Wednesday, July 27, 2011

BESTeam Feature of MsFormaldehyde

Meet Kelly Formaldehyde, a designer of handmade accessories for Vintage Bridal Couture and gothic accessories. "Formaldehyde"~Love her name!  A girl after my own heart after all everything in life revolves around science and chemistry.

I love this one... Below...  As you will see she has the uncanny ability to combine gothic and couture!
True Blood Fascination
White Gardenia Wedding  Bridal Head Piece

Double Yellow Orchid Clip
 Kelly, who is a native to San Diego California, loves to create gothic jewelry, lotita pin up and dita burlesque accessories. You can see her flare in all of her designs..  Not your everyday items and since she only creates a small amount of each design you can rest assure that you WILL NOT find someone else wearing the same thing.

You can shop for all these fabulous finds on her shop at Etsy: www.etsy.com/shop/msformaldehyde   and Follow her on her blog @ msformaldehyde.blogspot.com/

Thanks for stopping by and have a GREAT week!



  











Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Stitch Markers by Sandy Vern (A BESTeam feature)

I absolutely love my new Etsy shop for one reason because I have met so many new people.  It has opened a new an interesting door for me.  One of those people are Sandy Vern and she has a too cute shop on Etsy sandyvern.etsy.com.where sells soap (my personal favorite), stitch markers and earrings. Since I don't crochet or knit, I was asking my self what are stitch markers? At 1st I thought they were charms.  But from what I understand these markers can mark an area that when you are knitting that you cannot tell where one ends and the other begins or to mark increases or decreases.  They just adorable!


Currently Sandy is living in Connecticut  although she is a native to Massachusetts originally, she spends her time in her pet sitting business, she loves to make soap, knitting and is an avid reader.

Another favorite of mine is Sandy's Breast Cancer Awareness earrings and the patriotic earrings.. Beautiful aren't they?




Sandy is an avid soap maker as well..check out this brown sugar scrub soap below!

 


Stop by her shop on Etsy:  sandyvern.etsy.com

Thanks for stopping by~  Have a GREAT day!


Friday, July 15, 2011

10 Tips To Help Parents & Teens On Facebook

Until last year, I had thought facebook was a tool for just teenagers and young adults.  They grew up with technology that we (40’s-ish) cannot comprehend.  Before I got the “aha” about facebook, I thought that it was for people who wanted to vent about their day.  To our teens it’s so much more than that- It’s about identity (their own and everyone else’s).  Their facebook page is an extension of their personalities, with games, pictures (and lots of them), status, friends, a place to vent, likes and dislikes. 


 What we (40’s-ish) do not understand is how to protect them.  They have so much information out there on the net that it could come back to haunt them one day.  So I began to look into this and this is what I found:

1)      A Teen’s (ages 13-17) posts and pictures will not show up in public searches (according to facebook) another way to do this it to make sure the “enable public search” remains unchecked,  which can be found in the privacy section of facebook, under the apps, games & websites section- toward the bottom of the page.
2)      Become their friend on facebook but don’t become stalker mom or dad, what you need to know is how they are interacting and to monitor.  What you should not do is to pop in unannounced. It’s ok to banter with them but not in their personal conversations with their friends online.  (if you have a problem with what they are posting please bring it up them face to face OFF line)
3)      Respect them but also let them know they can come to you if they have problems online and if you are a facebook user then you’ll understand the problem.
4)      Encourage your kids to not post personal information such as which school they attend, class schedule, what time they get home, going out places..etc..without privacy controls in place (they have the ability to limit who see’s their information by choosing a customized setting in the privacy section).
5)      Also know that you should operate in the secure HTTPS mode over the HTTP mode when on facebook so that none of those crazy APPS your teen is downloading can be eavesdropping on your conversations, collecting data and getting your account hacked.  How you find out is look at your web browser bar… if it begins with HTTP:// then you are NOT secure.  You can just type it into your web browser the next time you sign into your account. If you frequent the games, apps..etc.. you will need to do so in the regular HTTP:// mode because most of these will not work in the secure mode… (Hmmm I wonder what information they are collection from us???)  Just keep that in mind the next time you play Farmville online.
6)      Also to encourage them to not click on any link or video without checking it out on snopes.com first.  Many people unknowingly spread virus’s on facebook to their friends because they just clicked on a link.  Check it out first and be sure your child knows this.. Otherwise their account could be hacked.
7)      Also encourage them to only friend people they know… put limits on those they do not know well.  What I like to do is create a list of people such as: friends, family, co-workers, and extended friends.  Then you can just post pictures or information to just friends without everyone being able to view them.  Go to your friends section, create a list and place your friends in them.  It also helps when you are viewing your own news feed to only view your family for instance. Also you can control any pictures of you that other people tagged by un-checking the tag and by editing the settings in the privacy section.
8)      Remember you can block or delete any comment that is left on your front page.  Also if you are sharing private data do so as a message rather than posting it on their front page.  When you post, click on the lock button to control who’s able to see that post.
9)      I also have to add… I really don’t like the checked in feature because it lets everyone know where you are and that you are not at home.  They’re calling it the “People here now” button.
10)   And lastly secure all of your photo’s…Otherwise everyone has access to them.  You can do this by going to your customized section and go to “edit privacy settings for existing photos and videos”.   This feature allows you to be able to designate who can view each album.  For instance:  I only allow family to view my family pictures. 


Facebook is not going away anytime soon and it’s grown to over 750 million, the average user has 130 friends and people spend on average 700 minutes a month on facebook.

Be Safe, Be Secure but HAVE FUN!

Monday, July 11, 2011

BESTeam Feature You Are My Sunshine

It brings me great pleasure to introduce you to Nina who owns her shop You are my Sunshine on Etsy: youaremysunshine.etsy.comNina is from the Philippines and now resides in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. On her blog she talks about her life growing up in the Philippines~ getting accepted into school, her parents and how their entrepreneurial spirit helped her establish herself where she is today. You should read about her adventurous life http://www.ninainflorida.com/p/about-me.html.

She is a proud mother, business woman and artist. Looking through her shop on Etsy, I admire her uncanny ability to be able combine such delicate flowers with the perfect colors.

Necklace, Butterfly Dreams A Statement Necklace



Handmade Shabby Roses Fabric Floral Necklace Azure Blue



You can clearly see how she has created these lovely works of art in jewelry that she has put a lot of thought and soul into.  So when you walk away wearing one of her works of art you can feel the essence of her spirit.

Check her out on her blog:  http://www.ninainflorida.com

Or go Shopping in her shop: http://youaremysunshine.etsy.com
  

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

BESTeam Feature on Mystic Wynd

I am so excited to be sharing with all of you the Magical Shop on Etsy called Mystic Wynd: mysticwynd.etsy.com.

Karen of Mystic Wynd, loves to write poetry and through this she gave birth to this company, dedicated to all of those who wish to combine their love for jewelry and inner spirit! Born and raised in Chicago she developed her fashion style while being immersed in ethnically rich neighborhood.  Her heart still beats for the old neighborhood but she is happy with 3 kids, 3 step kids and 7 grandchildren living in Arizona.

You can see how each piece is carefully crafted with a little Spiritual Magic!






I love all of her designs but I could only show some of them~
Go check her out on Etsy:  mysticwynd.etsy.com

So the next time you want something unique just for you or you want to share the spirit within..
think of Mystic Wynd~





Orange Essential Oil-- BANNED


This could be the headline in the near future....If congress has it's way. The new Safe Cosmetic bill is laden full of restrictions on any ingredients remotely linked to claims of cancer.  This bill would pave the way for more scare tactics rather than education regarding natural ingredients. This is so sad... In the mist our own "All Natural" quest as a society..we are headed down a billowing path.  Check out this link just last year from Robert Tisserand, a leading aromatherapy industry expert: http://roberttisserand.com/2010/02/citrus-oil-threat/

We are going forth into a future without access to essential oils because they have a small trace amount of heavy metals. According to the newly revised HR 2359 bill, this bill proposes to require a product labeled with a breakdown list of ingredients that include listing all of them that are higher than 1 parts-per-billion.  What this means is that since traces of heavy metals have been found in cold-pressed citrus oils such as orange essential oil our ingredient list for it would read like this:  Limonene, α-Pinene, Sabinene and β-Pinene, Myrcene, Octanal, Linalool, δ-3-Carene, Decanal....and that is just for Orange Essential Oil!  I don't know about you... but I even don't understand all of that?  Wouldn't you just like to know that is it just orange essential oil?  This bill is making it harder not easier for us to read the labels.  You will have to have a background in chemistry just to understand what it is that you are looking to buy? 

What's next?  A ban because it includes Limonene which is a known skin sensitizer?  I can see it now....someone develops a bad reaction it it and then sues which brings on an investigation into Limonene.  Then everything with Limonene in it becomes banned!  (Limonene by the way is a main chemical in orange essential oil.) There is already too much scaremongering going on with the media and regulations.  


Just got the word from our local bath & body community that the new HR 2359 bill for Safe Cosmetics has been introduced into congress.  Don't let the name of the bill fool you~  It is purely propaganda from congress Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., joined by Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisc. who have managed to be fooled into believing a number of misleading concepts that all ingredients whether natural or synthetic are bad for you. Don't let the media decide for you~  Make your own opinions, do your own research and don't believe everything you hear.

Here are some links to leaders in the bath and body community on the the introduction of the HR 2359 Bill.

http://essentialu.typepad.com/my_weblog/2011/07/safe-cosmetics-act-2011-statement-of-opposition.html
http://roberttisserand.com/2011/07/ten-reasons-why-you-should-not-support-sca-2011/
http://personalcaretruth.com/2011/07/safe-cosmetics-act-of-2011-2/
http://www.indiebusinessblog.com/text-of-hr-2359-the-safe-cosmetics-act-of-2011/
http://www.soapguild.org/blog/2011/06/h-r-2359-the-safe-cosmetics-act-of-2011-is-introduced/
http://barsoapnatural.com/blog/small-businesses-are-not-exempt-from-the-new-hr2359-the-safe-cosmetics-act-2011/
http://www.cosmeticsdesign.com/Regulation-Safety/The-Personal-Care-Products-Council-s-opposition-to-the-Safe-Cosmetics-Act-2011

A great article on the safety of our products
http://www.cosmeticsinfo.org./safety.php

Are you ready to take a stand?  Then sign the petition!
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/no-2-sca-2011/