Remember those awesome Christmas cards I was (and still am) excited about sending out this year?  Well, I found the perfect compliment to bring the joy right on to the envelope as well: Picture It Postage!

I’m all about some matching. I’m the kind of girl that needs things to “go” together, other wise it drives me insane.  Now typically, I would not consider my postage as a huge nuisance in my matching world, but being able to make super cute postage to match anything I can dream of? I love it.  I decided to create a stamp using the same design that is on the Christmas card I chose.

The process is extremely easy: Upload the photo you want. Get the photo placed how you want it by centering, zooming in, change the orientation, etc. using their tools. Pick the color of the background and text color (you can even click on the photo itself and it will match the color for you!). And, ta-da! You’re done and all you have to do is order.

I received mine today and I can tell you the quality is excellent, you get exactly what it looks like on your screen when you order.  I love that they are bigger than regular postage so you can really see the design.

A huge thumbs up from me. I’m so excited and ready to send out my Christmas cards…and it’s not even Halloween yet!

Also, Picture It Postage is holding a photo contest starting October 31st looking for the best of the worst family photos. Meaning, all those not-so-great pictures that get taken when trying to get that perfect family picture and something terribly funny and inconvenient happens? A baby spits up, or grandpa starts yelling to at the camera to get it over with. Yea, those. We’ve all got them!
How To Enter:
Beginning October 31, simply visit PictureItPostage.com, click on the “Get Real” contest button and upload the best of your worst photos

How To Vote:
Beginning November 21, all visitors to the “Get Real” contest website will have a chance to vote for their favorite photos.

What’s The Prize:
Winners will be announced December 8.
1)Two Grand Prizewinners will each receive a new Canon Digital SLR Camera and five PictureItPostage coupon codes good for 100 customized photo stamps.
2) Ten First Prizewinners will each receive one PictureItPostage coupon code good for one pack of customized postage stamps.

This review opportunity provided by The Family Review Network.

Growing up my family has always been a big “Holiday” family. From decking out in matching attire, to eating large meals with family and then traveling to eat another large meal with more family. I loved every minute of it! Part of preparing for this holiday fun was getting pictures taken each year and sending out Christmas cards. Maybe I’m just conceded, but I really love getting my picture taken, especially with people I love.  Back then it was with close cousins or my siblings, but now I have my sweet husband and daughter to smile with. Something about sending out cards with our smiling faces, proclaiming “Happy Holidays!” and showing off how much we’ve all grown and receiving the same from others really thrills me.

The past few years though, it hasn’t been in the budget to justify for our own little family to spend money on holiday cards. Which, was pretty disappointing last year as it was our first “official” Christmas as a family and I just know everyone wanted to see how much little miss Savannah had grown (right?). So, when Family Review Network offered the chance receive a $50 gift card to Tiny Prints, let me just say I was extremely excited. The Christmas cheer is already spreading to me, and it’s only September!

I’m in love with the simple yet stylish designs and beautiful colors.  They have a wide selection of 2008 Holiday cards, birthday and shower invites, gorgeous birth announcements, and even personalized party favors.  Have a business? They have a whole website for business holiday cards!  The website is also super easy to navigate and it’s easy to customize and place an order.

And, what’s even better? When you show your Holiday spirit and share your favorite 2008 card design, you can win a $50 gift card to Tiny Prints for your self!  To kick off the new 2008 Holiday line, they are holding a contest right here on this blog for you guys to get a sneak peak and for them to see what the most popular designs will be. During this early preview period the new holiday cards, Christmas cards and holiday invitations are not yet available for purchase, however, for a very limited time you can receive amazing early-bird savings on their soon-to-be retired designs.

What you have to do:

1) Visit Tiny Prints (www.tinyprints.com), browse your favorite 2008 holiday card designs currently being previewed and save your favorite 2008 design in your account by clicking the “save in favorites” button. Don’t have an account? Make one!
2) Come back to my blog and provide a link to the specific holiday card (see link for example) in the comments below indicating what you liked best about it. Please note that some designs are so new that they cannot yet be customized, but will be soon (in early October and including hundreds more designs)!

The contest will run through Tuesday, September 30th 2008. Winners will then be drawn at random from people who have properly followed the above directions and placed comments in my blog post (you must do both step 1 and step 2 to be eligible). Please create your comment using the same e-mail address you used when creating an account on Tiny Prints so participation can be verified.

Good luck! I look forward to seeing your favorites

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!