Aloha Friday

It's Aloha Friday over at An Island Life! Answer my question and make sure you post one on your blog! After that, go relax because today is Friday!!

Do you always RSVP to everything that you are invited to(like Birthday parties)?
I'm usually not so good at it, but I will be from now on. I am having a birthday party for both of my kids and I only invited 4 families of kids, but I haven't heard anything from them!

Pop On Pals - A World Of Endless Popabilities

My kids often go nuts when they see some toys and products arrive. This was one that they both gasped over and even Isabella was bouncing up and down in anticipation as I took the toy out of the box. What caused all of the commotion? This Pop On Pals Amusement Park.



The Pop on Pals Amusement Park Playset comes to life with lights, sounds, music, and more. Pop your pal in five different activation points for lots of action/reaction play. Show off your strength on the strong man striker! Ride the roller coaster! Win the milk toss game! Swing on the dragon swing and spin around in the musical Ferris wheel! The fun never ends at the Pop On Pals Amusement Park Playset.



The set comes with:
-1 pal
-3 park themed easy pop-on rings
-one amusement park with action/reaction points that deliver lights and sounds


The set has an age recommendation of 2-4 years old, but at almost 1, Isabella has a blast with this toy. There is so much to look at and it is so colorful. None of the pieces are too extremely small and she loves watching Evan make all the of the parts move.


You use the amusement park themed rings to put on the little girl so that you can "switch her outfit". For instance, she you can put the mallet arms on when she's going to ring the bell. You can't tell in this picture, but when you press the girl down, the bell up top lights up and rings.


There are several different playsets and people available, but I really think that the amusement park should have come with at least 2 people. Who comes to an amusement park by themself? There are a bunch of little activities on the playset such as riding the roller coaster, riding the dragon, and playing park games. As much as my kids love playing with this, I would have wanted it to come with no less than 2 Pop On Pals.



You can purchase extra pals who all have different outfits, vehicles for them to drive, and pets for them to love on. Evan and Isabella spend a lot of time playing with the amusement park but fight over the one pal, so I will have to get others soon.

This was not a paid post and honest opinions were used. The opinions are solely my own and may very from others. Thank you to Pop On Pals who supplied the product for the review as part of a campaign for Team Mom.

Silhouette Digital Cutting Tool Review + Coupon Code

With the economy the way it is, homemade gifts are coming back. I want to try and make my own invitations, birthday cards, and gifts when possible. Even though they will be homemade, I want them to look professional.



The Silhouette is a great tool to help me. It is a digital cutting tool for personal use. It connects to your computer just like a printer, but instead of printing designs it cuts them with a small blade. With the machine connected to your computer, you'll get access to all of the fonts on your PC plus the thousands of cuttable designs found on the Silhouette Online Store. There are no extra cartridges to buy, what you see is all you'll need!!

We were sent the Silhouette Digital Cutting Tool along with the different supplies for review.


The Silhouette is 4 1/2" tall, 16" wide, 6 1/2" deep and weighs just 4.5 pounds. The Silhouette machine ships with the following items:
* Silhouette machine
* Software for Windows XP/Vista
* Power cable, USB cable
* 2 Cutting mats (one for thick media, one for thin media)
* Cutting blade
* $10 gift card to the Silhouette Online Store


Like a printer, I had to download the software on my laptop. I couldn't get it to work properly, but my computer savvy husband fixed it for me. He said he had to download something to get the software to work with Windows 7. Having never used anything like this, I didn't know what to expect and took the time to watch the instructional DVD that was included. There was a learning curve and I took a good hour to learn about it before the first cut. I also went through the Silhouette Online Tutorial.


I am just completely amazed with everything that I am able to do with the Silhouette. In addition to cutting out different fonts and designs, the Silhouette is also equipped with an optical sensor to allow precise cutting of printed designs. Open your favorite clip art in the Silhouette software, arrange it how you like, then print it out on your home printer. The software will print small registration marks on the page which will allow the Silhouette to align the cutting blade perfectly with your printed artwork.

I knew that that the Silhouette is a tool that cuts cardstock, vinyl, vellum and other papers, but I didn't realize it could sketch. The Silhouette blade can easily be interchanged with special Silhouette pens in order to draw designs instead of cutting them. With a pen in the machine instead of the blade, the Silhouette will make the same motions, but will draw your design rather than cut it. I will have to get some of these pens to try them out!


The Silhouette Software comes with 50 free ready-to-use designs already included. Silhouette also has an online store where I can purchase other digital designs. I simply go through the Silhouette software that is downloaded on my computer and choose what I want. They are 99 cents each(on sale for 75 cents through July 31st) and there are also free designs each week. With a pirate/princess birthday party coming up, I can go in and search for images to use on invitations or decorations for the party.


While searching through the designs, I also saw these paper dolls. One day, I can download these and cut them out for Isabella to play with. There are several different outfits for the paper dolls that are ready for download as well.


I will be sharing more of my "creations" with you SOON, but I started with a small project. Even though my canisters are different sizes, my husband never has any idea what is in each canister. I decided I would use the adhesive vinyl to label them. I started with the Sugar and Flour. I was able to use the grid on the screen so that I would know how big the letters were. I made the Sugar a little bigger since it was going on a larger canister. I went to the control screen and it told me which blade to put on when using vinyl.


Here are all of the options. I put the blue tip on. Depending on how thick the media you're using is, you'll need to put different tips on.


I loaded my paper and watched it cut pretty quickly. It was a little loud, but that didn't bother me.


When it was done, it unloaded most of the media and I had to hit the button to unload the rest.


I peeled off the letters and put them on one at a time(starting with the middle letter in the center). Here is the finished product.


I am so excited to make gifts and many other projects with the Silhoutte. I will be sure to share all of the different things that I make. I have some great ideas for Christmas and Birthday gifts. As you all know, I love all things sparkly so I am thrilled to try the rhinestone starter kit.

Be sure to visit Silhouette to learn more and stay tuned for more projects that I am making with the Silhouette!

Buy It!
The Silhouette SD is $299.99. Silhouette gave me a coupon code to share with you. Use the code, 2OFAKIND, to get a Silhouette SD, two rolls of vinyl, one roll of transfer paper, a scraper, and a home décor CD for $249 ($350+ value). The Silhouette alone is normally $299.99-this is an amazing deal and just think of all the decorations, gifts, and invitations you could make. You'll never have to buy extra things like cartridges. The Silhouette hooks up to your computer like a printer so you can use your own fonts and designs that are included.

This was not a paid post and honest opinions were used. The opinions are solely my own and may vary from others. Thank you to Silhouette who supplied the product for review.

Wordless Wednesday - Bouncing Babies

I don't think I've posted any pictures of my kids using the bounce house since my review because it had been so incredibly hot. I plan on blowing it up for the birthday party next week so I wanted to bring it out to make sure everything was still OK with it. I took it out EARLY one morning and regret not bringing it out more in the past few months. The kids had a blast.









Link up if you have a Wordless Wednesday!



For more Wordless Wednesday go check out 5 minutes for mom and 7 Clown Circus!

Cuisinart Pure Indulgence™ 2 Qt. Frozen Yogurt-Sorbet & Ice Cream Maker

One of my favorite things to do when I was younger was to make ice cream with my family. This involved lots of ice, some sort of salt, and a huge barrel looking ice cream maker. We took the old ice cream maker out last summer to make ice cream with Evan for the first time. I kept thinking that I wanted to do it more often.



Cuisinart has ice cream makers and other products that make preparing meals and snacks easy for my family. As their website states, Cuisinart is a full-service culinary resource with a wide array of products, preferred by chefs and favored by consumers. They have received several awards and have become a favorite household name.

Cuisinart sent us the Pure Indulgence™ 2 Qt. Frozen Yogurt-Sorbet & Ice Cream Maker.

What's better than a quart of luscious homemade ice cream, sorbet or frozen yogurt? Two quarts! The fully automatic Cuisinart® Pure Indulgence™ makes 2 quarts of your favorite frozen desserts or drinks in as little as 25 minutes. It's easy -- an integrated motor, double-insulated freezer bowl and automatic mixing paddle do all the work. Results are consistently smooth, cleanup is easy, and the brushed metal styling is simply sensational.

The ice cream maker is extremely easy to use. You must put the Double insulated freezer bowl in the freezer for several hours to get good and frozen. It comes with great directions full of yummy recipes. We decided to make vanilla so that we could put strawberries on for toppings.


We then put the insulated freezer bowl in the base and poured the ingredients in.


Put the paddle in.


Then the lid.


Turned it on and watched it go. It isn't very loud and only takes about 25 minutes.


We put chocolate syrup on as a topping. Evan loved it and wanted more. We've since tried several of the included recipes and are always very happy. It makes 2qts which is plenty for a family of 4 and then some left over to put in the freezer for later. We look forward to making different types of ice cream and frozen yogurt every summer(and winter).


Visit Cuisinart to view their full selection of products.

Buy it!
You can purchase the Pure Indulgence™ 2 Qt. Frozen Yogurt-Sorbet & Ice Cream Maker for $79.99.

This was not a paid post and honest opinions were used. The opinions are solely my own and may vary from others. Thank you to Cuisinart who supplied the product for review.

Got Giveaways? 7/27

Please feel free to link up to as many of your giveaways as you'd like. If you linked up last week and your giveaway is still going on, please link up again!

If you could let other people know that I'm doing this, I'd really appreciate it. It's not mandatory, but it would be great if you could add my button to your blog or send a tweet out to get people here and post their giveaways.

Check out my current giveaways while you're here!

Area Rug (up to $200 value) from FloorMall.com


SootheTime Snooze Sack


ShooShoos Baby Shoes


Flirty Diva T-shirt Of Choice


Namaste Handbag Of Your Choice


Envibum Cloth Diaper


Pair Of Crocs - US AND CANADA!


Set of Pajamas from Hatley - US AND CANADA!


Bambino Mio Swim Nappy OR Swimsuit Nappy - TWO WINNERS


Please link to the specific post for each giveaway-NOT just your blog! I will delete your link if it does not go directly to the giveaway.

***CLICK HERE for my Daily List of blogs with giveaway linkies.***

I'm A ShooShoos Mom - Baby And Toddler Shoes GIVEAWAY

Did you catch my review of the ShooShoos baby shoes? I also announced that I was a ShooShoos Mom. This means that I am in a team of 8 moms who will be featuring summer and fall kids shoes.

ShooShoos has an amazing selection of baby shoes for girls and boys. Shoo Shoos was started in 1996 and has grown into a worldwide brand with sales in over 20 countries! Their soft soled baby shoes are made with the safest natural leather and are recommended by Pediatricians. They have won 3 iParenting Media Awards and have been selected by Mothercare International (550 Stores worldwide) as a leading leather baby shoe brand.

These are the White Smiley / Pink Flowers - smiley light flexi rubber soles shoes that I was sent to review for Isabella.


Go check out my review to read more about them and visit ShooShoos to view everything that they have to offer!

Win It!!
ShooShoos is giving one of my readers a pair of shoes.

To enter, visit ShooShoos and tell me which pair you would choose. This is required and must be done before the extra entries count!

EXTRA ENTRIES!
You can do any of these things for an extra entry. Make sure to leave a separate comment for EACH thing you do.

1- For TWO extra entries, Subscribe to my blog via email.

2- For THREE extra entries, blog about this giveaway and link it back to this post and ShooShoos.

3- Follow Twoofakind AND ShooShoos on twitter and tweet about this giveaway. You can Tweet once a day for an extra entry every day! You can copy and paste: Win a pair of @shooshoos baby or toddler shoes @twoofakind http://tinyurl.com/39bdfjc #giveaway open to USA AND Canada

4- Become a fan of/like ShooShoos on Facebook. I'm sure they'd appreciate some comment love while you're there!

5- Enter any of my current giveaways(listed on my sidebar). You get an extra entry for each giveaway that you've entered.

6- Place my Princess/Pirate Birthday Event Button on your blog. Don't forget to comment on the Birthday Invitation post if you put the button up BEFORE the event starts on Aug 9th.

7- Follow my blog publicly.

8- Become a fan of/like Two Of A Kind on Facebook.

Contest ends August 9th at 11:59pm EST on when I will draw a winner at random. PLEASE leave your email address if it is not visible on your profile. I will notify the winner and they will have 36 hours to respond!

Open to US AND Canada.

This was not a paid post and honest opinions were used. The opinions are solely my own and may vary from others. Thank you to ShooShoos who supplied the products for the review and giveaway as a part of the ShooShoos Mom Campaign.

Winners!

I hope everyone had a great weekend. Here is the latest batch of winners. Winners will be emailed shortly and have 3 days to get back in touch with me.

The Jensen Project DVD And Soundtrack had 160 comments and the winner is:
Megan

The Scooby Doo DVD Giveaway had 566 comments and the winners are:
Nicole
Korinna

FloorMall.Com Floors And Area Rugs With $200 Area Rug Giveaway

If you've been following for a while, you're probably aware that our house is up for sale. There are plenty of things I look forward to changing for my next house. With two small children, I will definitely be putting down hardwood floors or Laminate Flooring in most of the house versus carpet.



FloorMall.com has everything that I need to get started. They offer everything from hardwoods and tiles to area rugs that will cover those floors. Consumers have the chance to browse through several different manufacturers so that they have a fantastic variety at their fingertips.

After browsing FloorMall.com, there are several items on my wish list for the next house. I like darker hardwoods and I saw the Mullican Ridgecrest Maple Caramel 5inX1/2in for $3.94/sq ft.


Since I'm not sure exactly what color I would need by looking at a picture online, I can easily request a sample to be sent to my home. When I'm in my next house, I will be sure to get several different colors to place on the floors so I can make my decision.

I have also always wanted glass tiles for my bathroom. They really look amazing.


I would also need area rugs to cover the hardwood floors so my kids could still sit on the floor to play and watch television. I am more modern when it comes to decorating and would go with something like this Contemporary Area Rug depending on my color scheme.


There is also a huge selection of area rugs under $200. This ladybug ABC area rug caught my eye and thought it would be great if you home school or have a playroom.


Whatever you're flooring(or wall tile) needs, FloorMall.com is sure to have it. Like snagging deals? Check out their catalog blowouts or browse through their coupons! The variety of their selection is fantastic, so be sure to take a look at everything they have to offer.

Win It!!
FloorMall.com is giving one of my readers an area rug of choice up to $200 in value. Shipping will be FREE.

To enter, visit FloorMall.com and tell me which area rug you would choose. This is required and must be done before the extra entries count!

EXTRA ENTRIES!
You can do any of these things for an extra entry. Make sure to leave a separate comment for EACH thing you do.

1- For TWO extra entries, Subscribe to my blog via email.

2- For THREE extra entries, blog about this giveaway and link it back to this post AND FloorMall.com. You can say something like: Visit Two Of A Kind, Working On A Full House and enter for your chance to win an area rug up to a $200 value from FloorMall.com with FREE SHIPPING.

3- Follow Twoofakind AND FloorMall on twitter and tweet about this giveaway. You can Tweet once a day for an extra entry every day! You can copy and paste: WIN a @FloorMall area rug(up to $200 value) @twoofakind http://tinyurl.com/26cju94 #giveaway

4- Become a fan of FloorMall on Facebook. I'm sure they'd appreciate some comment love while you're there.

5- Place my Princess/Pirate Birthday Event Button on your blog. Don't forget to comment on the Birthday Invitation post if you put the button up BEFORE the event starts on Aug 9th.

6- Follow my blog publicly.

7- Join the FloorMall newsletter to get some great coupons sent to you!

Contest ends August 9th at 11:59pm EST when I will draw a winner at random. PLEASE leave your email address if it is not visible on your profile. I will notify the winner and they will have 36 hours to respond!

Open to the 48 contiguous United States Only.

This was a paid post and honest opinions were used. The opinions are solely my own and may vary from others. Thank you to the company and/or pr agency who supplies the product for the giveaway.