Folding Stove

I had the chance to review the Coghlan’s Folding Stove, and was excited since we love camping and are familiar with this kind of equipment. The folding stove is convenient, easy to use and easy to pack. It is coated steel construction and is 6.5 x 6.5 x 12.7 in, and when folded flat is easy to pack and carry.

Essentially it is a one burner stove that uses any type of canned fuel or solidified alcohol burners, similar to what you would find under a buffet tray. This would be a great gift for the hunter in your life, it is small enough to carry and efficient enough to heat up a warm bowl of soup in that tree stand on a cold afternoon. It is also a great idea to have as an emergency back up or added to a survival kit. Of course it would be a great gift for the outdoorsmen, backpackers, and campers! This is a great gift for under $10.00 and can be found at most sporting goods stores, Walmart, and many other retailers.

I think I am going to pack it in my bag tonight and take it with us to the Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday to keep our hot chocolate warm and fresh!!

A product was received for review. I was not paid in any form of cash for this posting. The opinions expressed are my own and were NOT influenced in any way.

ZIPPO

I received a Christmas themed Zippo candle lighter to review. I love this candle lighter. It reminds me of the old school lighter that everyone keeps in their kitchen drawer, but this one is sexy! It comes in a little black box with a window on the front that displays your lighter. I immediately put it out next to my oil burner and can’t wait to add it to my Christmas décor that will be put out after this weekend!!

It is very easy to light and handle for those hard to reach candles. There is no wick to worry about lighting and keeping lit. Zippo has even managed to make the child safety lock look great and be functional. And of course, being a Zippo, it is refillable. It also features a flame adjuster and fuel level indicator. Best of all it has a lifetime guarantee.

I think this would be a great addition to use around the house, and would also make a great stocking stuffer. You could pair it with a few nice candles and give it as a gift basket for a wedding shower or a housewarming gift. Check out the 7 different stylish designs on the Zippo website

Two Thumbs Up!

A product was received for review. I was not paid in any form of cash for this posting. The opinions expressed are my own and were NOT influenced in any way.

Ocarina

The ocarina is a great family instrument!! This instrument is believed to date back over 12,000 years ago! It is an oval shaped flute like instrument and is very easy to learn.

When we first received our Ocarina, my sister was here and we were anxious to try it out. We were provided with an instructional book called The Art of the Ocarina and an instructional CD. The book starts off very slow with an introduction to the Ocarina, followed by lesson 1, which helps to identify note length and your first note! Each lesson teaches you a new note or notes to play with a song or exercise and includes pictures of your finger placement.

The Ocarina reminds me of an instrument that is heard at renaissance festivals held throughout the country. It has a soft flute like sound and is easy for anyone to learn to play. I have experience playing the flute throughout high school, which was a long time ago, and enjoyed my reintroduction into music!

My daughter is 4 years old and loves music. She has a small child’s drum set, a recorder, and a kids piano that she loves to pretend to play, but with the Ocarina she is actually learning how to read music! Anyone can learn to play the Ocarina in a short period of time! They have a great sound, and are fun for the whole family!

The Ocarina is a great gift unique gift idea for anyone in your family, music teachers, or Sunday school teachers! Learn more information or purchase an Ocarina at http://www.stlocarina.com

A product was received for review. I was not paid in any form of cash for this posting. The opinions expressed are my own and were NOT influenced in any way.

PuffPAC

I am always looking for new creative ways to wrap gifts, especially around Christmas time! I dread sitting in the middle of the living room floor and wrapping gifts for hours; unroll the paper, measure the gift, try to cut a straight line, fold, refold, tape, add decorations, and finally a name tag. Recently, I have started just stuffing everything into a bag and calling it a day! That is until I received puffPac!

PuffPACs are the worlds only gift stuffable mylar balloons. It is a mylar balloon that is specially manufactured with one side left open so that you can stuff a gift inside. Sealing the balloon is as easy as placing an iron on it for a few seconds, no machine needed! After you have the balloon sealed you stick a straw in the slot that is clearly marked and blow it up, it’s that easy!

The balloons are available in sizes ranging from small (perfect for gift cards) to jumbo, and prices are comparable to average gift bags. They come with a straw and some great directions with suggestions on making your gift wrap fancier. You can add a penny for some sounds effects or confetti and streamers! When your gift recipient is ready to open their gift they squeeze until it pops! Just make sure to read all of the directions, if you get the iron to close to the paint, it will melt it. (I should have read the directions before I went diving in!)

My kids and I had fun wrapping some presents and they couldn’t get over the finished product. I can’t wait to use the rest of my balloons to wrap up some gifts for our white elephant gift exchange! No one will be able to tell that it is my gift by a reused crinkled gift bag or horrible wrapping job.

You can go to http://puffpac.yolasite.com/ to order your gift wrapping needs. They have balloons for many occasions and even a stocking shaped balloon for Christmas. Your gift wrap will be the talk of the town.

A product was received for review. I was not paid in any form of cash for this posting. The opinions expressed are my own and were NOT influenced in any way.

Dazzle Dry

Another great beauty product I had the pleasure of reviewing is the Dazzle Dry Nail Polish Kit! They have a great fall line of colors to suit any occasion or mood. Not only does this nail polish dry in only 5 minutes, but it is also vegan, and uses no animal products! I received the Savory Cranberry color. It is the perfect fall color, reminds me of the golden red color of the leaves falling from the trees!

My daughter and I sat down a couple of weekends ago to have a mini spa night and give ourselves mani’s and pedi’s. The first step is to apply the Nail Prep, it is an adhesion promoter that helps keep your polish on for weeks! Next we applied the base coat that dried so quickly when I was done with all 40 nails, we were ready to apply the color! After the color the last step in the kit is the quick drying top coat. It went on easily over our color and all was dried in about 5 minutes!!

I was happy that I could apply a nail polish to my 4 year old daughter that didn’t have the harmful ingredients of Camphor, Formaldehyde, Toluene, and Phthalate that most nail polishes have, plus she could go play with her toys in no time! VB cosmetics the maker of Dazzle Dry is a U.S. company that does not test on animals and uses recycled materials for their packaging.

We were able to flaunt our nail polish around for almost two weeks with no chips or wear to them (even through a remodel of our basement!) I was able to enjoy an evening of beauty with my daughter while having the comfort of a responsible product that stood up to all it said it would.

A product was received for review. I was not paid in any form of cash for this posting. The opinions expressed are my own and were NOT influenced in any way.

Artistry Skin Care and Cosmetics

I am a girly girly at heart and love my make-up! I was excited to try out the Reflective Beauty Trend Collection by Artisty. World-renowned makeup artist Frances Hathaway has partnered with Artistry Skin Care and Cosmetics to create this romantic, modern, and chic cosmetic line. They have created beautiful pallets with their new color combination and five new products. I tried out the following items:

1) Reflective Beauty Face Palette ─ Perfection: Create gorgeous eyes and cheeks while enhancing warm skin tones with the Perfection Face Palette. Colours featured are deep indigo, jeweled green, golden silkscreen, and warm peach. Pair with the Perfect Red Lip Gloss to boost the impact.

2) Reflective Beauty Face Palette ─ Inspiration: Enlighten your look and complement cool skin tones with the Inspiration Face Palette. Its amethyst and pink shades offer densely pigmented tones for eyes and cheeks to set a retro romantic mood

3) Ultimate Blue Coloured Mascara: This mascara is richly pigmented with navy to amplify and brighten eyes, while deepening lashes.
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4) Soft Pink Lip Gloss: Soft Pink can either be used to tint lips with a hint of colour or punctuate lip colour with a glossy shine. It produces a multidimensional effect.

5) Perfect Red Lip Gloss: Perfect Red is a strong colour that makes a statement. It pairs well with the inspiration colour quad.

I was first impressed with the packaging of the face palettes; they come in a velvet like compact bag with a separate retractable multi-purpose blush brush. The colours that are included are great for eyes and cheeks, depending on what kind of look you are going for. There are so many different colour combinations that can be made!

When I opened up the Ultimate Blue Coloured Mascara, I was surprised at how blue the mascara seemed and immediately had a flash back to the early 90’s when I would buy the brightest blue I could find! But I was relieved when I put it on, and it looked black on my eye lashes, but gave my eyes a lighter and brighter appearance!

By far my favorite was the lip gloss! The colours are perfect for fall and winter. It is a non sticky gloss that provides hours of colour in just the right shades! The sleek tube design is great to slip into your pocket or clutch and take with you for day or night!

If you are looking for a new, modern cosmetic line, give Artistry a try. They even have a make over section on their website that allows you to up load your picture, or use one of their models, and the Reflective Beauty Trend Collection to see how to apply the make-up to achieve the results you are looking for. Artistry also offers many different cosmetic lines, and skin care products.

Snapily.com

If you have ever spent time picking up every card in the birthday section and still couldn’t find the perfect card, check out Snapily.com. They have a great website that walks you through creating your own unique 3-D flip book style card. They also offer other products like notebooks, invitations, scrapbook pages, and business cards.

You can choose from pre designed templates or create your own from scratch. It takes only a few seconds to upload two landscaped photos and type in your perfect message. It’s that easy to create a custom 3-D card for around the same price as those singing greeting cards or printed invitations.

Snapily has many pre designed templates to choose from, including holiday, seasonal, sports, and even pets! Creating a card was easy, user friendly, and helped capture a special moment. I know my mom is going to LOVE her birthday card and will cherish it forever!