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Oliver’s Labels Room-eez #Giveaway
Remember this review back here. This Room-eez removable personalized decorative wall decal made my daughter’s day when we reviewed it on thriftymommastips.com one month ago. She has a unique name and she is a karate ninja girl so let’s just say it’s unusual to find anything personalized that makes sense for Ainsley. Oliver’s Labels Room-eez fit the bill perfectly. They have the cutest personalized growth charts and wall decals and they are super simple to create. When you log in to their site, you get this little popup window that shows you the colors available and the little animated figure or design beneath the name. It uses a girl’s or…
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My #WordlessWednesday Werewolf #Halloween
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Go Big or Go Home – Five Things I Learned from Kate White of Cosmo Fame
Kate White, editor in chief of Cosmopolitan magazine, one of the world’s sexiest women’s magazines for many decades, was one of the greatest highlights of my conference experience and women’s networking sessions this past weekend. White left her position as editor in chief just last month. She has since hit the book tour and speaking circuit with her new book, I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This: Success Secrets Every Gutsy Girl Should Know. This past weekend she gave a keynote address at She’s Connected in Toronto, a conference where brands and bloggers meet. It was, for me, one of the best parts of the She’s Connected experience. I…
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Why the PTPA Seal of Approval is Brandtastic–#PTPAinsider
What’s in a seal? When shopping do you really need to look for awards? Seals? Endorsements? Shouldn’t a toy, or children’s product sell itself? Why do I need to look for awards or reviews or even The Parent Tested Parent Approved seal of approval? Why would a brand want or need to submit their toy to the scrutiny of the PTPA testing panel of parents across North America?To answer this question I took a hard look at how I shop as a parent. From the moment I became a parent 11 years ago I was suddenly a savvier consumer than ever before. I was never more conscious of how important…
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Personalized Christmas Nightlights–Vizardz Review #PTPAinsider
Turn almost any digital picture into an artistic personalized nightlight. Well, what’s cuter than that? I had the chance to order and personalize a Vizardz nightlight for PTPA recently. Vizardz.com makes it easy to upload and order a cute nightlight for your family. I liked the ability to make this nightlight whatever I wanted. That said, the picture specifications are such that not many of my kid’s pictures worked for the shade part of the light. It has to be a horizontal picture for the photo to look its best and I really had only three pictures in all my files available for use. I really had no idea…
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Cooking With Kids: Halloween Recipes and a #giveaway
True story. In university I pretty much existed on Rice Krispies. Rice Krispies treats and cookies were my staple foods and – coffee of course. Canada Dry Gingerale too. I ate them for breakfast, snack, lunch and dinner too. I was poor and I was busy working three jobs and juggling school and studying. Anyways Rice Krispies treats are easy and fun and tasty too. Yesterday when this Halloween kit from Kelloggs arrived, well I knew my kids and I would have fun after school building early Halloween memories and some super fun snacks too. I am almost embarrassed to tell you that despite the fact that I have made these…
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Tips for Creating A Not So Toxic Halloween and DIY Halloween Makeup
The other day my kids, getting in the spirit of Halloween, grabbed a tube of fake blood and bright colored eye makeup when we popped into the dollar store nearby. I have a natural distrust of $1 makeup. So I refuse to buy it. But this year, even more so than others, I have been reading a lot about the toxic nature of some commercial makeups. It’s hard not to be worried when reading about parabens lately in the news. So how can you keep your kids safe and your Halloween from being toxic? Well, I consulted with the Environmental Defence Fund for ideas on how to keep kids safe.…
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Oliver’s Labels Room-eez Review
This is the finished result with Oliver’s Labels Roomeez Personalized Wall decals My child is a funny one. When she was tiny I had an elaborate beautiful hand-painted mural that I had painstakingly drawn all over her walls. There was Arthur and the ABCs and multiple Disney characters and Blue’s Clues ( remember them) and Toy Story Buzz Lightyear and so on. It was Fa-a-a-ncy. But then we realized our daughter had special needs and was having a lot of trouble with sleep. In fact there was a really long time where she never slept day or night (a side effect of sensory processing disorder and the other diagnoses she…
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Mega Bloks Little Princess Collection – review by Brooke Berry
(THIS IS the FIRST POST FROM my new reviewer BROOKE – Please make her feel welcome and leave a comment!) Aren’t little girl parties the most adorable things ever? It just seems like any toy for a girl is cute, sparkly, has a bow, or princess related. Being the mother of 3 boys, I see the cute things my sister in law gets to do with her daughter and it makes me giddy, yet filled with jealousy. Luckily I get to live through her, and do girly things with my niece. This summer brought a fun girl’s princess party. The girls dressed up as princesses and had Tea Time. Later,…
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Wordless Wednesday: Who Is That Girl?
This is my kid. Not a celebrity. Oh I know you thought it was an American Idol candidate or some Next Star wannabe (well, it is actually) but she’s also my kid and apparently she likes hats and hip hop this year. Oy! I get to shop with this styling little thang. I am definitely not ready for this. Wordless Wednesday is a photography meme hosted by several blogs. I like to link up at Tara’s View of the World.