Prizey.com Goes Green

And we're thrilled! Prizey.com the web's leading directory of online giveaways for the discerning contest entrant (100% spam and linkbait-free enjoyment!) is hosting their Eco Baby Giveaway and has generously included us in the prize pack. Okay, so we give some stuff away, but this is a fun site with rotating 'blockbuster giveaway' programs that feature some wicked merch.

We're in fine company with Green to Grow's BPA-free bottles for babes. HABA's wooden and plush toys for tots and from The Soft Landing: Natursutten natural rubber pacifiers, which apparently should be replaced every 4-5 weeks. I feel like a bad parent with the pacifiers I still have from the hospital. Fortunately, my little binkie boy kicked the habit around 5 months. Win and you'll get a 6 months supply. And last in the line up is Amnesty International's Citizen of the World toddler tee or onesie.

Prizey on!

Feed the world - one grain at a time

John Breen is at it again and he's a total inspiration. The founder of thehungersite.com, which was purchased by greatergood.com at the height of the late nineties dotcom bubble, just launched FREE RICE dot com. The site's fantastic. Each visit lists a word for which you have to click on the correct definition. Each click generates 10 grains of rice to the UN World Food Program (they spell it British); the same beneficiary that thehungersite.com launched with a decade ago now. Nice that John kept up relations.

The site takes me back to SAT vocabulary prep tests and while I never felt that smart then, I do now. Maybe the words are easy and I think they're meant to get progressively more difficult as you keep guessing correctly. Either way, you're rocking the rice campaign.

The program is completely legit. Advertisers like Liz Claiborne, Toshiba and RD - Reader's Digest - those I just saw listed at the bottom of the page pay for our eyeballs. Hopefully their ad buy with John will turn us all into electronics-purchasing, alarmist magazine reading, middle aged sartorialists with a heart. I'm game.

Happy defining!

Sustaining the Earth, Sustaining Our Community

Pediatric Interim Care Center’s Newborn Nursery facility in Kent is a nonprofit medical facility for infants suffering from prenatal drug exposure. We at Satsuma thought that there were no babies more deserving of our organic, hypoallergenic, antibacterial blankets than these most vulnerable babies for whom even the softest touch can cause extreme discomfort. We were happy to be able to donate blankets to this wonderful facility and want to give the big kudos to the amazing community of nurses, social workers and doctors that work around the clock with these most needy babies.

Crave a little cozy?

The first ever CRAVE Show is happening this weekend in Seattle and Satsuma Designs will be on hand to debut our newest collections. I'm excited to be part of what I know will be a great event for women. Two days - Saturday and Sunday - of exploration, indulgence, fashion and more, CRAVE Show is taking the Crave party concept to a whole new level.

Creative genius and founder, Melody Biringer, is offering a great line up of speakers, seminars, spa treatments, fashion shows, shopping opps and great eats to please every craver.

Satsuma's piece of the action involves a booth in the fashion section where we'll be sharing our new cozy holiday collection. Bamboo velour and cashmere throws for babies and big babies will be on hand in fun new colors. Custom color orders are available too in our new cashmere line.

Now that's something you'll CRAVE!

Why Go Green Redux

Seattle's fashion community is a little greener thanks to the great insights from our illustrious panel of design professionals at last Thursday's seminar. The event welcomed a great mix of fashion, beauty, interiors, education and sustainable living professionals from around the city.

Our gracious hostess, Sandy Campbell, swung wide the doors of One Earth One Design, her home interiors and consulting business on the edge of Shoreline. Among the panelists was Rebecca Luke, owner of Les Egoistes and co-founder of the Sustainable Style Foundation (SSF).

Rebecca shared a fabulous new program sponsored by SSF called SSFtags. Read below to learn more about this sustainability seal of approval that's great for both businesses and consumers.

Rebecca made a great point last Thursday too when she encouraged trade members in the audience not to get too hung up on being 100% sustainable or green in your business, but rather take smart steps to do the best you can. The truth is that many industries including fashion and beauty aren't tooled up to support all the 'green' decisions we'd like to make, but if over time we all ask for it, so it will be.

SSFtags
The mission of SSF is to educate, support and inspire people from all walks of life to make more sustainable personal lifestyle choices at home, at work and at play. SSFtags is a consumer- and producer-friendly awareness program with an internationally recognized logo that indicates that a product, service, event, project, company or organization, etc. has incorporated sustainability into their efforts in some way.

Nice work SSF!

Green Houses Make Great Homes

My friend Sloan Ritchie has just listed his new townhome development by Cascade Built. Sloan's tag line is good living tm and it is. He has used LEED prescribed green building guidelines to create incredibly well designed and stylish living.

LEED is the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program. The organization is made up of building industry leaders who believe that green design and manufacturing is critical to happy and healthy living. Their members and supporters also realize that it can be good for the bottom line as green building resources begin to drop in price and are competitive to the big box retailers' pricing and selection.

Here's a great article on the real versus perceived costs of going green in construction projects from industry resource Building.com.

Kudos to Sloan, Cascade Built and all those LEEDers out there!

Seattle Retail Rules!

We're at retail! I think of it as form of VERY positive validation for our company concept and product line. Satsuma can now be found in stores around the Northwest, Alaska too! In Seattle, we're very proud to be featured at Village Maternity and Birth & Beyond that cater to the with or soon to be with child set. We're also carried at Fresh, A New Lifestyle Boutique Located in the Heart of Seattle’s Wedgwood Business District. Wendy and Julia there are great and are ready to help you find the best in gift, home and of course babies. Stop by and ask for Satsuma.

Happy Shopping!