Category: parenting

December 7, 2014

Make Lasting Impressions with PhotoInpress #giveaway

I love capturing special moments on film. It allows me to relive the most important memories in our life with my family over and over again.

PhotoInpress was launched in Montreal in 2006 and is proud of it’s 100% Canadian product (yeah!!). Anne and Stephane developed PhotoInpress after a trip to Europe. They wanted to capture and seal these memories for their children to carry for a lifetime. What better way to do so than in a photo book!

The steps are simple and easy to follow. All you have to do is:

Download and install Book Designer. This is a free software to create your photo book and took under five minutes to download on our home computer.
The fun part: select and arrange your pictures,edit text and create easy layouts.
Click on the order button, review your order and finalize payment.
Your book is shipped to you at home!

The simplicity of creating the photo book was the best part for me. The hardest part was choosing the photos I wanted to use and put them in a folder to upload to the Book Designer! The book I created was a family album to give to my Dad for Christmas. In the photo book are photos of my kids, my siblings, cousins, aunts and my Grandfather. We lost out Grandfather this year to prostate cancer and I wanted to create something meaningful and an album my Dad can cherish.

Designing the layout of your photo book is quite simple and is based solely on how many photos you would like per a page and what direction you would like them (vertical or horizontal). Then click and drag your photos from the bottom bar. The bottom bar has at least fourteen photos displayed at any given time and you can click back and forth on the bottom bar to choose more photos. One of the best features (and one I haven’t seen before) is that as soon as you use a photo a check mark appears on it letting you know that it has been used. This helps to prevent duplicates and if you want to use the photo again you can do so no problem!

PhotoInpress is giving one of my Canadian readers the chance to win a $40 credit to PhotoInpress! Canadian residents, 18 years of age and older can enter via the Rafflecopter below – good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I received a photo book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

December 5, 2014

Better Life: Making #CleanHappensCA for the Whole Family #giveaway

After having kids I realized how important it was for me to make healthy and natural choices for our family. It wasn’t as if I was not doing this before but I became more conscious of my decisions after kids. I wanted to use products that would be not only safe for my kids but also for the environment. Trying to find a cleaning product that is natural and does an excellent job at cleaning the house was a challenge. Not to mention convincing my husband that cleaning products that do not contain bleach are just as effective as ones with bleach in it! Remember the whole idea that everything should be bleached? I think many of us may have grown up with this belief!

Better Life products were developed by two Dads who wanted to take the toxins out of their cleaning supplies. They wanted products that were natural, safe and unbeatable in performance. To be honest who doesn’t want this? Especially with a home full of children and pets who rely on us to protect them from harsh chemicals that could hurt them.

The Better Life brand stands by their promise to provide safe products and each product is:

hypoallergenic (a bonus for those with allergies and respiratory conditions)
synthetic fragrance free
sulfate and petroleum free
solvent free
cruelty free (they are not tested on animals)
no dyes or alcohol

Better Life uses plant derived products and essential oils to create their unique cleaning solutions. The essential oils leave a pleasant smell that doesn’t linger long so it won’t bother noses.

One of my favourite Better Life products is their what-EVER all purpose cleaner. Not only is the name awesome but you can literally use this product on anything and everything. We used it to clean the stove, the kitchen counters, kitchen table, bathroom sink and the list goes on and on. It performed amazing each and every time – no extra muscle was needed to remove the spills off the stove (this was my husband’s fear – that you would need more to do the same job as a regular cleaner). The what-EVER! all purpose cleaner comes in both scent free and Clary sage and citrus (my personal favourite!).

Dish It Out Natural Dish Liquid was another hit in our home. Although we have a dishwasher we still hand wash all of our pots, pans, containers and fragile glass. Dish It Out also comes in the same two formats as the what-EVER all purpose cleaner. It removes grease easily and because it is sulfate free it will not harm your hands (no more gloves needed!).

Even the Kitchen Sink works literally on everything including your kitchen sink. It is the product to use when you need that little extra to get off stains, food and even marks on the wall!

Take It For Granite works to clean, polish and shine all your high end counter tops (granite, marble slate, concrete). It is safe to use on your counter tops and wont damage them.

Einshine Stainless Steel cleaner is used to clean the stainless steel appliances in your home. We don’t currently own any so I gave them to my co-worker who LOVES it. She found it cleaned well and left no streaks or smudges.

Simply Floored removes the need to carry around a bucket full of dirty water around with you while cleaning the floors in your home. All you need to do is spray the product on the floor and wipe off. No need to put water on to wipe off the solution. I actually enjoyed cleaning the bathroom floors when I used this – never has it been this simple before! Simply Floored was also named the top all surface cleaner by Real Simple!

We were also given a bottle of Automatic Magic dishwasher gel. We have currently been using the pod like dishwasher gels from Costco and notice that many times they do not release all of the soap or it gets stuck on our glasses (yuck!). One squirt is all that is needed for regular loads (two for larger loads) and it left no streaks on any of the glasses and left our dishes sparkling.

Better Life even has laundry detergent – their Spin Credible laundry detergent comes in two styles: Lavender Grapefruit and Free & Clear. I have never been so excited to do laundry – I love all lavender scented products!! The bottle is ultra concentrated allowing you to get 64 loads per a bottle and is compatible with both standard and HE machines.

The best feature of Better Life products? They are so safe and natural to use that you do not have to worry about letting your child use them to help you clean! Children love to clean but none of us want to let them use harsh chemicals (what if they spray it in their eyes, get it on their skin or what if they ingest it somehow?!!). My boys were able to get in on all the cleaning action this week and we loved it!

Better Life products can now be found in Canada and are sold exclusively at Target! You can find their products in the regular cleaning aisles.

Make sure to follow Better Life on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest to keep up to date with new info.

Better Life is giving my Canadian readers a chance to win a Better Life package of products valued at $50.00! Enter via the Rafflecopter form below and good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I received the above mentioned products free of charge. All opinions expressed are mine alone.

October 14, 2014

The #FallMarketplace at Walmart: Full of #BrightIdeas to Make Fall Cleaning a Snap! #shop

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone.

This holiday long weekend flew by at lightning speed! Not only did we celebrate Thanksgiving with our families but it was also my birthday (woot woot!!). We had so much to prepare for these occasions; purchasing meals, appetizers, reservations and the dreaded cleaning. On Friday, we headed into the #FallMarketplace demonstrations at Walmart (as part of the #CollectiveBias shop) and checked out the Fall Cleaning demo that featured Scrubbing Bubbles T-Gels.

Fall cleaning is one of my least favourite things to do – especially when it comes to the bathrooms! I live with three boys and somehow no matter what I do the toilet is never as clean as I wish it would be. It probably doesn’t help that our youngest likes to help clean the toilet by peeing around the rim (his exact explanation when I caught him doing this!!).

I don’t know about you but I honestly feel that the bathroom happens to be the one room that says a lot about your home. When I know that company is coming over I want my bathroom to look and smell fresh (without having to spend hours achieving this look!). At the demo on Friday we were able to smell and check out the Scrubbing Bubbles T-Gels in: Mountain Morning, Glade Rain shower and Citrus with Hydrogen Peroxide.We loved the smells so much we picked up all three scents.

We decided to match the scent of the toilet cleaning gel to our plug in air freshener and started with the citrus with hydrogen peroxide. I have never used T-Gels before so I was quite pleased to see how easy to assemble they were and how compact the kit was. It was literally pull the two pieces out of the box and connect them together and I was done. All that was left was to gently apply the T-Gel to the side of the toilet and with every flush the toilet is cleansed and a pleasant citrus smell remains.

The best part? The T-Gels can last up to six weeks! That refreshing smell from the toilet is still going strong after applying it on the Friday evening. Not to mention our youngest things it is super cool to have this green thing stuck on the inside of the toilet.

With our bathroom taken care of with Scrubbing Bubbles, we were able to forget about the cleaning and focus on the important stuff – family time! We baked chocolate cupcakes, painted pumpkins to give as gifts, made special hand print keepsakes for family members and not to mention the cooking. I still feel like I am detoxing from all the delicious food we had all weekend. It was well worth every moment – the love and happiness that we shared are memories that will last forever.

How do you make fall cleaning easy so that you can focus on the important holiday events?

October 8, 2014

Get Ready for the #FallMarketplace Demos at #Walmart #shop

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone.

Fall is here and with it brings my two favourite holidays of the year – Thanksgiving and Halloween (I may be biased since my birthday does fall on Thanksgiving every year!).

In honour of the holidays, Walmart is hosting #FallMarketplace demos in stores on October 10th and 11th from 12:00 pm – 6:00 pm to help introduce shoppers to new and familiar brands and products to make the holiday season easier for you as a family. The holidays can be stressful enough as it is so why not take advantage of all Walmart has to offer!

Walmart will be hosting four different cart demos:

Cart One: Fall meals with vendors Maple Leaf and Reckitt. Features Maple Leaf Prime Frozen chicken breasts and Reckitt French’s Honey Mustard.
Cart Two: Thanksgiving entertaining and leftovers featuring Our Finest & Your Fresh Market and Hamburger helper.
Cart Three: Fall snacking featuring Mondelez Wheat Thins Popped and Walmart Fresh baby carrots.
Cart Four: Fall cleaning featuring SC Johnson products including Scrubbing Bubbles T-Gels Citrus, T-Gels Fresh Mountain Morning and T-Gels Glade Rainshower.

We are heading in this Friday to check out the carts as part of #CollectiveBias and will be sharing with you all the fun details (so watch that #FallMarketplace hash tag on Friday and for my post that will be up on the 14th!). If you want to head in make sure to check the complete list of stores here. All demo offerings will be until supplies last.

Don’t forget!

Yours truly is co-hosting the #FallMarketplace twitter party coming up tomorrow night at 8:00 pm EST. You can find all the important info (don’t forget to RSVP!) on my twitter party post here. Can’t wait to chat with you tomorrow!

September 29, 2014

Mommy, Am I Pretty? #review & #giveaway

Young children are flooded with images of how they should look and behave every day. Society has placed a strong emphasis on our physical appearance that it is almost impossible to escape. I still remember looking in the mirror growing up and hating my nose – it was wide and big and I was teased relentlessly for it (this was even before media encouraged the perfect skinny body type!). I would come home every night and take a wooden clothespin and clip my nose in an effort to make my nose smaller (remember the saying don’t do that to your face it will freeze like that – yup that was my hope at the time). I have come a long way since then but I still have so many insecurities about my appearance that go back to my young days. I have an unhealthy relationship with food that stems from my high school years and not allowing myself to eat during school hours in the hope of looking pretty. As a Mother and an Aunt it is now important to me more than ever to encourage the children in my life that they have value that extends well beyond their physical appearance. That it is the good inside of us that makes us beautiful people.

About Mommy, Am I Pretty?

Mommy, am I pretty? is the story of Molly a young girl in elementary school. One day while walking home from school with her Mother, Molly asks what it means to be pretty. Molly’s Mother helps her look at her day at school, at home and in her neighbourhood to discover moments of kindness and beauty. Molly learns that it is the small gestures of generosity and friendship that makes us loving and beautiful on the inside which shines through to our outer beauty. Molly realizes that being pretty on the inside is what matters most in life.

My Thoughts

The powerful message that Margot L Denommé writes is showcased in a wonderful way that will reach out to all young children. The story is written as if it is you having this conversation with your child. She examines every day experiences that children will go through and how our actions in these moments defines us and makes us a better and beautiful person. Children are bombarded with images in media leaving them with the feeling that beauty can only be seen on the outside. It is so important for children to know that our actions make us good people and it is a good heart that shines out and makes a person beautiful.

Mommy, am I pretty? is a book that I hope ends up in every classroom – it teaches a lesson that not only starts at home but extends into a child’s school life where they can be exposed to negative comments about their appearance and bullying.

About Margot L.Denommé

Margot practices law in Toronto where she lives with her husband and two young girls. Margot wrote this book to encourage dialogue between parents, grandparents, caregivers, teachers and young girls as a way to empower and teach them that true beauty lies within. Her message has resonated with many Canadian groups and organizers including, The Pediatric Dentistry and Maxillofacial Surgery division of the Hospital for Sick Children and the Dove Self-Esteem Fund Real Beauty Campaign. A portion of proceeds from book sales will go to Meagan’s Walk, a Toronto based charity that has since 2001 raised more than $2.7 million for cancer research. Margot has presented to several organizations as well as spoken to many students at various schools. To arrange for a public speaking opportunity at your own school you can contact her here.

A Special Mention

Margot’s two daughters, Madison and Brooke, are the illustrators of her book! Their lovely drawings complete the book and make it perfect! It was wonderful to see all of their drawings bringing the book to life.

Mommy, am I pretty? is avaiable in both hardcover and kindle format.

Enter to Win!

Margot has two books ready to give away to two of my Canadian readers to help encourage a daily dialogue between parents and their young girls! Enter via the Rafflecopter form below. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.