Review for CSN stores-Deni Automatic Commercial Ice Crusher

I was super excited to get the request to do a review for CSN stores, and even more excited when I got to choose something from Cookware.com.

CSN stores has over 200 stores online, and they are all fantastic! They have thousands of products to choose from, all at great prices and most have free shipping (over a certain amount)! Gotta love that!

The product I chose to review is the Deni Automatic Commercial Ice Crusher in Stainless Steel.

I was psyched to get it in the mail, and immediately ripped open the box to pull this beauty out.

My kids may have been even more excited than I was.

It couldn't be easier to use.

You put ice in the top, turn it on and then in seconds you have beautifully crushed ice to use for snow cones, slushes or cocktails. Or if you don't drink cocktails like me and are really just in it for the yummy crushed ice-you can add soda or even water and just enjoy the happiness that crushed ice can bring!

I put some Torriani syrup in some for the kids, and they LOVED it. It doesn't shave the ice like actual snow cones, it makes more of a slushie, but that didn't stop them from getting red mustaches and asking for more!

I can't wait for summer to actually get here, this will make me the hit of the party! :)

I will be whipping up delicious drinks, making ice buckets to keep soda cold and making beautiful ice beds to keep food cold on.

Can you tell I'm excited about my new machine?

Oh and did I mention that it's QUIET?!?!?

Well it is. Just the icing on the cake.

Get the Word Out Wednesday-A Vision to Remember & Giveaway Winner!

I have a new sponsor-Bobbie from A Vision to Remember. Bobbie makes beautiful things! I especially love her car-seat tents! They look so cozy, and she has them in just about every color combination. She also makes rag quilts, fun flowers and lots and lots of patterns so you can make these beautiful things yourself!

Go over and check out A Vision to Remember either for yourself or for a great gift!

Speaking of Sponsors...I have advertising space available again!

If you are interested, contact me or go here for more information.

And finally, our winner of the 12x12 scrapbook from Scrappy Gifts is #56...who's that?

Well it's Jenn-who said, "This would be for me of course!" Jen-I will get Maryanne your email address and you should be hearing from her soon! Congrats! :)

Everyone have a great Wednesday!

It is the first warm day here in weeks, so we are heading to the park to soak up some sun!

Woo-Hoo!

Get the Word out Wednesday-Art Prints for Kidz

Some of you may have noticed a new button under my Sponsors-Art Prints for Kidz contacted me and asked if I would check out their site.
I was delighted to!This is a fairly new website with beautiful prints from old vintage stories from as early as the 1800's, and some new original paintings by the site's owner Michele.
They are breathtaking prints, all fully restored and printed on high quality beautiful paper. (The kind of paper that makes the artist in me scream why are you sitting at your computer? Grab some brushes and get painting!)
They were so kind to let me pick out a couple of my favorites so that I could see the quality, and I will tell you that I was not disappointed!
These would make excellent gifts for new mommies, and beautiful decorations for your childs room or nursery. There are many to choose from and a lot of different styles.


They have a full alphabet animal collection that is beautiful and fun!
The ones I chose are;
At the Seaside
Marching Song
Rain

I love them! I am still on the lookout for the perfect frames and then they are going in the hall between my kids' rooms.
If you are looking for a great gift, or some beautiful prints for your own children, look here first!

Get the Word Out Wednesday-What I'll be doing this week...

You never fail to amaze me! Did you see how LONG the list was this week? I read and I HOPE I commented on every crafty thing on there, I was left with a list of favorites and a bunch of new blogs I am now a proud follower of! 

Thanks for all the inspiration, there are a couple projects that jumped out at me and made me want to get busy crafting right away...

Kaysi at Keeping it Simple shows a tutorial on how to make bow ties! MAKE bow ties! And it's easy! My boys are about to have a small large collection of these! 

Mural Maker & more suggested painting on closet doors, and she shows one of her creations which has a growth chart going up the tree.  My kids favorite thing is to measure themselves and I love this lots more than how we just measure up the molding on a kitchen closet!

Remodelaholic shows how to make a cheap version of those big baseboards that look so great, it will make you want to rip your baseboards right off your walls and do this!

I love what Becca at Blue Cricket Design did with some washers and ribbon, and of course she shows us how to do it, because she rocks like that!

How does She makes my kind of sewing project look good! These burp cloths will be my go-to gift for baby showers from now on!

I cannot believe that Domestically Speaking MADE this molding and ledge. It is simply stunning!

So if you were featured go to my button link on the sidebar and grab a button...sorry I couldn't post more, but that's what the link list is for, so that you can go see everyone's project. I double dog dare you not to find something on there that you don't absolutely love! :)

Get the Word Out Wednesday-Weekly Show Offs

WOW! I had 70 different links this Monday! It makes me giddy when you all share your amazing talent with me! Thanks so much!

I haven't had time to leave comments on everyone's yet, but I'm working on them, I do believe I have looked at all of them...amazing!

After my fun re-do of my rocking chair, and the 2 new chairs I've been working on this week, I am seeing everything in my house as a before, and wishing it was an after...

So from that AMAZING list of inspiration, I wanted to share a few of the fun before's and afters, and give props to the ladies (and some of their willing husbands) who made these possible....

The Little Green Bean took this dump find of a chair into......this cute, clever and downright burlapy goodness of a chair here!

I really want to do something with my dining room table...mine isn't this cute to begin with...but this is Leslie's table at Our Soft Spot before...

And this is her beautiful after, I am in serious table envy here!

My front door and porch are in need of something...at the very least a cute wreath!

I would love to be able to do something more drastic, but we're renting while the hubs is in school so I just have to dream about my future front door...which looks like this remodel here...

This before (of an identical, except for doggy door) of Remodelaholic's front door...

And the GLORIOUS after! I am swooning right now. SWOONING!

Chocolate Sundaes shares her before and after of a Craigslist table steal....

LOVE the after, don't you? You should go look at the other pictures, she did an amazing job, makes me want to scrap the whole re-finish my table idea and start scouring Craigslist ads!She also did an awesome redo of a chandelier and a revamp of some shutters that you must check out!

Go and check out all the inspo on that list and give them some comment love, you will come away with tons of new ideas!

If you were featured today (or ever!) take a featured button from here...

Get the Word Out Wednesday-Monday Show-Offs

Thanks SO much for all the birthday wishes, and especially all the inspiration you all left for me to browse through! I know I still need to leave some comments, but I have looked at all of them, and I was not disappointed!

I thought I'd share a few of my faves...

This one from Keeping It Simple, actually didn't make it to the list before it closed, so she emailed me, and I was SUPER impressed with the wow factor of this project...it's not the cute plate either (although it is a really cute plate), she PAINTED her countertops to look like that!

She gives a full tutorial on her blog.

I need to get on making my kids some of these chore jars from Just Devine Style! She even has a great little system to teach them to give and save from their earnings!

Love the whole concept!

I really liked this idea from Domestically Speaking-painting baskets! I don't know why I haven't done that yet...I have TONS of those kind of baskets packed away, because they don't "go" and I paint everything else-why not them?

That's why I love having blog friends who show me the light!

Bird Crafts made some adorable rag dolls, and even some alien type ones for her son-couldn't be cuter! These are going in my to do file for sure!

LOVED these placemats, from The Little Green Bean-she also made a birdie set, that is equally adorable!

It's hard not to just go and post everything! There are so many cute ideas on that list, if you haven't had a chance to peruse the selections, move on down to this post and check them out for yourself!

Get the Word Out Wednesday-Tea Rose Home

Can I just say that I LOVE Sachiko?!!

I have to be honest, I didn't know about Tea Rose Home until she left a link on Making the World Cuter Monday this week and she made the most beautiful things (yes as in plural, 3 actually) out of this shirt she found at a thrift shop.

(You'll have to go to her blog to see all she came up with-ahhh-mazing talent!)
I want to go thrift shopping with her so bad! I go into those places, and have a REALLY hard time finding the treasures in the trash. It's the organization of those places, I just can't spend the time digging, I end up feeling very anxious about the mess.

Anyway-Sachiko has a TON of beautiful tutorials. I'm talking beautiful...almost everything on her site made me look at my house and think, why?

She has a tutorial on how to make these corsages, that are just pretty...
She made this adorable felt food, and a whole lot more, for her daughters birthday. After all the felt sewing I've been doing for these quiet books, I have a completely new appreciation for all this fun felt food!

This just blew me away! She wanted a child size mannequin for her daughters clothes that she sews for her, and didn't want to pay the hefty price tag.

So she MADE one.

For under $20.

Not kidding.

I'm sure a lot of you already know about this wonderful lady and all her beautiful-ness, but if not, rush over to the Tea Rose Room, tell her I sent you, admire her talent, drool over the yummy Asian cooking, and delicious baked goods, and get lost in her stories.

I did.

edit***OH 1 MORE THING!!! I was just over there and she is doing a giveaway on her blog for one of those adorable stick on your wall vinyl chalkboards-run over there and enter! :)

Get the Word Out Wednesday-Out of Chaos

Steffany from Out of Chaos, participated in Making the World Cuter Monday and I couldn't believe some of the creativity coming out of this woman!

I can't believe she has anything left to give!

She is the mother to 5 kids, and three of them were all born on the same day!

That's right a mother of triplets!!!

I can't even, and don't even want to imagine!

Anyway this is what she shared...

She had this great vintage window, and wanted to do something with it.

Well she did just that! I don't think, even in my wildest dreams, I would have come up with something this perfect for the window! Adorable right?Then...do you remember my slightly inappropriate chalkboard frame gift idea? Well hers is much more appropriate, and would make such a great neighbor gift! Then this is what really did it for me! Check out this magnet board...with burlap! AND Burlap magnets! What the?!?! Well slap me silly, I will need these on every wall in my house!Go over and say hi to Steffany and tell her I sent you, and Steffany, if you are reading...Thanks for doing your part to make the world cuter!

***hugs and burlap kisses!

Get the Word Out Wednesday-Ellen Crimi-Trent

I'm sure a lot of you have heard of Ellen Crimi-Trent.

I know I heard about her on Today's Creative Blog like a year ago.

Well I just "re-discovered" her on Twitter, @ellencrimitrent is always nice enough to talk back to me when I twitter her-and I love her.

She is so sassy, sweet and real.

Plus she's real REAL talented!

She is an artist, a designer and a mother of two.

Her work is fantastic, and I can only dream of one day being as talented as she.

I am taking an illustrator class right now in school, and I can tell you that it is not easy-especially to make things that look like this...
Isn't it fantastic? Her prints are fun and whimsical and some collections are available as fabric!

This is one of those little guys who shows up on one of her fabric collections.

Oh the things I would (want to) make!

This is one of my favorite designs, how do you like them apples, oh I likey, I do!

Her bird designs are SO cute! This one is a mommy bird and her 2 baby birds, this would be so dang cute hanging on my wall!Speaking of birds and hanging them on things...she has some adorable bird ornaments in her Etsy shop right now-plus she has the pattern on her blog to make your own! See nice huh?So now that you love Miss Ellen too, go over say hi, tell her I sent you and try not to drool too much over her cuteness! (At least wipe your chin once in awhile, alright?)

Get The Word Out Wednesday-The Nifty Nappy

Ummm...can we say CUTE?Oh the kid for sure, he's cute, rotten, but cute. :)
But that diaper. That adorable cloth diaper!
I love these. L.O.V.E. Love.
Now you may remember that awhile back I decided to cloth diaper.
There were...let's say...some setbacks to that.

1. We were (are) students, and as such have no extra money (sometimes no money period). Cloth diapers can be a big upfront cost, although cheaper in the long run, the upfront cost was hard to swallow. SO we went to our nearest "mart" and bought what they had. Cheap.
2. The pins and the snappee things. Disposable were so much more convenient in this area-just tape the thing shut.
3. The bulge-seriously, and for what? The cheap diapers leaked anyway.
4. The plastic covers-Porter was not a fan of the plastic, nor was I.
5. The dad. He hated the whole thing, he tried to be supportive to begin with, but with all the setbacks above, it was just easier to go back to disposable 90% of the time.

So for the most part we went back to disposable. I put a cloth diaper on him every once in awhile...when we are running low on diapers and cash or when I feel guilty and down that I just couldn't hack the cloth diaper routine that I wanted so badly to do.

Then this week in my mail I get one of these Nifty Nappies!

In the cutest fabric ever. Ooga Booga.

Look at that bum! SO dang cute! Nothing cuter than a cloth diaper bum.Porter is thrilled with the thing. He thinks he is pretty hot stuff struttin around in these cool monster "big boy" underpants. He was showing his siblings his cool diaper, and I was loving that he couldn't untape it. One of my most favorite things about the Nifty Nappy is that it doesn't need pins or extra devices-it has super high quality snaps that adjust to fit the size of your baby. Oh yeah these are a one size fits all kind of deal-talk about money saver! :)

Well I thought the diaper was cute.

But then I dug deeper in the box and came out with the diaper cover.

Oh my stinkin heck! It is so cute! It's made out of a thrift store wool sweater (so resourceful) and is so soft and adorable. I thought for sure there would be super bulge with all this soft thick cloth, but check it out!It fits perfectly, and Porter was able to move and crawl and walk and reign destruction throughout the house with no problem.

And as it says on the website, with the nifty nappy and the wool cover together, these things are practically bullet proof! So absorbent and fantastic! Oh and did I mention the covers snap too? Total bonus!

The wool covers need to be treated with lanolin before use, and then they only need to be washed and lanolized once a month unless they get soiled. If they get wet the lanolin turns the urine to salt water and dries right up, so you only need a couple of these around. Another money and time saver for sure!

I am super in love with these cloth diapers, and plan on talking the hubby into getting me this set of 5 more CUTE Nifty Nappys and another ADORABLE wool diaper cover to finish out Porter in diapers. The nice thing is that I can use them on baby #4.

(No I'm not announcing that, I'm just saying that there will be a baby #4. And if I had my way a baby #5, and a baby #6...unfortunately McDreamy is 8 years older than I and we would like to enjoy our grandbabies with all our babies out of the house. So I think our next will be our last...But enough about my baby hunger!).

SO to sum it up, if you are even remotely interested in cloth diapering you need to check out The Nifty Nappy.

If you do not want to venture into the world of cloth diapering, at least check out her swim diapers-no more money wasted on swim diapers each summer? A one size fits all cute re-usable swim diaper is so the way to go!

Vilate has been cloth diapering for a long time, and has learned what works! She is the nicest lady, and will help answer any questions you have.

Want to know just how nice she is? First of all she is giving away an AWESOME prize in our giveaway that is starting NEXT WEEK (yikes!)...

AND...she is offering 10% off all orders with the code HAPPYNAPPY.

Check out her facebook fan page-she has a couple giveaways going on I believe, you can see what others are saying about her diapers...and you can see her new holiday nappy's TOO Cute! Leave her a comment and let her know where you found her! :)

So go check out her shop, and either start shopping or start deciding what you will pick out if you win her giveaway next week!

Disclosure: Nifty Nappy supplied the Diaper, the thoughts are all mine.

Get the Word out Wednesday-Turkey Technology

I love technology...but not as much as you, you see...but I still love technology...always and forever...(name that movie!).
So let's talk technology, "Turkey Technology"

There is some awesome technology out there that I would LOVE to get my little hands on...here are some things you might want to pick up, even before Thanksgiving, because how cool is this?

What is it? It is a WiFi touchscreen video phone that doesn't require you to have a computer to use!

How perfect would this be for Grandma and Grandpa who don't like to use the computer?

Or on Thanksgiving, when you want to bring the camera in the kitchen with you to show your mom what your gravy looks like, so she can tell you what you did wrong, and how to fix it? (I'm telling you that would come in handy so much in my house!) You could bring it into your kids bedroom as they are getting into bed and let Daddy read them a story when he's away, or Grandma can sing them a song as they get tucked in. It's a little pricey, but really cool right?

Asus Videophone Touch ($299.99)/ Skype Video Calling (FREE)

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Want to have some adult talk during the long family car ride to Grandma’s?

We are not going to Grandma's for Thanksgiving this year, but we make several trips a year to see both of them, one lives 5 hours away and the other lives 10. You can bet with 3 little kids that we have a lot of Dora playing on the DVD players, and as much as I enjoy a good suspenseful Swiper moment, sometimes I wish I didn't have to hear it and instead have a relaxing conversation with my husband.

Griffin Technology’s Volume-Limiting Headphones for kids ($40).

Myphones are super cute (or awesome if you are a boy), are safe for kids sensitive ears and are customizable to fit your childs style. (Plus it keeps the movie theme songs in their heads and not yours, so you will not be humming, "I'm the map, I'm the map, I'm the map, I'm the map, I'M THE MAP!"). I've got to snag me some of these!

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Whip cream lover? Me too.

My favorite is fresh made, but the problem is that it doesn't save.

Unless you have one of these beautiful pieces of art.

Williams Sonoma Whipper ($100)

I know I can't afford one as of right now but imagine the whippiness possibilities! Add clouds of perfect natural whipped cream to your pumpkin pie (or your daily hot chocolate, am I the only one?) with this essential gadget, but don’t worry about leftovers. This dispenser will keep them fresh for 10 days in the refrigerator. (That's 10 days!!! In the bowl it doesn't last 10 minutes! This is pure genious!).

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And when you’re resting off the Post-Turkey Food Coma…

Netflix Roku Digital Video Player ($99)

This little gadget is super cool! You can watch Netflix instantly on your TV rather than your computer. You don't need any extra subscriptions or anything else, you just buy the box and as long as you have a wireless connection, you can watch all your Netflix movies, even in HD! We could have some fun with this!

Disclosure: I was not compensated in any way for talking about these products.