Review/Giveaway: CrindelStar - Where The Universe Dreams

I have always encouraged my children to enjoy fantasy play and develop their imagination by reading fictional stories. I believe a child who enjoys imaginative play will ultimately develop their creative self and be able to use their creative talent in the future to better themselves and those around them. What better way to develop a child's imagination than with Unicorn Songs and Stories. 

I am so excited to be reviewing the audio story & theme song, CrindelStar-Where The Universe Dreams! I enjoy reviewing green products and this is as green as they get folks. When you purchase the CrindelStar story and song you will receive the copy as a digital download. No CDs or Plastic Packaging to throw away!! After purchase you will receive in the mail a CrindelStar Story & Song card which is custom designed on handmade paper and embedded with wildflower seeds. I sure do like how green this product is. I plan to have my grandchildren plant the seed card in the spring when I am doing my flower beds. I know for certain they will enjoy watching the flowers grow. 

The CrindelStar story was created by Award Winning Music Publisher, Gigi de Lugo. The story is about a girl named Maria who believes in unicorns. Maria is being pressured in school by her classmates to stop believing in unicorns. CrindelStar helps teach Maria that what she believes of herself creates the foundation of what she might ultimately contribute to the world through her life’s purpose and gift. The CrindelStar audio story will be enjoyed by each of my grandchildren. If you would like your child or grandchild to enjoy hearing the CrindelStar audio story and theme song you can purchase it here or enter the raffle copter below for the opportunity to win CrindelStar’s Story and Song card.

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I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Mom Blog Society. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. 

Valentine's Day Cookie Review

One of my favorite holidays beside Thanksgiving is Valentine's Day! I have been given the opportunity to review One Dozen Heart Shaped Valentine's Day Cookies from Smiley Cookie.  I am so hmm, full! I need to say I shared these cookies with my family. I also confess I had three for myself today. Now usually I can eat a cookie and stop but in this case the heart shaped cookies were calling out to me, "eat me, eat me"! Well, at least that is my excuse. I believe they lasted about 2 hours and the whole dozen were gone! My family is very picky about cookies and I usually bake about a dozen or two a week depending on who and how many visitors we are having. We really do not eat store bought cookies very often. Now, these valentine day cookies are about to change my cookie habit. I liked how fresh they were when the cookies arrived. Not, one broken cookie!(you will see below how great the packaging is) The taste was just perfect for our picky little eaters. 
As you all know I really enjoy sending my grandchildren little gifts now and then. We live so far apart from my granddaughters that we like to mail them grandpa and grandma love you reminders. With Valentines Day on the way a valentines day gift basket will make a great we love you reminder. 
You won't have to worry about broken cookies arriving to your family or friends because the packaging is out of this world. Check out the package I received.

I thought you might want to know they are baked in a nut-free facility! 

The cookie dance!!!

And finally the taste test.

MMM, Good! 

If you are planning to order some Valentines Day Cookies, Smiley Cookies has a code for you. Use the coupon code "BLOG10" at checkout to get 10% of any cookie gifts, except gift cards! 

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

I am Totally Tickled Pink

I have been awarded the Versatile Blogger Award from  Totally Terri!! You should stop by her blog and say hi. I get a lot of my blogging inspiration from both Terri's Blogs. Terri's Little Haven and Totally Terri.

I like the girly colors Terri created! What do you think?

 

This is what I need to do. * Thank the person that nominated their blog for the award with a backlink to them.  Thank you, Thank you, Thank you Terri!!!

* List 7 things about my self. 

1. I love, love, love my grandchildren.

2. I know how to drive but, I do not drive except in emergencies. ( fear of driving)

3. I do not wear make-up.

4. I assisted in my grandchildrens births as a doula. My dream someday is to practice as a lay midwife.

5. I love to paint and draw.

6. I color my hair.

7. The way to my heart is chocolate.

* Lastly Award 15 newly discovered blogs with the award and tell them of the award.

Facebook

This guest post from Doris Dillon
Oh, my poor husband! He was the laugh of Facebook last night! He had used our Dish Network to record a football game he wasn’t able to catch live. When he finally got off work and was able to watch the game he had recorded from the night before, he forgot he was watching a recorded game! He kept posting on Facebook status’ that sounded like he thought the game was live, like “nice pass!” and “come on Dawgs!” Bless his heart. All of his friends were like, Dude, the game is over! They told him how the game ended and it kinda took the fun out of it for him. I’m sure they were giving him a hard time about it at work as well. I thought it was pretty funny myself. Luckily, he knows how tolaugh at himself and he could see the humor in the situation. You have to laugh at yourself sometimes, you know? It was a good game, by the way, whether you got to watch it live or recorded.

Cake Decorating: Cream Cheese Icing

This is a marble cake with Cream Cheese Icing. I omitted the orange zest. The decorations are made with Royal Icing. Normally the icing is off white because of the yellow coloring in butter. If you would like the icing to be white it would be good to use butter with out coloring or dyes. 

Cream Cheese Icing

1 cup unsalted butter (allow to soften)

2  (8ounce packages) cream cheese (allow to soften)

8 cups confectioners' sugar (sifted)

1 to 2 tablespoons milk 

1 teaspoon orange zest (optional)

In medium mixing bowl, cream butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Add sugar 1 cup at a time. Add 1 tablespoon of milk and orange zest after the first 4 cups sugar.  Add the second tablespoon of milk at the end of mixing if needed.  Mix well. Beat on high until smooth. This icing would be great on carrot cake.

Cake Decorating tip: Do not substitute margin for butter. The margin will cause the icing to be too soft.

Wordless Wednesday

Pumpkin

Sweet Pea

Little Bug

Pooh Bear's First Hair Cut! 

Shopping Bargains At Target

When I go shopping I am always on the look out for sales. One place I know I can find great bargains is Target. I don't always know what I am going to find but I hardly ever leave the store with my hands empty. If you like shopping at Target you should check out Frugaldad.com. This is where you can find Target coupons for lots of great bargains. I stopped over to Frugaldad earlier today and found a coupon for a duvet bedding set that I had been planning to get for some time now. I also found a coupon to save up to 30% on select kids' furniture and decor. I can not wait to see what I can find to redo my spare bedroom with this coupon. I am planning a trip this week to pick up this new bedding set and I will do some quick bargain hunting while I am there. This is my strategy for shopping at Target. When I am planning a trip to Target I search for coupon deals from target stores online. As I enter the store I first cruise the dollar bins. There is usually a large variety of anything you can think of in the dollar bins. You can find seasonal items such as decorative holiday items for what ever holiday might be coming up. You can find craft supplies, stickers and window clings for children. In the fall you will find school supplies for students and teachers. I have often found the most adorable socks for my grandchildren of which I stock up on totally.
Next, while I am walking through the store I look on the ends of the isles for sale and clearance items. This is where you never know what you might find. I have found some wonderful photo frames and knickknacks at the ends off these isles. Then I check out the clearance racks in the children's section. I usually find a few pieces of seasonal clothing on sale for a dollar. Now, that is a bargain! When I am finished browsing the store I pick up the items I had planned to purchase and head for the check out. Last, I make sure to remember and turn in my coupons when I check out. I had forgotten to do this on one occasion and I was not to happy with myself.  I hope you take the opportunity to find some fantastic deals from target stores and enjoy your shopping trip to target.

Kindle Touch Giveaway BLOGGERS SIGN-UP

Are you looking for a giveaway that will boost your Twitter and Facebook followers? Giving away a Kindle Touch is the perfect way to grow your followers. For this giveaway you get 1 link for $10 or 3 links for $15. ($5 dollars a link now that is a bargain!) If you are new to the giveaway scene then you will get all the help you need with this giveaway. Our awesome host Terri's Little Haven and co-host Grandma Bonnie's Closet will go all out on this giveaway to make it a success for everyone involved. So hop on over to fill out the form and join us for this spectacular event!

Getting A Rain Barrel For Watering My Garden

I have been thinking about getting a rain barrel to catch the water from our gutters. I want to use the rain to water my garden. I like the idea of reducing the cost of our water bill and being good to the environment at the same time. I came across rain chains when I was looking for a rain  barrel. I had not heard of a rain chain before.
Well, the chains are made to replace a gutter down spout. They are very ornamental and much more attractive than an ordinary plain white down spout. I like the bell shaped chain rains the best. They look nice in copper and can be easily attached to the opening when the spout is removed.
I want to hang one on each corner of our house and place a rain barrel underneath to catch as much rain water as possible. I have always thought my tomato plants grew much better from rain water than our tap water. I really believe the chlorine and other chemicals in the water do not help the plants to grow to their full potential. I have not been drinking tap water in many years. Why should I be feeding the plants that I eat tap water? Just thinking about the three benefits saving money, eating safe foods and being green all in one step. Sounds like a great plan to me.

Easy Savings For Your Child's College Tuition

I have been given the opportunity to write about this fantastic program called Mission Tuition. What is Mission Tuition about? Well, its about saving for your child's education while you shop! Yes, that is right I said "shop". What you need to do is sign up for a free account then Mission Tuition will automatically open an educational savings account for you. Then you start shopping on line through your account at your favorite retailers. The advertised rebate from each retailer will go directly into your educational savings account. I suggest if you are a parent or grand parent you should read the How It Works page to learn more about this awesome program. The information is clearly explained and very simple.


I wish this program was around when my children were young!  I would have defiantly benefited from  this program. I do plan to open an account for my grandchildren. I am so excited to be able to help with my each grandchild's education expenses. I found all my favorite retailers on the list of shopping sites and they even have a coupon site for printing coupons. I can add to their educational savings while saving on groceries. What more can a grandmother want? 

I'm back!

Between illnesses, winter storms, and traveling, I haven't touched a computer in days. I am back...I think. If I haven't visited your blog in a while, I should be making my rounds soon. I will leave you with a few pictures from this week. Enjoy.

                                                                                 

 Little Bug will make a great daddy some day!

Our two trips this week.

Night driving in the snow. (No fun)

Pooh Bear's Christmas gift we finally delivered from his cousins Tootsabella and the Rose!

For Me?

But, Grandma it does not look like the picture on the box!!!

Thanks for stopping by.

Kindle Fire & $50 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway

Welcome to Kindle Fire and $50 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway Hosted by Coupon Scribbles

You've heard about now WIN one!! The Kindle Fire would be wonderful to win just by itself but we are throwing in a $50 Amazon Gift Card for Movies or Books to load up your Kindle Fire.

The Giveaway begins at Monday 1/16/12 and ends at 11:59pm EST Monday 1/30/12 The winner will be chosen and notified. The prize will be sent out via 2nd day shipping!

Co-Hosting the Kindle Fire and $50 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway with Coupon Scribbles are:

The Krazy Coupon Queen

Full Price? Never

Chaos is Bliss

Discount Queens

Mary's Cup of Tea

Lemonade Mommy

I Heart Giveaways

Couponing 4 You

Terri's Little Haven

Cheap Mama Chick

Couponing with Boys!

A Savings WOW!

Tammy's Two Cents

Health Beauty Children and Family

Saving in Sumnerco

Shopper Strategy

Grandma Bonnie's Closet

Dirt Cheap Diva

The It Mom

Debt Free Spending

ReDeemed

Colleens Book Nook

Three Boys and an Old Lady

Extreme Personal Measures

Bad Ass Chicks that Bite

Please take a moment to stop by each one of them. We, as a group, are bringing you this awesome giveaway!!!

Just follow the easy instructions below!!!! Good luck!!!

Attention Bloggers Kindle Touch Giveaway BLOGGERS SIGN-UP!

 If you are interested in building your social media stats then this is the giveaway for you! The giveaway is expected to run Feb 6 – 27. We are all sure to have fun and gain lots of new followers. For more information and sign up hop on over to Terri's Little Haven and let the fun begin! 

Review/Giveaway: Cook'n Recipe Organizer

Grandma has a new toy!!! I love cooking and I love recipe books. What could be better than a recipe organizer software?

This is the best recipe software I have ever used. I received my software download yesterday. It took my computer about 7 minutes to download the software and then there it was a new toy for grandma. OK, we all know I am not the best at working my computer and understanding all the ins and out of different software functions. I was worried about the program being too difficult for me to work with. Well, I have got to tell you when everything was downloaded it gave me a video tour of how to use the program and it also came with easy to read instructions. I will need the instructions in case I forget what the video taught me. I spent two hours playing with the program. I imported recipes from my favorite websites with the capture feature.The capture feature is like magic. I am amazed how it grabbed the recipe and left all the adds and extra info. off the page. I also added some favorite family recipes. I created a family cook book which comes with an option to print the cook book to share with others. There are so many features that it will make meal planing fun.

Meal planing features: Create a meal plan with the drag and drop features, create an instant shopping list from selected recipes, create an instant nutrition list with one click. There are so many features I can't possible explain them all so you might want to check out the video clip and see for yourself what I am going on about.

Now I will share a recipe I added to my cook book I started. Favorite Family Recipes. This is the first half of the page as I had to scroll down for the other half. I also added a photo of the salad recipe.

This is the second half of the screen clipping.

Here is the original photo I uploaded to the cook book.

To purchase this software visit  http://www.dvo.com. 

How would you like to win The Cook'n Recipe Organizer? Please enter the rafflecopter below for your chance to win this software. You might want to come back daily to see the extra bonus entries added.

 I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Mom Blog Society. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. http://momblogsociety.com

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What Do You Know About Growing Herbs?

I really enjoy cooking with herbs! I also enjoy gardening and cooking with my home grown produce. I do try to grow a few herbs in my garden every year. Some times I am lucky and get lots of nice fresh parsley and mint. I have even had some luck with rosemary. I have been given the opportunity to review an Ebook about growing herbs in containers. I was actually so excited to read this Ebook and learn how to get my herbs to grow better then before.
Book Series: Gardening With Little Miss Greenfingers
Title: Growing Culinary Herbs In Containers - Healthy&Delicious! 
Author: Anja Koch

Growing Culinary Herbs In Containers is a comprehensive guide to growing and preserving herbs. The book is so complete I am sure it is the answer to all my herb gardening problems. I have already learned what happened to my rosemary and why it has always grown so poorly. I have my herbs planted on the west facing side of my house. The book has a list of herb that like to be south facing and rosemary is on that list. I also learned that when the foliage starts turning yellow the plants are probably starving and need feeding. I was sure they just needed more water.  
You will also learn where to buy seeds and plants, how to water and fertilize correctly, what kind of lighting and containers you need for the best growth results and how to preserve (drying, freezing and marinating) your herbs. 
Over all I learned so much and understood the easy instructions. This book was fun and enjoying to read. 

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Lost and Found School Items

How many times has your child lost their mittens, gloves, hats, or scarfs at school or daycare? If your child is anything like my children were, you are always replacing lost clothing items multiple times through out the year! I remember once my son came home from school with out his jacket. He did get it returned a week or so later but, by then we had replaced it. It sure would have been much easier if we had Oliver's Labels back then! Oliver's labels can be ordered with a found it code. This would have made it easy for the parent who found the jacket to use the Found-It Tracking System and return the jacket promptly. I am so excited to be reviewing a set of Oliver's Labels for my readers. I received the labels in the mail today. I immediately opened the package and was surprised at how cute the labels were. I know my granddaughter will love the Nature theme I selected.

I blurred part of the name for safety reasons. I received stick eez clothing labels, original labels, mini labels and shoe labels for this review. I love the vibrant colors, cutesy characters and  flowers. The labels are just girly enough that my granddaughter will be happy to wear them on all her clothing. Now I can label each grandchild's sippy cup with their name. I am always forgetting who gets what color sippy. 

Oliver's labels have a large selection of themes to choose from. From animal faces, dinosaurs, fantasy, butterflies, nature and many more themes. There is certainly a theme for everyone. If you or your child has allergies then you will be happy to know they have special labels for allergies. These labels are for gluten, eggs, nuts, dairy, seafood and other allergies. It would be nice to have the allergy wristband for an allergic child when they go on school field trips. I even think it would be great to get a bag tag for an alergic child's lunch bag labeled with No Dairy(or other allergy) and the child's name. 

Oliver's makes it so easy to find the label you need for almost anything. Just shop by product and you will be amazed at the selection of label choices available. You will find general labels, photo labels, stick-eez clothing labels, iron-on clothing labels, date labels and many other types. If you can not find a label that you need or like you can shop by design and select the none theme then design the label you want. 

What do I like the most about Oliver's labels?   The labels are waterproof, dishwasher and laundry safe. I also like the fact that you can order packages that can get you started for your childs first time going to school. My favorite package is the preschool package. It includes: 20 Original Labels, 14 Shoe Labels, 35 Stick-eez Clothing Labels and 1 Large Bag Tag. So, hop on over to Oliver's Labels and get some labels. You will never have to worry about your childs lost mittens again!

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

$100 Cash Paypal Giveaway

Don’t be Superstitious!! Win some cash with the $100 Friday the 13th Paypal Giveaway. You will definitely want this black cat to cross your path!! Grandma Bonnie's Closet has teamed up with Coupon Scribbles and 14 bloggers to give away $100 in Paypal Cash!!!There will be one grand prize winner who will receive a $100 Paypal deposit of cash!!! The sweepstakes will run January 12th through 11:59pm EST on January 15th, 2012.

To enter simply follow the instructions below. Winner will be notified via email on January 16th. Good Luck!!

Details
$100 Paypal Giveaway Sweepstakes begins on January 12th and ends at 11:59pm EST on January 15th, 2012
Method of Entries: Rafflecopter

Participating Blogs
Coupon Scribbles
Healthy Baby Beans
Mom Does Reviews
Cheap is the New Classy
Just Find It 4U
Look What I Got For Free
Rather Be Changing Diapers
Thrifty Today
Emily Reviews
The It Mom
Delightful Whimsy
Grandma Bonnie’s Closet
How About Free
Couponing4U
Health Beauty Children and Family
Coupon Hauls

Wordless Wednesday

SweetPea

Little Bug

Pooh Bears first nap ever in a shopping cart!

Pumpkins first painting!

Scrap Book Freebie Day!!

Offered free to my readers. Our Scrap Book Freebie is here. Another fantastic scrapbook page to add to your collection.  If you have not started saving these great pages you do not have to worry there will be more to come. So you can start saving them now. These can be used  for a scrap book (online or printed)  or photo album pages.

To get your Designer Pack click here!

If you are interested in more digital scrapbook software from My Memories  use the coupon code below.

Use coupon code STMMMS56142 for 2 $10 off coupons

Visit My Memories to check out their digital scrap booking software.

Happy Scrap-booking!!!

Apple iPad and Kindle Fire Giveaway

• Awesome
• Apple iPad 2 (16GB)
• Amazon Kindle Fire
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If you enter this rafflecopter giveaway please leave Grandma Bonnie's Closet as your referral. 

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