120 Colors Reaeon Colored Gel Pens

I love that everyone is into adult coloring now. I have always colored here and there, but admit i do it more now that I have a few of my own books.

 For great pictures, you need great colors,Not all pens work well for large spaces, but I was happy to find that these do. The tips are not super fine or sharp, so they didn't rip the pages.
The color applies smoothly, with no clumps or runs so far. I had two pens out of the bunch that kind of stuttered, they would color for a few strokes and then freeze up mid stroke. A little scribbling on scrap paper corrected the flow, but it still felt scratchy when shading, so I just use those two for writing and not coloring. Aside from that, I had no issues with these. the colors are beautiful and look great on paper, especially the glittery ones.

I like the variety of colors included and love that they come with refills. The refills are in a bulk package and each one has a plastic cap to prevent leaking, so I can store them until I need them. There are neons, pastels, glitters and even multi colored pens in this set, which my daughter loved. 

The description says 120 colors, but the refills look like the same colors as the pens, or at least most of them do. I think it is closer to 60 colors with 60 matching refills. You can only use 1 color per pen at a time, so that was not a problem for me, but be warned if you are expecting 120 actual different shades. Unless I somehow got the wrong package of refills, that was not the case.

*I received a discount on this item in exchange for my honest thoughts. All opinions are my own.

Jxstar Little Girl's Classical Animals Printed Sleeveless Summer Dress

My daughter the diva loves new clothes, so when I saw this dress covered in kittens, I knew it would be a hit with her. 

This rainbow cat dress is made from a stretchy, lightweight material, so it is comfortable and cute at the same time. The dress feels soft and silky on the skin, not itchy or scratchy in any way and the sizing is spot on too. It fits perfectly, and she even has a little room for growth too. 

I love how the skirt is ruffled, so it doesn't lay flat and clingy, and it swirls around her when she walks. The dress has zig-zag stitching, which I think holds better than a straight stitch does.

I really have no complaints about this dress. It's cute, she loves it, and it was a big hit with all her friends at school.



*I received a discount on this item in exchange for my honest thoughts. All opinions are my own.

GDEALER Solar Outdoor String Lights

These solar lights are a fun tear drop design, so they stand out a little more if you are hanging them than they do on the ground. I used these to circle my flower bed anyway, and inserted the panel in a corner to try and hide it from view.

The 20 foot strand was not long quite enough to go all the way around the arch, so I centered it in the front, and I love how it turned out. With 30 bulbs, there is just enough light from these to highlight my plants, making them visible even at night.

The control functions are on the bottom of the solar panel for easy access, and they are simple push style buttons so it takes just a second to switch patterns or turn them off/on. I love how these highlight my yard with a shimmery light that I don't have to mess with.

I have no complaints with these, they work perfectly, look great, and have lasted through the intense heat, as well as several episodes of rain, with no problems at all.

*I received a discount on this item in exchange for my honest thoughts. All opinions are my own.

Emoji Gumballs Are A Hit

Emojis are so popular with the kids, and these gumballs are no exception. My kids wanted them as soon as they saw the package.

 The box contains 24 individually sealed packs of 5 gumballs, and the balls in each package contain the same 5 emoji faces. For me, this means no kids complaining or fighting because one didn't get the same style as the other, so that is a plus!

The gum itself has a nice sweet taste to it, although I think the balls are a bit hard to chew. The kids had no problems with them though, and they love tucking a pack into their bag on the way to school.

I have shared a few packs with their friends too, and had no complaints there either. As quickly as these disappeared, you can safely say they were well received. With Halloween coming, I know these would be a big hit with the trick-or-treaters here too. Happy kids equals happy mom, so I have no complaints.


*I received a discount on this item in exchange for my honest thoughts. All opinions are my own.

Expandable Flexible Garden Water Hose by Kelley General

This flexible hose is not as small as I was expecting it to be when not in use, but much smaller than my traditional hose. I like that it can be coiled, curved, or even stacked in a small box for storage, so it is much easier to put away than the stiff rubber one I had before.

The expandable hose can be used alone, or added to another hose for longer length, and it comes with everything you need right in the box. Connecting it is super simple, and takes only a minute to do, and the multi function nozzle lets you control the force and direction of the water flow. 

The spray options go from a thick, strong blast, to a soft mist, so I can switch from cleaning the sidewalk to watering delicate flowers with one twist. It sprays about 15 to 20 feet on most of the settings, a little more with the stronger spray, and a little less with the fine mist. 

The only thing I question about this is how well it will hold up to children. My kids love playing with the hose in the summer, and I am not sure if this can handle the abuse. It might be fine for filling water balloons and running in the sprinkler, but I wouldn't feel comfortable with them riding a bike over this or stretching it to the limits like they do with a rubber version. The material just feels too dainty for that. I still plan to use this because I like it better, but I might hold on to my old one for awhile, just in case.

*I received a free item in exchange for my honest thoughts. All opinions are my own

Premium MASH 100 Pc Nail Art Fimo Sticks

My daughter loves fimo and it is less expensive to buy them in bulk and cut them myself. My selection came with exactly 100 sticks, and only one or two that were close to the same, with one being a bit smaller or a different color. I received-

24 assorted fruit designs including- orange, pear, apple, raspberry, lime, strawberries and watermelons
15 flowers including- white, red, pink, purple, orange, blue and some with the smiley face center

17 butterflies including- pink, red, purple, blue, rainbow, brown, white and some of the side view type
7 feathers in different color combinations
3 dragonflies in different colors and sizes
8 mixed foods like an egg, cupcakes, ice cream cone and
7 hearts including double colors, one with a peace sign in the center and two that were heart shaped but also fruit- a strawberry and a raspberry
The rest were assorted like smiley faces and bows, and several Kawaii characters like Hello Kitty and My Melody

I didn't have any unusable sticks and most of them were easy to slice. I had 5 that were the thicker, more difficult to cut type, but you find those in any bulk selection. I was still able to slice and use them, I just had to be a little more careful. This assortment did not come with a blade for cutting, which I would have liked. These are sealed in a package with two smaller sealed packs inside, which I like better than the ones I have gotten dumped into a zipper bag. All in all, I loved this assortment and would not hesitate to buy these again.

*This was a personal purchase and not supplemented in any way. 

It's Time for the OHIO RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL!

Once a year here in Ohio, you get a chance to slip back to the days of old and enjoy a fun event for the whole family. That's right, it's the Renaissance Festival and it is coming soon!

 

Forget your cares and step back in time to this 30-acre re-created 16th Century English village and enjoy over 400 years of fun in a single day! The festival offers something for everyone featuring nearly 100 shows daily on 11 stages, over 135 unique arts and crafts shops, hearty food and drink, games of skill and human-powered rides to amuse all ages.

Over 150 costumed characters welcome you to the village! Rub elbows with Royalty as you cheer your favorite knight to victory in the thrilling Full-armored Tournament Joust. Welcoming you to a festive day in the village are dueling swordsmen, rowdy pirates, nobles, peasants, and daring jugglers. The sprawling landscape is dotted with hundreds of unique shops in the Medieval Marketplace featuring many one-of-a-kind, hand-crafted items. See time-honored crafts of glassblowing, stone carving, blacksmithing, leather tooling, boot making, and more demonstrated. The air is filled with the scents and smells of the foods of the Renaissance period. Feast like Royalty on juicy, giant roasted turkey legs, fresh baked bread bowls overflowing with soups and stews, fish 'n chips, steak-on-a-stake, succulent roasted corn on the cob and a wide variety of the finest ales and wines. There's something for everyone's taste buds!

Visitors of all ages will be amused by the games of skill and human-powered rides. Try your hand at archery and see if you're a modern-day Robin Hood, or climb the castle tower and rescue the lovely damsel in distress.

Get $4 off Adult and $2 off Child tickets by using Promo Code "castle" when purchasing on our secure website at www.renfestival.com. Tickets good any day of the 2016 season (Saturdays, Sundays, and Labor Day Sept 3 - Oct 23). Online discount only. Not good with any other offers.

We had a chance to visit last year and it was a blast. From clothing, costumes and accessories galore, to the amazing food and live shows. This really is worth visiting and taking the whole family too! 

Win 4 Tickets to BrickUniverse!

I love Lego. You love Lego. We all love Lego!

That's right, it's Lego time at the Greater Columbus Convention Center and I am giving one of you a chance to win a pack of 4 tickets for your family. These shows sell out, and you don't want to miss your chance to go, so make sure you enter and share with your friends!

The LEGO BrickUniverse Convention is coming August 20-21! The LEGO BrickUniverse Convention will offer children of all ages an opportunity to build, create and enjoy an immersive LEGO experience through engaging play areas, family-oriented building activities and more.

Featured activities include:

• Challenge Zone: the whole family is on the hook to show off their creative building skills in this emceed challenge
• Building Zones: enjoy a creative build, play, and display area
• LEGO DUPLO: the youngest builders can explore building their imaginations and so many ways to play with DUPLO bricks
• Monochromatic Builds: limiting the materials to one color and one size creates amazing results
• LEGO Architecture: Build intricate and detailed LEGO models using thousands of white LEGO Architecture bricks 
• LEGO Retail: purchase LEGO merchandise and goodies
• Fan Zone: with creations from some of the world's best LEGO Fan Builders
• BIONICLE Warrior Building: construct a LEGO BIONICLE Warrior
• LEGO Artist Rocco Buttliere: Over 40 different world skyscrapers and landmarks built-to-scale in LEGO
• BRICK Theater: learn from LEGO experts, artists, master builders, and author in teaching session throughout the day
• Minifigure Art: Get yourself "legoized"

And much more!

One of my readers will win a pack of 4 tickets that will be emailed to you so you can print them and go on either day!!






a Rafflecopter giveaway


**Thanks to my fabulous friends at BrickUniverse, who provided the tickets for myself and my winner to attend the event!! I can't wait to go and hope I see you there!!

Label Their Camp Gear with Mabel's Labels

Summer for us always means so many things. From practices to sleepovers, events and celebrations, it seems like there is always something going on this time of year. This year we have another event coming soon...camp. My son has band camp and my daughter has sleep away camp with her church youth group. This means several days of supplies and clothing will have to be packed up, but how much of it will make the return trip home? With that many kids it is easy for items to get lost in the mix or tossed in the wrong bag. One way to avoid this is to label everything you can. 

Of course you don't want to write on the clothing, and tape leaves behind a sticky residue, so you need something made for this purpose. That is where the camp sets from Mabel's Labels come into play. 

We chose the sleepaway camp set because she will be gone for several days. This set includes round labels for the insides of her shoes and bag tags for luggage, as well as labels for her clothing and personal items. 

It is perfect for all the stuff she needs, and all the stuff she doesn't need, but takes with her anyway. 

I love that the labels are dishwasher, microwave and laundry safe and waterproof, so they can be used on just about anything you can think of. You get so many labels, you could probably use them for more than 1 trip, or save the extras to use for school supplies and gear. It's a win/win! 

The best part is that the labels are customized. You choose the name or wording, style and font, so you get just the look you want. My daughter selected the cupcake theme to match her YouTube name, and the labels were even more adorable than we expected! 

I love that these labels stick well and are small enough to use on clothing tags, so I can label everything down to her underwear. Hopefully this will help everything actually come home with her! 

*I received the label set for free in order to perform a review. No other compensation was received and all opinions are my own. 

Galaxy S7 Edge Leather Case

This is the best case I have found for the S7 Edge so far, but even then it could be better. I like that the case is smaller than some of the other wallet style cases, and I like that it doesn't have a lot of slots or extra spaces to fill, but there are a few things I would change.

1.The case fits the phone well, but the corners and edges do not come higher than the screen. If you dropped the phone in this case while opened, it could shatter the screen easily because there is nothing to soften or stop the impact.

2. The magnet closure is nice because it opens and closes easily and quickly, but the magnet itself could be a little stronger to prevent accidental opening.

3. The material could be a little better quality. It isn't terrible, and has not torn or had any issues, but you can tell by the look and feel that it isn't top of the line quality.

That said, the case does what it is intended. It fits in your pocket for easy access and it provides a way to protect the phone while on the go. The buttons are accessible while in the case and the stand function can be useful if watching video or listening to music too. Not bad at all, just not perfect.

*I received a discount on this item for review purposes. All opinions are my own.

Mrs. Cavanaugh's Chocolates Are A Perfect Gift!

I love chocolate. There, I said it. I love chocolate so much, I have to avoid it whenever possible. That said, there are times when you just can't avoid having a piece..or two..or three. One of those times for me is Mother's Day. Every year the kids get me candy..and who am I to tell them not to? Once they give me said candy, I am kind of obligated to eat at least some of it..ok maybe all of it. I can't let a good gift go to waste.

One of the best boxes of chocolate I have ever sampled was from Mrs. Cavanaugh's. This box was so packed full of deliciousness, I literally had to give some away or risk devouring the whole thing in one day. It was that good.

The mix of pieces inside was splendid. It had a little bit of everything, which was so much better than multiple pieces of the same few flavors, like some other boxes have. This mix had nuts, cordials, caramels, coconut, creams and more.

I also received a few amazing bars to sample with my box. Those little bars are packed full of amazing flavor and would make excellent basket fillers, stocking stuffers or reward treats. They come in flavors like Mindy Mint, Caramel, Dark Chocolate Almond and my favorite, the Almond Coconut White Chocolate Truffle..sooo good!

The chocolates from Mrs. Cavanaugh's are the best I have ever tasted. Ever. I would highly suggest them for any chocolate fan, or as a delicious gift idea for anyone with a sweet tooth!

*I received the mentioned items free to assist with my review. All opinions are my own.