Final Post for the Tip Spot Gals

Hey Readers,

Christy and I have decided to stop posting at The Tip Spot. We have had a great time for the last 10 months sharing our tips and hearing yours. Now, we have lives that are busy and getting busier and the blogging world just isn't for us right now.

Thank you for sharing your friends and family with us, for coming by and participating in our little sisterhood project.

We will leave the blog up for a few months, so dig into the archives for great tips from the past!

Christy and I both keep personal blogs (the kind with cuttie pictures of our kids) so feel free to pop on over here to Christy's or Lizzy's to keep in touch.

Organize the Freezer?

Image from goodhousekeeping.com

Freezers tend to turn into hiding places for bags of veggies, half eaten chocolate bars and old (old!) leftovers. Good Housekeeping reminds us to toss anything past its expiration date. And while you are in there, give the ice box a good wipe out.

Check out 24 other good ideas for organizing at GoodHousekeeping.com.

Lizzy's Favorite Kitchen Tip

Every other Friday night is PANCAKE NIGHT at our house (the other Friday's are pizza night). To make the eating process a bit easier for the small hands at our house, I make the pancakes dippin' size. No cutting for me, no sticky forks for the kids. My folks called these silver dollar pancakes. I call them awesome!

To make your pancakes a bit healthier, add 1 cup of sweet potato puree. You can make your own puree or buy it canned. We call these "pumpkin" pancakes at our house.

Reader Favorites

It seems that all our comments from readers suggest a good face lotion. Whether it's Oil of Olay or Clinique, or another brand, it is important to find one that works for you. A tip I learned while ago regarding lotions: if it stings going on, there is a good chance that you are sensitive to the SPF ingredients. Try switching to a lower SPF, it might make a difference. Also, nothing beats putting healthy things in our bodies to help it glow on the outside. Drink plenty of water and avoid processed foods as much as possible to help lower the amount of excess sodium (which leads to the puffiness factor). Thanks for all the comments!

Kindergarten Box

Once my daughter began bringing home, art projects, journals, and class work galore, all equally adored by her; I knew I needed to find a way to tackle the kindergarten keepsakes. I located a photo box I had stashed away, sharpied on her name, school year, and teacher's name and started her first memory box.

Now when turkeys, pumpkin poems and hand print art comes home, it gets hung on the project wall for a bit then Afton and I choose a few special pieces to keep in her box.

Lizzy's Favorite Beauty Products

Apparently I'm not a brand loyalist when it comes to beauty products. My favorite beauty products tend to change. Here are a few things that are staples in my bathroom cabinet:

Rubbing Alcohol

I actually use rubbing alcohol in lieu of deodorant. It kills the germs that cause the stink without ruining clothes or adding another layer of perfumey smell. I've been using this technique for 5 months and people still want to stand close to me!

Neutrogena Face Bar

I've used this bar to wash my face for over 10 years. It takes the make up off and is gentle. Bonus: my husband uses it too. I love that one $3.00 bar lasts me 6 months.

Bath and Body Works Body Cream


I love love love the richness of this lotion that also smells delicious! My hubby gave me a gift card to pick some new scents out and right now these are on sale for $6, so I think I'll go stock up for the year.

One more: trendy eyeshadow. No brand preference for me on this item, I just love getting new eyeshadow a couple times a year in up to date colors. Santa brought me a nice black, silver, white palette that I'm loving!

Tippin' Tuesday

vicks.com

The tip today comes from our Uncle Fred, and is very handy with the colds rampant in my house and across the country!

During a lecture on Essential Oils, they told us how the foot soles can absorb oils. Their example: Put garlic on your feet and within 20 minutes you can 'taste' it. Some of us have used Vicks Vapo rub for years for everything from chapped lips to sore toes and many body parts in between. But I've never heard of this. And don't laugh, it works 100% of the time, although the scientists who discovered it aren't sure why. To stop night time coughing in a child (or adult as we found out personally), put Vicks Vapo rub generously on the bottom of the feet at bedtime, then cover with socks. Even persistent, heavy, deep coughing will stop in about 5 minutes and stay stopped for many, many hours of relief. Works 100% of the time and is more effective in children than even very strong prescription cough medicines. In addition it is extremely soothing and comforting and they will sleep soundly. Just happened to tune in A.M. Radio and picked up this guy talking about why cough medicines in kids often do more harm than good, due to the chemical makeup of these strong drugs so, I listened. It was a surprise finding and found to be more effective than prescribed medicines for children at bedtime, in addition to have a soothing and calming effect on sick children who then went on to sleep soundly. My wife tried it on herself when she had a very deep persistent cough a few weeks ago and it worked 100%! She said that it felt like a warm blanket had enveloped her, coughing stopped in a few minutes and believe me, this was a deep, (incredibly annoying!) every few seconds uncontrollable cough, and she slept cough-free for hours every night that she used it.

I used this with Haven last week, and it wasn't perfect BUT helped a lot! Also checked it out on snopes.com, where it is listed as "undetermined". No real medical findings, but my little test at home showed it's at least worth buying a jar and giving it a try! A fabulous tip from our great uncle!

Favorite Things: Beauty Products

This week Lizzy and I are going to share with you some our favorite beauty products. And we would love for you to email some of YOURS as well, and on Friday we will post them. Here goes...

Biosilk silk therapy goes anywhere! Put on wet hair, dry hair, even your skin. This stuff rocks! Essentially feels like soft water, and you don't need much. I bought a gift pack for a great price at Target, but you can get it several places online. Can be spendy, so shop around...



You see this stuff at the malls, and usually the sales-people are on the annoying side, BUT some of their stuff is ripe for the pickin'! I got hassled into these nail packs, but I really do love the nail file and the lotion. The up-side: soft and shiny nails, cuticles and hands. The down: must remember to do it every 2 weeks. When I have a brain, my hands feel like butter! AND this is the giveaway prize for the service project this month!! That's right that whole set pictured is up for grabs. Yea for you!


I am a mascara girl. Always. And I recently switched from my fave brand of several years to this CoverGirl Lash Blast when it came out a few months ago. I will not go back to my old ways. Smooth, not too thick, love it! I did have difficulty getting used to the bristles on the wand. They are closer than they appear, and I got poked in the eye a few times before I got it right...and who couldn't use a bit more orange in their make-up bag?

This little bottle is joy. Actual happiness. Or at least what I imagine happy smells like, for a good price. Find all the Dove Body Sprays by the deoderant, but I think this grapefruit scent is perfect for everyday use. Spray your bra, spray your arms, spray your hair if you ran out of time to shampoo. SO many uses. And my 10 year-old daughter loves it too!

I have a really hard time with face make-up. First off, I have combination, highly sensitive skin. Next up: a few scars from various acne episodes and other moments of pain. Summer is a bit easier for me, but winter is blah-time. I have to wear coverage all-over or I might as well be wearing a scary costume well after Halloween. I must share then, that I am in love with this pixi
illuminating tint and conceal. There is a tube of face tint that is very light, and can be layered for extra coverage, and it has these fantastic little "somethings" that make my face all glow-y. I just feel pretty wearing it. To make it even easier, the cap is a concealing stick. Perfect. On the spendy side, but for 2 products not too bad. For me, it is a steal. No more itching, weird rashes, odd redness, periodic hives, extra break-outs (who needs THOSE?) or totally the wrong shade. Face, done.

I shared mine, so please share yours!

Monthly Service

We thought we would start off our new project a little calmly. Seeing as how January is full of people trying to better the home and body and mind, we didn't want to cause any overload. So, our first service task is: a random act. Just do something for someone else that you don't know very well. Not too difficult. If you have kids that can help, get them involved too! Please remember to be safe, and to share with us your stories and any pictures you might have. Go ahead and email them to us anytime this month, before the 28th. We will randomly select a winner and post a few of the stories during the final week of January. The prize will be announced in a following posting! It's one of my favorite things...

Happy January

cattycamehome flickr.com

Happy January! We have a fun month planned with lots of sharing from both Lizzy and I, and of course we always love to hear from YOU as well! Here is the rundown for this month:

*sharing our fave's! (fave products, recipes, past postings etc)
*starting a new tradition around here: the monthly service act
*still answering your questions, and sharing your advice

Each week Lizzy and I will share our favorite "somethings" with you, and we'd love for you to comment or email us your fave's of the same topic, and we will share those each friday with all the readers. Then, and I am super excited about this, each month starting with January, we will post a service project idea/charity organization that we as the tipspot family will try to help out with. If you decide to participate in any way, email us with your stories, and pic's and at the end of the month we will share them with everyone here on the tipspot. We really want to help you guys get organized and get some more giving out there to people who need or don't expect it. And to show your appreciation, you might just win a prize! This month I will be donating one of the products I love as the giveaway (more info on that later on), and hopefully each month we will have something to offer as a bit of an incentive to try and help some people out a little more than usual. We are open to those items, and if you have a product you make and would like to offer it as a giveaway, email us! We'd love to spotlight some new mom's with a crafty flair. Or if you have a new product you would like to donate to the cause, that you think is fantastic, that is perfectly excellent as well! Yea for the New Year, and yea for you readers too!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

usps.com

Happy New Year! Stay tuned for great new stuff from the fabulous tipspot!

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVE!

vintage photo: 1907, the first time the ball dropped!

If you happen to have a bunch of people coming to your house tonight for a party, or you are lucky enough to find a sitter and be going out, please have a fun night and be SAFE! We want all of you guys back here tomorrow reading our great stuff sans casts or car damage. Also, if you still need a few ideas for some activities for your party check out this site, for some fun games. I am lovin the cherry one! HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE!

Simple Service And Tippin' Tuesday

If you and your family are interested in donating money to a charitable organization, that is great! But, you should probably do a bit of homework to make sure that the designated charity is legitimate, and not into anything that you would be uncomfortable with. I found a few spots that can help you decide (hopefully easier) if that organization you want to help out, is worth your money. Here they are:

*charitywatch.org: the American Institue of Philanthropy has a grading system based on several items, including the % of money donated that is ACTUALLY used for that charity.
*charitynavigator.org: also has a stringent grading scale; links to many charities along with links to similar ones, so you can find an organization like one you are already donating to.
*the Better Business Bureau is always a handy to place check out ANY business.
*charity-charities.org: is an international database with TONS of charities. A good place to start looking for an organization, but use one of the above mentioned site to gather more information.
*also, don't forget your local church. The one you attend, or the one around the corner, is certain to have needs open for the filling!

I hope this helps those of you who have the desire to donate funds to a local charity, let's all keep on giving anyway that we can!

Simple Service

image from stonebriar.org

I want to have my family do service. Lots. And different kinds so they get to have a wide-range of experiences. But honestly, I am all flustered up-on-top, and so I often space even the most basic of tasks (dinner?) and trying to think of interesting things to do with my children can be arduous at times. So I am totally excited to tell you about this website that I found: doinggoodtogether.org, is a site that has tools to help you find service in your area, in a variety of categories. There is a special one for holiday giving, one for random acts (the easiest option to get your family going) and several others. You can choose to click on the family category or one of the many additional ones. For example, if you have a playgroup that you participate with, you can use the parent/community group choice to help your band of merry-makers find something you can all do together. Everyone wants to help out, and I know it can be difficult to plan something along with all the other feats you are undertaking in your homes. So, use this site to get you going, and maybe your family can achieve more giving in this upcoming New Year!

Sibling Gifts: fabric markers

We're getting around to sibling gifts pretty late this year.  I keep a box of fabric markers around for fast gifts.  This year Afton made Abel a personalized t-shirt.  She loves to draw detailed pictures these days so it's the perfect activity for her.  And Abel flies through shirts (2-3 each day!) so this is a fun gift that will also fill a need.

Abe will so coloring a church bag for Afton.  I'll spice it up with some sewn on buttons and felt applique, but Abe's signature scribble will put a nice back ground on a basic bag.

Reader Tradition: Mexican Food

Dana's family tradition is one of my very own too!  Mexican food on Christmas Eve.  Yum!  We started this when we moved to New York and some friends invited us over for tasty, authentic Mexican food.  It was the perfect thing to look forward to before we had kids and now that we have a few, it works just as great.  Although we're going out this year!!

Thanks for sharing Dana.  Now I need to call my favorite Mexican restaurant and make sure they are open tomorrow!

Simple Service: for your friends

I love finding small gifts for my friends each year. I always try to make these gifts non-food items. And I like giving the gift to just my friend, not the entire family, because sometimes it's super to not share! This year I'm gifting bars of awesome peppermint soap my that I had my hubby stock up on during a hotel stay.

Afton is giving her friends pencils this year. We made these really fun swirly paper attachments with a small Christmas message.

I'm so excited to deliver these little treasures today!! What do you like to gift your friends?

Simple Service: school supplies

This is a great time of year to ask your child's teacher what supplies the classroom is running low on. Then stock up on a few packs of markers, some grading stickers or glue sticks for them.

Your child can help out with this service by using some allowance money to buy the items, choosing the supplies from the store and of course, writing a kind note for their teacher.

Traditions

We are sharing 2 traditions today from reader Amber:

When I was in junior high one of my younger brothers gave Christmas ornaments to everyone for Christmas. They were ceramic and he had hand painted them. They were by far perfect but to this day I still have that ornament and every year I think of him and that special Christmas when I put his ornament on the tree. I will always treasure it - even if I didn't treasure it when it was given!

I've started having my kids paint ornaments this year as well. We have 2 wooden ones (one for each of the kids) and 2 plaster ones. My kids are VERY young (2.5 and 1.5) but they LOVE to paint. I thought this would be a good time to start a yearly tradition and to give them a creative thing to do during the holiday season. Some people say I'm crazy for letting my kids paint...but I do everything I can to make it a quick clean up and headache free project. I have some old sheets that are reserved for picnics and painting, first I put those down to cover the floor and table (or any surface that is close to the area being used). Next, I strip the kids down to their skives (either diapers or underwear). Finally I remind myself that this is supposed to be fun and to let them do whatever they want - it won't be perfect and that's ok. Then we get to work. At the end I throw the sheets in the wash, the kids in the tub and clean up the paint utensils. Clean up takes almost as long as the project itself (because of the bath) but it's always worth it. They talk about it for weeks!

Great stuff! One of my hubby's aunts has been painting and handing out ceramic ornaments for years, and while they sometimes break, the kids love having something with their name on it! Thanks for sharing Amber, and remember if you have a tradition you would like to share there is still time to email us and we will post it!

Simple Service: self serve

Anyone else feeling a bit frazzled? Maybe it's just me, and my hubby's 7-day, 15-hour work week, but I need a bit of self pampering this week. I started by finally making myself an apron over the weekend...the one I cutout almost a year ago!

So paint those toenails, make yourself some of Christy's sugar scrub or treat yourself to something you really love (I'm hankering for a solo movie outing)...then get back to doing great things for others.