Guess what?  I have three $15 gift cards for lucky winners to do some online shopping to personalize their electronic look.  I chose my cell phone to redesign, but there are many other options from lap tops to game consoles.

Interested? All you have to do is browse around Unique Skins and tell me what device you would most like to redesign. You get extra points if you share a link back to this giveaway. Comments will close on Tuesday September 16th at midnight and three winners will be picked randomly on Wednesday September 17th.

I do want to make some suggestions though to optimize the quality of the skin you design.  A few things I learned:

1) Don’t use thin text or designs (like part of the swirl on my cell phone above), it gets printed pixely.  Make sure fonts or graphics are big and thick for it to look the best.

2) Use high quality photos. The best looking part of my design were those flowers above. Pictures really do make the best design and how much more personal can you get than with your own photos? Show them off!

3) Keep it simple. Too much “stuff” on it looks cluttered.

Good luck! Enjoy browsing the website and dreaming of your options

When The Family Review Network offered me the opportunity to review a product from Unique Skins, I was pretty excited. See, I’ve never been one to ‘deck out’ my cell phone but this gave me an easy and cool way to finally do it! My phone was getting kind of old and ratty looking anyway, so it came at the perfect time.

What is Unique Skins, you ask? Well, it’s skins that are unique. Just kidding (but not really). It’s a website that you get to design a vinyl sticker to place on top of an electronic device you already own. From cell phones, to lap tops, to Xbox 360’s they have many options you might be looking for. It’s a cheap and easy way to personalize your products with even your own photos. Have a cute kid? Stick him or her on your phone for the ultimate mommy bragging! Sounds like a great idea, right? It is. I decided to use my favorite tulip photo I took last Mother’s Day, along with some other graphics that expresses who I am.

The first step was to find my phone in their lists of products, which was super easy to do since they have it divided up into many categories and brands. Then, the fun of designing began! Over all, the design program on their website was easy to use. There were a ton of “help bubbles” that directed you to the various features you can use, or hide them if you don’t need them. They also have a great FAQ and tutorial section for the non-technology inclined. It was very quick and easy to upload pictures, however I do suggest that if you have a HUGE picture or graphic you want to use, resize it first in an outside program for it to upload correctly.

Though it was easy to use, I did have a lot of technical issues using the program. The first time I tried to go into the designing part it did not fully open and froze. Freezing was a reoccurring issue for me, which was quite frustrating. There is a “save for later” button, but I found that it did not always save it correctly or completely. At least once I had to start all over, despite saving it. I also some times had a problem with resizing, as it would only grow and grow rather than shrinking when I told it. Another small frustration I had was that there are very limited font options.

Finally, after a few hours working on the design, I ordered it. The website says they print and ship within 24-48 hours, but apparently they had issues with mine because I used some digi-scrapbooking supplies that had a transparent background. A week and a half later and the skins finally arrived!

However, after opening my little package, I was a little disappointed. I was expecting a higher quality photo than what was printed and it came out somewhat “pixely.” There are also random white spots in my design that I know I did not put in there, probably from the printing process. One piece I did not even put on my phone because you couldn’t read the writing I had put.

But, I can say the application is easy. The skins come on several sticker sheets that you peel off and place on your phone. It does fit exactly as it should for my model of phone, and if I messed up or got a bubble under the skin, it was very easy to correct. And, it still does spruce up my phone, even if it is a tiny bit pixely in places. Also, I can say that it is true that when you take it off, it does not leave any stick residue or harm the device in any way (I took off the inside cover).

Honestly, I’d say that I love the idea of this website and the unique products they offer, but I think both the website and physical results need a bit more work to make it even better. The process turned out more frustrating than a fun purchase for me, but I really do hope this company keeps at it to maximize their potential. It really is a great concept!

See what other Moms are saying about Unique Skins over at The Family Review Network and see their beautiful creatations!

Need a pick-me-up? Head over to In The Motherhood, where 3 moms take true life stories/scenarios and turn them into “webisodes”. They star Leah Remini, Chelsea Handler and now Jenny McCarthy, which equates to a very funny portrayal of a mom’s life.

I’ve only watched a few but I love these little shows, they’re guaranteed to make you laugh. I think there is something for every mom in these clips. My favorite one so far is probably “Mother’s Day Gone Wrong.” Let’s just say I will be careful with chapstick from now on and I won’t let my daughter around display toilets. What’s great is that a lot of these stories are taken from real life mom experiences, they hold contests to see who has the greatest and then it gets turned into a show! Plus, they have online games, recipes and you can read funny mom stories or share your own.

And as a bonus for me, I love that Leah Remini is taking part in this because King of Queens was my favorite show and it’s nice to have her humor back to lift my spirits.

It’s nice to know my life isn’t so bad, people obviously go through worse!

I love half.com. It’s my new best friend, seriously.

Mark and I had 11 text books to sell from last semester and I decided to go with this little brother of ebay to go about business. I don’t know if you guys have any experience with the original ebay.com, but trying to get something online for people to buy can appear tricky. What shipping to offer customers? How much should I charge? How can I catch the customer’s eye and accurately describe the product? (okay, that doesn’t sound bad, but trust me, it can be a confusing task with many options to chose from for a newbie). And, they get you with the little fees. And, you can only have an item up for about a week and either it sells in that time, or it doesn’t.

Well, what I like about half.com is that it takes all that guess work out. It’s made for just media type things (books, CD’s, movies, video games, etc.) to sell/buy at reduced prices. It’s really great for buying textbooks (that’s all we’ve bought/sold so far, haven’t tried the other categories of products) at lower prices, because university stores are ridiculous. With 11 books, it took me hardly any time to get our items listed. I was able to tell them the exact product (what edition/cover/author/everything!) with just entering the ISBN number (therefore, saving time), entered the quality of the book, described the book (like, if it had markings), and listed the price. Click. Done.

What I really liked? Instead of the guessing of what I should list it for, it gave me a recommended price based on what other people had/are listing it for so that I could list it competitively, but fairly. It was usually spot on, too. And, what I really like? No bidding. I like that I can buy a book at ebay prices without sitting at the computer for an hour fighting over an item. And what I really, really like? It doesn’t have a time limit. It stays up until it sells, or until I take it down. And, no listing fees. It just takes a very small percentage out after a sale is made (like, two dollars).

Within just a few hours? I’ve already sold 2 books. Score.

Of course, the extra cash will go right back into buying new text books. School starts for Mark on Wednesday, and myself on Thursday. Ugh. I’m not ready for vacation to be over.