Glow in the Dark Star Stickers #Review #GetChildish

     My kids are scaredy cats.  I mean that nicely enough.  But if I'm being honest, they really are.  They're scared to sleep in their own beds, scared to go down the hallway alone, scared to go out after dusk, scared of basically anything in and around the house... I do remember being scared sometimes as a kid.  I lived on the second floor with a window facing the front of the house and I remember thinking that someone could climb up to the roofing below my window and try to kidnap me.  That was my mom's constant telling of horror stories provoking that I think.  I have suspicions for why my kids are so scared.

     One thing we are doing to combat this is to set up night lights and the like.  In Streaker's room, she has a bouquet of floral lights and we have plans for a beautiful Paris painting with white led lights for the stars.  In Punk's room, she has a night light and she also has a rechargeable clip on light she can put on her bed side shelf.  In The Big One's room, she has a TV with that awesome built in blue screen night light.  Where Boog sleeps, there was nothing really.

     Luckily Boyfriend now has his very own set of Glow in the dark space stickers.  They aren't your normal glow in the dark set though.  Most are usually either plastic and green with a gummy paste that sticks them to the wall or ceiling, or they are paper and even sometimes just peeling them from their backing causes rips.  These are the best of both worlds.  You get the self-stick adhesive backing with the rugged durability of the stiffer style.

     These glow in the dark star stickers from Get Childish come in a pack of 100.  There are 50 small stars, 35 big stars, 5 rockets, 5 planets (with rings), and 5 large crescent moons.  The size of them are great.  They aren't super small like a lot of stickers I've had and they aren't the real big ones like others I've had.  These are a nice medium.

     The back has a peel off cover for the adhesive backing.  It peels off really easily, I had no frustrations with trying to get it to peel up or anything.  The stickiness behind the film was sufficient to keep it on the walls.  I don't think any of these will be falling off the walls like the paste stuck stars do.

     On the front of the stickers, there is a second film that protects the shiny surface until it's in place.  Then you can peel it off and the stickers will shine when the room is lit and glow when it's not, it also tends to reflect whatever light is in the room.

     They really did take the best of both kinds and wrap it all into one.  I would recommend these over any other star themed stickers I've ever owned.  If you want to learn more, check out Get Childish on Amazon.

Except for the product(s) given to me for the purpose of reviewing, I received no compensation for this post. All opinions are 100% my own.

#ScentimentsGifts 100% Soy Lavender Candle #Review

     Did you know that there's such a thing as being nose blind?  It's true!  Okay, that might not be the actual term.  But when you get accustomed to a certain smell, such as your shampoo or your home, or even your van, the smells seem to vanish overtime.  That's why when I use a great shampoo for the first time, I love it, but over the course of a couple weeks, I think "Maybe it doesn't smell as good as I first thought"... but then I hug someone and get a compliment about how great my hair smells and I realize that I just can't smell it anymore.  By the way, ladies, is there ever a better compliment than being told that you smell nice?  It leaves me feeling just a little more confident for weeks afterward.

     I am aware of this nose blindness and sometimes I take measures to counteract it.  One time I bought a scented oil before a trip to Boston.  We were using my van and I didn't want everyone thinking my van smelled bad, because I wouldn't be able to tell.  So I sprinkled it all over my van floor and wouldn't you know it, I got little polka-dotted oil spots on my carpet.  I don't know why it didn't occur to me that that would happen, but of course it did and it looked silly.  Sometimes I also like to try incense in my home or a new cleaner.  Truth be told, it probably doesn't help much, my areas are likely pretty hopeless.

     But this one time I had a candle that was white pine scented and it smelled SOOOO good that my whole apartment smelled like Christmas.  When I saw the Scentiments scented soy candles, I had a good feeling about them.  I thought it might do the same thing.  I was going to check one out for myself and see if I could get my home to smell nice.  But when I saw the designs and scents, I knew it was definitely meant to be a gift and I had to give it away instead.

     I knew right away who I was going to give it to.  Genie, as Boog calls her has spent the whole summer at the beach with us.  She's been great company, super helpful and the other day she even took my soccer kids to soccer practice and stayed there for the whole hour and a half and dropped them back off because I had no vehicle and an adult needed to stay.  It was so nice.  She's always nice.  So this had to be for her.

     When I got it, the first thing I noticed was that the box it comes in is not super sturdy, be warned.  But I also noticed that through the bubble wrap and through the lid, I could smell this most amazing smell.  I think they left the lid on loosely just so you could smell it (good plan, Scentiments).  If you want to know what it smells like, take a gander at the photo above.  That about sums it up, only times 100.  It's a very potent fragrance.  It's not all wishy-washy and watered down, it smells like pure lavender.  It's heavenly.

     The second thing that I noticed after taking the lid off, was that the wick was kinda cool looking.  It's braided instead of twisted.  The candle wax is very soft and smooth.  Just by wiping the top, you can feel the wax left on your finger.  It's a creamy white inconsistent color that looks really neat.  Soy wax also melts at a much lower temperature and tends to last longer than regular wax candles.  They also hold on to the essential oils that create the scent, so the scent is given more slowly and over a longer period.  But the coolest thing about these 100% soy candles is that they are completely natural and biodegradable, gotta love that.

     On the outside of the jar, there is hung a tag that has a cute little design about the candle company and on the back is a TO: and FROM: area for gifting the candle.  It's pretty convenient I think.  Also on the outside of the jar is all the typical markings of a mason jar, which is what the candle is housed in.

     And on the bottom of the jar is a label to tell you how to best use it.  And on the bottom as well is the promise that it's 100% soy as well as made right here in the USA.  Not that I have anything against foreign made products, sometimes I purposely get foreign products to help out thriving women in third world countries.  But in general, if you can keep it local, why not?  You are helping local farmers who grow the soy as well as local candle makers.  Win-Win!

     My personal thoughts are this:  The smell is incredible, like sucking in a lavender field.  Presentation is cute, love the mason jar and the label.  Box it came in could use improving, but really... it's a box.  As long as you don't drop the candle, no harm done.  I would recommend these candles over many, many others.
     What's your favorite candle scent?
     To learn more, check out Scentiments on Amazon and on GiftofCandles.com.



Except for the product(s) given to me for the purpose of reviewing, I received no compensation for this post. All opinions are 100% my own.

Fabness 10x15 #Canvas #Review

 

Streaker finding frogs at the lake, 2015.

     I am so glad that summer vacation is here.  No more waking up at 6am and running around like a headless chicken looking for clean pair of underwear or that missing notebook.  No more struggling to make sure the kids are in bed early enough for ample sleep before said early morning.  No more stressing about missing the bus or worrying about the kids coming home with yet another complaint about the way X, Y, or Z treated them at school or on the bus that day.  No more, just fun.  And this year, we are planning to definitely work on our 365 list from a couple years ago.

Enjoying our season pass to the lake, compliments Girl Scouts of America, 2015.

     For our family, it also means photo time.  Photo shoots are just the start.  The kids do tons of fun things in the summer that I can't wait to capture.  Things like hikes, sports, playground, parks, camps... we fill our summer vacation right up.  I think when my kids move out, they'll each have a whole bookshelf full of photo albums to go with them.  I have so many ideas for what I want to do with these photos.  My latest idea is to print out a canvas of each of the kids, then surround that canvas with smaller prints.  Kinda like this, times 5:

Photo Via: MotherEarthNews.com

     My hallway would look amazing!

Punky during a Girl Scout Photo Shoot after a day of pampering.

     I think I'm definitely going to go with a  quality printer for those canvases.  I've tried out a few canvas printers and I think, although all of them were pretty nice canvases, that I'm gonna have to go with Fabness on this project.  Fabness seems slightly better quality than others that I've tried, and they have constant deals going on.  Just in the month or so since I've become an affiliate, I've seen at least 4 different deals for various days.  I believe there was one for Memorial Day, one for Father's Day, a couple others for various things.  These sales all run anywhere from 60-83% off!  Right now, there is a sale for Father's Day for 70% off  canvas prints with free shipping if you use the code DADSDAY2015.  Make sure you use that code if you want the free shipping!

Baby Bee at the shed for a photo shoot, 2015.

     After the winter finally ended this year, we were so excited to see grass that we decided to do a shoot.  While doing the shoot, we tried some places that we don't normally use and we realized that the old shed out back makes an EXCELLENT prop.  The spring shoot is the set that I am deciding to go with for my hallway canvas project.  I need to take a photo of Boog to match the rest of the set, but for now I will work with what I have.

     When I signed up for the Affiliate Program, I had the chance to receive a canvas for free to test out and tell people about.  I decided to go with a photo of my oldest daughter, The Big One.  It is one of my favorites of her ever taken.

     The very first thing that I noticed, besides how quickly it came in the mail, was the awesome framing and canvas quality.  It feels like the canvas itself is a thicker material than others.  The frame feels more sturdy and less likely to break or weaken.  There are 21 staples in all connecting the canvas to the frame.  The canvas has care instructions printed right onto it so you don't have to hold onto a paper for forever or worry about forgetting how to take care of it.

     The second thing I noticed was the level of detail.  As I held it and looked at it, I noticed a strand of hair across The Big One's face that I didn't notice before, even while editing the photo.  I also noticed one of those gross "sleepy seeds" in the corner of her eye that will forever bug me.  Point is, the detail in a Fabness canvas print is amazing.

     The next thing that I noticed was that the hanger was hanging from a baggie by a staple in the frame.  It went in super easy with slight taps from a hammer.  All you have to do is line up the little dot of the hanger with the middle marker line of the canvas to make sure everything is centered.  As you can see, I didn't realize that and just eyeballed it.  It's slightly off, but I just hang it from a different tooth.

       Overall, I think that the canvas is definitely worth the purchase.  The one I got was 10x15, usually $72.  With the 70% off Father's Day sale, it is knocked down to about $21.60.  I think any photo loving mom should check it out for sure.  I'm so glad that I did!

Except for the product(s) given to me for the purpose of reviewing, I received no compensation for this post. All opinions are 100% my own.

Plow and Hearth Review and Giveaway!

     I'm really kind of bummed about winter coming.  It seems like here in the Northeast, it never stays warm for long enough.  We barely get water warm enough to swim in when the air gets too cold to even want to swim.  Winter means the end of camping season, fishing season, hiking season, and pretty much anything fun that you could do outside.  Of course you can still go snowshoeing and we probably will, also ice skating and even ice fishing if you are into the idea of sitting over a hole in the ice.  But winter means the end of flowers and frogs, butterflies and most of your pretty song birds.  It makes me sad.
     But luckily for us, next year the song birds will have one more place to call home around here because next year, we will have this outside:

     It's a Guest Cottage Birdhouse from Plow & Hearth.  It's a birdhouse that is a recreation of a cottage originally built for Marie Antoinette and her friends to use as playhouses in the village of Versailles.  It is made of red cedar and has a one nest box.  The inside has plexiglass over the windows to protect the birds and has an easy access panel in the back should you need to get into the birdhouse.

     The birdhouse is 7-1/2"W x 6"D x 8-1/2"H which I think is an excellent size.  It isn't too big or very small.  The shingles are scattered and not perfectly even, which gives it a nice character.  It also has a very pretty marble look to the sides of the building.  Plow & Hearth also offers a matching bird feeder as well.

     The birdhouse has a stone chimney which has small polished rocks of varying colors and a grey mortar of some sort.  It is topped off with a decorative white wooden cap.  The house seems to be very rugged and durable.
     Plow & Hearth has much much more than birdhouses.  They have a great selection of outdoor solar lighting for instance.  You can find anything from lights to light up your Family name sign to lights for your steps and walkways.  Plow & Hearth also has many things in the way of outdoor and indoor decor.  In fact, it has pretty much anything you want for your home, inside or out.  One of my personal favorites is this cute turtle table:

     And for those of us strapped on cash this holiday season, there is a whole section of gifts under $25.  I love when websites make budget shopping easy.  When you go the the Gifts Under $25 page, you are given categories for all budget types without even having to choose a main category first.  I love Plow & Hearth for that.

     Plow & Hearth will definitely be on my shopping list next year for Christmas, especially now that
 that I've seen the quality of their products first hand.  And now you can too, because Plow & Hearth was kind enough to offer one of my readers a $50 GC to their site!  Of course you know the drill by now, just use the Rafflecopter below and god luck!  Contest ends the day after Christmas :)
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Except for the product(s) given to me for the purpose of reviewing, I received no compensation for this post. All opinions are 100% my own.

BuyGreen.com Tapered Soy Lotion Candle Review

     I like to consider myself capable of being frugal.  I would like to say that I can be green and that I do put in the effort.  I recycle my plastic bottles and use washcloths as opposed to paper towels.  I make my own cleaners and use washable mop heads.  I try to do my part, even if it is a small part.  Some days it is very small, but I try all the same.  It's why I am making changes like using a Keurig and a plastic cup for coffee instead of using disposable paper cups and way too much coffee to make a pot I will never drink by myself.  It's why I occasionally make my own laundry detergent instead of buying yet another bottle of big-company soap and why homemade Febreeze is something I will never trade out for inadequate store-bought type.
     In fact, I remember as a kid, I was very interested in the environment and in the dwindling rainforest.  And as a young adult, I was thrilled to see the green movement actually come to life and to see that I was not the only one who loved Earth.  And in this green movement comes tons of green businesses,  You can buy almost anything organic now and I think that is awesome!  I love that businesses are stepping up and that they can actually survive in this materialistic world.

      One such business is BuyGreen.com, which offers lots in the way of green products for the home.  They have a ton of great stuff.  One of those things is this Tapered Soy Lotion Candle.  This one happens to be scented with Lavender/Pine/Chamomile.  The scent is very unique, I like the pine accent.  What's awesome about this candle, besides it's uniqueness is that it is a lotion candle.  That means that it burns at a low temperature and when the candle melts, it becomes a lotion that you can use on your skin for massages or as part of your skin care regimen.

     The candle will last you about 55 to 60 hours and when the candle is all burned up, you can use the pot for plants!  It even has a tray to place under it which doubles as a cover.  Isn't that clever?  If you aren't a plant person or know someone who is and would rather throw it away, you can at least do it with a healthy conscience.  The pot is 100% biodegradable and only takes one year to break down into natural organic fertilizer.  You could even bury it beneath your garden if it beaks :)

     BuyGreen.com also has these candles of the same scents, but slightly smaller.  They burn for about 20-22 hours.     These pots are also biodegradable and turn into organic fertilizer after 1 year.

     But if candles aren't your thing, Buy Green has LOTS of products that might be.  There are so many different things to check out that I couldn't name all the categories in one post.  Some of the main categories are Work, Home, Leisure, and Commercial.    They have things from dresses to toys, furniture to paint.  One of the things that stuck out to me was this emergency radio for camping:

     It has a cell phone charger, AM/FM/NOAA weather radio, flash light, solar power panel and optional self power crank.  It can also be powered by AC outlet or batteries as well.  It's the perfect gift for the camper on your list and there are several emergency radios to choose from on Buy Green's site.  
     Another thing that struck my fancy was this luxe wallet made from reclaimed inner tube rubber and recycled PET lining material.  It has space for everything you could need in your wallet and looks nice too.  

      So if you love to buy green or know someone who loves green things, I recommend checking out BuyGreen.com.  Their products are great quality and Earth-friendly.  They know what Greenies love :)

Are you green?

Except for the product(s) given to me for the purpose of reviewing, I received no compensation for this post. All opinions are 100% my own.