Do you have a clan of messy eaters in your house? Are dinner time spills taking over your table?  We’ve got an opportunity for you! Recently, Crypton developed a fun line of colorful and reversible mess-free suede placemats.  Not only are they stylish, the Crypton technology behind the fabric means they are completely stain- and water-resistant, too. Although you can’t buy these placemats in stores yet, we thought it would be fun to offer our readers an exclusive opportunity to test them out. We’ll even give you the full set of four placemats – all you have to do is share your story with us.  

 That’s all it takes to receive three additional placemats: a full set!  This opportunity won’t be available for long and space is limited, so sign up soon! All signed up? Once you’ve recieved your placemat, fill out a feedback form to recieve the other three.

We look forward to hearing your messy stories!

Here at Crypton, we know that style never goes out of style. With the recession squeezing household budgets, true style mavens have gotten creative with ways to keep stylish with home décor. One of our favorite places for affordable chic is Etsy.com, an online marketplace for designers and artisans to sell handmade goods.  With over 200,000 sellers offering nearly 5 million items, you’ll be sure to find something that fits your style. A search for home décor is particularly inspiring: hobbyists and independent designers alike are offering everything from lamps to pillows, accent pieces to wallpaper.

We are so excited about the creative ideas generating from Etsy, that we will be profiling two of the Etsy designers we love – starting tomorrow with Cherie, from StudioCherie, a designer who often uses Crypton Fabrics in her work.

In the meantime, we’ve pulled a few fun design and pet-related Etsy items to feast your eyes upon until tomorrow. Enjoy!

Fun hoodedsweatshirts for dogs from anniessweatshop

Walldécor with “Naughty kitten” design from LanaKole

Handmade Chow dog bowl

Admit it: You sleep with your dog because he or she is very good in bed. You’re not alone: According to the American Pet Products Manufacturing Association, www.appma.org . no less than 42 percent of dogs now sleep in the same bed as their owners, up from 34 percent in 1998. Why is that? Simple: human relationships are fraught with complications, but dogs are easy – and their snoring amounts to soothing, restful, white noise. Try saying the same about the disturbing racket made by a sleeping human!

As with human relationships, sharing one’s bed brings up the subject of protection. Except in the case of dogs, we’re looking to protect our mattress investment – especially if we’ve splurged on a spine-friendly luxury model. www.tempur-pedic.com But here’s something you might not know (I sure didn’t): no matter how deluxe your mattress, it’s one of the biggest sources of germs and allergens in your home. So even if you don’t have pets, you could be sleeping with critters and not even know it. After ten years of use, a mattress can actually double in weight because of the dust mites, skin cells, allergens, and other unwanted debris that collect inside of it night after night. (Of course, if you do have pets, you can add pet dander to that nightmarish mix.) So the first consideration when making the perfect, pet-friendly bed—even before you unfurl your favorite high-thread-count sheets – is covering it with the very best barrier known to man or beast. That accurately describes the Crypton Mattress Protector, www.cryptonnight.com which offers a breathable moisture barrier for the top and four sides of your mattress that’s easy to clean and disinfect (in fact, it’s the only disinfectable fabric approved by the EPA). www.epa.gov I’d say that’s the stuff of sweet dreams.