being added daily! Plus for a limited time we are offering Free Shipping at our main website only!

www.Glitterfulfeltstories.com

Stop by and see all our wonderful new Felt Stories and enjoy the free shipping!

Uprinting Kiva Blog-a-thon ~ Giving Back!

Uprinting is such an amazing company that they love to give back not only to our local community, but also to communities around the world. I have previously blogged about their participation in the Kiva.org program and now they are encouraging a blog-a-thon to help spread the word about this wonderful organization.

What is Kiva?

Kiva's mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty.

Kiva is the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend to unique entrepreneurs around the globe.

The people you see on Kiva's site are real individuals. When you browse entrepreneurs' profiles on Kiva, choose someone to lend to, and then make a loan, you are helping a real person make great strides towards economic independence and improve life for themselves, their family, and their community. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates and track repayments. Then, when you get your loan money back, you can relend to someone else.


Kiva partners with existing microfinance institutions. In doing so, they gain access to entrepreneurs from communities world-wide. Their partners are experts in choosing qualified entrepreneurs. That said, they are usually short on funds. Through Kiva, their partners upload their entrepreneur profiles directly to the site so you can lend to them. When you do, not only do you get a unique experience connecting to a specific entrepreneur on the other side of the planet, but our microfinance partners can do more of what they do, more efficiently.

Kiva provides a data-rich, transparent lending platform. They are constantly working to make the system more transparent to show how money flows throughout the entire cycle, and what effect it has on the people and institutions lending it, borrowing it, and managing it along the way. To do this, they are using the power of the Internet to facilitate one-to-one connections that were previously prohibitively expensive. Kiva creates an interpersonal connection at low costs due to the instant, inexpensive nature of Internet delivery.

Uprinting is giving to one blogger who blogs about Kiva.org $100.00 to lend to an individual through the Kiva program! This $100.00 could help many people around the world and help make a difference.



If I were to be chosen to lend this $100.00 I would use the money to help an entrepreneur in Taiwan. Taiwan has a special place in my heart because over the summer we hosted an orphan in our home from Taiwan. The agency who does this program is the same agency who helped us to adopt Andrew & Ella. We hosted this child as a way to give back to the agency our gratitude for the help that they gave us. To protect his name I will call him "Kyle".

Kyle came to live with us over the summer from an orphanage in Taiwan. It is a wonderful program where they bring children from around the world to live with a family over the summer. For the children, they are told that they are coming to America for a summer vacation.

They get an opportunity to be a part of a family and to be loved by a Mother and Father. We welcomed Kyle into our home and loved him like one of our own. He spoke no English and our family had to learn the art of Mandarin/English sign language! It had lots of challenges and it was not an easy commitment that we made, but we were so happy to have him in our lives. He touched our hearts and helped to make us all better people.

We got an opportunity to see what a privilege life we live. We learned that we take so much of the luxuries we have for granted. The simple things like a warm house to live in, clean clothes every day and running water.

Kyle was an amazing young boy that we will always love. Although we really wanted to adopt Kyle, there were certain circumstances that made it not possible. We pray everyday for him that he will find a home with loving parents in Taiwan. When he returned to Taiwan it was heart breaking for Andrew because the two of them grew so close. They shared a bed, baths, clothes and toys. They became like brothers & will always have a that special connection that they shared.

His time with us also helped Andrew & Ella to understand a little more about their adoptions. We want them to grow-up being proud of the fact that they were adopted. That their birth mothers choose not only to give them life, but also to find them a loving and caring home.

We have been praying for God to give us the strength to one day take in a long term foster child or adopt from Taiwan when the kids are older. There are so many older children looking for homes. We hope to be one of their homes when the time is right for our family.

I would love to have the opportunity to lend money to someone in Taiwan, and know that it would be helping to make the place where Kyle lives a better place!

Kiva.org is a wonderful program and I encourage everyone to donate even a small amount to help other people in the world. Giving back a little can make a huge impact on someones life!

UPRINTING.COM BLOGGER OF THE WEEK

This past week I was given the honor of being Uprinting.com's Blogger of the week! Every week they honor a blogger by giving them the title of blogger of the Week and features them on their website!

As you know by my blog, I love Uprinting! They are such a wonderful and generous company filled with lots of great employees! Companies like this do not come around often.

Ella and Tyler were so excited that they decided to make this cute video....pretending to be me! We seem to have a lot of fun making skits with our video camera! It encourages them to express themselves and to be as creative as they want. Well...they were a little extra creative in this video!

Thank you so much Uprinting for this amazing honor! I am very grateful and thankful!

~Shelby Barone

THE WHEELS ON THE BUS FLANNEL BOARD STORY GIVEAWAY

We are just loving the newest addition of The Wheels On the Bus to our Felt Story company that we wanted to give one away to one of our readers!

The kids just love this song & having it in a felt board story just makes song time so much more fun!

Would you like to win one of our Wheels On The Bus Felt Board Stories?

Enter to Win:

1. Tell us why your kids love this song!

Want Extra Entries?

Follow our new blog : http://www.glitterfulpreschoolfun.com/

Tweet about this giveaway!

*Follow us on Twitter

*Follow our blog

*Follow us on facebook

(Please leave comments for your extra entries!)

Giveaway will end at 11:59pm PST on January 24th! This offer is open to US residents only. Winner will have 3 days to respond to our email before the prize will be given away to another winner.

http://www.glitterfulfeltstories.com/

http://www.funfeltstories.com/

Uprinting.com 250 Business Cards Giveaway!

**Giveaway closed...the winner is Wendy!***

As you know I love Uprinting.com! I use them for everything personal and business! They have the highest quality printing around and their prices cannot be beat! I can never seem to say enough good things about this company!! They are my favorite online printing company!

Uprinting has such wonderful high quality Business card printing available! You can get them printed in various sizes with some examples of 2 x 3.5”, 2 x 3”, 2 x 2” (square card) or 1.5 x 3.5” (skinny card)!

Uprinting is so generous and is giving me 250 free business cards! (Thank you Uprinting!) They are also letting us off another set of 250 free business cards to one of our loyal readers!!

Would you like to win 250 Free Business cards??

To Enter:

Post in the comments below what you would do with your new business cards!!

Would you like extra entries?

Tweet about this giveaway!

*Follow us on Twitter

*Follow our blog

*Follow us on facebook

(Please leave comments for your extra entries!)

Giveaway will end at 11:59pm PST on January 18th! This offer is open to US residents only. Winner will be required to pay for shipping. Winner will have 3 days to respond to our email before the prize will be given away to another winner.

BLACK DIAMOND WOOD FLOOR CLEANER REVIEW & GIVEAWAY

I was recently given the honor of reviewing the Black Diamond WOW! Cleaning System for Wood and Laminate Floors! I have my entire downstairs in wood floor and I have tried almost every product on the market to keep my floor clean so my babies can crawl all over.

So many products that I have used always leave a white film on the wood after it dries. I have always wondered....how can that be good for my kids little feet to touch?

When I used the Black Diamond WOW! Cleaning System I was amazed!! It came with a large mop that self locks....so the poles won't come apart like others! It was simply the best wood cleaning system I have ever used!

I have even been using the cleaner to wash my wood dinner table! It cleans all the food and leftover kid grime right off!!

This was the kit when I first got started


The reusable microfiber cleaning pad fit nicely on the durable Velcro on the mop! It never came loose once during my cleaning!


And I was ready to clean!



The result was wonderfully clean wood floors...without any of those yucky white streaks

All the yucky dirt is where I want it! On the mop! I then tossed it into the wash and it was ready to use again!

Black Diamond has so generously offered two of these Wow! Cleaning System kits to our readers!

Would you like to win one of two Black Diamond Wood Floor Cleaner Kits?

To Enter to win:

1. Please leave a comment of why you would like to win a Black Diamond Floor Cleaner kit!
(Make sure and leave your email address so we can notify you if you win!)

Would you like extra entries?

1. Follow our blog!
2. Follow Black Diamond on Twitter
3. Follow Black Diamond on Facebook
4. Sign-up for the Black Diamond Mailing List

(Please leave an extra comment for each extra entry!)

Want to purchase it now? Visit http://www.bdstoneworks.com/ and get a $2.00 coupon for Walmart!

Two winner's will win one Black Diamond Wow? Cleaning System for wood and laminate floors. Giveaway will end on January 20, 2009 at 11:59pm PST. Giveaway is open to all residents in the US. Winner will have three days to respond to our email before another winner will be chosen.

MY KIDS NEW YEAR RESOLUTION

Andrew had to write his New Year's Resolutions during a project at school. I was so amazing when I opened his backpack to see what he wanted to do better in 2010! I think that this should be a resolution for a lot of us!

Happy New Year 2010!!

NEW! THE RAINBOW FISH FLANNEL BOARD STORY

We are so proud to announce our newest addition to our felt story family! We have created this wonderful colorful fish theme felt board story that can be used to go along with the story The Rainbow Fish!

These beautiful felt pieces are made using the highest quality pieces where the images have been directly printed onto the felt pieces! These pieces are recommended for the younger children to withstand their tough little hands!

You can purchase this felt story online at either of our two online stores!

http://www.glitterfulfeltstories.com/ or

http://www.funfeltstories.com/

for only $12.00

Plus! All our Printed felt board stories will come cut-out for you to enjoy right out of the package!

TRACK SANTA THIS CHRISTMAS EVE WITH NORAD!

All the preparations for this year are in place! Come back each day to www.noradsanta.org to receive updates from the North Pole and to discover new surprises in the Kids' Countdown Village! You can track where he is in the world with your children by using this fun website!

MAKING OUR GINGERBREAD MAN HOUSE

One of our favorite things to do is to make Gingerbread Man houses! This year I made it easy! The kids never end up eating the gingerbread, so this year I used a glue gun to glue the pieces together! It was the best!! No roof collapsing while the kids are trying to decorate!!

I also love to recycle things! So, I saved some candy from Halloween and we used it to decorate the house instead of buying new candy!

The final product!

Irvine Park Railroad Santa Train

It is a tradition that we have been doing since Andrew was first born...going on the Santa train at Irvine Park! It is something that the kids look forward to every year. Freezing in the Southern California evening on a cute train that takes you to the North Pole to see Santa!

Tyler loves his "candy candy!"
Ella had to go back for one more Hug!

We take a family picture with this Santa every year! It is my favorite!

Waiting in line to see Santa!

Just boarding the train!

My Little man!

They added some new features to the park this year! They added a Santa's village to keep the kids busy while you wait! They had coloring, games and even story time with Mrs. Claus!

Andrew was working hard on his list to Santa

Tyler loves to color, so this kept him busy for hours!

This picture is priceless! It totally shows Andrew's personality!

Here comes the choo-choo train!

Ella and Andrew. BFF's forever!

Christmas Caroling at the Retirement Home

On Friday we took the kids to our local retirement home to do some caroling. The girls next door were having a sleepover, so we decided to talk them into coming too and help spread some holiday cheer with the elderly! We all had a great time together!!

Ella and our neighbor
The elderly were so happy to hear the children sing! They were singing right along with them!

Tyler insisted on having his own book, although he cannot read. When every song changed he would say, "what page are we on now?"

Ella the social butterfly that she is spent a lot of time talking & Andrew was happy to show them his scout uniform

Andrew and I

Crazy Friday Morning

This morning could not of been any crazier!!

Woke up at 6:30am...got Andrew dressed, fed & ready for school to start @ 7:45.

Had to wake-up Ella & Tyler to leave for school.

On the way to school Andrew realized that he forgot his book for the book exchange, so after I dropped him off we ran home got the book and went back to school to give it to him.

When I got to his classroom he said, "Mom! I forgot my movie for the movie party!". I said, "what movie party?". Andrew said, "sorry I forgot to tell you."

So, we headed home! Got Andrew a movie and returned back to school. When I came in the classroom Andrew said, "Mom! I forgot my report card!". I said, "what report card?". Andrew said, "sorry Mom!"

So, once again he headed home. Got his report card, signed it and headed back to school. On the way back to the school Ella screams, "Mom!! The puppy just threw up all over Tyler & I!"....."Oh..NO! Now he is pooping on us!" "SCREAMING!"

I drop off the report card. Give Andrew a kiss and head home to clean-up the mess!

I am in the middle of cleaning up the mess when Daddy calls. "Shelby I accidentally wore one brown shoe and one black shoe today. Can you drive up to my office and give me my matching shoe...PLEASE!"

The kids jump back into the car and we head over to daddy's office. After we get to Daddy's office the kids are complaining that they are hungry, so I did what I never do and got them breakfast out.

As we pull into the drive-way my friend calls who knows I have been looking for the Zhu-Zhu pets calls to tell me that they have 300 of them at Toys R Us. She'll wait in the parking lot for me so she can watch the kids...because they will only sell 1 per person.

So we run down to Toys R' Us and I run in and get the Zhu-Zhu (while still in my pj's..LOL!) We rush home and have 5 minutes to get Ella ready for school.(It is almost 10:30 by now!) I get her dressed, lunch packed & we were out the door to the Elementary school again!!

While on the way Ella said, "But mommy I forgot my homework!"

Twitter Follow Friday Link Up List

I have so much fun on Twitter & Friday's are one of the funnest days on Twitter! They have what is called #followfriday !! You follow each other and send out recommendations on your favorite Twitter users!

I thought about mixing it up this week by having a twitter link up here on my blog!! Just enter your twitter URL & follow everyone on the list!! Make sure and stop back and follow back everyone!

Happy Friday!!

*Enter your Twitter Link Here*

UPRINTING.COM POSTCARD GIVEAWAY

** Congratulations!! The Winner of our giveaway is @BeachCleanup **

Thank you to everyone who entered!

Our favorite printing company Uprinting.com has so kindly offered another great giveaway to our readers!! They are willing to giveaway to one lucky reader a set of 100 Postcards, size 4x6, 14pt. card stock gloss, with full 4 color on both sides! They are also extending their generosity by giving me a set too!!

Uprinting.com is more than just a printing company.....they are a company making a difference!:

Non-Profit Sponsorships:
The U-Community Program sponsors hundreds of non-profits and education to improve our local communities.

Social Justice Projects:
The UPrinting Kiva account promotes small business growth in developing countries.

Green Printing:
UPrinting supports a sustainable future by recycling, using non-toxic inks, and offering eco-friendly recycled paper stocks for business cards and postcard printing

Would you like to win 100 postcards for your business or non-profit company?

To enter: Post a creative way that you plan to use them! The more creative the better!!

Want some extra entries?

1. for 5 extra entries....follow our new blog we are launching at http://www.glitterfulpreschoolfun.com/

2. Tweet about this giveaway using @urprinting & #giveaway

3. Follow us on twitter @glitterfulfelt

4. Follow us on Facebook!

(Please leave an extra comment for every extra entry!)

Giveaway is open to all resident in the US only. Giveaway will end at 11:59pm PST on January 2, 2010. Winner has 24 hours to respond to our email, otherwise another winner will be choosen. Uprinting.com will award the winner their coupon code to use on their website on January 8, 2010. Winner will be responsible for shipping costs.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

CHILDREN'S BIKE SAFETY WEEK

A Bicycle is not a toy, It is a child's first vehicle!

Young children leave their homes on bicycles to explore a world where adventures await. Unfortunately, so does danger. Young children are especially at risk in traffic situations because:

• They expect others to look for them
• They do not understand complicated traffic situations
• They overestimate their knowledge and physical strength
• They focus on one thought at a time
• They assume that if they see a car, the driver can see them
• They think that cars can stop instantly
• They have difficulty estimating the speed a car is travelling
• They have a field vision one third narrower than adults have
• They have difficulty determining the direction of sounds

As children grow older they begin to ride on busier streets where cycling demands greater skills to avoid collisions. If children develop safe cycling skills and learn to follow the rules-of-the-road, many collisions can be avoided. Some accidents, however, happen through no fault of the cyclist, and that is why children must be taught to ride defensively and to wear bicycle helmets.

• 85 % of all head or brain injuries could be avoided if cyclists wore bicycle helmets
• 85% of all bicycle accidents occur within five blocks of home
• 47% of all bicycle accidents occur off the road, in driveways and on sidewalks
• 90% of all accidental deaths to children on bicycles occur when they dart into traffic from a driveway or when they cycle through a stop sign

Traffic laws tell children what rules they must obey when cycling. Traffic laws alone, however, cannot protect them. To be safe they must develop cycling skills and good judgement.

KODAK GALLERY HOUSE PARTY

Kodak Gallery had contacted me about a month ago to host a house party on their behalf. I was thrilled at the opportunity since I have been using Kodak Gallery to host all my photo's of my children for the past eight years.

Right away I started to spread the word among all of my Orange Country friends, and the response was overwhelming! I got almost 80 RSVP's!! Right away I got to planning this super fun event to help make it memorable for all my friends.

Kodak was so gracious to donate a set of Holiday cards to our first 15 guests who arrived at the party & one free holiday music CD. After the presentation I raffled off the CD & the winner was thrilled to be able to play beautiful Kodak music in her house this holiday!

Kodak had me order a mug to display at the party. I also purchased another one for Great Grandma's Christmas present. Here are the two sizes!

To top it off they sent hundred's of 40% off coupons for everyone to use towards their next Kodak Gallery purchase. We still have a huge stack left over, so please email me if you would like a code to use towards your next purchase.
We had so much fun laughing together at these sample holiday cards they sent for us to preview. We had a blast thinking about how funny it would be to send these to our friends this Christmas making them wonder who these people are!

Our Kodak Gallery Party Display

Our warm welcome that greeted out guests!

The True Shining Star of the Party was clearly Vital Earth Traditions!

Vital Earth Traditions is a small company based out of Washington that is run by a wonderful stay-at-home mommy!

It was amazing to see that such a small company could be more generous by providing full size samples of their products to everyone of my guests....so that not one party goer left empty handed!

Due to her amazing generosity she has won the business of all my guests. I hope that those of you who where unable to come to my party consider trying her products. They are all made with 100% all natural ingredients & handmade!

To top it off she was willing to extend our private party discount to all the readers of my blog! This is an amazing deal & can help to create wonderful holiday gifts for the special ladies in your life!

visit http://www.shop.vitalearthtraditons.com/ & use Coupon code BARONE09 for 35% off until 12/15/09

Her products created an amazing aroma in my home that brought all my guests to want to sample every scent! One guest commented that "It smells so good, I just want to eat it!"

Her signature item is the Balance Bitch Butter! It works amazingly on women for all their female moments! A lot of my guests were excited to purchase this for their girlfriends holiday gifts to accompany a bottle of wine & small box of chocolates!

The Lavendar Vanilla scent was very popular....but all the ladies seemed to fight over the Peppermint Patte sugar scrub sample! It smelled just like chocolate & everyone wanted it for their own!

Make sure and take advantage of her great offer of 35% off her products until 12/15/09 using coupon code BARONE09 at http://www.shop.vitalearthtraditions.com/

Look at the amazing display of generosity that this company provided for all our guests! Everyone was so excited that they got to take a product home!

http://www.shop.vitalearthtraditions.com/

The girls had a fun time trying to decide what their favorite product was!

Some spent hours trying out every scent & taking notes on what they were going to purchase for their holiday gifts!

Make sure and use this wonderful company to purchase that special scent for your special someone!

Our house party did not go without the generous donations from local companies to help make this party amazing!!

Zpizza Aliso Viejo, California donated all the appetizers for our event along with gift certificates for all our guests!!

Pascal the owner of the Aliso Viejo Zpizza loves children! He is opening up his restaurant for an amazing event that Orange County Mom's are not going to want to miss! Every Monday-Friday from 3-4pm he will be helping the children to make their own pizza's! For only $10 the children can create their very own pizza masterpiece and are also provided with a cookie & drink! This wonderful event will continue until the end of December, so if you are looking for something creative to do with you children stop by the Aliso Viejo Zpizza for this great event!

26921 Aliso Creek Road, Aliso Viejo, CA

949-425-0102

Their pizza is fire baked on hot bricks so that the crust is uniquely crisp and dark on the edges!

They provided an amazing flat bread and hummus appetizer that everyone could not get enough of!

We had an amazing amount of treats that everyone enjoyed eating!
The hummus & flatbread appetizer did not last long!

Everyone enjoyed every bite


During my company presentation I showed all our guests the information on the Kids Can Cook promotion....

Even one of our Persian guests was could not believe that a pizza place could make hummus as good as her!

Thank you Zpizza Aliso Viejo for your generous donation & support of our event!

Thank you to Zpizza Aliso Viejo for your amazing generosity at our house party event!



Another one of our large local sponsors was Anna Earlywine, owner of Shampoo Cocktails Aliso Viejo!

She so generously donated schwarzkop hair products for all our guests along with free haircut!

She owns the hottest most gorgeous salon in Orange County and was even voted 4th place in Fox LA's hottest places! Make sure and visit them at http://shampoococktailssalon.com/ & call them to book your next hair appointment!

23411 Aliso Viejo Pkwy. Suite M

Aliso Viejo,CA 92656

949-643-7900

Our guests were so excited about their amazing products!






We ended the evening with all the girls trying to see who was going to be next in the "spa" room to get their free facials!

Thank you to all of our wonderful sponsors! We had so many we could only mention a few, but we are very gracious for all our your support!

All of these amazing Orange County women can't wait to spread the word about all these great companies & share the great products in their swag bags!

If you are a company interested in sponsoring our next Orange County House PR event, please email us at Glitterfulfeltstories@cox.net. Our next event is sure to be bigger and better this April 2010!!

NEW BLOG!!

Stop By and visit our new blog!

www.glitterfulpreschoolfun.com