Gabriel's Good Tidings

A few (eek) months ago, Shannon and I ordered some reusable snack bags from my friend Amy. She sells on Etsy at Gabriel's Good Tidings, and I'd been eying her stichery for a looong time. I can sew on a button that's fallen off, and that's about it, but I absolutely love all the creative things that others can do with a bit of fabric and a sewing machine. Anyhow, I'd been following Amy's blog for awhile and thinking that I'd love some reusable snack bags (I consider it my Earth Day Challenge for this year). Amy ran a special one time so I jumped at the chance to get some.

Amy shipped them to my in-laws, who were coming to visit. And she also slipped in a few other goodies for us! I was so excited!

Auburn coasters (even though Amy's an Alabama fan, she made these for us!). These reside in Shannon's office where he uses them during his language lessons. They might move to our living room...once we have end tables to put them on!

The snack bags: two small and one large.

I love these snack bags. They're cloth on the outside and PUL on the inside, so they're waterproof inside. To wash them we usually pull the PUL out and scrub it with a soapy sponge and then let it air dry and tuck the PUL back inside. But you can toss them in the washing machine if the cloth part gets dirty. These are a great way to carry snacks around; they're super cute and environmentally friendly. We reuse plastic baggies anyways, but...I like these better. I'd like to buy some more one day so I have a bigger stash of them.

The only thing that's not as good about these reusable baggies (as opposed to ziplocs) is that they're not airtight, so if you live in a really humid place and you put something like crackers or cookies in the baggies for very long they'll absorb the moisture. That wouldn't happen in a ziploc. BUT, I still wouldn't trade these in, as they're great for grapes, raisins, cookies and crackers when the weather's not humid, chopped hard fruit like apples, cubed cheese, and so-on. They're stylish. And green. I like green, and I like supporting my friends' businesses.

A super cute clutch! I hadn't gotten to use it until about two weeks ago (because let's face it, most moms don't get to go many places without a gazillion things in their purse) when I went alone to a friend's mother's...hmm...kind of like a courthouse marriage ceremony. (But they'll have their big wedding party later.) I loved it! It was just the right size for my wallet, spare contact lens and eyedrops, and package of tissues.

A ladybug bib for Lane. Unfortunately Lane's never worn it since she stopped wearing bibs about the time we received it. But now that we're having another girl, girlie #2 will get to wear it!

So, a big shout-out to Amy at Gabriel's Good Tidings. THANKS! for the snack bags and for the other goodies! Sorry it took me so long to blog about them (in my defense I wanted to be able to give an honest review =). Head over and check out Amy's Etsy shop and her blog, where she gives lots of tutorials on all the crafty stuff she does around her house. And if you want to order something "specialty," just send her a message and ask her...just because it's not currently available in her shop doesn't mean she wouldn't make it for you!

***Can you please, please go vote for me if you haven't already? I'm only 14 votes away from the person in first place...***

By Best Family Travel