Chalkboard Vinyl Contact Paper #Review #CreateWithKassa

     I am not good at organization.  It's one of my biggest downfalls.  I'm bad at record keeping and list making, calendar keeping, and deadlines.  I'm just not good.  So many times I realize that I st at home while something important was going on that I was supposed to be at, sometimes I realize something is due with only a couple hours to spare, and sometimes I go to cook dinner just to get half way done and fine that a key ingredient has run out and I'd forgotten to grab more.  Anyone else?  I can't be the only one...

     Well luckily on that last one, I have a helper.  It's my new Chalkboard Vinyl Contact Paper form Kassa.  It's easy to install, a breeze to remove, and can help keep track of what groceries we've run out of.  Now, it may not help me remember to pick that item up on my next store run, but I can remember to check the list before starting dinner to make sure my key ingredients aren't on the list of needed items.

       It comes in a pretty thick roll that's actually 6 whole feet across by a foot and a half tall.  That's enough for a good sized chalkboard inside each of my upper cupboards and one for my fridge to boot!  The cupboard boards can help me keep track of easy dinner ideas, like "1 can onion soup, 1 can cream of chicken, meat", or something like that.  By the way, that makes an excellent "stroganoff" sauce when that meat is hamburg.

     It can be used for pretty much anything though.  You can use it for a ton of labels or for the top of a TV tray, the wall of a playroom, etc.  Chalkboard is everywhere right now, you can get away with putting it practically anywhere!

     The paper came with 5 chalks.  I'll be honest and say that two of mine were broken.  I won't use them nearly as often as I will use chalk markers anyway, so that didn't matter much to me.  What I liked was how the inside of the paper has a grid that makes it really easy to cut straight and to the right size.

     To install, you just stick the center of the area to the surface first and then smooth outward toward the edges, getting rid of any bubbles along the way.  The curl of the paper made this part a little hard, but not too bad.  When done right, it comes out nice and smooth.
     I love this paper and I'm glad to have it.  to learn more, check out Kassa 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.

Moldable Plastic Pellets #Review #PollyPlastics

     My family and I are always doing crafts and art.  These past weeks we have been working on a pirate ship board game.  It's going to be an educational game that teaches and also entertains.  I must say, it's coming out pretty awesome.  It has crow's nests and rigging, a cannon, sails, and 2 upper decks... and of course a plank.

     It still has a lot of work left.  I still need to make the came cards and the gold coins.  To be honest, I still have to figure out how it will really be played out.  But i did have some trouble in creating one crucial element, the stairs to go from the lower deck to the upper.

     So I decided to use wooden dowels and wrap them in plastic, then create steps using the wrapping technique as well.  The plastic I used is called Polly Plastics.  It's a moldable plastic pellet kit.  It comes with 10 oz. of white pellets that melt clear and six baggies filled with color pellets that you can use to customize your plastic's color however you wish.

     On my first attempt, I ended up using 1 TBSP white, 10 gold pellets, and 4 black.  This is what it looked like after it sat in hot water for a minute and was played with.  The water has to be really hot.  I used my electric kettle to keep it at a nice temperature.

     It took a little getting used to, trying to find that balance between too soft and too hard and getting the plastic to mold together well.  But after some trial and error it went smoother and I was able to do mostly what I wanted.

     I think this has so much potential.  I'll be using it to create hairdos for my wooden peg people for use in future board games, as well as other cool artworks.  My kids especially loved seeing what you could do.  My favorite part is that you can use and reuse it.
     I would definitely recommend it for any crafty family.  To learn more, check out Polly Plastics 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.

AStorePlus Set of 8 Nail Art Brushes #Review #NailArtBrush

    My sister has found a new hobby,  It's nail art.  Every time I see her she has a new beautiful design on her nails.  Whether it be a new flower print for Spring, fireworks for Independence Day, stitches for Halloween, or some cool geometric design, it's always something new and fun.

    So for Christmas we got her a set of  nail polishes and some nail art brushes to go with them.  This particular set of brushes is found on Amazon for a little over $5.  They comes in eight different different shapes and sizes, including one metal tipped dotting pen.

     The brushes are pretty cute, they are white all over with black swirls wrapping around the handles.  The handles are thick on the base and narrow out toward the tip.  They would fit well in any typical make-up brush bag.

     The brushes are made to make thin designs or cover larger areas, some are made to be more pointed whereas others make more blunt shaped marks.  The dotting pen does just as it sounds like, it creates dots.

      The only thing that I found less than desirable about these brushes was that one of them fell apart when I took the rubber cover off.  So it does make me a little worried that more might break.  I'm sure it would be very easy to fix with some super glue though, and the price is nice.  So that's just one of those things that you have to weigh and decide for yourself if it's worth it.  It's also possible that I got a dud, which can happen with any product you get.

     While I don't necessarily think that this set is anything overly special compared to other sets out there, it is an option and it's not a bad option.  So if you're interested, you can find more info by checking out AStorePlus on Amazon.
     Do you do any nail art?

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.

#SoulArtStudio Acrylic Paint Set of 12 #Review

     My kids love art.  In fact, I'm pretty happy to say that everyone in my family enjoys art.  We enjoy looking at it and making it.  Mostly making it.  We do scrapbooking, sculpting, sewing, drawing, crafting, painting... we just LOVE doing art.  It's who we are.  I'm so glad my kids all have that love.  

     So in our home, I like to try to keep lots of art supplies on hand.  I don;t want the kids' creativeness stifled because they don't have a means to create.  They have things that I never had access to when I was a kid... chalk markers, pastels, canvas, charcoal, paint... things I would have dreamed of having at their age.

     One of Punk's newest supplies is an acrylic paint set by Soul Art Studio.  I feel like she's big enough now to be able to use them without making a big mess.  So she has an easel, a canvas, and paints.  Brushes are kept and given by me when needed.  But she has all the other essentials at her disposal.

     These paints are a perfect size for a beginner artist.  They aren't the full size you'd get if you were used to doing lots of large canvases, but they are quite bigger than other tubes that you get in art sets.  As you can see in the photo above, they are pretty nice sized, more than big enough to create many masterpieces and to get a real feel for how the paints work.

     This set came with 12 colors.  The colors range from primaries to secondaries and even hues that have no real "color".  I honestly would have loved to see a second green in there, a lighter one perhaps.  But the colors that are in it are beautiful when put on paper, or anything else really.

     One thing I did notice is that the white isn't actually white, it's more like a very light grey called "Chinese White".  It helps it to stand out on a white canvas and it's pretty close to white, so when it's in a painting you won't be able to tell it's not white.  I just thought it was interesting.

     We tried this out on cardboard and wooden objects and found that they cover nicely.  They did a good job and not too much was needed. Those streaks you see was due to my terrible choice in brushes.  This is my "Dracula Snowman" that Punk made for me *HEART*
     We enjoyed these and I would get them again if I needed paints.  To learn more, click the link above or check out Soul Art Studio on their website, MyKarmaSoul.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.

10-pack Liquid Chalk Markers #Review #LiquidChalkMarkersUSBilby

Property of ImperfectHomemaking.com

     One of the coolest ways to organize lately is with chalkboard labels.  I see them everywhere.  There's been a boom the last several years of chalkboard related things.  Just search Pinterest with the term "chalkboard" and you'll be bombarded with so many ideas your head will spin.  My favorite?  I personally love the baskets with chalkboard labels.

     Some day very soon my shelves will all be lined with baskets like the ones above.  But I'll be honest here... I LOATHE chalk.  I hate the dust, I hate the smudging, I hate the white chalky crap left behind (yeah, that's right... I like crisp black chalkboards).  I just hate everything about chalk except how writing looks.

     The perfect answer to that?  Chalk Markers!  Yup, chalk.  In marker form.  Washable, dry or wet, so no crappy residue left over to tarnish the beautiful board.  Now, you'll have to forgive me for the less than awesome photos.  My camera has officially (I think) gone to camera heaven.  It won't take even a brand new memory card, nor will either the laptop or my computer.  So cell phone photos will have to do until February when I get my new DSLR.

     Here's what I got and what I did with them.  It's a pack of ten liquid chalk markers in various colors.  I used it to make a lounge sign for my sister's new home for Christmas to go with her café and lounge inspired gift basket.  It's going to have things like a coffee mug, grinder, frother, and of course coffee.  This lounge sign can either be used in her café lounge area or can be wiped away and used for anything she needs it for.

     To start the marker up, you first hold it tip up and press the tip down to release the pressure.  Then you replace the cover and shake well, then hold it tip down and press the tip in a few times to get the liquid flowing.  I found that it worked super well, the marker drew like a paint pen, it was wonderful.  It was very wet, but dried quickly and didn't smudge.

     The colors showed up on the black board very vibrantly and bright.  I was really impressed.  I used mostly white on this sign, but you can see clearly that it colors boldly and beautifully.  I would most definitely recommend these for any kind of chalkboard sign.  It's like chalk, but dust free and crisper.  I love them.

     To learn more, check out U.S. Bilby 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.

#LuluJrDotCom Book Publishing Kit #Review

     One of my favorite parts of being a parent is seeing all the amazing talents that the kids have and what they do with them.  It's mind boggling when you think about it.  As a parent, you may have no talent whatsoever in an area that your child excels in.  Or it could be that you don't really have an interest in it, but your child is obsessed.  For instance, Boogie, although still very young, is super outgoing.  He loves chatting up the ladies at the beach and making friends with all the big boys.  He can play with anyone.  I know this came from his father, but it's crazy to think that MY child is so unlike me that way.  My biggest struggle is a piece of cake to him.

      The kids all mostly take after me.  They all for the most part like to sing, draw, and write.  Maybe that's just a kid thing, but all my kids are creative that way.  It's always been a dream of mine to write a book and I know that my kids as well like to create books.  When I got the My Comic Book Kit from LuLu Jr. I actually intended, selfishly I might add, to use it myself.  My actual main reason for doing so was to prevent arguing because I knew all the kids would want it.  My second reason being that I had a book that I had written years ago that my mother wants me to print for the library the next town over.

     But alas, I've decided that we can all share it and each create a short comic style story and our comic book will just have "chapters".
     So here is how the whole thing works:

     You go to their site and buy one of their story making kits, which I think is pretty inexpensive compared to other things I have seen similar to it, this one is for comics.  Then when you get it in the mail, you follow the directions and fill the templates with your own personal story.  When you are done, you return it in the prepaid envelope and wait.  They will print your book for no extra fee, and ship it back to you.

     I think that's important.  And you will find throughout most of my product testing that I really do put an emphasis on how much things cost and whether there are hidden charges.  It's important to me because I don't have money to blow, so I want to be sure that I'm not being duped into spending money that I don't have.  But with Lulu Jr, the printing of the book is paid for when you purchase the kit.  You don't have to worry about buying it for your kids just to take so long saving the money for it to be printed that it gets ruined or lost in the meantime.  You can ship it the same day it's finished, just shove it in your mailbox and lift the flag!

     The kit itself contains everything you need.  It has all the typical things that you would think it would have.  It has paper and markers, pen, pencil, sharpener and eraser.  But it also has something pretty cool.  It has a booklet, much like the one that you would receive back, filled with all kinds of info and ideas to get you started.  The color, inside and out, is very nice and you can tell that a comic book made by your kids would look pretty fabulous printed up that way.

     The book takes you through all kind of different artwork types, panel types, ways to show time change or location change and also how to make certain bubbles or icons depict different types of communication or actions.  I think this guiding process is a pretty nice encouragement for kids who aren't sure what to do or where to go next.  It definitely helped me when I was trying to figure out how to do the panels.
     I love this whole thing, from the kit to the outcome, it's a super cute gift idea for any young writer.  I'll definitely be keeping it in mind for future birthdays and Christmases.  What do you think?  Anyone in your family dream of being a writer?
     To learn more, check out Lulu Jr on Facebook, Twitter, and on their website.

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.