I can't count the number of times I've seen some super cute wall art on Pinterest and been like "Omg! I can totally do that..and $30 later and a whole lot of frustration I have the equivalent of a preschoolers take home art project. While I may have many talents, apparently putting together decent wall art and decor is NOT one of them.
The XO Design, perfect for my bedroom!
So enter Miss Melinda Wood. Melinda owns a fabulous shop on Etsy, which you can find here:Melinda Wood Designs. Melissa has hundreds of fabulous wall art designs and they're all affordable at around $5 per piece of art. She just had a fabulous Black Friday sale in which all of her designs were 70% off. That's less than $2 per piece of wall art.
She has a huge variety of designs, so there is literally something for everyone. My personal favorite is the Love design. All of her designs are printable, so you just print them out and pop them in a cute frame, and tada! You have beautiful wall art that hasn't stressed you out, made you feel like a failure, (thank you for that Pinterest!) and really adds to the overall look of your home.
My favorite! Love!
The moral of today's post is the next time you see that super cute wall art you can totally do yourself, save yourself some money and spare the heart break of another failed Pinterest project and head over to Melinda Wood Designs. I received samples of Melinda's wall art for reviewing purposes. All opinions expressed are my own honest, unbiased opinion.
My husband loves sleeping with a fan on; I’m not sure if it’s
the white noise or the air blowing on him but he’s a bit of a baby when he
doesn’t have a fan and our fan recently broke so I’ve been on the lookout for a
new one for him. I am NOT a huge fan of box fans and I honestly
think most fans are a big eye sore that I would rather not have in my
house.
So, I was super excited when I was given the opportunity to
test the Ozeri Ultra 42 Inch Wind Fan courtesy of the fine folks at Moderna
Housewares. The fan actually showed up as I was leaving for work one day and it
killed me to not be able to open it right away, but you can bet it was the
first thing I did when I got home that night!
The only assembly required for this fan is the base and putting
batteries in the remote. It was really easy
to put together and I had it put together and ready to go in no time.
My absolutely favorite feature of this fan is that it has a
remote. Yes, my fan now has its very own
remote. Not only that, but it has ALL of the functions so you can control it
from across the room just as if you were standing in front of the fan. While I love the remote I’m also really glad
that it has all of the functions on the fan itself because I imagine at some
point my child will inevitably misplace this remote, as she does with every
other remote in our house…..sometimes I think she does it just to mess with me.
Control Panel and
Remote Control!
There are three different speed modes; low, medium, and
high, which is pretty typical of a fan.
But this also has three different modes for breeze patterns. The patterns are normal, nature, and
sleep. The sleep mode is great because
the fan is significantly quieter in sleep mode, which is great for people like
me and my husband. The noise of the fan
can often be a distraction for me if it’s too loud so I like that it can be set
to a quieter mode.
Last but not least, this fan has a timer that you can set in
hour increments up to 12 hours. This is
great as my husband gets up before me, so he can set the timer for 8 hours, it
goes off when he gets up and I don’t have to freeze to death anymore. I also discovered that if the lights on the
LCD display bug you, you can hold down the mode button and it goes into a “moon”
mode and all the lights go off except the moon.
Please feel free to check out my YouTube video to see this awesome fan in action:
I am extremely impressed not only with the quality of this
fan, but the functionality as well. It’s
a beautiful looking fan that doesn’t look like an ugly eyesore in my house and
the different modes and functions make it easy to adjust to suit your personal
needs.
If you’d like to find out more about all of the wonderful
products offered by Moderna Housewares you can check out their Facebook page: Ozeri and their Amazon storefront here: Moderna Housewares Amazon Storefront
I received this product in exchange for my honest, unbiased review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I’ve always kept it pretty simple when it comes to wearing jewelry, but recently I’ve been looking to add to my collection. Nothing fancy, just a little costume jewelry. I always feel just a little bit better about myself when I wear earrings, so I’ve been looking to add some bracelets and other accessories to my very limited collection. I recently stumbled onto an amazing storefront called HelloCrafts on Amazon that specializes in, you guessed it, jewelry! I was able to get into contact with the store owner and after a little discussion; they promptly offered to send me a sample of their jewelry.
I’ve been anxiously awaiting the arrival of my sample jewelry and it actually arrived on my birthday! How excellent is that timing?
The side detailing of the bracelet.
In the package I received one of their customizable snap bracelets, and a set of snap buttons. While I know snap jewelry has been around for a bit, I have never personally owned any so I was intrigued at the idea of trying it out.
The bracelet is beautiful! The designs on the bracelet are just really pretty and they’re pretty intricate. This bracelet currently retails for $6.98 on Amazon and to be honest with the detail and quality put into the design I would expect a much higher price point. The clasp is actually magnetic, which makes it super easy to take on and off. I generally have to ask my husband to close the clasps on bracelets for me, but with this magnetic clasp I can do it myself.
Pretty!!!
Now, let’s get to what makes this bracelet really special. The middle of the bracelet is actually a snap/button and you can buy several different snaps to place in the center to customize the bracelet to match your mood, your outfit, or pretty much anything you want. HelloCrafts has several different snap bundles you can purchase, but the one they sent me was a set of 6 and these snaps currently retails for $7.97 on Amazon. I can use each different snap to create a new look; so I really end up with 6 different bracelet options!
These bracelets and snaps are a great way to customize a unique look to fit your personal style, and it’s really affordable. Not only that but they have an entire line of snap jewelry, including necklaces and earrings and the snaps work on all of the jewelry. So, if you’re looking for a fun and affordable way to expand your jewelry collection go check out the HelloCrafts Storefront!
I’ve written about beauty blenders
before as it is my preferred method for applying my foundation, but I had been
using a cheap blender and I kind of assumed all beauty blenders were the
same. I had previously gotten like a 10
pack of blenders off of Amazon for super cheap and they seemed to work well
enough, so I was happy. Recently I was
given the opportunity to try out the JGOB beauty blender and not only that,
they were willing to let me give one away FREE to one of my readers so I said
heck yes! Sign me up!
JGOB Beauty Blender
So when the JGOB blender arrived I
decided to test it out. It’s a
completely different texture than the beauty blenders I was using. It’s softer and spongier and feels completely
different and since I was so used to my other blenders, I was kind of like Meh,
it’s okay. I’ve actually put off writing
this post because I was a little underwhelmed with the product.
Fast forward to about a week ago
and I was talking to a friend that’s a major makeup guru and we got to talking
about beauty blenders. She happened to have hers with her and showed it to me
and I noticed right away it was the same texture and the JGOB and I told her I
wasn’t a fan. It turns out I’ve been
using this ALL wrong! Now, I know you
need to dampen the blender, but I was apparently not dampening it enough. The other blenders I use don’t change size
regardless of how little or how much water I use, but the JGOB one almost
doubles in size when dampened properly.
Once I actually used the JGOB
blender properly I realized how amazing it is!
It really is a superior blender to the less expensive ones I own. Right now this sponge is currently $11.97 on
Amazon (You can see it here), which is almost half the price of the “original”
beauty blender and my friend confirmed that the JGOB is very similar in quality
and results to her “original” blender. Oh, and the neatest part about this blender is
the little carry case. This is perfect
for trips or when you have to take your makeup on the go. I wouldn’t want to leave my beauty blender
just hanging out in my makeup bag as I’m sure it would collect all kinds of fun
stuff you don’t want putting on your face! This case keeps my blender clean and
protected. Want to see how the JGOB blender in action? Check out my video:
So, on to the fun part. One of my lucky readers will be the lucky
recipient of their very own beauty blender.
Small disclaimer: You will be
given a code to redeem on Amazon and if you are not a member of Amazon Prime
you will be responsible for shipping costs.
If you would like to enter to win,
leave a comment below with your favorite Drugstore Foundation and why you love
it. It wouldn’t hurt to subscribe to my
blog either! This contest begin
September 23, 2015 at 9:00 pm CST and will end September 30, 2015 at 9:00 pm
CST. Be sure to fill out your contact
information when commenting so I can contact the winner!
I received this product for free
from JGOB for reviewing purposes. All
opinions expressed are my own and are in no way influenced by the company.
I have naturally curly
hair, which I love but I’ve always been jealous of those girls with amazing
super straight hair. I’ve used a ton of
different straighteners and hair products, and can’t ever seem to get the same
results. When I was given the
opportunity to test the ISA Professional Straightener I decided to give it a
shot. It’s price point is a little
higher than straighteners I have owned so I was hoping for better results.
My hair BEFORE straightening (don't judge!)
OMG….I love love love
this straightener! Have I mentioned how
much I love it? It is worth every single
penny, and I’ve learned that some things in life are worth paying extra for;
apparently a hair straightener is one of them!
Did you know that the
way you hold your straightener impacts how it works on your hair?? I never knew that! The Isa Straightener is designed so you HAVE
to hold it correctly and the difference is amazing. Not only that, I’ve never been able to
properly “curl” my hair with a straightener and it turns out I was holding it
wrong and with the corrections made I’ve actually been able to curl my hair
with the straightener and it not look awful!
My hair AFTER...isn't it so pretty??
You can set the temperature
anywhere from 175 to 450. My preferred
setting is 430, but I have super thick curly hair, and I can get away with a
much lower temperature on my daughter’s hair.
I love the cord on this
as well, it’s really long so it makes it a lot easier to use when straightening
my daughter’s hair and even my own.
As you can see from my before and after pictures this straightener is the real deal! You can purchase this straightener on Amazon Here. I believe it currently retails for $145.00, but trust me when I say it is well worth it. It also comes with a two year warranty! Check out my video, and go get yourself a straightener that gets the job done!
I was provided this straightener for free in exchange for my honest, unbiased review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I'm a huge fan of crafts and DIY and my daughter ALWAYS wants to help! This is awesome and can make for some really great mommy/daughter time, but sometimes the crafts are a little challenging for her so I like to have her own little crafts for her to work on.
How Freaking adorable is this case?? My daughter is really into drawing and she always has a million different pictures she's drawing and coloring so for me this carry case really serves a two fold purpose. Not only does it come with a ton of cute stickers and fun tape for her to decorate it with and really make it her own; but it's a carry case that she can store all of her pictures in!
This is currently $5.99 on Amazon so it's extremely affordable and to be totally honest I may grab up a few more to get some early Christmas shopping done! This is a great craft project for little girls of any age, and it's really great quality at an affordable price.
I made a short video of the carry case so feel free to watch it if you want to get a closer look at this adorable little case!
I received this product for free in exchange for my honest, unbiased review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
My
daughter has been always been a daddy’s girl, but she’s slowly reaching that
age where her interests are a little more girly and it’s important to me and my
husband that they still maintain a strong bond so I’m always on the look-out
for fun projects for the two of them to do together.
I was
recently given the opportunity to receive The Maker Studio: Gear set and I knew
this would be the perfect activity for them to do together! What is the Maker Studio: Gear Set you
ask?? It’s a fun and unique project in
which you can use gears to make several different projects. With this kit you can make a race car, a
cable car, a motorcycle, a pulley system, and so much more.
The
great thing about projects like this and working with gears is that you have to
think ahead; what’s going to happen if you put this gear here? How will this
gear affect this gear over here? How are the gears going to work together? It’s a really great tool for critical
thinking and developing their skills.
Getting ready to make a pulley system!
I was
really surprised because I assumed the motorcycle would be first on their
agenda, but they went with the pulley system.
They ran into some bumps in the road when making the pulley system,
which was awesome because they had to do some trouble shooting and they worked
together to figure out the problems.
It's almost there!
This
was a great project for them to work on together, and they both really enjoyed
it. They are already discussing ways to
improve their pulley system and once they have mastered that, what they are
going to build next. This is a fantastic
project for family time, and it’s also a great educational tool.
The
Maker Studio also comes in a Propeller set and a Winch set. If you’d like to
know more about The Maker Studio or any of the great products from Think fun,
you can do so here: The Maker Studio
sets are reasonably priced at $19.99 and I’m super thankful to Think Fun for
giving my family the opportunity to test and review this product!
I have to admit that up until recently remembering to take a daily vitamin was a struggle for me. Then I went to the doctor for my yearly check up and she noticed that I had some severe vitamin deficiencies and I had to make the effort to add these vitamins to my daily routine to improve my health. Once I was in the habit of taking daily vitamins I began to wonder what other supplements I could be taking to improve my health. Turmeric Curcumin is a supplement that kept coming up again and again, but I didn't even know what it was, much less what you took it for so I kind of brushed it off. Well, I've suffered from psoriasis for most of my adult life and my mom recently mentioned she's been taking Turmeric Curcumin to help improve her psoriasis. At about the same time I was offered the opportunity by Nature's Daily Care to review their Turmeric Curcumin. Uhmm fate, anyone?? So I have added Turmeric Curcumin to my daily supplement routine for the past month, and I'm really impressed with the results! Not only has it helped improve the appearance of my psoriasis on my elbows, but there are a million different benefits to taking this supplement. I've had issues with join pain and inflammation for most of my adult life, and I've noticed subtle improvements with the use of the Turmeric. I am hoping the longer I use Turmeric, the better and more noticeable the improvements will be. Nature's Daily Cure Turmeric Curcumin is reasonably priced at $24.95 for a 120 count bottle. These have Bioperine in them, which is a must have in any Turmeric supplement as it helps the body absorb the supplement better. These are also Suitable for Vegans, gluten free, GMO free, no fillers binders artificial ingredients, made in FDA and GMP approved facility. This can be purchased here: Turmeric Curcumin through Amazon. I always recommend doing your research before purchasing any supplement, and always consult your doctor.
This post is kind of a continuation of my “what’s
cool to a 9 year old” series….but this is definitely a “something for the whole
family” post too!
My
daughter is absolutely obsessed with Five Night’s at Freddy’s (FNAF. This is a game that’s hugely popular, so
popular they are now coming out with a movie!
She has been dying to get a FNAF t-shirt and with school coming up I
figured I could go ahead and get her one.
Of course you can’t just walk into any store and buy one of these shirts;
they’re definitely a specialty shirt!
I’ve
found an absolutely uhhhh-mazing website to purchase not only her FNAF shirt,
but so many cool shirts for the whole family.
So what is this amazing site? www.publiciteez.com. They have so many amazingly cool shirts I don’t
even know where to start! Ok, I lied I guess let’s start with the FNAF shirt I
bought my daughter. She was so excited
to get it she insisted on making a video so check out her awesomeness here:
I was
really impressed with the quality of the shirt too. The shirt is a nice thick cotton fabric. It’s
not super thin or flimsy. There may be a
little shrinkage, but that’s pretty common with cotton shirts like this so take
that into consideration when ordering. I
was really impressed with the design.
Sometimes you get screen printed shirts like this and the screen
printing isn’t always the best quality and the design only continues to
deteriorate over time. I didn’t notice
any issues with the design on this shirt, and the colors are super bright and
brilliant.
Here are two of my favorite designs:
How cute are these??? They also have an Amazon store which you can find here:
I'd like to think that at 32 I'm still pretty young...but then I talk to my 9 year old daughter and it is CLEAR I have no idea what's considered cool or trendy to kids these days! So, my daughter has been kind enough to share some of the "coolest" things in her world today and I'm going to pass that info on to help other hopelessly uncool parents, like myself over the course of my next few posts!
I'm a full-time working mom and let's face it, sometimes getting dinner on the table can be a struggle, even for the most prepared parent out there. And sometimes you just want a quick and easy dinner.
I was given the opportunity to try the new brick oven pizza by Red Baron through BzzAgent and wow, am I glad I was! Let's face it, what's quicker and easier than a frozen pizza??? The biggest struggle is getting my family all to agree on one brand. I like a thick crust, my husband and daughter don't. Red Baron's new brick oven pizza seems to have solved that problem for us. My husband and daughter will actually eat the crust on this pizza, how awesome is that??
The new brick oven pizza comes in Pepperoni, Meat Trio, Cheese Trio, and Sausage Supreme. Meat trio is mine and my husband's favorite, but my daughter prefers the Pepperoni. The great thing about these pizza's is there's plenty of toppings on the pizza.
You can find out more about Red Baron's new brick oven pizza and all of their other wonderful products at their website www.redbaron.com
I absolutely love organization and
labeling and my new favorite “tool” is chalkboard labels! I was given the opportunity to review the
Firefly Chalkboard labels and I absolutely love them!
Firefly Chalkboard Labels
These
labels are so cute; they come in a pack of 60. There are four different
designs, and you get 10 of the two smaller designs, and 20 each of the two
larger designs. You can use chalk to write on the labels, but I personally
prefer using chalkboard markers. I’ve seen a lot of different chalkboard
labels, but this is definitely a unique design.
There are so many different uses for these labels. I make homemade jam and jelly and these are perfect for labeling those jars. I also like to use them to label leftovers and lunches, this definitely helps keep my refrigerator a little cleaner and more organized!
I've gotten different types of chalkboard labels and a lot of them claim to be re-usable, but once you remove them they never seem to stick quite the same. I've been using these for a few weeks now, and I've been able to re-use them several times without losing their stickiness.
I could
go on and on about how great these labels are, but you can watch my video and
see them in action for yourself.
These
can be purchased here: Firefly Chalkboard Label For $12.99,
which is a great price for these labels!
So, I have to admit I haven't been in a huge fan of the essential oil craze...BUT there are a few out there are worth having around. I was recently given the opportunity to test 2 Lift Care Lemon Essential Oils, and lemon is one of my absolutely favorite scents! I've gotten a few essential oils that just smell gross and like chemicals and just not good. This stuff smells amazing! When I first got it I put a little on my hands and my hands smelled like an actual lemon all day. So why is lemon essential oil so great?? It has a million practical uses. I'm not big into aromatherapy, so while I know it has a lot of good uses for that, that's not really what I use it for. Below are some great practical uses for Essential Oils.
- My number one favorite use for lemon essential oil is in homemade soaps and candles. As I said, I love the smell of lemon and my husband hates artificial scents and this smells so much like real lemons that he doesn't mind. -Disinfectant. Lemon oil is a great disinfectant to keep your kitchen and bathroom germ free and clean! Just add some oil, water, and a little vinegar and you have a great disinfectant. You can also add green tea tree oil if you like. -Laundry. I leave laundry sitting in the washer more than I would like to admit, a few drops of this and re-cycle the load and your clothes will smell amazing! There are a TON of other great uses, but these are my favorite uses. When buying an essential oil you need to ensure you are buying a pure essential oil, which is why I recommend 2 Lift Care Essential Oils. Not only is this a pure essential oil, but it's relatively affordable. You can purchase a 4 oz bottle on Amazon here: 2 Lift Care Lemon Essential Oil for $12.95.
A few months back I went for a regular check up at the doctor’s office and found out I have a severe vitamin D deficiency. It turns out this can really make you feel like crap and it’s essential for your health and well-being you have the proper levels of vitamin D in your body.
I had to take these disgusting wafers every week for about 3 months straight, because apparently you can only get 50,000 mg of Vitamin D3 in those wafers. After the three months I was allowed to go down to a much more reasonable 50,000 IU a month. This is essentially 1600 IU of Vitamin D3 a day. I found that by taking the vitamin D daily, rather than weekly I felt much better.
What’s the point of all of this? I’ve literally found the yummiest way possible to get the vitamin D3 I need! Nutrabear has come out with a Vitamin D2 gummy and each gummy has 800 IU, which means three a day gets me the IU I need. The recommended does is 1-2 a day, but I checked with my doctor and I’m totally good taking the three a day. Here’s the thing…I’ve tried a ton of gummy vitamins because they are way more fun to take than pills, but they always disappoint me. They get hard and they just don’t taste great, so I didn’t have the highest hopes for these.
O.M.G. These gummies are amazing! They are not your typical rubbery gummy texture, I wish I could send you all a gummy so you could see exactly what I mean, but these have a less rubbery texture and they taste delicious! They’re cherry and peach flavored and I’m pretty sure if it wouldn’t make me sick I would eat them all at once!
Both kids and adults can take these, and it’s never a bad idea to ensure your kiddos are getting an adequate amount of vitamin D now!
Seriously, I fully recommend that everyone take a daily Vitamin D3 supplement. The health benefits are amazing, and you will be amazed the difference this small vitamin makes in your daily well- being. And you might as well make it yummy and get yourself some Nutrabear Gummies!
They can be purchased here and they are relatively inexpensive at $9.99 for
I did receive these for free for testing and reviewing purposes, but they have seriously made a customer for life out of me! Have you ever tried a gummy vitamin before? What did you think?
So my husband has always had a sensitivity to fragrances; he gets cluster migraines from most scents so I've just always stayed away from scents and fragrances....because have you ever dealt with a grown man with a migraine?? It's not pleasant. This literally means no perfumes, no air fresheners, nothing. I'd be lying if I said I've never tried to sneak in a scent or two but it's like he has a radar...he can smell an unlit scented candle from the driveway! So to be totally honest, when this whole essential oil thing kicked off I didn't even pay attention for the longest time. Yea, yea, essential oils....just one more thing I can't use! Well, then I was given the opportunity to try out Adovia's Pure Naturals Lavender Essential Oil. I wasn't totally sure what to do with it, but it turns out this product has a TON of great uses! I currently use it in my diffuser and if I use just a few drops I can get away with it, without my husband freaking out about the scent. Of course if you want a stronger scent, you can always add a few more drops. This is also great to add to homemade candles and soaps. I'm waiting for my new soap kit to show up and I can't wait to get some yummy smelling candles I can burn without my husband complaining! I think the reason this doesn't seem to bother him is because this oil is all natural and doesn't have a bunch of artificial scents as that seems to be what triggers his headaches. This bottle is 4 ounces and it comes with the dropper. You can purchase it on Amazon here: Lavender Oil. It's currently $14.99, which is an amazing price for a bottle of this size!!! I received this product for free in exchange for my honest, unbiased review.
A few
months ago my husband was raving about this website he found that helps you
plan a garden and to be totally honest I kind of blew him off. We’ve always talked about starting a garden,
we finally have the space for one, but to be completely honest I had no idea
where to even start. There are so many
different things that go into planning AND planting a garden; what are you
going to plant, when can you plant it, when will it harvest….this can all be
very overwhelming for someone who’s never successfully managed to transition
one of those little “grown an herb in a cup” into a full size plant.
Fast
forward to the beginning of June and I was actually given the opportunity to
get full access to the very same website my husband had been raving about just
a few months ago. Well, how could this
not be fate right?? What’s this wonderful site you ask?? It’s www.growveg.com
and not only is it a website, but there are apps for Android or Apple.
So
what’s so great about this site? It’s perfect for someone like me who literally
wants to run and hide even thinking about all of the many factors in starting a
garden. You can pull up a list of plants
and it will run down for you when these plants can be planted indoors, when
they can be planted outdoors, and when the harvest time is. That’s just the
beginning.
This
program (because really, it’s so much more than a website) will literally help
you plan out your garden to the exact specifics of the space YOU have. My husband has apparently decided we are
going to turn half of our yard into a garden, but with a little help from
GrowVeg, I was able to scale this down to a more reasonable space for beginners
like us. When we decide we are ready to
expand, GrowVeg will be right there to help us do it.
Not
only that, but they actually have links that will take you directly to where
you can buy the seeds for your plants. I personally love this because it makes
it so much easier to just get what you need.
Whenever I’m looking at the seeds at the store I want to buy it ALL and
this will definitely help me resist that temptation.
So do
you want to know the best part of ALL of this??
Not only was I given the amazing opportunity to use this website for
free for the next year, but one of you lucky peeps will get that opportunity as
well! Here’s the deal, I’m going to make
this super easy and if you’d like to be entered to win, leave a comment below
of what you would plant in your garden and you’ll be entered to win! I’m also going to have ways for you to secure
additional entries through Rafflecopter if you’d like, but the only mandatory
entry is the blog comment. In the meantime; head on over to www.growveg.com and sign up for their FREE 30
day trial.
*I was given the opportunity to test and review this site for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.
