Turn your pet into a work of art! Crown & Paw Review.

 

We are a family that loves to decorate our home with all the things we love from collectables to large photo frames filled with loving memories. It is always fun to add something new to our walls, and when I spotted the canvas prints by a company called Crown And Paw, I knew that they would fit in perfectly. Crown And Paw doesn't sell any ordinary canvas prints, what they sell is a product that is whimsical, amusing and a fun change from a normal photo put onto a canvas. They will take a photo of just your pet or your pet and humans and turn them into works of art. What do I mean by that? See the photo below and you'll know exactly what I mean. 

If you've ever seen one of those paintings of cats and dogs as renaissance characters and thought about how funny it would be to see your pet in one, now you can at an affordable price! They used to sell pet only prints, however they recently started allowing customers to include themselves in the photo with their pets as well. To help promote this new addition I was asked to do a combo canvas for my review.

I knew I wanted our cat Aleistar in it as a fun gift surprise for my husband and when they asked me to include at least one person with him, I wasn't sure who to pick. After a bit of back and forth, and talking with my kids we came to the conclusion that it would be fun to have them as the Three Musketeers. We spent some time looking through photos to find photographs where their faces were clear and would work well with the photo. We ended up going with slightly older photos of the kids, but we are happy with how everything came out. 

We received a 8x10 canvas of our creation and it is quite well made, I've bought a few canvas prints in the past and they've always come with a open back to where the frame sits on the nail or tacks you hang it up with. This canvas has a closed back, they've added a nice thick backing with a hanger on the back. It feels pretty durable while still remaining light weight and the colors are bold, beautiful and rich on the canvas itself. I think the digital artist working on the print did a good job with blending the images a bit to make it look more natural vs being able to see that it is clearly photoshopped. Depending on the number of pets/people in the print they start at $60 and go up from there, they offer discounts during different occasions so keep an eye out.

If you aren't a big fan of canvas prints, they can also print these images on a number of other products including phone cases, blankets and more. There is something for everyone on your shopping list.

Do you have a pet you would get turned into a work of art? Leave a comment below telling me what kind of pets you have, and what kind of outfit or character you'd love to see them as. 

Disclaimer- Crown And Paw provided a box for the review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.

August Ipsy Review!

Earlier in the month I went to my Ipsy account to fix something and ended up seeing a little sneak peek at my August Ipsy bag. Normally I don't like looking at the spoilers before it arrives so that it is a complete surprise aside from the one item they allow you to select. I was pretty excited seeing the spoiler for this month though because everything in the bag is something that looked/sounded like something I wanted to try out.

The bag this month is a faux leather with a snap closure, I like this style of bag instead of the normal zippered bag they send, it was a nice change to receive. I will still say though that I wish those who get Ipsy bags often could have an option to opt for an additional sample sized product or something else instead of a bag every month. Simply because you end up with a hoard of them that you usually don't end up using, I like Ipsy for the chance to try out new products or find new products I might not know about. 

My choice for this month was the TONYMOLY moisture boost cooling marine concentrate serum. I mainly wanted it because the tube is really cute with the little whale, but it also sounds like it might be a helpful serum. 

I have a lot of brushes, more than I probably should have, but I always enjoy getting more and this F.A.R.A.H concealer brush is soft and seems like it will be a good brush to add to my collection. I may need to get a second glass jar for my brushes though, my other one is getting a little stuffed. 

Similar to my brushes, I also have a few mascaras that I currently rotate through depending on how much thickness I want to add to my lashes. A percentage of the mascaras I received in these bags go towards my monthly giveaways instead of being used, but this one seems interesting and I've liked one or two PUR products in the past so I am going to give this one a try. 

Marc Anthony super fast strength leave-in conditioner. This is meant to help with split ends and frizz which is nice to apply to your hair prior to brushing it (or after to get the frizz to go away) to help you get a more polished look. My daughter and I use products like this often so between the two of us this will be completely used up. 

111SKIN nocturnal recovery cream. I have noticed recently that I've slowly started getting those "crow feet"/"smile line" spots next to my eyes when I smile really big so I've started making sure to focus on skincare in the area and over all have been trying to get better with my skincare routine. I like the description of this they provided on the included pamphlet so I look forward to using it. 

This is the first time in a while where I am keeping everything in the bag, minus the bag itself so I am pretty happy this month! As I always say though, even if I don't like something in the bag because it is something I won't use it gets put into my gift/giveaway stash so someone still gets to use it and it doesn't go to waste. They recently sent a message saying the subscription is going up to $13 a month, which all in all isn't too bad, it will make it to where the samples and bag come out to about $2.16 each. That price is a steal compared to how much places like Sephora and Ulta charge for similar sized travel products in store. 

Do you subscribe to any beauty or skincare subscription boxes? Which one is your favorite?

Spooky Goods from Creepy Crate!

Do you love Halloween and all things spooky? Enjoy watching horror movies and reading about cold cases and unsolved mysteries? The Creepy Crate Subscription box is perfect for you. I love all of these things too and the Creepy Crate offers all of this rolled up an exciting subscription box that ships out quarterly. Each box comes with one book along with several other goodies that can range from pins to house hold collectables. 

This crate is a great way to find new and interesting books, along with receiving some fun items from your favorite films along with learning about new horror films you may not know about. You can purchase a three box subscription for $120 or a Six box Subscription for $240. If you prefer to receive one box at a time they can be purchased for $40. The average retail value for each box they put together is $90, every box comes with a guarantee of getting one book plus 4-5 other goodies with it. (One of the items from this box is missing from the photo above).

The book included in the crate this time around is a hard copy of "The Case of the Murderous Dr Cream" or you could have received the other book of the month "The Murders That Made Us". Here is a short summary about the book; "The chilling true crime story of the Victorian era’s deadliest doctor “When a doctor does go wrong, he is the first of criminals,” Sherlock Holmes observed during one of his most puzzling murder investigations". Subscribers also received an email with a code to redeem a E-copy of the book "The Wanting".

One of my favorite goodies included in these boxes are the collectable pins! I have a small collection of pins I've been meaning to put on a cork board I have and I love getting new pins that suit my interests and likes. The pin included in this crate is inspired by the movie "Saw" which is a movie series I do enjoy and we usually watch them all during October. 

Next up is a set of slasher playing cards. I like the font and kind of messy ink design they went with for the cards and I look forward to using these for our next game of cards. It is always nice to have an extra set on hand for camping trips and car trips for when we get bored. 

This Good Guy Chucky Beach Ball will be fun to play with in the pool and toss around the yard with the kids. He almost looks sweet in this photo, but we all know he is anything but. The beach ball is a nice size and I like the sharp design they went with for his photo along with the colors of the beach ball. It was easy to fill with air and so far it seems like it will least at least a few summers. 

I am not going to lie this is one that I didn't recognize right away. It is a Camp Arawak draw string bag, I had to look it up and found it was from the 1983 film Sleepaway Camp. This movie came out several years before I was born, and I have never seen it or heard of it so this gives me an opportunity to find a new movie that I may add to my collection. 

Last but not least is this "Pieces" jigsaw puzzle that was included in the box. Due to the shape of the tube it had rolled off of my bed when I was taking photos and I didn't notice. The puzzle pieces are pretty small, but it seems like it would be a fun puzzle to put together. 

Depending on your personal preferences of what you like getting in mystery boxes the Creepy Crate may be a hit or miss for you if you aren't into knick knacks and collectables. I personally think the crates are a lot of fun to receive, they add a little bit of Halloween to my life through out the year. Being my favorite holiday I am always happy to get something spooky in the off seasons. If I do receive something I won't keep I have plenty of spooky lovers that I know and can pass the items onto so it is a win win for me. 

Disclaimer- Creepy Crate provided a box for the review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.

Engage your child's mind and imagination with a subscription to Womple Box!

 

Whether you are an adult or a child getting a subscription box is always a lot of fun. I enjoy finding new subscription boxes that my children will enjoy. My favorite type of box to find are boxes that are not only fun, but are educational as well, so I was pretty happy when I found Womple Studios. Their boxes are driven using a story & STEAM based theme aiming to engage your child's imagination/brain while having fun. At the moment they have their regular Womple subscription box for ages 6-11 which runs for $29.99 a month, however like most subscriptions if you subscribe for a longer period of time you'll get a better rate for your boxes. Coming soon they will be offering a "Dino Box" for ages 3-5, which is pretty exciting for anyone with small children! They also offer camp in a box which is three boxes in one, they currently have three different options to choose from, plus other fun goodies that can be purchased along side or separate from a subscription. 

What is included in their boxes? Every box will come with a illustrated early-reader chapter book featuring their cute mascot Womple, two different hands-on STEAM projects, a fold-out map and country guide, a pen-pal bundle and a souvenir. 

The pen-pal goodies made my son happy because during covid a classmate of his became pen-pals with him and they like sending letters to each other, this will be a fun way to add another level of topics to talk about.

Our box was themed "Mexico" and was a lot of fun for my son to complete. The projects included was painting and putting together a working clock and growing our own crystals. My son started making the clock as soon as he pulled everything out of the box, he enjoyed painting them and looking at how they have the time marked. It was easy to put together, put complex enough that it wasn't a project that was picked up and put down just a moment later. He had fun painting each of the times and decorating the legs.

The crystals say an adults help is suggested, however my son was able to (and wanted to) do it on his own and was excited to see the end results. I was surprised the crystals climbed all the way up the side of the bottom and to the top on their own (we had it sitting on top of a shelf in our kitchen until it was ready). The crystals turned out really well, we all love how there are larger crystals in the bottom of the jar and smaller crystals higher up near the lid of the jar, the blue color is also quite nice. 

This kit also came with a keychain that looked like a Jaguar, I currently do not have a photo of it. My son clipped it to his backpack, took it to school and now we can't find it. However you can see what it looks like over on my unboxing reel on Instagram. 

We thought this box was entertaining, educational and put together with care. The kids enjoyed the book, stickers and looking at the map. I like that it is a mixture of activities you can complete and physical items like that book that you can keep to look back on or add to an adventure collection. This is a fantastic way to learn about new spots around the world while getting hands-on with your child (or letting them get hands-on with the box themselves). If you are looking for a great birthday or holiday gift, heck really an any time surprise gift for your child. 

Disclaimer-  WompleStudios provided the products mentioned above for the review  free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchasing the product.

A review of the collagenic burn pills from Obvi.

Being someone who wants to get into better shape, but lacks motivation to work out I thought it would be interesting to test out these Obvi. collagenic burn pills I've seen plenty of ads on facebook for. Luckily the company agreed to send out a jar for me to test out for a review. They also agreed to let me try them out for 1-2 weeks before posting the review so I can see a slightly longer affect of the pills vs taking them for just three days and putting up a review. Here is how my experience went:

Each container has 120 capsules which is a thirty day supply. You will take a total of four pills a day, two in the morning and two in the evening, the pills are slightly large so I recommend taking them with something to drink. I prefer to take mine one at a time to make it a little easier. It is a weird thing to say about pills, but these smell good! They smell like pink lemonade to me, they also slightly taste like it, however that could just be my nose tricking my brain.

Have I noticed any weight loss? At the moment no, but I do not blame that on the pills. I need to get back into my workout routine that I let fall off track. Energy wise, half of the time I am a giant ball of energy, I like to sing and dance around my house and other days I am just tired from work and don't want to do anything aside from being a sloth on the sofa. These collagenic pills help balance out those energy levels, I am still a ball of energy most days but even on the days I would normally be a bit off from work I still have quite a bit of energy. I also noticed that I had an over all feeling of just feeling better.

It is nice because it helps prevent me from feeling burnt out if I had a more active week at work running around the building. Feeling better energy and body wise is also a great mood booster, I felt refreshed, energized and lighter due to the boost in energy and mood.

These are also meant to help improve your hair, skin and nails. During the time I was taking them, I was growing my nails out a bit and they've been doing pretty good so far. I also noticed a small improvement in my skin which is always an added plus, because everyone wants to look their best. I look forward to finishing the rest of this jar and seeing how I feel at the end of the month using them. 

It has five different types of collagen meant to help different aspects of your body, the different types are listed above in the ingredients list.  All of the ingredients used are natural, however I would check the ingredients list because this contains  a few items people are typically allergic to such as fish & egg.

There is also caffeine in the pills, I haven't noticed any jitters from the caffeine in these even if I have actual coffee during the day.

You can purchase a jar for $34.99 on their website, along with other great products including snacks and drinks. 

Disclaimer-  Obvi provided the products mentioned above for the review  free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchasing the product.

HGUSA Bedtime Ritual Set for kids Review + Giveaway!

Normally when I post a new review or giveaway with Horizon Group USA, It is a feature for one of their craft sets, but did you know they sell other products as well? Today I am going to be sharing a product from their "Just My Style" line. My daughter received the Bedtime Ritual set to test out, plus we received an extra one to giveaway as part of their Giveaway Guru program I am part of. 

This set includes the following products:

💜 Cute Pink Face Mask
💜 Silky Smooth Scrunchie
💜 Body Cream
💜 Paper Origami Strips + Instructions 
💜 Snoozin Pillow Mist
💜 Skin Salve 

Everything in the kit came in calming pastel colors that will help you unwind at the end of the night. The pillow mist is in a lavender scent which is meant to be a relaxing scent used to calm your mind and help you fall asleep easier, I actually used to use a lavender scented baby wash on her when she was little that helped. Unfortunately, we didn't quite like the scent of the spray in this set so I don't see us using that particular item. 

Both the body cream and salve had a good consistency and texture to it that helps leave your skin feeling refreshed and smooth. Investing into keeping your skin looking its best and preventing it from becoming too dry is always worth while, so this is a great way to get your children into the habit early on. The jars were easy for my daughter to open and they are small enough they can be stored on her bedside table without taking up a ton of room. 

The sleep mask fits comfortably without pulling any hair or being too tight around the head, it is soft and will help keep extra light out giving you a better nights sleep. We also both thought the hair scrunchie was cute, the silk fabric is better for your hair than sleeping with a normal headband in because it helps prevent your hair from breaking or damage from being in a tight bundle for too long. It will also slide off easier when you are ready to remove your bun vs having a chance of your chair being caught around the hair tie. My daughter was already a fan of origami and has made quite a few different shapes and animals, but she hasn't tried to make these little 3D stars before so it was exciting for her to have a new design to learn. 

Overall for the $16.99 this kit sells for on Amazon (You can also find their sets at big box retailers) it is pretty decent especially as a gift for a birthday or holiday.  

 Prize Alert:  One winner is going to win their own bedtime ritual set.

This is open to U.S Residents ! Please remember if you DO NOT leave a comment on this blog post as your mandatory entry into the giveaway then all of your entries will be void. Doing the Daily entries will increase your chance of winning. Winners have 72 hours to respond to the notification email! 

This giveaway ends on 08/30/2021

Giveaway entry question: Leave me a blog comment letting me one thing you make sure to do every night before bed. - For us I always have the kids floss, brush their teeth and wash their face before laying down for the night.

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Disclaimer-  Horizon Group USA provided me with the products mentioned above for the review + giveaway free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.

August Beauty & The Book Giveaway!

 

How is it August already? The first few months of the year always seem to drag by so slowly, then Bam! It is almost the end of the year before you even know it. This summer the weather was half and half, it was extremely hot half of the summer and stormy/raining the rest of it which helped balance out the weather a bit. The kids are headed back to school, and you can feel that fall/winter is slowly headed towards us with how much longer it stays dark in the mornings. And of course, a new month means a new Beauty & The Book Giveaway.

This month things will work a little differently than they normally do. I usually pre-select a book and a small collection of beauty items which are either just fun items put together or based off of a theme like "My favorite things" that I did during my birthday month. After a poll I did on my Instagram stories this month will be a pick/pack your own giveaway. 

How does it work? The winner will get to select which one of the makeup bags shown they would like, then provide me with a list of six products from the collection shown to pack their bag with along with receiving a new book to read. So basically you are getting your own custom selected Ipsy bag 😊

The book for this month is called Fortune's Blight:

There are six different makeup bags to select from which range in size, color and materials. They are shown below:

Your options are: 1. Gray/White/Pink Marble 2. "Stay Golden" gold bag with sun zipper 3. Ipsy summer fun bag with rainbow zipper 4. Clear bag that says "Dream" and has a light blue ring zipper 5. Tic Tac Toe Valentines bag 6. Small Rainbow bag

And the collection of goodies you have to select from are as follows.

1. Ioni 3d faux mink lashes
2. The Porefessional hydrate primer sample
3. Clean & Clear lemon zesty scrub travel size
4. Aloe Vera Extract face wipes
5. Seraphine Botanicals Berry + Juice lip gel
6. Freeman peel-off gel mask in Pomegranate 
7. Shades by Shan golden highlighter
8. InStudio single shadow in "heat" (orange)
9. Tarte Big Ego Mascara sample
10. Phase Zero cotton candy blusher
11. p/y/t beauty day-to-night eye shadow quad 
12. Wet n Wild lip balm in "Play"
13. Neutrogena hydro boosting gel mask
14. L.A Colors tattoo stamp pen in a moon shape
15. Kat Von D cake pencil eyeliner in trooper black
16. SpaLife cherry face mask
17. Context nude balm
18. Glow! Green nail polish
19. NYX lip stick travel size in "Monte Carlo"

This is a great way to try out some new brands and maybe find a new favorite or two, or you can just pick the brands you already love! Either way it is completely up to you. 

This is open World Wide! Please remember if you DO NOT leave a comment on this blog post as your mandatory entry into the giveaway then all of your entries will be void. Doing the Daily entries will increase your chance of winning. Winners have 72 hours to respond to the notification email! This giveaway is hosted by ME.

This giveaway ends on 07/30/2021

Giveaway entry question: Leave a comment telling me know which bag shown above you have your eye on! 

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Tie-dying with Horizon Group USA! + A Giveaway

 

Summer might be coming to an end and the kids are headed back from school, but that doesn't mean that we are done doing fun summer crafts together! In my summer Giveaway Guru box from Horizon Group USA they sent me one of their large Tie-dye kit from their Just My Style line. It can be purchased from Amazon for $12.99 or it can be picked up at stores such as Walmart and Target.

This colorful set comes with eight different colors, several sets of gloves, rubber bands and instructions. My kids made tie-dye shirts for themselves during the holiday season last year, so this time around we decided on creating some cute shirts for my niece and nephews.  

Following the suggestions and instructions included in the box I went out and picked up some white cotton shirts, a cotton onesie and socks to use. The kids were excited to help me make these surprise gifts and we got to work after getting home from the store. We have a box of gloves here at home already so we used the gloves we have and saved the gloves in this set to use for another time. 

The bottles arrive with colored powder in them so you'll need to add warm water to the bottles and use them within 45 minutes of mixing them up. The process was easy and went by quickly, we didn't have any issues with the lids not closing all the way or any leakage. The tie-dye can stain certain surfaces so you may want to do this project outside, we used our kitchen sink since it is stainless steel. 

The colors looked quite bright and vibrant on the clothing so we we couldn't wait to see how they turned out. It says to leave them be until they are dry to the touch, you can leave them in a zip-block or plastic bag to dry. Once they were dry we finished following the instructions for finishing the process which includes putting them through a short wash/dry. 

I didn't add any laundry soap to the washer, I just popped the clothing in on a delicate load in the washer and put them on delicate in the dryer as well. When we pulled everything out it wasn't nearly as bright as we thought they would be and the color came completely out of the socks. They still look great, just not as bright as we had hoped so I am not sure if the dye just didn't take or if we did something wrong in the steps. I think the girls shirt/onesie looks better with the blue and purples than the green and blue combo. Either way we had a great time with the kid and have some cute clothing from our activity. 

Prize Alert:  One winner is going to win their own tie-dye kit!

This is open to U.S Residents ! Please remember if you DO NOT leave a comment on this blog post as your mandatory entry into the giveaway then all of your entries will be void. Doing the Daily entries will increase your chance of winning. Winners have 72 hours to respond to the notification email! 

This giveaway ends on 07/27/2021

Giveaway entry question: Leave me a blog comment letting me one thing you'd like to make with this kit.

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Disclaimer-  Horizon Group USA provided me with the products mentioned above for the review + giveaway free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.

4Lovebirds Date Night In-A-Box Review!

 

I am always on the look out for fun date night ideas for my husband and I, so when I ran across 4LoveBirds and the Date night in a box sets they sell it was something that immediately sparked my interest. They sell five different boxes which can make a fun and exciting date night in, or even a date night out depending on how you set everything up. 

We received one of their Paint date night for two boxes which comes with 2 sets of brushes, 2 blank canvas, 2 paint palettes, a pack of 100 conversation starts, 2 small wooden hearts, a set of paints and a copy of what you'll be painting together. The only thing I would add to the box is a small empty container to hold water to clean your brushes, just in case the couple wanted to take the date night box to a park or their favorite spot to paint instead of at home. 

We decided to do our date night at home, we enjoyed some pizza and watched a show then I got everything set up in the kitchen so we could enjoy our paint box. I made a tiny error and ended up separating the paint into the two palettes, then realized we were going to need them for mixing colors to make others! It all worked out alright though so it didn't make an impact on our paintings. 

After getting everything set up, making drinks, and grabbing some dessert we put on some music we enjoy and sat down to start painting. The painting is yours to create however you'd like, it doesn't have to match the print they provide 100%, we had thought about each of us painting half of it so we could hang them next to each other to complete the picture but we ended up just painting it how it was in the box. 

The paint was a tad bit watery so we had to apply more than one layer to some spots, however it did make it easier to blend that background together. As you can see we each had a slightly different way we did our backgrounds, neither of us are professional painters and we were both honestly pretty nervous that our paintings would end up looking terrible since we aren't super artistic. 

It was pretty calming just sitting and painting while chatting and listening to music. We actually ended up putting the conversation starters away, there are a lot of great cards and questions in the box, but we feel like the set would be a little better for couples who might not know each other was well. We were enjoying the activity enough that we actually ended up losing track of time, so I can't give an honest answer to how long it took to paint, I would guess an hour maybe a little longer (depending on if you need to take a bathroom break, or get a drink refill). 

Our end result actually surprised us both, some aspects of the paintings might be a little wonky in spots, though we still thought we did better than expected. After we were finished we both agreed that the part we were most worried about painting were the birds, I wasn't sure how they were going to turn out and he wasn't sure either. Looking at our end results my husband had mentioned he thought mine looked more "Disney" and his looked "Tim Burton" inspired, I agree and I love how they both look. They are currently sitting near my shelf where I have all of my Stitch collection.

If painting isn't your thing they also have a game night and massage night sets (plus two other painting sets) for your to purchase, the price varies from $27-$43. My husband and I both agree it would be fun for them to offer family paint sets as well, this is something we'd love to do again both by ourselves and with our children. 

Disclaimer-  4LoveBirds provided the products mentioned above for the review  free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchasing the product.