ScrapSmith Review {Discount}

"Making Memories Last"

I absolutely love pictures, scrapbooks, and anything to that nature that I can use to showcase memories in my home. However, I do not have the patience to make scrapbooks. I've started several, and they still sit in my closet, unfinished. Im not creative enough to make every page look different or to come up with unique designs for other home decor. When I came across Trista, at Scrapsmith.com, I was blown away at her beautiful work. When she offered to send me a review product I was ecstatic. I simply uploaded my favorite pictures of my husband and I to a Photobucket account then sent her the link. She did everything else! My finished product is beautiful and I absolutely LOVE showing it off. I've never seen anything like it before. I can tell she put a lot of time and effort into making it as original as possible. 

Each "page/sleeve" is made of old newspaper print and has a picture on each side, as well as a two sided page inside the sleeve! I just love the creativity of it all. They all fit perfectly into this beautiful book that has our names on the front. I couldn't be more happy with it. My best friend saw it as soon as I got it and was highly impressed. Now she's wanting one! What do you think? I leave it laying out for all of our guests to see! 

I also adore the amazing hanging art pieces she makes. In addition, Trista does custom cards, and other home decor. She will work with you to design exactly what you want! Look at some of these.....

Gorgeous right? Trista has offered all of you a 25% discount on any purchase from her! You can contact her through email, follow her on Twitter, or add her on Etsy (a work in progress), and visit her website at Scrapsmith.com. Let her know I sent you!

*DISCLAIMER: I received no monetary compensation for this post. I was sent a product simply for review purposes. All above opinions are strictly mine!*

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Parent's Choice #MyBlogSpark {Review & Giveaway}

As parents, we often don't want to buy anything less than name brand when it comes to our children. Years ago when my son was an infant I only purchased the well known, more expensive brands of baby food, formula, diapers, wipes, toys and many other baby products. It was costing me almost $200 a month just in formula! In my personal opinion, that is outrageous. How can anyone afford children at that rate? I'll tell you how.... by choosing Parent's Choice brand for all of your baby needs. You will find products at HALF the price of any name brand with all of the same nutritional benefits.

Now that I have a 9 month old daughter, I have been purchasing Parent's Choice brand formula since the day she was born. She's had a tummy problem since she was a few months old and has been on soy. Lucky for me, Parent's Choice formula consists of a wide variety to fit the needs of every baby! Want to know how much you can save by switching to Parent's Choice? Just check out their $aving's Calculator to find out what your family could be spending.

Personally, I do a lot of my shopping at Wal-Mart, so having Parent's Choice as their store brand gives me convenience and savings! If you have kids, you need convenient and afforable... there is no doubt about that! I was more than happy to try the milk-based formula's I was sent from Parent's Choice through My Blog Spark! It's time for my daughter to start trying milk based after being on soy to test her tolerance. As soon as I got my awesome prize back (including some great Parent's Choice drop in bottles), I gave it a whirl. I am super excited to tell you that she has done awesome and will now be off her soy and onto regular formula for the last few months of needing it!

One lucky winner will receive a $10,000 college scholarship in the form of a College Savings 529 Plan. From now until 11:59pm on August 15th, 2011 you can choose to increase your little one’s chances of attending the college of his or her choice, by “liking” Parent’s Choice Infant Formula here on Facebook and filling out the simple form here. Visit this link for official sweepstakes rules. 

And now, I'm excited to announce that one of you awesome readers of my blog will win your very own Parent's Choice Prize Pack consisting of :

• 12.9 oz can of Parent’s Choice Premium to try
• 12.4 oz can of Parent’s Choice Advantage to try
• Two $3.00 off coupons for Parent’s Choice Infant Formula (redeemable at all Walmart stores)
• Parent’s Choice Starter Set – a complete nurser system that includes a variety of bottles, nipples, liners, leak proof caps and retainer rings

All you have to do is use the Rafflecopter entry form below and do the mandatory entry. All other entries are completely optional. All answers, comments, usernames (for Facebook, Twitter, GFC, etc) need to be put in the "Extra Info" field on Rafflecopter. I will choose a winner randomly on August 15th. All entries are verified, so make sure you are actually doing them! Winner will be notified by email and will have 48 hours to respond with requested information! Good luck!

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Dinner Is Ready {Review & Giveaway}

I can't begin to tell you how much I love to cook. Before my daughter was born, and especially when my husband was deployed for a year, I taught myself how to cook and found the best rated recipes I could find online to try out for my family. My dad is in the restaurant business and I completely trust his judgement, so he was always my tester. But, 8 months ago when I had Mia, that all changed. I barely have time or energy to cook on a daily basis and I end up doing meals just a few times a week. Even then, they aren't the meals I wish I had time for. And I most certainly don't attempt new things unless my husband is home with the kids or they are visiting Nana. Sound familiar? I'm sure it is to most families. Between sports, dance recitals, homework, and chores, along with parents who work full time jobs... cooking a good sit down meal seems like the last thing you really want to do, even though you want your family to eat well. What do you do?!?

Dinner Is Ready is your solution, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart. You can spend ONE day cooking and freeze 30 meals to have ready for your family at any time. And no, I don't mean like the frozen lasagna you buy at the grocery store. I mean meals that will not taste frozen! The book, Dinner Is Ready, teaches you all about freezer friendly foods, and the art of freezing. I had no idea! You are given MANY recipes that are absolutely mouthwatering. I couldn't wait to make my list!

In addition to the cookbook, you can get software to go along with it. The software allows you to make, adjust, and print your shopping list for everything at once! No sitting down to calculate or adding up amounts. You can simply choose recipes, make a menu, or us conversions to adjust meal sizes, and print in a few clicks. It was incredibly easy to use! I took a few screen shots to show you....

You can also get the kit for lunches and side dishes! I was more than pleased with the whole process. I was worried about timing but Dinner Is Ready explains that as well! I'm super excited to share this with all of my readers, and to continue using it. As of next week, I am opening a daycare in my home, where I will be working 12+ hours a day. This is exactly what I need in my life. And so does every family!

Buy It:

You can purchase the Dinner Is Ready book and software for $31.95 online

Win It:

Dinner Is Ready has offered one of my readers the book and software combo that I reviewed!!

Like many other blog owners, I am using Rafflecopter for most of my giveaways now. It seems to be much easier for readers to enter as well as easier for bloggers to choose winners and verify information! You must do the mandatory entry first (in this case, leaving a comment on this blog post) before you can do any additional entries. All entries are verified! This giveaway will run from 7/20-8/12 at 8pm CT. I will choose a winner randomly via Rafflecopter and then email the winner. Winner will have 48 hours to respond to my email with information or another winner will be chosen. Be sure to check your Spam folders!

I received no monetary compensation for posting this review/giveaway. I was given product(s) for review purposes only. All above opinions are strictly mine.

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College Students: Ever thought of renting college books?!

I sure wish I knew of a service like this when I was in college years ago! College books are ridiculously expensive and you NEVER get nearly what you paid for them when you sell them back to the bookstores. When I got an email from staff at CampusBookRentals.com, asking if I would be interested in writing about their company, I was more than happy! Plus, I'd like to go back to school some day via online classes and finish my degree so knowing this is an option for me is great!

CampusBookRentals.com had the largest selection in the nation so you're almost sure to find the book you need for your class. Shipping is FREE both ways too! How nice! The whole process is very simple!

Have books sitting around your house from previous college classes? They will even buy them from you! You can get an instant quote on the website!

I did a quick search for Early Childhood books on their site and got 1000's of results! Wow! I clicked the first title. Its retail was over $70. But you can rent it for a whole semester (130 days) for $37. Awesome! Thats much more affordable. And I dont have to worry about re-selling it when I'm done with it. I WILL be using CampusBookRentals.com and urge you all to do the same.

CampusBookRentals has partnered with Operation Smile in hopes to help fix the smiles of children suffering from cleft lip. They donate a portion of EVERY book rental to Operation Smile. You can find more about Operation Smile at their website.

*I was given no monetary compensation for this post. All above opinions are strictly mine*

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Bryton Pick Floss {Review}

These days it seems everyone has a busy lifestyle. Even as a SAHM (only for the next week), I stay quite busy between cleaning, cooking, children, errands, blogging, and preparing my daycare to open next week. Dental hygiene is something that should never be put on the back burner. I often don't take the time to floss and I can admit that. Every time I go to the dentist that's the one thing they tell me... floss more! It's just something I forget to do. Horrible right?


Bryton Pick Floss was designed as a quick, on the go, resusable floss that can simply be washed off and used for up to 30 days! It's small and portable and even has a credit card size carrier you can easily fit in your wallet. It is made of flexible and thin stainless steel.

I was sent 2 of them to try so I gave one to my husband. I will be honest, we weren't big fans. I wasn't getting anything on the pick when flossing and I was so afraid the stainless steel was going to cut my gums, even though I was careful. It just didn't feel like it was doing the job. I much prefer regular dental floss. However, it may suite you just fine. Bryton Pick Floss can also be used with braces!

BRYTONPick is available @: Meijer Stores, A&P, Pathmark, Winn Dixie, Walgreens.com, Kinney Drugs, Save Mart, CVS.com, Drugstore.com, Pearson Dental Supply & Others. You can ask your local pharmacy or food store manager to order BrytonPick for you; just pass them our info.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com created by WebBizIdeas.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. Tomoson Product review & giveaway Disclosure.

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UPrinting Brochures {Giveaway}

Now that I am a proud small business owner, I have so many uses for the products offered at UPrinting. One of them being brochures to advertise my in home daycare I open as of this coming Monday! Advertisement can be expensive but it doesn't have to be. Don't hire someone or pay hundreds of dollars to get the word out about your business, use the brochure templates at UPrinting to design and print them yourself! The possibilities are endless with your options in folding, gloss, text, pictures, and complete customization!

One of you can win 50 FREE brochures for your business too!

One(1) Winner of 50 Brochures
8.5" x 11"
100lb Paper Gloss, With Folding (Half Fold, Trifold/Letterfold, Z-Fold, Roll Fold, Accordion Fold), Outside and Inside printing, 2 Business Days Turnaround
Restriction: Limited to US residents 18 years old and above only.

Like many other blog owners, I am using Rafflecopter for most of my giveaways now. It seems to be much easier for readers to enter as well as easier for bloggers to choose winners and verify information! You must do the mandatory entry first (in this case, leaving a comment on this blog post) before you can do any additional entries. All entries are verified! This giveaway will run from 7/14-7/23 at 8pm CT. I will choose a winner randomly via Rafflecopter and then email the winner. Winner will have 48 hours to respond to my email with information or another winner will be chosen. Be sure to check your Spam folders!

This giveaway is sponsored by UPrinting, no monetary compensation was given and I will receive a poster for hosting. Check out UPrinting.com to see more of their brochures and brochure templates. 

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Humans can have feathers too {Review}

Ever since I stopped getting my hair dyed regularly every 6 weeks, I stopped going to my favorite salon as much as I used to. I'm also out of the loop on what's "hip" and when I heard about feather extensions I thought, "What in the world?!?". My best friend was planning to get some and although I'd seen pictures I was a little unsure about this trend. I'm all for doing fun things to my hair and have had SO many different colors and styles (see below)....

Many months ago when I stopped working I realized we couldn't afford my hair habits so I sadly went into Salon Niki and had it turned all back to my natural color (which it hadn't been in 5 years). We talked about how if I got bored we could easily do bright colored highlights underneath which would be cheaper and easier to maintain because it doesn't matter if your roots show! This brightened my day!

Then I learned about these feather extensions. My best friend got a few and I saw her over the weekend..... I was in love with them. I started Googling images to find different looks. Then a mom of a little girl I'm going to keep came over a few weeks ago and had a few in her hair! I had to have some!

As you can imagine.... the list goes on and on and on. Go see for yourself!

You can curl them, wash them, brush them, and even reuse them!!!! They simply use pliers to clamp it into your hair and boom, your done! Took like 10 minutes! The going rate is about $15 a piece. Way more affordable than coloring your hair, easy to change, and resuable! You can't go wrong. Salon Niki (in Smyrna, TN) has many to choose from..... which wasn't as easy a choice as I hoped!

Fun right?!? Well after "trying on" many different colors... I decided on orange!

 

And there you have it!

If you live in or around Nashville, TN.... I cannot say enough amazing things about Salon Niki. The owner, Alicia, is my personal stylist who I've become great friends with. But every single girl in that salon has superb talent. My mom goes there, and so do many people I know! I've never been to a salon where I was given the style, and cut in the picture I brought in... until the first time I went to Salon Niki. I DO NOT trust people with my hair and would never go anywhere else. I'm constantly recommending people and get more compliments on my hair than you could ever imagine (so does my mom). Thinking about getting feather extensions, or even just a new haircut? Make an appointment right now!!! If you don't live around here, find a salon who has them and try it! 

Salon Niki

6600 Old  Nashville Hwy

Smyrna, TN 37167

(615) 809-2473

Visit their WEBSITE to learn even more about their staff and services!!!

	*I was not given any monetary compensation for this post. I simply wanted to share my experience with an awesome business!*

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Wanna know why I've be MIA?

This is why...

As of July 18th, I will officially be opening an in home daycare! 

 

I'm sure some of you have seen me write about my past experience as a preschool teacher. Although I've been a SAHM since October before my daughter was born, I've always missed making money and being able to contribute to things for our family. Not to to mention I just missed being a teacher. But I couldn't make myself pay my employer most of my check to bring my own kids to work. Silly if ya ask me. Especially when you worked for them (and went above and beyond any time they asked or didn't ask) for 4 years! I kept throwing around the idea of watching kids in my home but kept making excuses as to why I wasn't doing it. Finally a mom of one of my old preschool kids called me and asked if I would be willing to fill in for her on Fridays at her house because she was going to start watching children. We talked and she thought it may end up being  30 hour job for me eventually. However that isn't going to be the case. That's when my husband asked me "Why the hell aren't you doing it here Erica??". I sat for a minute as we ate dinner and then said "Good question. Why aren't I?". I explained that he would have to give up his man cave and it would cost a lot of money to get the room the way I want to start up. He was all for it!!!! The next day we cleaned out the room, moved furniture to my moms attic, packed up sports memorabilia to put into our attic, and began making a list of To Do and things I would need! 

 

It's been extremely fun putting it together because it's something I've always wanted. Now I can be with my children, make money, and be in the comfort of my own home. No gas to use, no dragging my kids out early in time to get to work. I also get to participate in the state funded food program which will allow me to feed the children extremely well, and be reimbursed for it. Awesome right? Not to mention I get to claim SO much on my taxes.... you would'nt even believe it. I plan to get my license from DHS to watch more than 4 children in the next year as well, and hopefully keep growing and some day open a large center! A girl can dream right?! 

Why did I choose the name Lions, Tigers & Tots Daycare? An old friend and former co-teacher of mine and I always talked about opening our own center one day (unfortunately she lives in NY now or we would totally be doing this together) and after we both worked in a themed center, knew we wanted to have a theme as well. Jungle it would be. We threw around names for fun but I couldn't find any name that wasn't already taken. My fabulous Facebook friends came up with this one. I'm planning to have a friends mom come do murals and animals on my walls in the next few months!

I even made a professional looking website and a Facebook page! I'm pretty proud of myself. Know anyone around the Nashville, TN area who may be looking for childcare for a child over the age of 2? Send them my way!!!!

Now I have to show you some pictures of the before and after of the room (when the house was empty)...

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Sooooo..... what do you think? If you say an ad on Craigslist with pictures, would you call?? I ordered business cards but don't even know where to begin handing them out.

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