Reviews by Be Different...Act Normal

Christmas Shopping with American Express and $250 Giveaway Winner

2011-12-22T18:00:00.000-06:00

So Christmas is like two seconds away and I am finally finished with my Christmas shopping. I haven't started wrapping or even figuring out where I have stashed things over the last week, but I do know that it is all purchased and tucked away somewhere.

I finally finished using the American Express gift card and American Express Rewards Points.

On Small Business Saturday I headed out shopping and ended up buying the only present I purchased before the month of December, a gift card to The Alamo Draft House. The Alamo is a fun little theater where you can eat dinner while watching a movie. It is a great date destination, so I picked up a gift card for my Hubby's stocking. If you used your Amex to make a purchase from a small business on Small Business Saturday, American Express gave you a $20 credit on your statement. So $20 of my gift card was basically free to me.

In college I never started Christmas shopping until finals were over, around the middle of December. I have continued to carry on that tradition even though I graduated from college in 2000. I didn't have a lot of time to have items shipped, so I used the rewards points to purchase eGift Cards. The eGIft Cards are in your email box within three hours of ordering them. You print them out and head to a local store to shop away. I used some points to purchase a Barnes & Noble eGift Card.

Magazines are a traditional stocking stuffer in my husbands family, so I headed over to the closest Barnes and Noble store and ended up with a stack of magazines for everyone.

(please excuse the picture I took while hiding from my children in the laundry room)

I also picked up a Blu-Ray box set:

And the new Guinness World Records book for 2012. My son gets one every year for Christmas.

I picked up another eGift Card on the American Express Rewards site. This Banana Republic gift card is actually going to someone as a gift.

I used part of the $250 American Express gift card to purchase some items that we shared with people we don't know. One of those items was an iPod shuffle. There are a few ways I could have picked up this iPod shuffle with American Express. I could have used points to order it directly from the American Express Rewards site, I could have used the points to purchase the item on Amazon, but because of the last minute nature I used the American Express gift card to pick it up at Target.

There were plenty of points left over for me to purchase some board games from Amazon that won't show up until after Christmas, but since my birthday is at the beginning of January I will just count them as birthday gifts to myself.

There are a ton of fun ways to spend your American Express Rewards points. I could have easily done all of my Christmas shopping that way. I typically save all of my points for one large purchase. We purchased a television from Amazon with out points last Christmas and our refrigerator using Home Depot gift cards when we moved to Austin. But it is great for smaller purchases too. I might use some of our accumulated points to pick up a couple of magazine subscriptions for next year too.

That is enough of my fun shopping adventures. Now it is time for one of you to win a $250 Gift Card and do some shopping of your own. The lucky winner is Susan from Poca Cosas. Congratulations Susan and Happy Shopping!!!

I hope you all have a Very Happy Holiday!!

***Disclaimer***

I was given a $250 American Express Gift Card and 40,000 American Express Rewards points to purchase gifts this holiday season.

American Express Holiday Shopping Challenge $250 Giveaway

2011-12-12T13:53:00.001-06:00

There are generally two groups of holiday shoppers. The people who make it their goal to be finished before Thanksgiving and the people that don't even start until Black Friday. Now that the ~~craziest~~ busiest shopping season of the year is upon us, it is finally time for me to start tackling my shopping list. I love the fun of Black Friday, but surrounded by the crowds and deals it is pretty easy to go overboard. It is really important for me to go in with a plan, so this year I am teaming up with American Express to share some of my favorite holiday smart shopping tips.

One thing that I find essential is to have a list, a real list written out on paper, that has the name of each person I am purchasing a gift for, the budgeted amount of money for that individual, and ideas of what present to purchase for them. In the perfect world I would already know exactly what I was going to purchase and would have found the cheapest place to buy it, but I am never that ahead of the game. The list helps me keep track of what I have purchased and helps me to stay within my budget.

Another trick to staying within my budget is saving money ahead of time. Nothing squashes the joy of a holiday like getting your credit card statement afterwards. It is a lot less painful when I have planned ahead and have the money waiting to pay off the bill when it arrives. It is sometimes hard not to spend the extra money that is sitting around, so a trick I have picked up is to purchase gift cards to my favorite retailers throughout the year. Plus, if I only have the gift cards with me, I can't go over budget.

And my third favorite holiday shopping tip is taking advantage of rewards cards! I am a huge fan of reward credit cards. We have used them to pay for vacations, buy gift cards, and I have a television and a refrigerator that were purchased with my American Express Rewards points. And using your American Express card can save you money in other ways, like providing an extended warranty on eligible purchases so you don't have to purchase one.

American Express is letting me put some of my tips to good use for my own holiday shopping. They have given me a $250 gift card and 40,000 American Express Membership Rewards Points Rewards to use towards my holiday shopping. Next week I will be sharing my fun purchases with you. One of which will be purchased from The Common Thread to celebrate Small Business Saturday. On Saturday, November 26, you can support the small movement by making a purchase from a local small business. And to show their support, American Express will give you $25 of your small business purchase back. You need to register your card to be eligible, so you can check out all of the details on the Small Business Saturday Facebook page. You can also use the Facebook page to find local small businesses. That is another $25 you can add to your holiday shopping budget!

Oh, and there is one more thing!! American Express is giving away a $250 gift card to one of my readers. Leave a comment on this post letting me know how you stay within your holiday budget and you will be entered to win! For a prize this great, one chance to win just isn't enough, so you can share another tip on Facebook and one on Twitter too. That is three chances to win. Make sure to link to this post in your Facebook status or Tweet. Then come back here and leave another comment (one for each entry) that includes a link to your tip. (Please leave a link to your status update or your tweet).

You have until Wednesday, November 30th at midnight (CST) to enter. One winner will be chosen at random from all entries and contacted via email. Please make sure you leave a valid contact email with your entry.

***The entry period for this giveaway has ended***

***Disclaimer - This is a sponsored post from American Express. All opinions expressed in the post are my own.***

On Star

2011-08-19T12:00:00.000-05:00

I have seen the OnStar commercials a hundred times. There is an accident and the friendly OnStar voice lets you know that help is on the way. Even my 10 year old son thinks it is pretty cool that they call 911 for you. But I didn't drive a GM car, so it wasn't an option for me.

Or so I thought.

About a month ago I learned about OnStar FMV. You can now purchase a rearview mirror that contains the core safety, security and connectivity features of OnStar for just about any vehicle.

Their Facebook page had a tool I used to find out that it was available for my car and it also had all of the information I wanted to know about their available services.

So I had it installed in my car (it took 36 minutes from start to finish, so simple) and this is why.

Like most moms, I spend a lot of time in the car with my kids and no other adult. I love knowing that if anything happens, help will come even if I can't ask for it. I also like that asking for help is as easy as pushing a button. If something were to happen and my kids needed to ask for help, they would be able to push that little blue button and talk to a real live person.

I feel like they deserve a real live person in that situation. In addition to emergency services they also provide roadside assistance. And I don't even need to know where I am! They use GPS technology to send help to you.

In the car I use my cell phone for directions and making calls. Sometimes I forget my cell phone at home. Sometimes I put my purse on the floor when I am buckling my daughter in her car seat and forget to move it to the front seat. Sometimes I don't have service on my cell phone at all. This happened a lot more than I was comfortable with on our last road trip and even happens around the corner from my house. Not to mention that looking down at my phone, even just for a second, isn't the safest option. The OnStar mirror offers turn by turn directions and handsfree calling options. Both require absolutely no eye contact.

It is some pretty cool technology. The speaker is clear and the volume actually adjusts to levels that a human ear can hear. I can't say either about my husbands GPS or his bluetooth speaker he uses in his car. I can look up directions on my computer at home and send them to my car in a matter of seconds, another thing my hubby's GPS can't do. And my favorite part...real live people. Nice people. Friendly people. They call me Mrs. Albright and they find the nearest Chick-fil-A when we are on our way home from the swimming hole.

The swimming hole and the polite real live people on the phone both sort of feel like they are from the 50s, but both actually exist in my 2011 life.

Check out the OnStar Facebook page to learn more about OnStar FMV or check them out at your local Best Buy. You can also check out what other bloggers think about OnStar over on BlogHer and if you want to know more about the swimming hole, you will have to come visit me in Austin.

Brat Burger Recipes

2011-08-02T19:52:00.007-05:00

So today I cooked up some of the Johnsonville Brat Burgers for dinner. The same brat burgers that you can enter to win free over on THIS POST. They were supposed to be lunch, but we spent most of the day back to school shopping. I am sure all of you moms understand the time warp that happens while in a store shopping for the 85 things on the back to school list.

Before heading home I picked up a few extra toppings for my brat burgers. I had originally planned on using just the standard lettuce and tomato, but after reading some of the serving suggestions on the Johnsonville site I thought I would try out a couple of our favorite combinations.

First off was a combination that we often use on hot dogs. Mayonnaise, avocado, and tomato. My husband brought this idea home with him from Chile and it is one of my favorite; although, the mayo in Chile is yummier. Use your favorite brand of mayo, add a little salt and pepper, then top it off with lots of yummy avocado and tomato:

This one is super easy to make and perfect for any summer barbecue. The brat burgers taste exactly like my favorite brats, but are easier to dress up with my favorite ingredients. Trying to keep diced tomatoes and avocado on a brat bun is not fun.

The second combination is one that we use for grilled chicken sandwiches and I thought might be fun with a brat. The Hawaiian Teriyaki Brat Burger.

For this guy you grill up your brat burger and then coat it in a nice thick layer of teriyaki sauce. You can make your own sauce, but I have a store bought version that I love. Make sure it is thick and sticky so that it doesn't just run off the brat burger. I put a slice of Swiss cheese on the bottom half of the bun, then the brat burger, slather some teriyaki sauce on top and then add a nice slice of grilled pineapple.

Sadly I had already turned off the grill before I remembered to grill the pineapple, so I put a fresh piece on top. Don't make my mistake. Grill the pineapple!!

If you love Johnsonville Brats than you will be equally as pleased with their brat burgers. I was impressed with the size of the patties. They are probably twice as big as the typical frozen hamburgers we buy and they kept their size and shape after cooking, something I can't say about hamburgers.

They are a great way to get the flavor you enjoy from a brat!

Want to try them out for yourself? Enter to win one of 5 sets of coupons so you can bring home Johnsonville Brat Burgers for free. You can also learn more about how to enter your favorite brat burger recipe for a chance to win free groceries for a year!!

****
I received compensation in the form of products to prepare and review Johnsonville Brat Burgers. All opinions expressed are truthful and based upon my opinion.

Johnsonville Brat Burgers Giveaway

2011-08-02T11:57:00.003-05:00

Brat Burger from Johnsonville

I love burgers and I love brats, so I was very interested to find out if the new Johnsonville Brat Burgers lived up to both. I will be sharing my families brat burger building recipes later today, but wanted to give you a chance to try them for free! Leave a comment on this post and I will select five winners that will each receive two full value coupons to try Johnsonville Brat Burgers. (That way you can try both the original brautwurst patties and the Italian sausage patties.)

You have until midnight, Thursday August 4th to enter and make sure to leave your contact information because I will need to get in touch of you by Friday the 5th!

If you would like another entry (or three) you can share this giveaway on Facebook, Twitter, on your own blog. Just leave a separate comment on this post with a link to each entry.

Also, you can enter YOUR brat burger recipe in the No Ordinary Burger Contest for a chance to win groceries for a year!!

And you can check out all of the great recipes that have been submitted and vote for your favorites HERE.

Lifestyle Crafts Epic Letterpress and Die Cut WINNER!!!!

2011-04-07T11:25:00.000-05:00

The winner of the Epic Letterpress and Die Cut Giveway from Lifestyle Crafts is

(drumrollllllllllllllllllllllllllllll)

Brittany!!

Please email me at lorieblogs (at) gmail (dot) com with your contact information!

Thanks to everyone that entered and to the people at Lifestyle Crafts for this fun giveaway!

Lifestyle Crafts Epic Letterpress and Die Cut Review and Giveaway

2011-03-28T13:53:00.001-05:00

When Lifestyle Crafts contacted me about reviewing their Epic Letterpress and Die Cut machine I said yes for a couple of reasons.

The first is that I love the look of letterpress cards and projects and wanted to try my hand at them. I mean what is not to love about these cute letterpress cupcake flags Danyelle made using the Epic:

The second is that I love tools that multi-task. This not only allows you to create letterpress cards, but also create die cut shapes. And that includes any of the existing Quickutz shapes, which I happen to have a few of from my scrapbooking days.

And the third reason is that I am a true blue lover of buying crafting tools. It is in my blood to want the newest, funnest, coolest. And I know there are a lot of people out there like me. So I wanted to try it out and really tell you if it is worth your dollars.

So my son's teacher was having a birthday and I thought we could make her a letterpress birthday card together. She loves orange and I loved these fun circle flowers, so we went to work.

I have to say the quality of the ink and the paper that they sell is amazing. The cards and envelopes truely beautiful and something that you would be proud to send a wedding invitation on.

So what did I think?

If you are someone that loves to make your own cards, either for holidays or parties, than this machine is definitely the perfect tool for you. The combination of letterpress and die cutting capability gives you an endless combination of cards.

image from Kerry's Craft Blog

If you love making personalized favors for parties, this is also for you! I personally think the machine lives up to its full potential when you are creating multiple identical images. A lot of time goes into the set up, so printing 100 invitations wouldn't take much more time than printing 1. The machine has great guides and tools for making it easy to line up the paper for repeat prints.

The machine and the materials are all great quality. The only thing that I didn't like was the adhesive sheets that you use to attach the printing plates. You have to cut around the shapes, and the shapes I love the most are very intricate which means lots of time cutting. BUT I also happened to have some removable adhesive tape from my scrapbooking days and it worked perfectly with no cutting.

So although it is a little time consuming to make just one birthday card for your son's teacher, it is a great product for those of you that love to throw parties or make your own cards and on a regular basis. You will really love the end product.

Do you want an Epic Combo Kit and an assortment of goodies to try out for yourself?

To enter to win, just leave a comment letting me know what you would use your Epic Letterpress and Die Cut Machine to create.

Want a few more entries?

You can post about this giveaway on your blog, twitter, or your facebook page. Just leave an additional comment with a link to your post or tweet for an additional entry. (One additional entry)

Head over the the Lifestyle Crafts blog and leave a comment, letting them know I sent you. Leave a comment here and let me know you stopped over to say hello and you will get an additional entry.

You have until Sunday, April 3, 2011 at midnight (CST) to enter. A winner will be chosen at random from all entries and announced the week of April 4th. Winner has 48 hours to contact me. If they fail to do so, they forfeit the prize and a new winner will be selected.

If you already own an Epic machine and want to pick up a few accessories, or if you just don't want to wait to pick up one of your own, make sure to enter the code BLOGBEDIFFERENT at check out you will get 20% your entire order at lifestylecrafts.com. Valid through April 3.

***Lifestyle Crafts provided me with an Epic Combo Kit and accessories for the purpose of the review. They are also providing an Epic Combo Kit and accessories as a prize to the winner of this giveaway. All opinions are my own and are based on my use of the machine.***

Our Best Bites Winner!!!

2011-03-21T14:46:00.000-05:00

It is time to announce the winner of the Our Best Bites cookbook! There were over 600 entries for the Our Best Bites cookbook! You ladies must know how great this book is!

So who is the lucky winner?

Kathie from Just A Happy Housewife

Congratulations Kathie! Please email me at lorieblogs (at) gmail (dot) com with your contact information so we can get the cookbook out to you ASAP!

For the rest of you, you can check out a ton of great recipes on the Our Best Bites blog and pick up a copy of your own. It is a steal on Amazon right now!

Our Best Bites Cookbook Giveaway

2011-03-09T10:51:00.001-06:00

The sweet ladies behind Our Best Bites sent me a copy of their new cookbook to review. Before the book ever arrived at my house I knew I would love it. I think I have shared about 20 of their posts with you on my blog in the past year and I have loved every single recipe that I have tried. LOVED!

Remember the chocolate chip cookie pie:

I mean what is not to love!

For every recipe that I have tried, my sister-in-law has tried ten. My favorite that she recommended to me was Spicy Honey Chicken:

Which you have for dinner and make extra so that you can have this salad the next day for lunch:

The first recipe I tried out from the new cookbook was the Vegetarian Black Bean Taquitos.

I had some cilantro lime ranch dressing left over from dinner the night before and thought this would be the perfect way to use them up. And I was right. I will be sharing this recipe with you later this week.

Recipes are obviously the most important piece of a great cookbook, but next to that the Rollover Ingredients Index has to be my favorite part. These girls have listed all of the ingredients that you will have left over from a recipe and give you a list of other recipes in their cookbook that will use them up! Now you won't have to throw out the rest of that fresh basil or dump buttermilk down the drain. It is the perfect way to help you save money and a great way to plan your grocery list.

And I won't even tell you how much I love the bookmark, because I am probably the only person that unintentionally closes my cookbook a dozen times while trying to make dinner.

Honestly, the only thing I think I would change about the cookbook is the cover. It is super cute, but every time I pull it out to use is my 3-year-old thinks we are making cupcakes.

So, now to the fun part! You can win a copy of your very own!! Just leave a comment letting me know which recipe from Our Best Bites is your favorite. If you don't have a favorite yet, head over to their blog and let me know which one you want to try.

Want more entries? Post about this giveaway on your blog, Facebook, or twitter and then leave a comment here with a link. (one entry for each, please leave each link in a separate comment).

And for even more chances to win, you can subscribe to Our Best Bites blog, follow them on Twitter, and like their Facebook Page.

So that is seven lucky chances to enter!!

Good luck! You have until Midnight (CST) March 20, 2011 to enter. A winner will be chosen at random from all entries. Winner will be announced on Monday, March 21 and will need to respond within 48 hours.

Our Best Bites provided me with a copy of their cookbook to review and a copy to giveaway to one of my readers. All opinions are my own.

Pleated Poppy Winner

2011-03-08T13:14:00.000-06:00

The winner of the $30 gift certificate to The Pleated Poppy is:

Congratulations Ruth! Please send me your contact information to lorieblogs (at) gmail (dot) com so that I can send it over to Lindsey.

If you didn't win and want to place an order over at her shop, she is offering free shipping on orders over $50 right now! So head over to The Pleated Poppy and see what she has in stock! Or you can use the code DIFFERENT for 15% off of your order.

Pleated Poppy Giveaway

2011-02-28T10:02:00.003-06:00

Today I get to give away a $30 shop credit to The Pleated Poppy. I met Lindsey at Blissdom and got to see her cute wares in person, so I jumped at the chance to offer you guys a gift certificate.

She sells all sorts of handmade beauties from petal pushers to checkbook covers.

This is pretty enough that I might actually want to write more checks just so I could show it off.

All of her items come in a ton of fun patterns.

And great colors.

And if you can keep them away from your teenage daughter long enough, these cute zippered pouches would make a cute make up bag.

But after you put your make up in them they will be even more attractive to your teenage daughter. If you have a teenage daughter, you might want to pick up two of these.

So do you want to win a $30 gift certificate? Head over to The Pleated Poppy and check out all of the cute items she sells. Then come back and tell me how you would use your gift certificate.

For a second entry, head over to The Pleated Poppy Blog and say hello. Leave her a comment and make sure to leave one here too so I know to give you a second entry.

For another entry, you can blog about the giveaway or post about it on twitter. Heck, you can do both if you like. Then leave a comment (one for each) with a link back to your post or tweet. Just make sure to link back to this page.

Here is a shortened url that you can use for your tweet: http://bit.ly/gVz5kg

Good luck! I can promise you that once you check out Lindsey's shop you will want some of these goodies for your own! If you can't wait, then make sure to use the code DIFFERENT at checkout and you will get 15% off of your order.

You have until midnight (CST) Monday, March 7, 2011 to enter. A winner will be chosen at random from all entries. I will post the winner on Tuesday March 8, 2011 and the winner will have 48 hours to contact me.

Say It On The Wall Winner

2010-11-30T10:34:00.000-06:00

It is time to announce the winners of the two $20 Gift Cards to Say It On The Wall. Before I do, I want to remind you about the great deals they are having between now and Christmas. Each week one special item is chosen by Laura to be the Product of the Week and she marks it down to 40% off! This week is you can get the vinyl for this Kneeling Santa Glass Block 40% off by using the code SANTA40:

Make sure to follow the Say It On The Wall on Twitter and Facebook, or their Blog so that you will know about these deals when they become available!

Now for the winners! (****drumroll****)

The first winner is Andrea:

And winner number two is Kelly:

Congratulations ladies! I need both of you to email me at lorieblogs (at) gmail (dot) com so that I can forward your information to Say It On The Wall.

Silhouette Winner

2010-11-29T10:35:00.000-06:00

I am SOOOO excited to announce the winner of the Silhouette SD Digital Cutter.

A big, HUGE Congratulations goes to Suesan of Fru Fru Gal!!

Suesan, you are the winner of the Silhouette SD Digital Cutter! Please email me with your contact information ASAP so that I can get that over to the people at Silhouette America!

I wish I could give one away to all of you, but at least I can offer you this great discount! Today is the last day to use the code bedifferent to get $100 off of the Silhouette SD AND to get the Home Decor CD, Vinyl, and Vinyl Transfer Paper for FREE! You don't even have to put those in your cart! Once you enter the code, the free goodies will magically appear in your shopping cart! So for $199 you will get almost $400 worth of goodies!! So head over to Silhouette and take advantage of this deal before it is gone!

Vinyl Pantry Labels with the Silhouette

2010-11-28T03:00:00.001-06:00

My Silhouette showed up on my front door the day before we left to go out of town for Thanksgiving. Now that we are back I cannot wait to start working on some of the projects that I have been dreaming about.

I did sneak in a few things before I left town. I used some of the shapes that come free with the Silhouette and a font I already had on my computer to print out some labels:

They couldn't have been easier to make. I chose one of the shapes that came with my Silhouette:

And with a simple double click it appears on the work area:

With another double click I can resize and move the image:

I make it a little smaller and move it to the top left so that it doesn't waste vinyl when it is time to cut:

Next I select the Text too (hard to see on this image, but it is the A that is grey):

And then click on the work area and start typing:

You can manipulate the size and shape just like you would in Photoshop or even a word document. When you have it the way you want it you send it to your Silhouette the same way you would send it to your printer.

Easy Peasy!

And I have some video I will be showing you in the coming weeks that will show you just how easy it all is!

Stay tune, and if you haven't entered to win the Silhouette SD that I am giving away, you can do that over on the Silhouette Giveaway Post. You have until tomorrow morning to enter!

Silhouette SD Review and Giveaway!

2010-11-23T17:41:00.004-06:00

I could not WAIT until the day after Thanksgiving to tell you, so I am letting the cat out of the bag now! Silhouette America is giving one of my readers a Silhouette SD electronic cutting tool:

One of you will be getting this pretty little cutter and all of the fun that comes in the box with it! I just got mine yesterday and I have not stopped playing with it since it showed up at my door. There are paper turkeys lying all over my house and a million projects swimming around in my head.

I should be getting ready for Thanksgiving, but instead I have been playing with some of my fun Silhouette products. I used some vinyl and changed my pantry labels from this:

to this:

And turned one of Ruby's plain red shirts into this cute white flocked Christmas tree shirt:

I still have so many fun products to play with and I can't wait to share some tutorials with you (I might even throw in a VIDEO or two!

I will be posting a full review later this week, but I couldn't be happier with this machine! It is SUPER light way, easy to set up, and I honestly had cut out a paper turkey within 2 minutes of setting it up.

So now to the fun part!!!

To enter to win, leave me a comment below and let me know why you would like to win the Silhouette SD.

Want some additional entries?

Head over to Silhouette and tell me which products you would like to try with your new Silhouette SD!

Stop by the Silhouette Blog and leave a comment letting them know that Lorie from Be Different, Act Normal sent you or become a follower of their blog. Either one gets you another entry. Just leave a comment letting me know.

Post about this giveaway on your blog, Facebook, or Twitter.
Then leave a link in the comment section of this post. You can even do all three and earn three different entries.

You can use this tweet if you like:

@milliemux is giving away a #silhouette http://bit.ly/dLCESs

And last but not least become a subscriber or Follower to Be Different, Act Normal. Leave me a comment and let me know if you are a long time follower, or brand new to my blog.

That should just about cover it!

You have until 10:00 AM MST on Monday November 29, 2010 to enter. A winner will be randomly chosen from all entries and announced within the hour. Why so quickly? Because if you don't win, you will still have a chance to use the AMAZING discount code that Silhouette has offered to my readers.

You have until November 29th to use the code bedifferent to receive $100 off the purchase of a Silhouette SD. You will get the machine for $199! And to make the deal even sweeter Silhouette has thrown in a roll of vinyl, a roll of transfer paper, and their Home Decor CD for FREE!

Your shopping cart will look like this:

Free is so fun!

Disclosure

Silhouette America provided me with a Silhouette SD to use and review along with a second machine to give away to my readers. All opinions shared regarding the machine and use of the machine are my own.

Silhouette America currently only ships within the United States. The contest is open to anyone with a shipping address within the US.

***This giveaway has ended***

Say It On The Wall Giveaway

2010-11-22T19:41:00.001-06:00

Two years ago my sister-in-law introduced me these beautiful glass blocks with a silhouette of the nativity on them:

They were from Say It On The Wall and I immediately wrote a post about them, even though it was only September. To this day they are still my favorite Christmas find.

Every week through Christmas, Laura adds a new item of the week to her blog. And the best thing about the item of the week is that they are 40% off! This week, her item is a new take on the glass blocks that I love:

And you can get it for 40% off using the code WISEMEN40. And the same design comes in two other styles that you can see HERE. And ALL THREE are 40% off with the same code!

And as if that deal wasn't sweet enough, Laura has offered to give away a $20 gift certificate to TWO of my readers!! It is the perfect time to pick up one of these nativity sets to add to your Christmas decorations or even give one to a friend as a Christmas gift. Or you can spend it on some of her other amazing pieces. She has vinyl for just about everything and amazing projects to demonstrate ways you can use it.

If you would like to enter to win one of the $20 gift certificates, please head over to the Say It On The Wall blog and become a follower. Then head back here and leave me a message letting me know.

For a second entry, head over to Facebook and become a fan of Say It On The Wall, then leave me another comment here.

And last but not least, Say It On The Wall has a really great affiliate program. If you sign up to be an affiliate, you get to earn money from all sales that you refer and you get an extra entry for this contest. Just leave me a comment letting me know you signed up!

You have until midnight (PST) Sunday November 28th to enter. A winner will be selected at random from all entries and will be announced here on or after Monday, November 29th.

Cheerio Spoonful of Stories Winner

2010-11-18T12:48:00.002-06:00

The winner of the Spoon Full of Stories Prize pack:

is comment #31:

Congrats to rickimoo! Her profile says she is a babysitting grandma, so I am sure she will get a lot of use out of these 5 books and the box of yummy Cheerios! Not to mention the gift card from Barnes & Noble!

Rickimoo, please email me with your contact information.

Cheerios Spoonful of Stories Giveaway

2010-11-15T16:34:00.002-06:00

As a mom there are some simple pleasures in life. A good cereal that your kids actually want to eat without dumping an entire bowl of sugar on it. When said cereal has a good book inside as a prize instead of a plastic toy that I am going to want to throw the first time the kids aren't looking. When said book is easy to get out of the box without having to dig through the cereal.

Cheerios has always been one of our favorite cereals, with or without milk, and right now with Cheerios Spoon Full of Stories Initiative you get one of five great children's books in each specially marked box and they will make a $300,000 financial donation to First Book, an award-winning national nonprofit that helps get books into the hands of children in need.

Good cereal, good books, and a good cause. You can't really beat that for breakfast in the morning!

Cheerios sent me a prize pack that included a box of Cheerios, all five of the books you will find in the specially marked Cheerios boxes and a $25 gift card to Barnes and Noble. They want to send you a prize pack too!

To enter to win, leave a comment on this post telling me about your favorite book to read to children.

Want a second entry? Check out the books offered through the Cheerios Spoon Full of Stories and let me know which one you think will be your favorite.

(Ruby's favorite is Chaucer's First Winter by Stephen Krensky),

You have until 11:59 PM (CST) on Wednesday November 17, 2010 to enter to win. Winner will be chosen at random from all entries and announced on Thursday November 18th.

Cheerios, through My Blog Spark, sent me information about the Spoon Full of Stories Initiative and the prize pack mentioned in this post

Silhouette Bundle Giveaway Winner

2010-11-10T08:26:00.001-06:00

Thanks to everyone that entered the giveaway for the Silhouette Bundle Giveaway! These products are a lot of fun and our winner:

ReimFam, is going to have a good time using them!

Congratulations to our winner! Please email me your contact information so that we can get you prize package out to you ASAP!

And if you think THIS giveaway was fun, you are going to love what I am giving away the day after Thanksgiving. Make sure to mark your calendars to come back on November 26th!

Also! you still have tine to get 25% off all Silhouette accessories by using the code NORMAL at check out! That offer is good until the 13th at midnight!!

Silhouette Giveaway Reminder

2010-11-08T20:36:00.000-06:00

You have just over 24 hours to enter to win the $50 Silhouette Product Bundle.

Enter to win HERE.

Silhouette Bundle Review and Giveaway

2010-11-01T10:03:00.004-05:00

Silhouette and How Does She contacted me about reviewing some Silhouette products. They sent heat transfers, tattoo paper, and magnet paper for me to try out. I do not own a silhouette machine, so I thought it would be interesting to see what you could do with these products with just a printer and a pair of scissors.

Silhouette has a fun print and cut feature that will let you print out images on your inkjet printer and then the silhouette is able to cut out the same shapes. This can make for some pretty fun tattoos:

This product is probably the item that I enjoyed the most. You can get almost identical results without the Silhouette and it is easy to use. Silhouette recommends that you use an inkjet printer for the best results, but I wanted to see how it would perform with my laser printer. I didn't have any problems with smearing or the image transferring with my laser printer.

You can personalize them to match a party theme, add them as an accessory to a costume, or just let the kids play with different designs. I will be keeping some on hand to make tattoos with my contact information any time that we go to a theme park. If we get separated, my youngest who is too little to remember our phone numbers will have our information. It works for trick or treating too:

The next item I received was heat transfer material. With the machine, you could make some pretty great designs for shirts, hats, shoes, or even curtains and pillows:

But without a personal cutter you can still cut out any shape that you are talented enough to create with scissors. I personally would stick to basic shapes and letters without the machine:

They do offer Printable Heat Transfer Material that would allow you a lot more options with just your printer and scissors:

The final item that I was sent to review was their magnetic paper. Before I received the product I was concerned about the thickness. I was worried about my printer and how easy it would be to cut with just scissors. I was pleasantly surprised by how thin and light weight it was, but it was still strong enough to hold a picture on my fridge. There is nothing worse than a magnet that doesn't work.

I used it again for contact information. This time to keep the important info on the fridge for babysitters:

I made two versions, one with my real info and this one with generic info to photograph, but when I went to switch them out I made a discovery. They stick to each other really well, but they are also really easy to separate. So for my next project I am going to take my daughters printable paper dolls:

and print them out on the magnet paper to make her a magnetic dress up set.

I would love to hear what you would do with these products. Silhouette is giving away a $50 Bundle that includes 2 Heat Transfer Rolls (Yellow and White Smooth), 1 Tattoo Pack and 1 Magnet Sheet Pack to one of my readers.

To enter to win, head over to Silhouette and check out some other great projects you can make with these products. Then leave a comment letting me know what you would create with them.

Want a second entry, head over to the Silhouette Blog and become a Follower.

You have until midnight (EST) November 9th to enter. One winner will be selected at random and announced on November 10th.

Silhouette products can only be sent to a winner living in the states and a winner may only win once, even if it’s from a different host.

In addition to the giveaway, Silhouette is offering a discount for my readers. From now until November 13th at midnight, you can use the code NORMAL to receive 25% off on all their accessories.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

I was given a $50 Silhouette Bundle to review by Silhouette and How Does She. Although the product was provided free of charge, I was not compensated monetarily for this post and the opinions are my own. If they didn't work or I didn't like them I could and would have sent them back and not offered the product as a giveaway.

Scribblish Winner

2010-10-17T19:23:00.003-05:00

Congratulations to:

for being the winner of this:

Email me with your contact information by Thursday (October 21, 2010) at midnight. If I have not heard from the winner by then, another winner will be drawn Friday morning.

If you are not the winner and you would like to get a coupon for $2 off Scribblish, you can find one on Cranium's Facebook Page.

Thanks to everyone that entered!!

Scribblish Review and Giveaway

2010-10-12T16:48:00.003-05:00

I can remember the first time my grandmother beat me at Go Fish. I was eight years old and we were on a road trip in her RV. I also remember knowing that she had been letting me win up until then. I liked winning. I think I even asked her why she didn't let me win.

It took me a while to get over not always winning, but eventually I did. And I still love games.

I am not as nice as my grandmother. We play games all of the time and I rarely, if ever, let my kids win. Instead of teaching them that winning is fun, I try to teach them that playing is fun and winning is just the cherry on top of the ice cream sundae.

There are so many games we love to play, mostly classics that have been around longer than I have been alive, but every once in a while we find a new game that we really love. When my oldest son was learning his letters he received the Cranium game Cariboo for his birthday. It was with Cariboo that my love of Cranium games began. We have quite a few, so when I was asked by Hasbro and My Blog Spark to review their newest game, Scribblish, I jumped at the chance.

So what is Scribblish? Have you ever played The Telephone Game (the game where you sit in a circle and whisper a message to the person beside you until it makes its way around the circle and emerges as something completely ridiculous). Well, imagine playing without using any words, but drawing pictures (scribbling) instead. That is Scribblish.

You start with a prompt and you have a short amount of time to draw it out. You then pass the picture to another player and they have to guess the prompt by looking only at the picture. The picture is then hidden (using the handy scrolls that come with the game) and the next person has to draw a picture from the newly created prompt. It sounds a little confusing, but it took my kids, 6 and 9, about two minutes to catch on. You can even see an online demo HERE.

When all is said and done, you get a token for being able to recognize your original prompt and are awarded tokens from other players when they think one of your pictures or prompts is funny. It is a great game that is more about enjoying playing than actually coming out the victor.

The recommended age is 8, but you really can adapt the game to any age as long as they can read and spell. We played without the timer to give my daughter a little more time and she did really well.

If Scribblish sounds like a game your family or friends would enjoy, leave a comment on this post. Let me know who you love playing board games with an you will be entered to win a Scribblish game of your own.

For a second entry, leave another comment and let me know what Cranium games you have enjoyed playing.

You have until midnight (EST), Friday October 15th to enter. One winner will be chosen at random from all eligible entries.

Hasbro provided me with the product, information, and prize packs through MyBlogSpark. The review reflects my actual opinion of the product.

CSN Winner

2010-10-10T15:32:00.007-05:00

The winner of CSN $100 Gift Card is:

Congratutlations! Please send me an email HERE.

CSN $100 Giveaway

2010-09-30T20:00:00.003-05:00

CSN has offered to give one of my readers a $100 voucher for any of their 200+ Stores! I know you have heard of CSN. They do giveaways on blogs all of the time and I have been lucky enough to review products from their sites in the past. They have just about everything you could think of, and you can check it all out HERE.

So, do you want a $100 voucher you can spend on anything you like from CSN? Go check out the list of their 200+ stores HERE and then come back and leave a comment letting me know which store you are most likely to spend your $100.

Want a second entry, add yourself as a follower of this blog and leave a second comment. If you are already a follower, that counts too!

Share this giveaway on your blog/facebook page/twitter and leave a link in the comment section for another entry.

And last but not least, do some looking around CSN and let me know which item you would love to have from their inventory.

You have until Midnight Eastern on Friday, October 8, 2010 to enter. A winner will be chosen at random from all entries and announced here on this blog. Winner has 48 hours to contact me via email.

Good luck!!