Search Results for: holiday gift guide

Give Beautiful and Unique Gifts This Holiday Season from Diamonds in Ice (Review) (Holiday Gift Guide)

November 22, 2016 By Heather Little

With the holidays right around the corner, we all have those people on our list that are just so hard to shop for. For me, it’s my in-laws, so I’m always on the look out for unique, personalized gifts. I never seem to go wrong with photographs of the grandkids, so I was excited to find a product that offered a way to have beautiful pictures in something other than a traditional print in a frame. Diamonds In Ice uses state of the art technology to embed your photographs right into glass. This incredible process fuses your picture permanently into the glass to capture natural backlight, which enhances the colors and vibrancy of each image perfectly.

Transforming your pictures is a very easy process. Once on the website, www.diamondsinice.com, browse through the products to find what you like. Glass prices start at just over $30 and go up to $85 depending on the size and glass type used. The glass designs come in beveled, flat, and curved. You can purchase coasters and ornaments as well.

I selected the curved glass in the 7″ x 10″ size – I liked that it was free-standing and just the right size for the photo I wanted to use. I uploaded the photograph, easily edited it to make it fit just as I wanted, and even had the option of adding text, like a name or date. I added it to the cart, checked out, and within a couple weeks, a beautiful piece of glass with my photograph fused right into it! Customer service was very helpful and responded to my questions in a timely manner, which is always a plus when ordering items online.

If you’re looking for a unique way to bring new life to a photograph, definitely check out Diamonds in Ice and all the beautiful, personalized items they have to offer. They make great gifts for the holiday and something to enjoy all year long.

Connect with Diamonds in Ice: Website Facebook Pinterest Instagram

*I received the mentioned curved glass in exchange for my review. All opinions are my own.

PlayMonster Steps up STEM Offerings and the Play Experience This Holiday (Review) (Holiday Gift Guide)

November 20, 2016 By Marijean

My 8 year old daughter loves anything to do with learning. She is a very hands on child, and loves to build and create. She is very interested in STEM activities (Science Technology Engineering and Math). I was asked to review two popular STEM play sets from PlayMonster.

PlayMonster is a toy and game company that believes in the power of play to make a positive difference in people’s lives. This holiday, they bring increased motor power and play-friendly dolls to the award-winning Roominate line of building sets, while the My Fairy Garden line brings children imaginative, fantasy, open-ended play with garden play sets that allow the nurturing of real plants.

Roominate is an award-winning line of complete building sets that are designed for girls in order to bridge the gender gap in STEM. Named as one of The Toy Insider’s STEM toys of 2016, the line was started with one simple mission: open up possibilities for girls by showing them that creativity and engineering are fun.

PlayMonster improved upon the highly successful Roominate line by increasing motor power and creating unique building pieces and more play-friendly dolls! With all sets, girls can build the creations shown, or use their imagination to create their dream project! It’s fun for them to “Think it, Build it and Switch it on!”

Emma’s Townhouse—Build a tall townhouse, or a wide one, either way you can design a colorfully modern home! Use the included motor to build a ceiling fan, or anything you can think of! Includes Emma doll and her pet pig Hodgkin. Ages 6+. SRP $29.99; Available at Wal-Mart, Toys “R” Us, Barnes & Noble.

What’s cool about the Townhouse?

Design your townhouse vertically or horizontally
Arrange the food, tools and toiletries, along with the stickers, or add your own accessories and artwork!
Bring your creations to life with the circuits and a motor!

5 Panels and 10 Columns
72 Building Pieces
2 Discs
2 Roof Pieces
2 Shutters
1 Flower Box
Axle
Motor
Battery Box
27 Food and Home Accessories
Sticker Sheet
Wallpaper Sheet
Emma Doll
Hodgkin the Pig
Guide

Review:

Alison was super excited to receive this! She loves dolls, and loves doll houses. She took this right out of the box and started building immediately. The really cool thing about this play set is you don’t have to just make a town house. You can make so many other things such as different type houses and rooms! She used the motor to make a really cool fan in one of the rooms! I love how this play set gets her thinking and using her imagination to build.

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Freya’s Magical Cottage™ — An adorable flower pot that’s a welcoming fairy home where Freya entertains friends and tends to her garden! The set includes the flowerpot cottage with opening doors and terrace, tray, cottage furniture, toadstool, Freya the fairy, her friend, and gardening accessories and tools. SRP $24.99; Available at Wal-Mart, Toys “R” Us, Outset.

Grow Your Own Magical Garden!

My Fairy Garden™ is the first of its kind: a toy that’s also a real, live garden! Children love kits that allow them to grow plants at home; it gives them a connection to nature and a sense of satisfaction at having nurtured a living thing. My Fairy Garden takes it to a new, exciting level by allowing children to interact with it as part of an enchanting play set! Children plant the quick-germinating seeds, and care for their garden, all while setting up and playing with adorable fairies, woodland friends and accessories! It’s a great collectible line for children ages 4 and up!

An adorable flower pot that’s a welcoming fairy home where Freya entertains friends and tends to her garden! The set includes everything needed to set up a play area: flowerpot cottage with opening doors and terrace, tray, cottage furniture, rooftop trim, toadstool, Freya the fairy, her chipmunk friend Hazel, and gardening accessories and tools. Also included are soil and quick-germinating seeds to get your garden started! Children can add other flowers or plants if they want, too! It’s a fun growing and play set!

Ages 4 and Up
Contents: 2-Piece Flowerpot, Tray, Toadstool, Umbrella Table, 2 Chairs, Seed Packet, Soil, Watering Can, 3 Gardening Tools, Freya the Fairy, Hazel the Chipmunk, Leaflet

Review:

Gardening is fun for all ages, so this would make a great gift for a birthday or as a holiday gift. Making this garden was fun and easy, and it even comes with cute furniture to put inside or outside of the garden. I even enjoyed helping my daughter put it all together. The cool things about this is you can even add your own flower seeds. This will last for years and years to come.

Each of these items would make great gifts for the holiday season. Any young girl would love them!

*I received complimentary samples of the above play sets in exchange for my review. All opinions are my own.

Stretch & Sniff Scen-Ties Hair Ties Review (Holiday Gift Guide)

November 19, 2016 By Marijean

My 8 year old daughter is really getting to be the fashionista. She loves fashion and style, and that includes hair accessories. She always wears the cutest headbands and hair bows. She loves to wear her hair in pony tails or braids. I was contacted by a company that makes really cute scented hair ties, and I knew that Alison would love to try them out.

WHAT ARE SCEN-TIES?

SCENTIES are a fun twist on a very common existing product – elastic hair ties. The twist is that we have fragranced ours with fun, attractive scents for girls like bubblegum, strawberry and cotton candy. We’ve also added a tiny fabric tag to each elastic. When the wearer tugs the adorable little tag the scent is emitted from the elastic. This makes our SCENTIES the first in a category for children we like to call TOYCESSORIES – an accessory that is also a fun, interactive toy. Go ahead and give Scenties a try – Stretch ‘em, Sniff ‘em, Wear ‘em, Share ‘em.

SNIFF ‘EM

Scent is one of the most powerful of our five senses. Smelling a fragrance can evoke a wide range of emotions in people. We use innovative technology called microencapsulation to add fun, savory scents to our SCENTIES. We’ve started our collection with kid favorite scents like Strawberry, Cotton Candy and Bubblegum. All of our fragrances have been created to comply with The International Fragrance Association Standards.

SHARE ‘EM

After conducting some focus group research last summer it became apparent that SCENTIES are both a collectible and tradable item. Girls were willing to share their SCENTIES with each other and equally interested in holding onto certain special scents to keep just for themselves.

Scen-Ties are available in 3 different scents. Bubblegum, Cotton Candy and Strawberry. Each pack is $5.99 and includes 6 hair ties in each pack. When I took them out of the box I immediately could smell the scents. They smell so good! My daughter was super excited to take them out of packaging and try them out.

She loves all of the scents. They smell so sweet and yummy. Alison loves to wear them as bracelets or in her hair, she loves to wear a couple at one time and combine scents. These hold her hair all day, and are made to not break. I have very thick hair and these hold my hair in a pony tail fine. She is very excited to take some to school and let her friends try them out.

These Scen-Ties would make awesome stocking stuffers for the little girl (or grown girl) in your life. These would be very cute also tied to a birthday present. The possibilities are endless.

You can purchase Scen-Ties by clicking here.

Connect with Scen-Ties: Facebook and Instagram

*I received the mentioned Scent-Ties in exchange for this review. All opinions are my own.

Beautiful Jewelry from Powder and Jade (Holiday Gift Guide)

November 19, 2016 By Marijean

I love Jewelry, and I am always giving jewelry as gifts to friends and family during birthdays and holidays. I was contacted by an Etsy shop called Powder and Jade to review one of their beautiful necklaces.

Powder & Jade: Gift Jewelry with a Personal Touch

About the Shop:
We’ve spent the last few years carefully designing jewelry that are perfect to give as a gift. We combine these pieces with the cutest, most thoughtful quotes we can think of/find in order to create gifts that you and whoever you give it to you will truly love. Each piece is handmade in our shop here in Boulder, CO and carefully packaged. We have been relentless about finding the best suppliers in order to source the highest quality materials at a reasonable price. If you have feedback, please let us know – we are always trying to find ways to bring more value to our customers.

About the Owners:
Powder & Jade was started in 2013 by husband and wife team Auri and Andrew Penner. Auri had started making jewelry as a hobby while in college, and at the same time Auri and Andrew decided that they wanted to start their own business and work for themselves — they decided to try selling Auri’s jewelry creations and Powder & Jade was born. After many, many design changes, they started offering simple, minimalist gift jewelry that people seemed to love.

They have been able to rent a studio space and are now joined by Katie Beglin, who runs the day-to-day operations, and several other amazing employees who help get the handmade jewelry into your hands. Auri currently works on new designs, does photography, and handles business strategy while Andrew starts a shoe company.

We also own 3 other Etsy jewelry shops:
forthemaids.etsy.com (specializing in bridesmaid jewelry)
pennerpearls.etsy.com (gorgeous pearl jewelry)
burnthoneyjewelry.etsy.com (bridesmaid jewelry for everyday wear)

I was able to review one piece of Jewelry. It was a tough decision since everything on the site is beautiful! I do love Anchors, so I decided on this cute Tiny Anchor Necklace. It is so tiny and dainty, I just love it. It looks so nice on!

Tiny Anchor Necklace

• A dainty silver cubic zirconia anchor pendant on sterling silver chain
• Gift-wrapped with note in box and name tag on outside of box

MATERIALS
• Sterling silver chain and findings (not just plated – perfect for sensitive skin)
• Cubic zirconia and rhodium plated over brass anchor pendant

SIZE
• Pendant is 9mm x 8mm
• Length: 18 inches – if you want a different length (between 14″-20″), let us know at checkout (length modeled is 18 inches)

You can customize each box with a saying they offer, or make your own! This makes the gift so special and unique. They offer jewelry gifts for everyone, this would make a great teacher gift from your child with a personalized note! The prices are very reasonable (my necklace was only $22) and the reviews are amazing. Definitely check it out for your next holiday gift purchase!!

They are offering a discount:

GET 10% OFF ORDERS OVER $100 WITH COUPON CODE: TENOFF100

Connect with Powder and Jade: Etsy Shop and Facebook

*I received the mentioned necklace in exchange for this review. All opinions are my own.

Ice Chips Candy Review (Holiday Gift Guide)

November 18, 2016 By Heather Little

****Featured on Shark Tank!****

Finally, it’s here – a candy that is actually good for you! Ice Chips Candy is naturally sweetened with 100% Birchwood Xylitol, which has a long list of health benefits. These hard little candy pieces come in a variety of flavors including peppermint, pina colada, lemon, berry mix, and even egg nog. But our favorite was definitely the licorice! The candy comes in a small tin, just the right size for the car or a purse, and just one or two pieces is enough to get your sweet tooth fix. But even better, the ingredients in the candy won’t promote tooth decay like other candy and because Xylitol is a low glycemin index sweetener, it won’t impact your insulin levels, so they are a perfect sweet treat for diabetics.

Unlike other candy loaded with sugar, Ice Chips Candy is good for your teeth and is actually sold at many dental and orthodontic offices. The xylitol in Ice Chips strenghthens teeth, reduces new tooth decay, reduces cavity-causing bacteria, inhibits growth of dental plaque. Just a few pieces immediately after snacks and meals can actually be beneficial for your teeth. It is a candy I can actually feel good letting my kids eat.

These would make great stocking stuffers this holiday season!!

To see all the many delicious flavors Ice Chips Candy comes in, visit www.icechipscandy.com. You can also purchase Ice Chips at most Vitamin Shoppe stores near you. Click here to locate the closest store.

Connect with Ice Chips Candy: Twitter Facebook

*I received samples in exchange for this review. All opinions are my own.