Tried the new Casio Exilim in Meijer!

I have thought for a while about designing business cards online for my blog. Something that has my email and web address. I don’t talk to a lot of vendors outside of the internet but it gets a little tedious explaining to my classmates about what I do. I think it would be a lot easier to just have some promotional printing done and hand something to them that they can look up on their own time. I am not a business though and don’t want my visitors thinking that so maybe perhaps I will make mommy calling cards instead?

UPrinting is having a huge giveaway! The are offering one of my readers 500 custom business cards! There are full color two sided cards!  Here are the specs:

500 Business Cards for One (1) Winner

Sizes:  2 x 3.5”, 2 x 3”, 2 x 2” (square card) or 1.5 x 3.5” (slim card)

Paper: 14 pt gloss cardstock, 14 pt matte cardstock or 13 pt recycled uncoated cardstock

Specifications: Full Color Both Sides; Offset Press; 3 Business Day Printing

Shipping: FREE UPS Ground Shipping

Eligibility: Limited to US Residents only

How To Enter: Leave a Comment Below, its that easy!

Extra entries:

• Follow me on Twitter
• You can tweet about this giveaway once a day! Leave the link to your tweet.
  
• Follow my new Studio{us} Mommy blog on Twitter
• Follow Studio{us} Mommy via Google Friend Connect
• Follow Serendipity Mommy via Google Friend Connect
• Sign up for email updates
• Sign up for updates via RSS
• Add my button to your sidebar/blogroll

This contest ends at 11:59 PM est on March 12th! Good Luck!

I just made my first photo book! I know you are thinking, wait a sec, Candy takes a ton of photos how can she not have any books printed? I don’t really have an answer that is any better than this. These books can be complicated! But not with PhotoWorks Studio from American Greetings. This studio has already made designs you basically just drag and drop photos into! Editing text is really simple and you can also easily change the elements. For instance you have 3 photos but the page only offers 2 , you can choose a layout for a page that allows for more photos.

I made a baby book for Aiden’s first year and you can see the book I made — Aiden’s First Year

I can honestly say it took longer for me to upload the photos than it did to make the book because it was hard to narrow it down to my favorites of the year. Its quite apparent I am a mommy papparazzi when it comes to my youngest child!

For more information on how you can make your own great book, please visit www.PhotoWorks.com and check out the Studio book section. The baby ones are so cute but they have lots of other designs too!

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of American Greetings PhotoWorks and received a free photo book to facilitate my review. Thank You Mom Central!

Everyone’s Favorite Monkey is Back in the Fun-Filled Sequel
to the Hit Animated Movie!

CURIOUS GEORGE 2: FOLLOW THAT MONKEY

“Twice the fun of the original!”
– Francine Brokow, Los Angeles Family Magazine

Universal sent us our own copy of the dvd for review and just as expected my daughter LOVES it as she loved the first movie as well!

Buckle up for an unforgettable experience when Curious George and his friends embark on a hilarious madcap cross country adventure in Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey, an all-new feature-length animated film available only on DVD on March 2, 2010 from Universal Studios Home Entertainment.  Filled with the delightful antics, gentle humor and heartfelt emotion that have captivated the hearts of families around the world, Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey includes a menagerie of entertaining bonus features: Two never-before-seen shows from the all-new TV season on PBS that does not air until Fall 2010, a brand new interactive game, an exclusive music video and more. Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey is priced at $19.95 SRP.

As an added savings value to consumers for a limited time, a $5 grocery cash check card mail-in offer will be included in DVD copies of Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey and the purchase of the DVD includes an instant $3 savings towards any Curious George catalog, TV or DVD title purchased in tandem.

In this sidesplittingly funny and heartwarming sequel to the hit 2006 animated feature, George sets out on a coast-to-coast journey to reunite Kayla, a homesick elephant, with her family. Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey features all-star voice talent including Tim Curry (“The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius,” Home Alone 2: Lost in New York), Jamie Kennedy (Kickin’ It Old School, Malibu’s Most Wanted), Matt Lauer (“Today Show”), Frank Welker (“Curious George” TV series, “Futurama,”) and comedy legend Jerry Lewis, plus music from legendary songwriter Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys.

BONUS FEATURES

• Two Never Before Seen Bonus Shows from the all-new TV season! See the premiere episode 6 months before it airs!
• Curious George’s Cross Country Caper Game – It’s more fun than a barrel of you-know-what when George and Kayla go on the run with security specialist Marcus Wolfe hot on their trail!  Exciting puzzles lead the way from New York to California so Kayla can visit her brother and sister. But be careful—a wrong answer could bring the Wolfe right to their door!
• Hold On, Here We Go – Exclusive Music Video
• Coloring Pages and Wallpapers
  

Children and parents everywhere have delighted in Curious George’s adventures for nearly seven decades. Created by Margret and H.A. Rey in 1941, Curious George has provided the inspiration for a flourishing line of educational and entertaining properties that includes “Curious George and the Golden Meatball,” an original live musical stage show currently touring the U.S., as well as the popular and critically acclaimed PBS children’s program, a line of original books, interactive games and toys, and an interactive attraction at the Universal Hollywood theme park.

SYNOPSIS

The world’s most beloved and inquisitive monkey is back in Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey, the fun-filled sequel to the hit animated movie. Join Curious George and The Man with the Yellow Hat as they set out on a madcap cross-country adventure to reunite Kayla, a homesick elephant, with her family. This unlikely trio faces all types of comic calamities and colorful characters and in the end, learn that with family, friends and determination, you can achieve anything. Featuring the voices of Tim Curry, Matt Lauer, Jamie Kennedy and Jerry Lewis, Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey, “proves that family, friends – and curiosity – are number one.” (Francine Brokaw, Los Angeles Family Magazine)

For additional information visit www.curiousgeorge.com <http://www.curiousgeorge.com>  or  www.facebook.com/curiousgeorge <http://www.facebook.com/curiousgeorge>

TECHNICAL INFORMATION
Street Date:  March 2, 2010
Copyright:  2010 Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Material Number: 63105800
Selection Number: 2006953
Price: $19.95 SRP
Running time: 1 hour, 21 minutes
Layers:  Dual
Aspect Ratio: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1
Rating:  G
Technical Info: English Dolby Digital 5.1, French and Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0, English SDH, French (Parisian) and Spanish Subtitles

Universal Studios Home Entertainment is a unit of Universal Pictures, a division of Universal Studios (www.universalstudios.com). Universal Studios is a part of NBC Universal, one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. Formed in May 2004 through the combining of NBC and Vivendi Universal Entertainment, NBC Universal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, and world-renowned theme parks. NBC Universal is 80%-owned by General Electric, with 20% owned by Vivendi.

The Universal Studios Family Productions banner, which includes Universal Animation Studios, develops, and produces live-action and animated family productions directly for the home entertainment and television markets.  Among the group’s portfolio of prized properties is The Land Before Time, the most successful feature-length children’s home entertainment franchise of all time, having earned more than one billion dollars worldwide to date. Since its formation in 2005, the group has built an exceptional slate of family fare, including the all new DVD Original release Bring It On: Fight to the Finish, the latest installment in the hugely successful Bring It On film franchise set to debut in August 2009; the highly popular action-adventure epic Scorpion King 2: Rise of A Warrior; the Daytime Emmy®-winning “Curious George” television series on PBS KIDS; a string of Barbie movies based on the world-renowned Mattel-branded doll; and the most recent crowd pleaser Beethoven’s Big Break, based on the beloved family franchise. Universal Studios Family Productions is part of Universal Studios Home Entertainment.

Thank You Universal Studios for sending us a copy of the dvd for reviewing purposes!

I just spent the better part of my Saturday watching hours of math videos. My head is really aching. I feel like I really did learn and will be doing practice tests all day Sunday. My math exam is on Monday. This is by far the hardest chapter yet. Just SO much crammed into one. It makes me almost terrified of next semester’s math. Just one more semester! And this time I will be at the college. I will not be taking math online again its not enough and I am not disciplined enough still to make myself do the work every day. I am not failing but it is definitely a struggle.

Right now I am going to edit some photos and post them on the photo blog. But first I wanted to give a shout out to Annie at Mama Dweeb. She is too sweet. I am her spotlight mama for Saturday …check it out!

I am an absolute HUGE fan of the band Journey. Hubby is the one that got me hooked. There will never be another Steve Perry. The man, the voice, the band. Just absolutely love Journey!

We have music lovers in our house and Aiden, even at 16 months, loves music. Imagine my look of excitement when we heard the news that Rockabye Baby was sending us their newest release, Lullabye Renditions of Journey! I was so happy. I couldn’t wait to get that cd and put it in!

From a music stand point the music played is simple and sports a bit of electronic flair. Now if it was a true instrument the sound may have been richer but as a whole for the intended audience, its mixed perfect. It mixed so perfect that Aiden was dancing to it! Here is a song list:

Open Arms

Any Way You Want It

Wheel In the Sky

Faithfully

Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)

Who’s Crying Now

Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’

Send Her My Love

Stone in Love

Only the Young

Lights

Don’t Stop Believin’

I had the chance to listen to them all over the past few days and my favorites are Open Arms and Don’t Stop Believin’. Separate Ways made Aiden dance the most. No they aren’t head banging renditions, they are meant for babies. I think they are perfect for babies. I enjoyed watching Aiden try to figure out where the music was coming from.

Buy It: You can get the album for $16. 98 and CLICK HERE to get some sound samples of the songs on this album, also the purchase button is on that page too!

Rockabye Baby has many other renditon albums and overall I think its pretty genius of an idea. I don’t listen to soft music very much and I like rock so the fact they can take my favorite songs and soften them so my baby can enjoy them at his age is great.  I give the album a thumbs up.

Follow Rockabye to learn more and get updates!
Blog: http://www.rockabyebabymusic.com/blog

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/rockabyebaby

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/rockabyebaby

I was provided with the product written about in this article for testing and review purposes.  The opinions expressed are my own.

I don’t get to post many reviews that involve my oldest son, Colton. I am usually contacted about toys for my toddler or my daughter. Colton is 12 and as parents of this generation of kids, its apparent that its increasingly hard to get these kids toys that aren’t guns, loud, or just pleasing them in general.

Lou Lou’s Corner, a great online store offering a different selection of unique toys and clothing from the cute to the quirky, carries a line of wind up toys from the brand Kikkerland. Lou Lou’s sent Colton a couple wind up “insect” looking toys to review.

On the left is the Cosmojet, on the right is the Awika.

This little guy is funny to watch because you wind it and it vibrates and shakes so much that it looks like its dancing a jig!

And the Awika is even cooler. When you wind up this larger one, it has sparks off the end of it as it goes across the room. Again it reminds me of an insect so it freaks me out a little but its neat to watch with the light off. Not something you want near a young child but definitely cool!

What I loved: Reasonably priced, quiet, kid powered. The sparks are neat too. And I LOVE how unique they are!

What I didn’t love: Kind of hard to crank until you are used to it. And just a bit too old to enjoy them. If Colton was younger I think he would have really enjoyed them more. He lost interest in them so Alyssa has taken them over.

Buy Them: You can get Kikkerland Wind Ups at Lou Lou’s Corner! The Cosmojet sells for $9.99 and the Awika for $12.95. While you are there be sure to look at all the other cool stuff they offer!

Thank You Lou Lou’s Corner for sending us product for this review!

A storm is about to take out the Internet forever. Over the past few months I have been relying heavily on the internet. I have come to a point where I have found deep friendships in the Blogosphere. I have shared my soul. I have laughed at jokes. I have cried tears for deep soul reaching losses of people gone too soon. I have never met most of the people in my real life but I feel connected to them. How will I go through my new life with no internet. What kind of impression did I leave my viewers?

I want my readers to know how much I appreciated each and every comment. On my most personal posts especially, I really love that you reached your arms out to accept me. I hope that some of the products I reviewed helped you make your decisions on what kind of toys to get your children. I hope that you deeply enjoyed my photography. My passion next to being a mother is photography and I hope I did a good job in sharing glimpses of my life with you. I love all of you and will miss you all with every fiber of my being.

If there is one thing I want to be  a master of it is organization. Organization of time and objects. Labels on everything. I don’t want to take any more time away from my family to have to search for things anymore. I want to savor the moments with my family. Like last night when my 16 month old son said “luff oooh” for the first time. You just can’t buy happiness like that. As I say goodbye to my online world, know that I was here, I did matter, and I loved every minute of it!

-With Love, Candy

Readers: This was an entry into the Mabel’s Labels contest. I am not leaving or anything, just want to desperately win a trip to blog her and be proud to be chosen as Mabel’s Labels newest blogger!

What is a Fairy Gram?

From the Fairy-Gram Website-

“A fairy-Gram is a Fairy Outfit delivered gift wrapped in a box. Each fairy gram includes the following:

Fairy Tutu: Each tutu is aproximately 12 inches long and has a 12 inch waist which can stretch up to 28 inches. The expandable waist allows our tutus to fit a 1 year old through to a 8 year, approximately.

Fairy Wings: Each set of wings is approximately 17 × 12 in size. Our rainbow wings are slightly smaller at 14 × 12.

Fairy Ribbon Wand: Each Fairy-Gram contains a fairy wand to match the color of your chosen Fairy outfit. Each wand is approximately 12 inches long.

Fairy Halo: Each Fairy-Gram contains a fairy halo to match the color of your chosen

Fairy outfit: Each fairy halo has an adjustable head size.

Butterfly Clips: Each Fairy-Gram also comes with 2 small butterflies clips.”

Fairy-Gram sent Alyssa her very own! She was delighted to receive it after seeing the website, she thought everything was so pretty!

And she included a cute little card and attached it with the clips!

The items were so sparkly and pretty, PERFECT for dress up loving girls!

I think the tutu is my favorite because it has flower petals in it.

Here is my adorable almost 7 year old daughter trying on her goodies from Fairy-Gram:

The Bottom Line: I think this is the perfect gift for a little girl. Kids love getting mail anyway and if the girl is into dressup she will love this. Its beautifully wrapped and addressed to the lucky little girl. I would say this is a good choice for relatives that live far away and need a last minute idea.

Buy It: You can order your very own Fairy Gram at their website and they retail for $29.95.  They ship worldwide!

Win It!! : One lucky reader is going to win their own Fairy Gram in the color of choice!

(thank you readers!!)

Mandatory Entry: Visit Fairy-Gram and tell me the color choice you love the most!

Extra entries:

• Follow Fairy-Gram on Twitter (5 entries)
• Become a fan of Fairy-Gram on Facebook (5 entries)
• Follow me on Twitter
• You can tweet about this giveaway once a day! Leave the link to your tweet.
  
• Follow my new Studio{us} Mommy blog on Twitter
• Follow Studio{us} Mommy via Google Friend Connect
• Follow Serendipity Mommy via Google Friend Connect
• Sign up for email updates
• Sign up for updates via RSS
• Add my button to your sidebar/blogroll

This contest has ended. The winner is Laura!, CONGRATS!

This review was made possible by MomMadeThat.com. Thank You Fairy-Gram for having us review your product!

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) will go full circle with its annual 31 DAYS OF OSCAR® festival in February.  The 2010 edition of the month-long event will feature 360 Academy Award®-nominated and winning movies, all presented uncut and commercial-free.  The month’s schedule is designed so that each movie is linked to the next movie in the lineup through a shared actor or actress.

31 DAYS OF OSCAR will begin Monday, Feb. 1, at 6 a.m. (ET) with Kevin Bacon and James Coco in Only When I Laugh (1981). Coco and Harry Andrews will then be featured in The Man of La Mancha (1972) at 8:15 a.m., followed by Andrews in 55 Days at Peking (1963) at 10:30 a.m. The festivities will continue  linking from movie to movie, one star at a time, throughout the month. The final movie in the festival, Diner (1982), starring Bacon, will bring the entire month full circle.

For some Oscar fun you can go to TCM’s site. I like the mood widget they have, you pick a mood they show an old classic that matches!:

Personally I LOVE the Oscars. I don’t know what it is but that day the celebs are just so beautiful and perfectly groomed and they are all in one place. I stock up on popcorn and put everyone on notice that I am going to need someone else to take care of the kids LOL. I try to guess who is going to win every year and don’t do so hot. Some people that I think totally deserve to win never get picked. Like Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth. She was AMAZING.

Do you have any Oscar traditions?