Lovepop Review & Giveaway!

 

It is easy to pop onto facebook & wish someone a Happy Birthday, but it is still a lot of fun to send and receive physical mail. Depending on whose birthday it is & how far they live from me, I may mail them a card or give them one in person when we get together to celebrate their birthday (or holidays).  I recently received a bundle of awesome cards from Lovepop cards. Lovepop sells a wide range of cards that have pop ups inside or physical products that can be removed from the card once open and they sell cards for every occasion. I received several cards to keep for review & a handful of cards to give to one of you! 

I let them know a list of occasions we celebrate & what some of our likes are and they sent me an assortment of cards based off of that. I love all of the cards they sent, so it is hard to choose a favorite, but I already know who some of the cards will go to once the time comes & I look forward to seeing their face once they receive it.  

If you know someone who likes suncatchers, they have some fun cards that have small stunning suncatchers that can be removed & hung up on a window or wall. The suncatcher itself feels like it is made out of a thin yet durable plastic which catches the light just right. At the moment they have five different suncatcher cards, they cost $13 each. The suncatcher above is from the "Thinking of you" hummingbird suncatcher card. 

There are so many birthday cards to choose from it might be hard to narrow your options down to just one that you want to buy! I received a Capybara pop-up card, A Pizza Love pop-up card, and A woodland birthday party pop-up card. All three have a fun scene that unfolds when you open up the card & all the cards have a pull out paper on the side where you can write your greetings. 

I also received some fun Halloween themed cards, one of which has a large wreath in it, plus the two cards shown above. One has an adorable pair of ghosts and I love the design on the inside of the card as well, and the other has a Halloween town that expands out so you can use it as décor in your home. There was also a pack of really neat 3D dragonflies included in the bundle, I put one together and used a magnet to add it to my fridge. All of the cards are well made & seem quite sturdy to allow you to open them over and over again while enjoying the surprise inside. I also like that the cards are affordable and fun. When I need fun & interactive cards in the future that also double as part of the gift, I will 100% be shopping Lovepop. 

💜 GIVEAWAY 💜

One lucky winner is going to a win all of the cards shown in the photo above. 

This is open to US 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 is hosted by ME.

This giveaway ends on 07/12/2024

Giveaway entry question: Leave a comment letting me know which card shown above is your favorite, or let me know another from the Lovepop website you'd love to have. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

** Note: With Rafflecopter it is easiest to log in using the Name + Email method as the facebook log in doesn't work from time to time.

Disclaimer- The products mentioned above were provided by LovePop 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.

Build a wooden Gingerbread house!

 

Building a Gingerbread house can be a lot of fun, but they typically won't last that long so if you are looking for something to build with your kids that you can hold onto as a decoration for years to come why not build a wooden gingerbread house? Made by Me! has a build & paint your own gingerbread house kit which sells for $19.99 on amazon. 

When purchasing this kit I would also pick up an extra bottle of glue & a extra bottle of brown paint as there isn't enough of either in this kit otherwise we are quite happy with everything included. It comes with instructions on how to build the house, a little bit of glue, some paint, a paint brush, lots of pompoms & glittery stickers that look snow covered to put into your house plus the wood pieces to build it of course. 

The great thing about this kit is that it can be done alone or the whole family can participate by decorating different parts of the house. Your work station will get a little messy but it is no where near how much of a mess we usually make with the candy version of the gingerbread house, plus the walls held together much better & we didn't have to worry about gum drops falling off. 

I think this turned out pretty cute & there are still a few things my son would like to add to this to give it some extra holiday magic. I love that we can keep this for years to come & maybe even include in a Christmas village type set up. I am happy with the amount of time the craft takes up & the materials provided, for $20 this is a fun and worth while kit to pick up as a last minute Christmas craft or to hold onto to do next year.

Disclaimer-  Horizon Group USA provided me with 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 purchase. 

The Immersive Nutcracker event!

 

It is always nice to get out of the house & be able to do a family event together as a family. New to Arizona this year is the Immersive Nutcracker being hosted at the Lighthouse Artspace Phoenix located in Scottsdale at 4301 N Scottsdale Road Scottsdale, Arizona 85251. The lighthouse does not have it's own designated parking so you will need to park at the parking garage up the street or find an open street parking spot, during the time we went we were lucky & found a parking spot just one street over so we had a short three minute walk to get to where we needed to be. 

When purchasing a ticket you will need to select a time slot you'd like to visit, we selected the 4:30pm time as I felt like it wouldn't be quite as busy during that time. Tickets are $29.99 each or if you buy the Family pack it lowers it slightly to $26.99 per person for a total of $107.96 for a family of four, it includes admission + a small gift. 

Okay, so now that I have the information about the event out of the way now comes the part which is always a little awkward when a review isn't always a hundred percent positive. But, that is the whole point of reading a review, to read the good & the bad to make a decision on whether you want to purchase a product or attend an event. While this was a neat short experience to see, is it worth thirty dollars a person to see it? In our opinion, no it should be at a lower price point. They had a few cute photo opportunities set up that you could stop & take photos at including one that had a life sized nutcracker you could take a photo with then you walked into the main exhibit. There were two large rooms that had projectors on the walls & floor, the floor projectors played things like gems, snowflakes and lights to match the mini Nutcracker movie being played on the walls. The movie was about twenty minutes long then it went to a few winter scenes, in total we were there about half an hour so roughly it came out to a dollar per minute per person to be there. 

We stuck around for a little bit to see what else might pop up on the projectors, but not much seemed to be happening. Exiting the exhibit takes you into the gift shop then the exit to head back to your car. I saw a few people enter & then exit without spending more than five minutes watching the projectors so it felt like we weren't the only ones who weren't sure what to expect. It was fun for some of the smaller kids, as they were able to run around and chase the projections on the floors and it was calming sitting there for the twenty minutes watching the nutcracker on the large walls, however I feel like it might be better suited to be closer to ten dollars a person than thirty, we were never offered the "small gift" either so I can not comment on what the admission was supposed to come with. There are thirteen different cities across the nation so each one may have different photo opportunities & be set up slightly different than the one here in Scottsdale. Keep in mind this is just our opinion, you could end up enjoying it significantly more.

If you are looking for other fun events to attend for the holidays or in general in Arizona check out my "Things to do in Arizona" section which features delicious spots to eat & events like the Phoenix Zoo Lights, Sugar Rush the drive thru holiday light event and more. 

Disclaimer- US Family Guide along side The Immersive Nutcracker provided tickets to the event 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.

Lights of the World at the AZ State Fair grounds!

Don't miss Lights of the World, the largest light and lantern show in North America! "5 over-the-top Christmas lights from across the U.S." - USA Today The largest lights and lantern festival in North America will be brightening Phoenix's skies from November 22, 2019 - January 12, 2020 at the Arizona State Fair. Lights of the World is back for a third year. Combining the age-old tradition of paper lanterns with cutting-edge technology, the Lights of the World lantern displays extend from 18 to 60 feet, amounting to over 10 million colorful lights, and showcase features of different cultures and civilizations around the globe.

With over 65 stunning displays, Lights of the World promises an unforgettable exploration of global cultures and cuisine. Lights of the World also possesses a litany of other entertainment features: as visitors walk through, they'll encounter a world of surprises, including friendly, life-like dinosaurs, daily free performances showcasing acrobatics, the Puppetone Rockers or a sea lion show. Artisans will also be on site, creating unique, handmade art to commemorate the celebration.

For more information visit www.lightsoftheworldus.com

**This is not a paid post, this is being posted for a shot at getting tickets to this event.**

This year let Santa send the letter to your child!

**This was not a paid post. My honest opinions were used, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. The products mentioned below have been provided by Package From Santa for the review free of charge.**

Christmas is coming up which means that it is time for holiday lights, gift shopping, decorating and writing letters to Santa. This year not only can you have your kids fill out a letter to Santa, you can have Santa send a letter to your child! Or make it even better by upgrading to a Package from Santa that includes a cookie and more. Ordering is a breeze that only takes a few minutes, and those few minutes will make it to where your child will have a memory for a life time. The cheapest option is Gold which is $14.95, followed by Silver which is $24.95 and then there is the big package which is Platinum and it is $74.95. For a review I received a Silver package which includes a letter from Santa, a nice list certificate, a photo of Santa plus a flight plan photo. All of that sounds great right? Well it also comes with a bonus call and personal video from Santa.



Since I have two kids and we were only getting one package for review I personalized the papers to include both of their names. When picking out your letter you can choose a pre-written letter and just fill in the blank spots or you can type out your own letter. Since all of the letters only have space for one child's name, I used the "write your own" option but still used most of one of their pre-written letters, the process only took about three minutes. Next you can fill out the name for the nice list + Santa's flight plan and you are able to add a photo.




The only paper that didn't print out right was the Nice List Certificate which you can see above, it only printed one name then has some gibberish. With the flight plan photo I went with a photo of us goofing around with snapchat filters because my kids love when we mess around with the filters together and I was right the kids loved the photo on the flight plan. Everything arrived in a cute envelope with a Christmas scenery and a North Pole stamp in the corner, the package arrived quickly and in good shape.

My kids had a lot of fun getting and opening their package together! Getting yearly letters from Santa is definitely something the kids look forward to every year. If you haven't started this tradition yet I highly suggest doing so before it's too late!

At Home Christmas Decor Reivew!

**This was is a sponsored post, I received a gift card to go shopping to purchase items seen below. My honest opinions were used, they are solely my own & they may vary from others.The products mentioned below have been provided by At Home & BSM Media Inc. for the review free of charge.**

The holiday season has arrived and with Thanksgiving just a few days away it means it is almost time to start decorating for Christmas if you haven't already. Decorating for the holidays is always so much fun because there are so many cute and fun decorations out there that fit everyone's styles, budgets and likes. At Home carries dozens of Christmas decorations for outside your home and inside your home and with prices starting at $1.99 and up it should be a stop during your holiday shopping this year.

I was recently sent a gift card to go pick up a few Christmas decoration items to decorate one area of my home, I decided on the pathway that leads up to my home but I also picked up a little something for my kids/guest bathroom. I have incorporated what I bought from At Home along with the existing decorations I already had and I am pretty happy with everything!



The first thing I picked up was a Pinecone wreath with ornaments that is 22", they are normally $19.99 but they are currently on sale for $9.99 and I do not have a wreath so it was perfect timing. The wreath I had last year was real so it had to be tossed out at the end of the holiday season but I kept the battery powered Christmas lights that were on it and added it to my new wreath as you can see above. Next while we were walking down the isles we spotted some fake snow in a can, I remember my mom getting this same kind of snow when I was a kid and we always had so much fun spraying it on the windows, the tree and more so I wanted to pick some up to use for my home as well. We used it to make the windows look like they are frosted and used it to spray a bit rock in our yard to look like it is an ice berg. We bought a single can for now for $4.99 to see how much was in it and we received a pretty decent amount of snow from it. I also spotted a small blue Christmas tree that I picked up to decorate my bathroom with, it was only $2.99 and it is my favorite color so I couldn't say no even though my husband looked at me like I was silly.



Now onto the big things! At Home has a decent sized collection of yard inflatables and they start out at very affordable prices many are just $19.99 each and are adorable plus big enough you can see them from the street. We picked up a 44in inflatable Polar bear sitting down on his butt, and a 4 foot inflatable snowman with Santa hat & twig arms both of which are the $19.99 inflatables. We also added the snoopy we already have out with them for a fun little inflatable section of the yard.

                              

My camera didn't like all the lights being on so the photo is a little blurry but I think everything looks pretty cute together! You can also see our pathway markers, we picked up two sets of their 30 in Candy Cane pathway markers that come in a set of four for $9.99. We placed them each a even length apart then we took some tinsel and strung it between each candy cane to make a lined path up to our porch, there are also solar paneled lights next to each candy cane to help add a little extra lighting. In all we spent about $76 on everything (we bought a bag of popcorn too), and we used the 10% off coupon you can get for signing up for their newsletter. Many of these products will be on sale during Black Friday so be sure to check out their flyer because they are having some really good deals.

Narley and Chikki Giveaway & Review!

**This was not a paid post. My honest opinions were used, they are solely my own & they may vary from others.The products mentioned below have been provided by Narley & Chikki for the review & giveaway free of charge.**

Aside from Christmas, Halloween is definitely mine and my fiance's favorite Holiday and we enjoy showing off our Halloween spirit. We decorate the house both inside and outside, we have friends over to celebrate, we visit pumpkin patches, and more. Up until about two years ago we only owned a few indoor Halloween decorations because we had lived in nothing but apartments so now that we have our own home we love adding new decorations to our collection every year. Last year we went with a spider theme, we had a giant web out-front with giant spiders in it along with spider egg sacks hanging from the porch and more. This year we are going with more of a grave yard theme and one of the things I had pictured having in the yard was a wooden directional sign post.

Looking around for sign posts some we too cutesy and others just didn't seem to have the Halloween spirit, that is until I found Narley and Chikki. Their outdoor rustic Halloween sign post had everything I was looking for, it had Halloween inspired fonts on each sign, it has several different locations that suit how our theme will be and the wood has a nice rustic feel without looking too new or too old it was right in between.



The signs do come with the post needed to set them up in the yard and the wood screws needed to install the signs on the post. Each sign was wrapped individually to help keep it safe during shipping which I appreciate and I know others who purchase similar type products would as well. Each sign is hand calligraphed using black acrylic paint then sealed with a clear matte sealant to protect it from the elements. They each measure 14" and 16" long x 3 1/2" wide, and the post is 3' in height, for mine I will be getting a slightly larger post but this has nothing to do with the shop, my front yard has a layer of rocks and I want this to sit up a bit higher to be seen above some of the other decorations like the headstones.

One of my favorite things about these signs is that they are made from reclaimed wood, so each one is unique and won't look like the next sign which is perfect. Each piece is sanded down and sealed so you won't need to worry about rough edges or splinters when adding the signs to the post. At the end of the Halloween season you can either store them still on the post or they can easily be removed within just a few minutes. This sign post sells for $110 for the signs + post + screws which is a great deal, if the signs aren't suited to what you'd like they have other sign sets for weddings and more plus a number of other wooded and non-wooded products like the giveaway prizes below.



PRIZE ALERT:
One lucky winner is going to receive a Framed Halloween Front Door Sign ($30 value) and a Appliqued Halloween Tote with your choice of applique ($15 value) as seen above.

This is open to US Residents ONLY!!! 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!
 Giveaway winners are announced on FACEBOOK, If you would like to see who won my latest giveaways please visit and like my facebook page. This giveaway ends on 10/06/2017
 
Giveaway entry question: Please leave me a comment letting me know another product from
Narley and Chikki you'd like to own. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Christmas Forest Review & Giveaway!

****This was not a paid post and my honest opinion was used. The opinions are solely my own and may vary from others.The products mentioned below have been provided by Christmas Forest for the review & giveaway free of charge.****

I don't know if you've noticed or not, but the Holidays are coming! I am counting down the days until I can officially start decorating, my fiance and I agreed (or I should say I gave in and agreed with him) that we wouldn't put up the tree or Christmas decorations until a few days after Thanksgiving. However I was given a cheat pass to put up this beautiful Christmas wreath from Christmas Forest.





I received the 20" Jingle Bells Christmas Wreath which features lights, bells and colored ornaments along with a lovely red bow.The wreaths sold on their site are fresh wreaths meaning they use real tree branches, pin cones, etc. and yes eventually after a while will start to dry up but you can help it stay fresh and looking nice longer by giving it a little spritz of water every day. I wish you could smell the wreath through the screen because it smells amazing, it reminds me of being out camping when the weather is cool out. We live in Phoenix which is mostly just desert and cactus so being surrounded by the smell of the woods isn't something that is normal in my home so my cats have been freaking out trying to figure out what the smell is.



My wreath arrived quickly and was packed in a thin plastic bag to keep the moisture in and ensure it was looking and smelling it's best when it arrived, the bow and an extra set of batteries were in a separate bag to protect them. As you can see from the photos above my balls were a little sticky, but it wiped off easily without any issues. I was surprised to see that not only did my wreath come with an extra set of batteries for the lights that are in them but when I went to put them in I realize there was already a set in the pack! This wreath is gorgeous and it is light enough it doesn't take a very large hook but it is heavy enough it won't blow off of your door. I love the bow but I also love it without the bow so it makes it hard to decide which way I would like to hang it up, I can't wait to show this off to my house guests. Each wreath is handmade and as you can see from above they include a little tag letting you know who created your wreath, since these are handmade and made from fresh forest products they may not all be exactly the same but they will all be beautiful and smell wonderful. The 20" Jingle Bells Christmas Wreath is $55 but they also offer wreaths as low as $40 and they offer Free shipping to Continental US via UPS Ground.

PRIZE ALERT:
One lucky winner is going to win their own 20" Jingle Bells Christmas Wreath.

This is open to US Residents only!, 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!

Giveaway winners are announced on FACEBOOK, If you would like to see who won my latest giveaways please visit and like my facebook page.

 Giveaway entry question: What is another wreath from their site that catches your eye?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Distinct Papers Review & Giveaway!

****This was not a paid post and my honest opinion was used. The opinions are solely my own and may vary from others.The products mentioned below have been provided by Distinct Papers for the review & giveaway free of charge.****

The holidays are coming which means it is time to start getting Holiday cards together, the kids will be starting their Christmas wish lists and holiday event invites will go out. During the holidays I enjoy sending my greeting cards in colored envelopes, I typically just stick with the traditional red and green but depending on who I want to send it to I may go with another color. Distinct Papers is a company who sells a large assortment of paper and envelopes in various sizes and colors, they also offer packing supplies. 





I recently received a sample set that included a selection of papers and envelopes for me to check out. Everything was wrapped in a ribbon with a paper flower attached, it was a very lovely way to receive the samples and I kept the paper flower by hanging it on my fridge. The paper and envelope samples I received ranged in weight from 20lb paper to 80lbs paper and I also received two different sized papers with various sized envelopes. I really like how smooth the paper and the envelopes are, your pen (or pencil) will glide across the paper with ease while the paper soaks up the ink. I use a lot of gel based ink pens so it was nice that the ink didn't smear off onto my hand if I accidentally touched it while writing, as you can see from my sloppy Christmas wishlist above the ink is un-smeared. The colors of everything I received are vibrant and bright it is sure to be eye catching while being sent through the mail, used for party invites, corporate newsletters or while being used for any of your paper needs. The thicker card stock would be great for crafting or card making.

I love the selection of colors and sizes of both products they offer, the only thing I wished they offered more of was self sealing envelopes it seems like the only color they have for them is white or a brown kraft. Their packing supplies selection is pretty great as well, they offer mailing envelopes, corrugated boxes, mailing tubes, tape and more. New customers can receive a coupon code for 20% off if you look in their "Special offers" section.


PRIZE ALERT:

One lucky winner is going to win a $25 Gift card to Distinct Papers to buy the paper or envelopes of your choice.

This is open to US Residents ages 18+, 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!

Giveaway winners are announced on FACEBOOK, If you would like to see who won my latest giveaways please visit and like my facebook page.

 Giveaway entry question: What color paper or envelope would you like to buy from their site?

a Rafflecopter giveaway