No matter what, all moms want is the best for their children; but as we all know it sure ain’t easy to find the best. With hundreds of brands in the market, art supplies are NOT the easiest things to go shopping for, especially when you’re worrying about what harmful chemicals, dyes and additives might be in them. Natural, fresh and real. Clementine Art promises to fulfill all these expectations as they introduce quality art supplies that are all natural, certified non-toxic, eco-friendly (80% of Clementine packaging is made out of post consumer recycled and reusable material!), and most importantly fun for your children to use. After exploring all that Clementine Art has to offer, my inner-child yearned to have had these products when I was younger. It certainly would have been easier letting my 10 year old imagination run wild if I didn’t have the constant worry of “putting that in my mouth!” or “rubbing it on my clothes!” as expressed by my mom. Clementine Art supplies are made for children, encouraging them to create real art with real tools.
Clementine Art Natural Modeling Dough, $13.99
Strawberry, lemon and lime fresh! Sounds yummy doesn’t it? Clementine Art’s Natural Modeling Dough comes in three delicious scents and promises to be crumble-free. They can even last up to 12 months, as long as you don’t succumb to their fruity scents and gobble them up!
Clementine Art Natural Paints, $19.99
Available in a set of six colors, Clementine Paints are all natural, free from chemical dyes and petrochemicals and just fantastic for finger painting.
Clementine Art Natural Markers, $8.99
In a set of four colors, these quick drying markers are colored with plant and mineral pigments and as always, free of chemical dyes and other harmful additives.
Clementine Art Natural Crayon Rocks, $8.99
Clementine Crayon ‘Rocks’ are made to fit comfortably into your little ones’ hands. This innovative new coloring tool comes in nine rich colors, the perfect tool for your little artist.
Clementine Art Natural Soy Crayons, $8.99
If your child is growing out of their ‘rocker’ faze, have no fear as Clementine Art also creates Soy Crayons (chemical dye and additive free of course)! The perfect alternative to crumbly traditional wax crayons.
Clementine Art Natural Glue, $9.99
Clementine Natural Glue, the name says it all. This clear drying, washable art glue holds strong and works on even the toughest surfaces (even wood)! But here’s the twist, once dry this glue is completely reversible with water and washes off completely (now experiments will never go wrong)!
When in doubt, mix and match and create a gift set that is the perfect starter kit for your budding artiste!
Crystal
–
Raspberry Kids Workshop Elf
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We were very pleased to be featured on Savvymom, Canada’s largest mommy network. They recently gave our Little Chipipi wall stickers a glowing review!
Little Chipipi Butterfly Patch Wall Sticker Collection $79.99
Little Chipipi Drive Time Wall Sticker Collection $79.99
Little Chipipi Red Robin Wall Sticker Collection $79.99
Little Chipipi are gorgeous adhesive artworks that are removable and repositionable over and over again. Children will love creating their own interior designs with these unique and easy to remove stickers. A quick and effective way to brighten up bedrooms or play rooms. These premium Australian made stickers will remove without damaging walls or leaving residue.
Each set includes between 37 and 42 wall stickers and comes in a keepsake box.
Little Chipipi Designer Samantha Peters started designing products for children after the birth of her son, Kaleb. The name Little Chipipi (pronounced chipeepee) comes from a wooden billycart her grandfather parb made when she was a kid.
Here are some more great V-day ideas from the Raspberry Kids online lifestyle store:
Raspberry Kids has a great selection of adorable dresses that will make a little girl feel like a princess. From the locally made Redfish Kids line, to the exclusive ranges from Kuki Kids and baobab, there is something to make your little girl look extra sweet!
Exclusive: Tank Dress & Frilly Capri Pant Set $49.99
There are several magnetic puzzles to pick from. Great for ages 2+ and can be used anywhere from a car, restaurant or for play time at home. From $15.99!
Choo Choo Tracks Magnetic Puzzle $15.99
Because you deserve a treat too. Check out the groovy wallets, notebooks, lunchbags and card holders from espe:
espe notebook in aqua $21.99
And as a special gift from us to you, when you spend $50 or more, our Raspberry Kids blog readers get 15% off by using the discount code: rkblog15
On a rare night out to go and see a girlfriend who lives in Yaletown, I am driving cautiously looking for a parking spot. I had circled the block once but did not see anything so I decided to do a u-turn and head back in the other direction along Pacific Blvd. There was not another car in site or so I thought.
I continued to drive two blocks and spotted a place to park so I pulled in and parked the Raspberry Mobile. Remember, I drive a logo’d minivan. I guess the police had been staked out just waiting for someone to do something grossly illegal!
I get out of my car and am getting ready to cross the street to my gf’s apartment when a cop says “Hey Lady, we need to talk to you.” I asked him what for and he said … wait for it … “You did a u-turn in an intersection.”
He asked me for my DL and started to quiz me … your name, address, dob, is this your car mam? I suppose this is his procedure but honestly, do I really look like a car jacker? If I was, I certainly would not heist a Honda Odyssey mini van strewn with cheerios, klean kanteens and that had giant raspberries painted on the side of it.
Then he asked for my registration. It took me about 15 minutes to find it because I was not aware that when we recently had our car in at Honda, they must have moved the papers.
He goes to the cop car to check out my priors (of which I have NONE!) and when he comes back I advise him that I have an impeccable driving record to which he agrees. He is still giving me a ticket nonetheless and goes into the schpiel about how he could give me demerits on my license and affect my insurance but instead he is only going to give me a bylaw fine. Gee thanks.
Considering there were probably several cars or homes being broken into, shoplifting going on or worse, it does make a lot of sense to be ticketing someone with a history of no traffic violations or speeding tickets in the province of BC (I did get a speeding ticket in Portugal … ironic since I was driving much slower than the rest of the crazy Portugese drivers on the road).
My point is that I am hardly a criminal. The officer went on to say that I could dispute the ticket and that 9 out of 10 times the tickets were thrown out of court. As a law abiding (apart from the illegal u-turn I did) tax paying citizen this angers me no end. If the ticket gets thrown out 9 out of 10 times, why are you issuing it to me in the first place. Now I have to go down and waste some Judge’s time (not to mention my own).
He also said if I paid the ticket early, there is a reduced penalty.
As he was leaving he said “Hope you have a better night” and went on his merry way. After reviewing the ticket it was impossible to decipher what the fine even was, unless I happened to know what section 38 meant. I called the bylaw office the next day and it turns out it is $100 and there is no incentive to pay it early so the officer was incorrect in that piece of info he gave me.
He also wrote in my incorrect birthdate (was he even listening when he interrogated me as to the details on my DL?) and the ticket stated the infraction happened at an intersection about 5 blocks from where I made the u-turn. Considering all this and his suggestion that 9 out of 10 tickets gets thrown out, I will dispute this ticket and wait for my day in court which incidentally will be about 12 months from now. I can honestly say I did not do a u-turn at the location indicated on the ticket.
When I had the van wrapped with my company logo etc., getting pulled over for doing a u-turn and having people drive by slowly to check out what the police cruiser’s flashing lights were all about was not exactly my intention.
Criminally yours (until my date in court that is),
Sue
I know, I know it is only January 16th and I am already talking about Valentine’s Day but when you factor in 3-10 days shipping time, we are only talking about 3 weeks to get yourself organized to play cupid to the sweethearts in your life! We have some great suggestions for Valentine’s day gifts and over the course of the next few weeks, we will be sharing them with you.
Gift idea #1: Momiji Dolls $11.99 each
Shown above are “Favourite Person” and “Funny Girl”. There are several other dolls to choose from including: “Sister”, “Dance, Dance, Dance” and “Giggles 2″. Each doll carries a secret message that you scribe. A great collectible for yourself or send to someone “just because”.
Gift idea #2: Colette Kids T or organic onesie $23.99 each
How cute is Charlotte, the adorable little piggy? These gorgeous and overemphasized graphical characters are as playful as the kids who are wearing them. From Colette Kids, there are other animals to choose from including Rufus the Dog, Wilbur the Turtle, Ling Ling the Panda & Hopper the Bunny.
Gift idea #3: Dante Beatrix little Kid Packs $44.99 to $52.99
Dieter the Monkey is the perfect accessory for any little Valentine. Dieter has lots of friends and there are many different Dante Beatrix little kid pack colors and critters to choose from.
We have many other gift suggestions we will be sharing with you in the weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day. I’ve already picked out a few goodies for the little angels in my life.
Ever since Marley and Me came out on Christmas day I have been dying to go. I somehow convinced my hubby to take me there for our 7th anniversary. He was NOT keen to go but my begging helped convince him.
Yes, that is a picture of me beside the giant Marley cut out gestering the #7 with my fingers. Total geek-o-larry!
During the movie, I laughed outloud (even snorted at one funny bit) and I bawled my eyes out. My hair covered the one side of my face and I had my hand up on the other side so the other movie goers could not see what a disaster I was.
When I read the book back in 2005, I could not help but draw parallels with Jenny & John Grogan’s life. Jeff bought me our labrador for my 30th birthday, Beli failed obidience school, we suffered a miscarriage and then successfully had two children … although in their story, they had three kids … hmmmm, we shall see about that one.
Life with Beli has been a hilarious adventure although we can also relate to how frustrating it can be when your dog is just like a big overgrown, hairy, drooling child and is just one more thing to deal with throughout the day. The barking just after getting a baby to sleep when I was a walking zombie and desperately in need of sleep myself was almost too much to bear at times.
Our top Beli moments include:
1. When Beli was 8 months old, he vomited in our car! This may not have been such a stinky huge mess if he hadn’t ingested a pound of butter (foil wrap and all) a few days before. I had put the butter out on the counter to soften and it had mysteriously disappeared?! I didn’t give it much more thought until the fateful day when he threw it back up in our poor Honda. Made for a nice long and cold drive out to a friend’s place with the windows wide open. We tried countless cleaners, deodorizers and other tactics but the car still stunk until we sold it 4 years later. We had it detailed just before we sold it
2. Then there was the time he drank a bunch of sea water and pooped all over the kitchen floor. The sight and smell still haunts us to this day.
3. Beli loves the water and every year he is in dog heaven at the cottage. He would swim for sticks all day if we continued to throw them for him. He would lunge off the dock again and again to the point that he hurt his tail. When we got back from the lake one summer, we had to take him to the vet because his tail was obviously very sore and he would not sit down. The vet surmised he had “swimmer’s tale”, an unscientific term he used to describe this condition that he had seen in other labradors. His tail is permanently bent and we refer to it as a slight imperfection on on otherwise perfect body (this was a quote of my father’s that he used often).
4. One would think Beli would get smarter with age but after a recent incident on our camping trip last September that is not the case. Beli had been beachcombing and must have ingested a rubber fisherman’s glove. We did not know this until the glove resurfaced. Poor guy.
5. Recently Beli has taken to sleeping on the kids beds and takes turns between the two of them. The other night, Jeff peaked in to the kids room and saw Jamie spooning Beli. Too cute. He is so incredible with the kids and even though they chase him, ride him and pull his tail, he adores them as much as they adore him.
The day after we saw the movie, we drove up to Squamish to see the bald eagles during their nesting season and as soon as we let Beli out of the car, it was like a scene from the movie. Beli pulled me across the road, through the snow and up the hill while several onlookers looked on and smiled. Despite his obviously bad behavior, he immediately won over all of the strangers hearts with his puppy dog eyes and contagious smile. Thankfully he didn’t try to climb the trees or chase after the eagles, although he did attempt to go swimming in the rushing river but Jeff managed to catch him just in time.
I find dogs very therapeutic and they know how to console you without saying a word. When I was pregnant with my daughter and my father was dying in Winnipeg, Beli would lie with me and make me feel better. In one of my last conversations with my dad over the phone, he referred to Beli. He and Beli got along famously. It may have been that my dad was always first one up at the cottage and fed Beli (usually twice his normal portion), he would sneak people food to him and loved to watch him run when he was in “pshycho dog” mode doing crazy eights around the yard. The lake feedings are now Lisa’s responsibility because she sleeps in my dad’s old room at the lake. It is perfect because we have Beli trained to wake her up and not us!
Maybe one day I will write a NY Times best seller (this blog post is almost long enough to qualify as a novel) and Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston will star in the movie. I could probably just play the lead since I resemble her so much. Choke, sputter, giggle.
This post is for you Beli. Our first born and our faithful companion. You are part of the family and we love you. Woof.
Sue
That is exactly what our daughter was screaming about over and over during the middle of the night. I will chalk this up to night terrors because there was absolutely no consoling her.
My other suspicion is that her dad’s recent attempts to make muffins (that we affectionately called hockey pucks since they were a bit hard & burnt) may have been lingering in her subconscious. Note to Jeff: stick to making websites, not baked goods!
After two weeks of illness X the 4 of us, sleep is hard to come by. Prior to Jamie’s outbursts last night, our son who finally went to bed at midnight had already woken up screaming and landed in our bed. This wouldn’t be so bad except he is quite the bed hog and when he wears those sleepers with the rubberized soles (that are meant to prevent slipping), it is not the most pleasant feeling to have them kicked across your back or face throughout the night!
To top it all off, our loveable but dumb as a bag of hammers labrador had a vomiting session. Maybe he has caught what we have or it could just have been the pizza and cheesecake he scored off the countertop … do you think?
My husband’s colleagues have commented about his red blood shot eyes and considering I have been dragging myself out of bed and working in my housecoat with a stash of kleenexes near by, I am not sure how he manages to get up, shower and look presentable for a long day at work. Maybe because I was on night patrol last night and he did his best to try to sleep through.
Here’s hoping for a smoother night tonight and more than 2-3 hours of consecutive sleep.
Zombie-like Sue
As I am getting used to my life as a Mompreneur, I have often found myself getting frustrated that my day is constantly interrupted. The dog barking incessantly because he heard something that sounded like a knock, walking my daughter to preschool, taking the garbage out, running to the store to pick up toilet paper because we are down to our last squares and a zillion and one other things that pop up!
As I dropped the kids at Science World yesterday amidst one lane traffic that was crawling in each direction, I actually started to shift my thinking regarding these interruptions. I began to realize that this was my choice and what I actually wanted. I gave up the steady paycheque and dental plan so I could have the freedom and flexibility to incorporate all of these activities into my schedule.
Between Doctors appointments, parent teacher meetings and various chores that can only be done between the hours of 9-5 Monday to Friday, I am not sure how I ever worked!
The downside is that it means I work for a few hours most nights after my husband gets home to get through the list of things that I wasn’t able to accomplish during the day. Thankfully he is extremely supportive and the kids love hanging out with Daddy, whether it be building race cars out of cardboard boxes or just chilling watching Ratatouille for the umpteenth time. I also do not have a guaranteed paycheque by any stretch and have more $ going out the door than coming in as most new businesses do, I do not have pension or catered lunches, no secret Santas or a Christmas party but when I do get a wet smooch in the middle of the day and my son or daughter says “Mommy, I love you” … that is the best perk I have got from any job, ever.
If you don’t like something change it; if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.
~Mary Engelbreit
I for one am changing the way I think about it. How about you?
Sue
This goes out to all the cheeky monkeys I know … my first ever video blog, courtesy of my monkeying around supplier, Midwest of Cannon Falls. These adorable sock monkeys are available at Raspberry Kids!
Sign up for our Raspberry Patch e-newsletter between now and December 31st, 2008 for your chance to win Jo Jo. Jo Jo loves hopping and skipping. Do you?
