Tales of a Cloth Diaper Mama

Accessorize Your Stash In August!

Posted on Friday August 24, 2012 by Danielle

Welcome to the Accessorize your stash in August Event, hosted by According to Jenny and So Easy Being Green! We’re taking a fun spin on the Cloth Diaper Giveaway Hop Events and bringing you one with lots of accessories to use with your fluff!

This Event will run from August 24 – August 31st! Each blogger has a great Prize for you, so be sure to hop around to them all and Accessorize your Cloth Diaper Stash!

For this giveaway, Tales of a Cloth Diaper Mama has teamed up with two great sponsors to bring you awesome cloth diaper accessories.

My first sponsor is JAbaby who will be offering 2 sets of cloth wipes. Please see the sponsor spotlight for more information about this mom and the wonderful products she sells and my post on using cloth wipes.

My second sponsor is CJ’s BUTTer® who will be offer a 4 oz tube of CJ’s BUTTer® in Cucumber Melon scent. Please see the review and sponsor spotlight for CJ’s BUTTer® products.

Disclaimer: I was given free CJ’s BUTTer® products to test. I was not otherwise compensated for the post and the corresponding review contains only my honest unbiased opinions of the product. This post contains some affiliate links. If you choose to purchase a product from DiaperHQ and mention my name (Danielle), I will receive commission. Other links go directly to the sponsor’s website and I receive no compensation for any purchases.

I hope you have fun entering all the giveaways which are participating in this event. Tales of a Cloth Diaper Mama is not responsible for, nor sponsoring in any way any of the other giveaways and takes no responsibility them. According to Jenny, So Easy Being Green, and the Accessorize your Stash participating bloggers are not responsible for sponsors who do not fulfill prize obligations.

Giveaway open to residents of the United States age 18 or older.

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Categories: Cloth Diaper Accessories, Cloth Diapering, Giveaways | Tags: CJ's BUTTer©, cloth diapers, cloth wipes, JABaby | 2 Comments

Sponsor Spotlight: CJ’s BUTTer®

Posted on Thursday August 23, 2012 by Danielle

For the past several months, I have been on the hunt for a good cloth diaper safe cream. My daughter has extremely sensitive skin and even the smallest irritation causes a diaper rash. There are two main things I look for when searching for a diaper cream. First, I want something that is made with natural ingredients that are unlikely to cause any additional reactions. Second, I want a cream that will cause no damage to my cloth diapers.

For months, I have heard people rave about CJ’s BUTTer® and its use as a cloth diaper safe diaper cream. When CJ’s Unique Boutique agreed to be one of my sponsors for the Accessorize Your Stash in August event I was very pleased. I expected that they might send me a small sample of CJ’s Original BUTTer® to test, but what I got was even better!

I excitedly opened my package to find not only one CJ’s Original BUTTer® sample but two. These samples came in two great fragrances – Lavender and Cucumber Melon. In addition to the samples of CJ’s Original BUTTer®, I received a tube of CJ’s BUTTer® Lip Balm with Peachy Mango-liscious scent, and a bottle of Carcass Cleaner with Lavender and Tea Tree scent.

When I first received the CJ’s Original BUTTer®, I assumed that it would work just as a diaper cream. Even though it was originally created as simply a cloth diaper safe cream, it actually has a variety of uses. In fact, the information sheet I received listed 29 different uses for CJ’s Original BUTTer®. In testing this product, I found three extremely helpful uses – as a cloth diaper safe cream, a hand cream, and a hair-taming product.

In my experience, CJ’s Original BUTTer® works very well as a cloth diaper safe cream. As I said, my daughter has very sensitive skin and I am used to rashes that appear quickly and often need prescription cream to effectively clear up. I began applying my Lavender scented BUTTer® at the first sign of a rash last week. After only few days, the rash is looking much better and there is no need to use prescription cream. As claimed, this product truly seems cloth diaper safe as I have not noticed any built-up on my diapers or decrease in performance.

In addition to using the BUTTer® as a cloth diaper cream, I also used it to heal cracked dry skin on my hands. I was extremely pleased with how quickly my hands healed when using this product. Most products I have used take several days to heal broken skin. With the BUTTer®, I found broken skin healing in two days.

A third surprising application for this product is a leave-in treatment for frizzy hair. I have very curly frizzy hair and found that smoothing a little of this product over my frizzies resulted in smooth beautiful hair. In fact, my hair actually still looked frizz-free 24 hours after one application of this product!

As I mentioned, I was also sent Lip Balm and Carcass Cleaner. The lip balm was very nice. It went on very smooth and was not waxy like many lip balms. The lip balm stayed on for a good amount of time and continued to moisturize my lips.

I used the Carcass Cleaner as a face wash, body wash, shampoo, and cloth wipe solution. I was extremely pleased with the cleansing ability of the cleaner. After using it my face, body and hair felt cleaner and softer than usual. After just one use of this cleaner as a shampoo, my hair felt the best it has in years. The Carcass Cleaner when mixed with water also made a nice cloth wipe solution with a pleasant smell.

I was truly pleased with all three products I was sent to test. While I enjoyed all the scents I was given to test, I found them a bit strong at times. I can be very sensitive to scents and next time, I am going to try the unscented formula. This is actually one of the great things about this product – it is available unscented for those of us who are sensitive to that sort of thing.

After using the CJ’s BUTTer® products for several weeks, I am hooked. I already have plans to purchase additional products after my testers are depleted. In my opinion, one of the most appealing qualities of these products is their ability to do multiple jobs. During the time I was using CJ’s BUTTer® products, I constantly found new ways to put them to use. I would highly suggest CJ’s Original BUTTer®, CJ’s BUTTer® Lip Balm, and CJ’s Carcass Cleaner to anyone looking for quality natural products.

CJ’s Unique Boutique is offering one 4 oz. tube of CJ’s Original BUTTer® in the Cucumber Melon scent for the Accessorize Your Stash in August Giveaway. Be sure to check back August 24 to August 31 to enter to win this great prize!

Disclaimer: I was given free CJ’s BUTTer® products to test. I was not otherwise compensated for the post and the corresponding review contains only my honest unbiased opinions of the product. The links in this post go directly to CJ’s BUTTer® website and I receive no compensation if you choose to purchase.

Categories: Cloth Diaper Accessories, Cloth Diapering, Sponsor Spotlight | Tags: Carcass Cleaner, CJ's BUTTer©, cloth diaper safe cream, cloth wipe solution, diaper rash, Lip Balm | 11 Comments

Woolzies Dryer Ball Review and GIVEAWAY

Posted on Wednesday August 15, 2012 by Danielle

My brand new box of Woolzies!

I am excited to share with you a new product that I have been privileged to test – Woolzies wool dryer balls. As a busy mom, laundry is one of those chores that seems to never end. The minute I think I am done with laundry someone spills something or makes a new mess that requires an extra load. Any product that says that it will reduce my laundering time gets my attention in a big way.

Until very recently, I had never heard of the concept of using wool dryer balls in laundry. A few months ago, I began hearing very good things about this little product. I began to see bloggers saying that wool dryer balls reduced drying time, replaced traditional fabric softener, and even reduced static! I will be honest; when I first heard all these wonderful claims, I was quite skeptical. I mean, how can a lump of wool do all this?

With all this good buzz about dryer balls, I was very excited when a few weeks ago a box of Marie’s Original Woolzies Dryer Balls arrived in my mailbox. The box contained six dryer balls made from pure wool. Woolzies dryer balls claim to do three things. First, according to their website, Woolzies dryer balls will reduce your drying time by 25%. Second, they will replace a traditional fabric softener. And finally, they will reduce static.

Here is one of my new Woolzies.

How big is a Woolzies?

Since I do not use a fabric softener, I decided to evaluate this product based upon its first claim to reduce drying time and its third claim to reduce static. To evaluate the Woolzies I broke my laundry into three different categories and tested drying times.

The first type of load I process includes my microfiber, minky, and hemp diaper inserts. Without the Woolzies, I dry the inserts for 80 minutes. This amount of time usually completely dries my minky and microfiber inserts and leaves my hemp just a little damp. Once I started using the Woolzies, I was able to reduce my drying time to 60 minutes. While my hemp was still a little damp, my minky and microfiber inserts were completely dry. This change represents a 25% reduction in drying time.

The second type of load I process includes clothing of all types and materials. Without the Woolzies, I dry the clothing for approximately 60 minutes to get everything completely dry. With the Woolzies, I have been able to reduce my drying to time 40 minutes. This represents a 33% reduction in drying time.

The third type of load I process is large loads of towels and/or blankets. The change I have experienced adding the Woolzies was similar to above, a reduction of around 33% of the drying time.

While I will admit that static has not been a huge issue with the humid summer weather, I can definitely say that the Woolzies reduced the static that I occasionally experience. To test the static reducing nature of the Woolzies, I placed several large fleece blankets into the dryer together. If I am going to experience static in my dryer, this is the load. When I pulled the lump of blankets out of the dryer I was extremely pleased to see that there was no static charge at all!

For those of you who are eco-friendly mamas, this is a great product for you. Because Woolzies dryer balls reduce drying time, they reduce the amount of electricity used per drying load. I figure that I do about 10 loads of laundry per week. The Woolzies decreased each load’s drying time by about 20 minutes, which results in almost 3.5 fewer hours running the dryer each week! As an added plus, if you use the dryer balls to replace a fabric softener or static eliminating dryer sheet, you are reducing the amount of chemicals you use, which is definitely good for the environment and you!

In addition to being great for the environment, these dryer balls are also good for the global economy. Woolzies dryer balls are handmade in Nepal by women. This is really icing on the cake for me, as I love to support products that provide a way for women to sustain themselves.

All things considered, I would whole-heartedly recommend Marie’s Original Woolzies Dryer Balls to my friends, family, and to you my readers!

*Disclaimer: I was given a free set of Woolzies Dryer Balls to test. I was not otherwise compensated for this post and the above review contains only my honest unbiased opinions of the product. All links in this post direct you to the Woolzies website. I am not compensated in any way if you choose to purchase this product.

Enter now to win a set of these wonderful dryer balls!

Giveaway open to residents of the United States age 18 or older.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Categories: Cloth Diaper Accessories, Cloth Diapering, Giveaways | Tags: inserts, washer and dryer, wool dryer balls, Woolzies | 5 Comments

Nothing Prepared Me For This!

Posted on Monday July 16, 2012 by Danielle

Last week marked the one-year anniversary of bringing our dear daughter home from the hospital. After three long weeks in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU), we were so excited to bring our brand new little baby home. This moment was the culmination of many years and many long nights waiting for a birthmother to pick our profile. Finally after so much waiting we wheeled out little one out of the hospital, strapped her securely into the carseat, and headed for home.

Although this was a moment I had awaited for many years, nothing could have prepared me for the wonderful (and sometimes frustrating) experience of having a new baby in the house. Before we brought home this screaming bundle of joy, I would have told you that I was completely prepared for the experience. After all, I babysat extensively as a teen and even worked in a daycare for several years. However, NOTHING really could prepare me for being THE ONE responsible for this little life.

I vividly remember the car ride home, seeing everything with new eyes. Looking at every previously boring sight and telling my dear daughter all about the new world she had just entered only 19 days previous. My darling husband drove so cautiously protecting his newest treasure.

When we arrived home, it was picture time. We posed in every conceivable configuration smiles and joy radiating from our faces. At that moment, all felt right with the world…and I felt like I knew what I was doing.

Fast forward about half an hour, we had finally entered the house after finishing the photo session. We had changed our little one’s diaper and set the softest blanket we owned out on the floor. Then we carefully laid her on the blanket and she curled up with her little eyes closed. We made a few phone calls to our parents to let them know that we were home and then we just sat.

It was at this point the total panic set in. I sat looking at this tiny little baby and wondered, “WHAT DO I DO NOW?” As I said, I had been around babies plenty in the past. I had changed more diapers, warmed more bottles, and calmed more babies than I could ever count. But, this baby was so small, so helpless, and TOTALLY my responsibility (and my husband’s). The idea was just terrifying. I was completely overwhelmed by the enormity of the task.

Thankfully, I was able to calm myself down by gazing at that beautiful sleeping baby who was now my daughter. Everything has not always been smooth – especially at 2 in the morning – but we have made it through. This past year has been a journey I would not trade for all the money in the world. I know that this is only the beginning and that there will be many more experiences I am ill prepared for – can anyone say teenage years…what do you do with them then – but I know that with a little prayer and a little faith we will make it through!