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Candle scents for the holidays – Review/Giveaway

Posted on December 3, 2009 11:49 am by TheAngelForever

Back in the days before kids, I was a big candle fan. I used to love to light a candle at night when I watched television, read a book, or did work on the computer. Once the boys were born and mobile, I was too much of a nervous mom to light many. Over the last year, my desire to light a candle when I am knitting, reading or blogging when the kids are asleep has started back up again.

Thanks to allergies, finding scents that do not make me sneeze is tough. Typically, I stick to things that are based on foods and stay away from floral/perfume fragrances.

When Family Review Network contacted me to be part of a review/giveaway for some Glade Holiday Candles from SC Johnson, I jumped at the opportunity. For the last few years, I have tried to get some of the holiday jars at stores, but they always sell out. I was curious to try the Scented Oil Candles to see how they worked.

More about Glade Candles Holiday Collection:

Glade Holiday Tins

Scented Oil Candles

Glade® Scented Oil Candles contain a unique warming plate which melts the candle into a pool of scented oil wax, quickly releasing fragrance into the air to create a warm and relaxing atmosphere.

When the oil is gone, the candle goes out, leaving no mess behind.

Each candleholder is refillable with any Glade® Scented Oil Candles fragrance.

Approximately 2–3 hours of burning time.

Tins

Glade® Scented Oil Candles Tins are an attractive way to quickly fill any room with fragrance.

Each candle tin is portable and unbreakable, so you can now enjoy Scented Oil Candles in any place you choose, from your living room to your bathroom and kitchen.

Each tin is refillable with any Glade® Scented Oil Candles fragrance.

Candle Refills

The new Glade Candles Holiday Collection is available in the following scents:

Bayberry Spice – scent of fresh bayberries, a sprinkle of ginger and a hint of cinnamon.
Homemade Gingerbread – fragrance of freshly bakes holiday gingerbread.
Apple Cinnamon – scent of fresh mulled cider and warm apple pie.
Hollyberry Wreath – scent of fresh pine and red berries.
Peppermint Crush – candy cane-crisp scent of fresh holiday fun.
French Vanilla – subtle, spicy fragrance of the vanilla bean.

The Holiday Collection is available from October through December and can be found in the air care aisle of food and retail stores such as Target, Walmart, Rite Aid, CVS and many others.

My Thoughts:

As I mentioned before, I am very sensitive to scents. I am very selective when I buy candles. For review, I was sent two of the Bayberry Spice tins to try. I will admit that I was worried that it would make me sneeze. Just in case, I went out and bought some refills of the Holiday French Vanilla to try. The directions for the tin are easy to follow and explain what to do. I really thought it was nice that a magnet "system" of sorts is on the candle and tin to make sure that the oil refill stays in place – very smart! Below are some photos of the candle being used.

I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised with the Bayberry Spice scent. It was not too strong and did not over power my room. I lit it when watching some television and catching up on reading in my Google Reader. The candle lasted for about 2-3 hours (as indicated). One thing I noticed was how nice and evenly the oil burned, there was little wax/candle waste. After it cooled off, I was able to remove the end of the candle and wash the tin with some warm water and soap. I liked the ease of clean up and am anxious to try the French Vanilla scent that I purchased.

Giveaway:

Thanks to SC Johnson, one of my readers will receive one of the Glade Scented Oil Candle Tins. Please be aware that it could be any one of the scents available, so there is a mysterious element to this giveaway.

Rules for Giveaway:

MAIN RULE – Answer the following question: Which one of the holiday scents listed above interests you the most and why?
1 Bonus Entry – Follow me on Twitter @TheAngelForever and Tweet about the giveaway. Be sure to include @TheAngelForever and Glade Scented Oil Candle Holiday Tin in the Tweet. Please leave a direct link to your Tweet in a separate comment for each daily entry. Example Tweet (feel free to use): Chance to win a Glade Candles Holiday Collection tin from @TheAngelForever http://bit.ly/6X9iYx
1 Bonus Entry – What scent would you love to see in the future if you could have a say?
1 Bonus Entry – Enter one of my other current giveaways. Be sure to leave a comment here telling me what you entered.
1 Bonus Entry – Subscribe to my RSS feed (or let me know if you already are) in a separate comment.
1 Bonus Entry – Tell me something special you have planned for this holiday season?
1 Bonus Entry – Leave a comment on any of my non-giveaway posts from the month of November/December. Be sure to leave a comment here to let me know which one. (limit 3 of these entries)
3 Bonus Entries – Write a post on your blog linking to my blog about the Glade Scented Oil Holiday Tin giveaway. Be sure to leave 3 comments about this to get credit for all of your extra entries

To enter, please follow the rules above within the comment section. Contest starts today December 3rd and ends at 10:59 EST on December 10, 2009. You do not have to be a blogger to enter, but must leave a valid e-mail address for me to contact you for mailing address once the giveaway is over. I will select the winner using random.org and contact you via e-mail. You will have 48 hours to claim the prize. If there is no response, another winner will be selected. Open to U.S. residents only.

Disclosure: This post was written as part of a program for Family Review Network and SC Johnson, who provided the product for review and giveaway. I was not compensated in any way except for the complimentary product. The opinions expressed in the review are my own feelings about product reviewed.

Categories:
giveaway Product review

Winners of the Sunsweet Prize Giveaway

Posted on December 2, 2009 1:07 am by TheAngelForever

Thank you to everyone that entered my Sunsweet Ones prize pack giveaway. I used Random.org to select the winners. . .

Their winning comments were:

E-mails will be sent out to Michelle, Nadia, Joann, Linda and Vicki later today. At that point they have 48 hours to respond to my e-mail with their information for prize delivery or another winner will be selected. Be sure to check out the other giveaways that are currently taking place. Thank you again to Family Review Network and Sunsweet for making this giveaway for my readers possible.

Categories:
giveaway web fun

Winner of the Softlips Winter Collection

Posted on November 30, 2009 12:32 am by TheAngelForever

Thank you to everyone that entered my Softlips Limited Edition Winter Collection giveaway. I used Random.org to select the winner. . .

Jennifer now has 48 hours to respond to my e-mail with her information for prize delivery or another winner will be selected. Be sure to check out the other giveaways that are currently taking place. Thank you again to Softlips for making this giveaway for my readers possible.

Categories:
giveaway web fun

Creative fun time with Crayola – Holiday Gift Giveaway

Posted on November 29, 2009 5:23 pm by TheAngelForever

Numerous times in the past, I have admitted to being a Crayola snob. As a teacher, I would specify that students should buy Crayola crayons, markers, and colored pencils. To me, it was worth the extra money up front if they lasted longer, worked better and were high quality. This Mommy also has lots of Crayola products at home for the boys.

When I was asked by MyBlogSpark and Crayola to test out some of their new items for the Crayola Holiday Gifts Spark, I jumped at the chance. One day, we came home to a rather large package sitting on our front steps. When we went inside, it was like an early Chanukah for the boys. Here are NHL (6) and JSL (2) with their new Crayola items.

Crayola Beginnings Color Me A Song:

Color Me A Song

The Crayola Beginnings Color Me A Song lets little ones draw to the beat of their own drum, trumpet, piano or guitar. This portable drawing and music creation station features a pressure-sensitive board that matches a melody to the artist’s pace. Draw fast, and the tempo picks up. Slow down, and so does the music. Four instrument buttons let kids pick their favorite sound. Color Me a Song was named a “Toy of the Year” by FamilyFun magazine and one of American Baby magazine’s picks for “Best Toys of the Year.” For children 24 months and up; suggested retail price is $24.99.

As soon as my 2 year old son, JSL, saw the package he knew that this was for him. He refused to eat lunch and wanted to get into his seat to test out his new "Doodle" as he called it.

The little guy quickly figured out that pushing the crayons across the top altered the way the music was playing. He liked going in and out of the little drawer to put his "colors" away and get new ones. Here is the little playing. Note that he is so involved he will not reply to me.

What I liked as a parent was that everything was self contained within the unit for quick clean up. We could easily put new crayons inside, paper clipped onto the outside and we were good to go. Another nice touch were the triangular washable crayons that were included. These are fabulous for little fingers that are learning to properly grasp crayons and other writing utensils.

Crayola Glow Station:

Glow Station

The Crayola Glow Station illuminates children’s imaginations through the magic of drawing with light on a large-size glow-in-the-dark canvas. Using a light wand, children can either draw freehand or use stencils and texture sheets to create more realistic drawings. A diamond-shaped tip can be snapped on the end of the light wand for stamping unique starburst designs on the canvas. Drawings magically disappear over time, or can be “erased” by turning on the lights, so kids can create again and again for limitless fun. For children ages six and up; suggested retail price is $29.99.

NHL (6) was very excited to try this toy out. He is fascinated with items that glow. It was still daylight when he tried this for the first time. Even in the day, NHL was able to experiment quite a bit.

NHL liked using the stencils that came with it, the pen to make stars and just writing/drawing various things.

As a parent, I liked that there is a large space for NHL to be creative on. He can practice his writing, math problems (he’s obsessed with this) and loves the fact that they glow. The Glow Station has knobs on the bottom to hang up the stencils that come with it, so it helps with storage. We hope to find a way to secure the Glow Station on the back of NHL’s bedroom door. This will be fun at night to practice spelling word writing while glowing in the dark room.

Crayola Color Explosion Glow Dome:

Glow Dome

The Crayola Color Explosion Glow Dome is sure to bring wide-eyed wonder to kids’ faces when the lights go out and they watch their artwork glow and spin on a moving, two-layered dome of light. Kids control the “glow-motion” fun and can dial up slow, medium or warp speed to create a wild, animated scene. For ages six and up; suggested retail price is $29.99.

NHL was really nice, he shared the Color Explosion Glow Dome with me. While he was off using something else, I set this up. I decided to draw an underwater picture and then called the boys over to see what I had created. When NHL arrived he asked to add some items onto the dome. He put some things on and we turned it on to see how it worked together. Here it is in the daylight:

Later on at night, I wanted to check it out with darker conditions. Here is a clip to see the difference:

This is a great creative toy. Lots of fun and endless possibilities. My only concern is buying replacement markers to use with it. I still have to research that a little more since I am not sure if we can use other Crayola markers or not. NHL and I both liked using this together and I can even see JSL joining the fun.

If you head to any store these Crayola holiday gifts and many others are lining the shelves at retailers. Crayola is also running a Give the Gift of Creativity Sweepstakes, where you can enter to win a 7-night Caribbean cruise fr a family of 4 on Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas. Entering this is easy. All you have to do is visit http://www.crayola.com/gifts/vacation and create a Crayola wish list for your child. You can choose from a list of fun wishes like Star Skateboarding, Martian Sleepovers, and Boogie Woogie. Crayola will then recommend an item from their Holiday Gift Guide that corresponds to the wish. You can enter once a day, and an extra entry is also available for those who share the wish list on Facebook.

Giveaway:

Thanks to MyBlogSpark and Crayola, one lucky reader will be able to receive their very own Crayola Color Explosion Glow Dome.

Rules for Giveaway:

MAIN RULE – Answer the following question: What item you would select from the Give the Gift of Creativity Sweepstakes wish list
1 Bonus Entry – Follow me on Twitter @TheAngelForever and Tweet about the giveaway. Be sure to include @TheAngelForever and Crayola Color Explosion Glow Dome giveaway. Please leave a direct link to your Tweet in a separate comment for each daily entry. Example Tweet (feel free to use): Win a Crayola Color Explosion Glow Dome from @TheAngelForever http://bit.ly/5n2kf2
1 Bonus Entry – What is your favorite Crayola product?
1 Bonus Entry – Enter one of my other current giveaways. Be sure to leave a comment here telling me what you entered.
1 Bonus Entry – Subscribe to my RSS feed (or let me know if you already are) in a separate comment.
1 Bonus Entry – Who will be receiving the Crayola Color Explosion Glow Dome if you win and what do you think they will draw on it?
1 Bonus Entry – Leave a comment on any of my non-giveaway posts from the month of November/December. Be sure to leave a comment here to let me know which one.
3 Bonus Entries – Write a post on your blog linking to my blog about the Crayola Color Explosion Glow Dome giveaway. Be sure to leave 3 comments about this to get credit for all of your extra entries

To enter, please follow the rules above within the comment section. Contest starts today November 29th and ends at 10:59 EST December 8, 2009. You do not have to be a blogger to enter, but must leave a valid e-mail address for me to contact you for mailing address once the giveaway is over. I will select the winner using random.org and contact you via e-mail. You will have 48 hours to claim the prize. If there is no response, another winner will be selected. Open to U.S. residents only.

Disclosure: This post was written as part of a program for MyBlogSpark and Crayola. Crayola provided me with the free Beginnings Color Me a Song, Color Explosion Dome, and Glow Station. They are also providing the Color Explosion Glow Dome for the giveaway through MyBlogSpark. No other compensations was given. The opinions expressed in the review are my own feelings about products reviewed.

Categories:
fun giveaway jsl nhl photos play time Product review video

Pop-a-prune – Review and Giveaway

Posted on November 19, 2009 12:16 pm by TheAngelForever

My boys are not the best when it comes to eating. My oldest son (6) is better than my little guy (2), but that is not saying a lot. Trying to get them to eat healthy, nutritious food is always a challenge. The little guy loves to eat cheese and could live off of it, but to be blunt it constipates him. There is nothing worse than hearing your little guy say he hurts to do his business. We push fiber rich foods into all of our diets with a lot of options.

NHL (6) really likes most dried fruit, but JSL (2) has resisted it in the past. When I was contacted by Family Review Network to try Sunsweet Ones, I jumped at the chance to try something that my little guy may actually eat.

Sunsweet has teamed up with Cheryl Forberg, the registered dietitian and nutritionist from NBC’s "The Biggest Loser" to create the following video on what a Super Fruit is and why prunes fit into this classification.

Additional information about prunes can be found at Pop-a-prune.

Our Review:

JSL was immediately drawn to the package of Sunsweet Ones. Both of the boys hovered around me asking to try what was inside. Who was I to deny them a prune if they wanted to try it?! They each quickly gobbled up their prune and asked for another. I did a double take because this had never happened before when we tried prunes.

The little guy actually grabbed the container and tried to run off with them. He seriously told me that they were his. The word MINE was used frequently.

Before I gave him a second prune, I grabbed my camera to capture the moment. I wanted to be able to show this to him one day in case he ever refuses to eat them again!

The best part was the next day mid-morning. JSL grabbed my hand and led me into the kitchen. He pointed to the Sunsweet Ones container and asked me for a prune. I was floored and quickly gave him another snack. My little Cookie Monster was turning into a prune fan.

I think his smile and request says a lot, especially when you consider he is a fussy eater. On the flip side, I love prunes and have since I was a child. One of my main problems with prunes was eating through a container fast enough or they would get hard and lose the plumb, juicy goodness. The other part I disliked was putting my hand into the container and coming out all sticky. Sunsweet Ones does away with both of these issues. The prunes are individually wrapped so they stay fresh and your hands stay clean (unless you are a messy 2 year old).

We will definitely be buying more of these in the future because they are healthy, delicious and best of all everyone enjoyed them.

Giveaway:

Thanks to Sunsweet Ones five (5) winners will receive a Sunsweet reusable shopping bag and a Sunsweet VIP Coupon, which is good for ANY Sunsweet product up to $5.50 in value

Rules for Giveaway:

MAIN RULE – Answer the following question: What Sunsweet product do you think you will purchase with your VIP coupon if you win?
1 Bonus Entry – Follow me on Twitter @TheAngelForever and Tweet about the giveaway. Be sure to include @TheAngelForever and Sunsweet Ones prize pack in the Tweet. Please leave a direct link to your Tweet in a separate comment for each daily entry. Example Tweet (feel free to use): Chance to win one of 5 Sunsweet Ones prize pack from @TheAngelForever Head over to learn more about the SUPER fruit http://bit.ly/2OZAr8
1 Bonus Entry – What is your favorite dried fruit?
1 Bonus Entry – Enter one of my other current giveaways. Be sure to leave a comment here telling me what you entered.
1 Bonus Entry – Subscribe to my RSS feed (or let me know if you already are) in a separate comment.
1 Bonus Entry – What is something that you learned from the video (above) of Cheryl Forberg?
1 Bonus Entry – Leave a comment on any of my non-giveaway posts from the month of November. Be sure to leave a comment here to let me know which one.
3 Bonus Entries – Write a post on your blog linking to my blog about the Sunsweet Ones prize pack giveaway. Be sure to leave 3 comments about this to get credit for all of your extra entries

To enter, please follow the rules above within the comment section. Contest starts today November 19th and ends at 10:59 EST on December 1, 2009. You do not have to be a blogger to enter, but must leave a valid e-mail address for me to contact you for mailing address once the giveaway is over. I will select the winner using random.org and contact you via e-mail. You will have 48 hours to claim the prize. If there is no response, another winner will be selected. Open to U.S. residents only.

Disclosure: This post was written as part of a program for Family Review Network and Sunsweet Ones, who provided the product for review and giveaway. I was not compensated in any way except for the complimentary product.