Retail

Who doesn’t love cupcakes? These delectable little cakes are currently very trendy, and for good reason—they’re sweet, tasty, cute, and of course all yours! They’re especially great for a birthday party, as there’s no cake cutting and its attendant mess involved, and no fighting over the size of cake slices and who gets the frosting flower on their piece.

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School's about to start and getting organized both for yourself and the kids is a must. Our favorite organizer is the BusyBodyBook! The BusyBodyBook is a stylish and easy-to-use family organizer that allows you to keep track of the entire family's schedules, and it's something I can't live without. BusyBodyBooks are available for both 2008-2009 academic year (August '08–September '09) and traditional 2009 calendar year versions.

To help you get organized, we're giving away a free BusyBodyBook to a lucky Marin Mommies reader! Send an e-mail with BUSYBODYBOOK in the subject line to contests@marinmommies.com by midnight PST on Friday, August 15, 2008. One winner will be selected at random, and we'll announce the winner on Saturday. Good luck!

A desire for a more eco-friendly lunchtime led Marin mompreneurs Joyce Raffo and Paige Rodgers to create Fabkins, a fun line of unique cloth napkins just for kids. Fabkins are kid-sized napkins that sport different child-friendly themes like “Sports Fan,” “African Safari,” “Prima Ballerina,” “Fruit Salad,” “Beach Bound,” and “Garden Friends.” Useful as both napkins and placemats, Fabkins encourage good table manners and help make school lunches and meals at home waste-free.

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Ever since she started learning to talk, my little girl has always had her own distinctive vocabulary. Of course, most babies and toddlers have their own words for things they can't quite pronounce. Now there is a great way to show off your child’s unique words and phrases and preserve them on a shirt. Translation Tees is a local mom-owned business that offers one-of-a-kind shirts for the little ones who have their own unique takes on common words. Translation Tees combine your child’s own cute mispronounced words with fresh, colorful, and bold graphics. Over 100 designs are available, printed on high-quality 100% cotton interlock shirts that will last for years.
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One-of-a-kind personalized gifts are always treasured keepsakes. We recently received a sample of a new personalized children's book, The First Adventures of Incredible You, by Sarah Riley Headrick and Sarah Foreman Rivers, with whimsical illustrations by Jill Dryer Bartolucci. The full color, hardbound book is a playful look at the fun and exciting adventures of small child, all personalized with details for your child. When ordering you fill in a variety of different fields with names of your child's family, friends, pets, and favorite activities, which results in a truly unique personalized book.
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Just because you're a mom doesn't mean you have to give up your creativity and passion for art. Novato mom and artist Alice Orth shows her paintings in exhibitions and shows throughout the North Bay, including area wineries. Her work can also be seen during the annual Marin Arts Council Open Studios, which are coming up this weekend, May 10 and 11, 2008. We asked Alice to tell us about herself, her family, and what it's like to be an artist and mompreneur.

Please tell us a little about yourself. What's your background?
After completing an AA in Fine Arts at the Collage of Marin, I attended and graduated from California College or Arts and Crafts [now called California College of the Arts] with a BFA in Interior Architecture. Encouraged by family and friends to pursue my love for art, I continued to paint alongside my design work. I discovered painting to be more gratifying than design and spent several years creating custom murals and mixed media on canvas. I am also the mother of a very charming four-year-old boy, and wife to an incredibly supportive husband. A couple years after the birth of my son, I passionately returned to painting solely on canvas. It allows me to be the best me.
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I think many moms will agree that there’s no better Mother’s Day gift than a massage or spa package. I know that’s what I want, especially after working and chasing two small children around all week, every week. Fortunately, there are a number of places in Marin for busy moms to relax and take some time out to be pampered. Go ahead, you’re worth it…

My son has been an avid Mac user since he was around 18 months old (although I do try to limit the amount of time he spends on it). Since computers are a part of his life, I like to find educational games that spark his imagination and inspire learning. This week I received a DVD-ROM copy of Mia Reading: Bugaboo Bugs!, part of the Mia’s Big Adventure Collection series, a neat computer reading game that offers a great balance of fun and education. My son had a blast playing some of the games and adventures, and I have to say I was really impressed with how quickly he started to spell words, and comprehend sentences, all while having fun.

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