Creativity for Kids Craft Kits: Review and GIVEAWAY

It gets hot here in the summer.

Really hot.

Like, we went to the spray park yesterday and I think half my face is still there, on a picnic table, where it MELTED OFF.

It's really hard to get outside and do things with the kids unless "do things" involves water.  Even early in the mornings, the sun is beating down on you and making it unbearable.  No thank you.  No thank you very much.

Sooooo.  Not being able to do much outside means I have to get creative on finding things for the kids to do.  They'll only play so many rounds of "LET'S HAVE A CONTEST TO SEE WHO CAN CLEAN UP THE TOY ROOM THE FASTEST!!!!!" before they start rebelling.  And by "rebelling" I mean whining. 

I've been telling the kids for weeks now that we were going to make homemade bouncy balls.  Then  kept forgetting to buy Borax.  Then I couldn't find Borax (in the whole two stores I went to - Walmart and Target - and, yes, I looked in the laundry aisle.  Considering I went to Walmart, though, I probably should've checked in the least likely place.  Like maybe the bakery.  Or men's clothing.  Sporting goods).  Jaidan was at the point of just blowing up because, "OMG, WE NEED CLORAX (his term) BECAUSE WE HAVE TO MAKE BOUNCY BALLS AND GAK AND SLIME AND OTHER MESSY STUFF BECAUSE I AM SO BORED THAT IMMA DIIIIIIIE."  Creativity for Kids Craft Kits saved the day.  I was never so glad to see GLITTER show up in my mail then the days these bad boys arrived.

We were sent the Mossy Meadows Gnome Garden, Deluxe Glitter Art, and Tile Art Necklace kits to review.

First up was the Mossy Meadows Gnome Garden because, ya'll, that was Gnomeo and Juliet inside that box and we needed to make them a garden!

The box says this is an activity for ages seven and up.  Jaidan is five (and a half!) and it was perfect for him.  Kyan had no desire to so much as try it and I wouldn't let Karis touch it for fear of her, like, huffing potting soil or something. 

Jaidan started off painting the planter and stones:

We let it dry outside for, like, two minutes because it's been THAT HOT here.  Then we got to work on putting the garden together.  I poured the soil in because, hello, he's five and I knew if he did it himself then *I* would get to spend the afternoon cleaning up soil.  Yeah.  Notsomuch fun.  Jaidan put all the fun little gnomes and stuff where he wanted them.  Then we sprinkled in the grass seeds and watered the soil.

I kept saying we were hanging with our gnomies and Jaidan kept looking at me like, "REALLY?  Did you SERIOUSLY just say that?"

The finished product is now sitting by the kitchen window, waiting for the grass to grow (the instructions said it would take a few days but it's been over a week now and nada.  It could have something to do with this little thing I possess called a BLACK THUMB).

And that soil mess was with ME pouring it!

Later in the week, we pulled out the Deluxe Glitter Art Kit.  Actually, Jaidan kept pulling it out and I'd be all, "can we PLEASE save that for a minute when you're bored out of my skull" and he'd be like "But I AM bored out of my skull and, besides, GLITTER."

This kit is more suited toward girls.  There's a lot of pink and purple and hearts and ribbon.  But that didn't matter to a certain five (and a half!) year old boy because . . . GLITTER.

I was smart enough to put down an old tablecloth for this project!

The Deluxe Glitter Art was FULL of projects.  Gift cards, tags, and cute little boxes and glitter, glitter pins, jewels, and ribbons to decorate with.  Jaidan and my stepdaughter, who is 11, both had a blast making all sorts of projects.

I'm still cleaning glitter out of my kitchen but it's okay beacause the kiddos had a b-l-a-s-t.

I can't review the tile art necklace kit because we decided to pass it on to a little girl we know who is currently in St. Jude's.  Jaidan decided that she'd probably appreciate and enjoy it and that it was the right thing to do.

The kit looks like so much fun!  It comes with all the supplies to make eight tile necklaces and even includes gift boxes in case you want to give one or two of them away.

Both kits we tried out were great quality (yay for mom!) and lots of fun (yay for kids!)  The kits were most definitely something I'd pick up as a boredom shaker for the kiddos!

Want to win TWO Creativity for Kids craft kits?

All you need to do is leave me a comment (make sure you leave your email address or have your email tied to your profile so I can contact the winner).  Any old comment will do -- I'm not picky.  The contest will run through next Monday, August 13th.  Winner will be chosen randomly.  Good luck!

Disclosure: In exchange for publishing this post, I received free materials from MomSelect.  All opinions are mine and mine alone.

Gutzy Gear: Product Review and GIVEAWAY



Jaidan doesn't start kindergarten for another four months or so, but we're already discussing the imporant things when it comes to school. 

And by important I mean when we'll buy school supplies, what he'll take for lunch, and what kind of backpack he'll have.  Will he have to use his Diego backpack that he's had for several years and, let's be real, has seen better days?  Can he get a Spongebob backpack?  Or maybe a Phineas and Pherb one?  Can we find a backpack that has Batman, Spiderman, and Ironman ALL on it?  Needless to say, backpacks are a big deal in our house.

Enter Gutzy Gear!

Gutzy Gear are these fun little straps you add to your backpack -- with tons of different patches, called gutzies, to add on to customize your backpack however you want.  Everything is velcro therefore you have the option of changing things up to suit your mood.  Fun stuff!  They're available at Bed, Bath, and Beyond (sidenote: I get a weird, heady feeling when I walk in that store.  Kind of how I feel when I walk into Target.  Love.that.place).

I knew Jaidan and Kyan would be crazy about Gutzy Gear.  They love buttons and temporary tattoos and a whole bunch of other fun little things they refer to as "badges."  It was pretty much a given that they would love gutzies -- and I was right!  I was kind of surprised, though, that my 11-year-old middle schooler stepdaughter was also all into the Gutzy Gear!

As you can see, they also work for the one strap backpacks!  I suggested she use two and stack  them on top of each other but she thought it looked better this way.

11 is such a weird age.  You never know what they're going to think they're too old for.  But Z has been sporting her Gutzy Gear for a couple weeks now, has switched up some of the patches, traded with one of her brothers, and even handed out more Gutzy Gear to a couple of her friends!

The Gutzy Gear is inexpensive and, obviously, pretty cool for kids of pretty much any age.  They would make a great add-on for a birthday gift and additional gutzy patches could make for a fun stocking or Easter basket stuffer.

Want to win a Gutzy Gear Starter Pack for your own child?

The starter pack includes two straps and two gutzies.  To win, just follow this blog and leave a comment on this post.  The contest will run through 9:00 p.m. (central time) Sunday April 22.  The winner will be chosen randomly.

And regardless of whether you win the Gutzy Starter pack or not, you can still earn some free gutzies!  If you purchase a pack of gutzies (retail value $3.99 - $5.99) and send either a copy of your receipt or a picture of your child showing off their Gutzy Gear, you will receive an additional gutzy that is not available in stores!  Just email your receipt or picture to Amy@bsmmedia.com with the subject line “Gutzy Gear BOGO promotion”.  Don't forget to include your shipping adress so they know where to send your free gutzy goodness!

Disclosure: I was provided with free product and compensation from Bed, Bath, and Beyond on behalf of Gutzy Gear.  All opinions in this review are my own.

Lazy

Eddie worked nights last week.  When we first found out he'd be on nights, we decidede that we would be productive.   We had a long list of things we'd get done.  We were going to replace the blinds the children have destroyed.  We were going to start cleaning out the garage.  Eddie was going to set up a home network/ nerd thing he's all excited about.  There was more.  I don't remember what all.  But there was a lot.  Instead of doing any of these things, we were lazy.  Isn't the week between Christmas and New Years pretty much made for being lazy?  Thought so.

I also had in my head that I was going to scrap ALL of my 25 Days of Christmas pictures.  I was going to finish everything!  And maybe I'd even go ahead and order a book.  Yeah.  I got one page done:

And I did that page in about eight minutes.  Ahhhh.  Maybe I'll get our Christmas book done by . . . um . . . next Christmas.

Just a reminder: I'm doing a giveaway for the MyMemories scrapbooking software.  Then you can create pages just like the one I made.  ;)  Just go here and leave a comment.   There are only three comments so far (I think I did a giveaway at the wrong time of year!  Everybody has been lazy with their blog reading) so your chances of winning are very good.

My Gift to You: A Giveaway

This blog started out as a digital scrapbooking blog (which is why it's named These are the Moments -- after the chorus of the Edwin McCain song I Could Not Ask for More -- and not something like They Whine so I Wine or Instant Mom!  Just Add Vodka!).   But, yes, once upon a time it was a scrapbooking blog.  Then Karis came along and my Kid Count went up to three (sometimes four) and my "me time" became non-existent and it seemed more important to shower than to sit down at the computer, pull up Photoshop and start preserving our memories.

I was recently given a copy of My Memories scrapbooking software to try out.  And *gasp* I created a scrapbook page!  For the first time in nearly two years!

Cute, huh?



The scrapbook software comes loaded with tons - tons - of premade templates.  Even premade albums!  These pages right here?  They were made using the templates in a premade album.  It was literally just click-and-add.  So easy and pretty quick too! I did two pages while my kids were watching Super Why on Monday and two more while they watched on Tuesday:

{All above pages were created using the Connie Prince kit "North Pole Express"}

Here's what's cool about the MyMemories scrapbook software:

• It is VERY easy to use.  Very.  Using one of the premade templates, even the most novice of scrapbookers could sit down and crank out a page in a very short amount of time.  It's that easy!
• The software comes preloaded with lots of kits, papers, elements, you name it. 
• You can create so much more than just scrapbook pages.  Calendars, cards, videos!  I love that the program has an option to add sounds and videos to what you make.
• It's cheaper than Photoshop.  And dude.  We're all about the cheaper.

Here's what I didn't exactly love about the program:

• It's not Photoshop.  You can't go in expecting Photoshop.  There are definitely some comparisons -- some great comparisons.  But it has limitations.  However.  It's also much more user friendly than Photoshop.
• Ummm . . . uhhhh . . . that's it!

All in all, I'm a fan of My Memories.  Like I said, it's not Photoshop.  I haven't been able to figure out a way to, like, make a ribbon wrap through words or anything like that because there's no eraser tool.  But this program is perfect for simple and fast scrapbooking.  I LOVE that it has so many premade templates.  And I think it's possibly the best program for a beginning scrapbooker or someone who doesn't have a great deal of time to scrapbook.

Wanna win your very own My Memories software ($40 value)?  You know you do!  It's Christmas.  We can think of it as my gift to you.  Right?

Here's what I need you to do:

Visit the My Memories website and have a look around.  Come back here and leave a comment telling me your favorite digital scrapbooking kit.  They have some fabulous designers so that may not be as easy as it sounds!  Also, make sure you're a follower of this blog!  Please either leave your email address or make sure you're email is linked to your blogger profile so that I can contact if you win.

For extra entries you may:

• Follow the My Memories blog
• Like My Memories on Facebook (when I liked their page, I recieved a $5 off promo code to use in the store.  WOO HOO).
• Follow My Memories on Twitter

Please leave an additional comment for each of the extra entries.  The giveaway ends at 9:00 p.m. central time January 2nd, 2012.  Winner will be selected using random.org.

Annnnnd . . . if you don't want to wait until January 2nd and feel like you have to get your hands on this software rightthisminute, I have another little gift for you!  Use the code STMMMS29798 and you'll get $10 off your purchase of the My Memories Suite software!  Awesome!

Disclosure: I was gifted the My Memories Suite software in exchange for my opinion and this post.  All opinions are mine and mine alone.