Hallmark for Christmas (plus 2- $25 gift card giveaways)

Christmas is right around the corner, and I think it has really come up quickly! I have talked to several other people that are just surprised at how quickly Christmas has come this year! If you are like me....BEHIND...on the Christmas shopping, gift ideas...well, Hallmark has some great ideas to help you out!
I think Hallmark does a fantastic job with having such great products, sentimental products, gifts to give everyone on your list. I know that Hallmark products will be ones that give out this Christmas! (even if it is a little late)

I love the new Digital Scrapbooks that Hallmark came out with! The Digital Scrapbooks come in different themes, and you can choose which one you would like. You can personalize your digital scrapbook with music, photos, and text messaging all in one to be displayed on a digital photo frame (one of my wish list items), computer screen, television screen or anyplace that you can use a USB drive. You can make more than 50 personalized slides with the digital scrapbook from Hallmark! That is a lot of photos! It is simple to use, too! Just plug in the USB, access the drive, click on the icon, download and enter the codes. You can save your work as you go. This makes a great gift to give someone, or buy it and personalize a gift for someone!
Another great Hallmark product is their new DVD Greetings. This is a great way to bring the traditional holiday letter to life. You can pick photos to insert into your online letter, and animation brings it to life. Each DVD Greeting hosts a template that can be edited and customized with personal photos. You simply burn the photos onto the DVD in your Hallmark card. Everything is included in the Hallmark card: Card & DVD. It is easy to make, and fun to send!
A Hallmark product that is so fun to give is the Recordable Cards. These cards are so fun, because you can include your own personal 10- second message inside. Some of Hallmarks recordable cards have music, and some don't. There are more than 30 holiday Recordable Cards to choose from. The Recordable Cards with Music also feature a 30-second song clip which plays after the message. These are fun cards to personalize, and fun to watch the recipient to open up.

The new products were designed to help families celebrate and capture the memories and joys of the holiday season.


ENTER TO WIN:
Hallmark has offered to giveaway two $25 Hallmark Gold Crown Gift Cards. To enter to win a gift card, share your favorite holiday memories and what your definition of Christmas is to you.
Contest ends December 29th, 2009.
**For extra chances you can: blog this contest, add my button to your site, subscribe to my blog, twitter and/or become a fan on facebook, and/or visit everyday with a link to your favorite Hallmark product. Don't forget to put the extra comments for the "extra" work. Good luck!**

This review was provided from Hallmark. They have provided me with a free product to review and information to share with my readers. I am sponsored to offer gift cards to giveaway to my readers through this review. I was given the product for my personal opinion and option to share with my readers. I was not compensated for my time or written review.

Think Christmas...Think Tiny Prints!

I am the kind of person who likes the idea of sending out Christmas cards, thank you cards, birthday cards, etc.; however, me liking the idea...and doing it are two separate things. Being a busy mom of four, home schooling two of my kids, and running a household...life is a bit busy. I am so thankful for the wonderful company of Tiny*Prints! What a time saver to go to their site, pick out the card design that I like best, and add a few photos to it. They even have a LIVE CHAT button if you have any questions. Tiny Prints has a Personal Shopper Service (free until Nov 15th), to help you make the choices for your card selections, too!

I like that Tiny Prints has a great selection of new Christmas cards, and they even have 2010 edition available (for the big-time planners). Tiny Prints have some new styles available like the Photo Collage cards, Tri-fold holiday cards and Pop-Up Christmas cards. Tiny Prints have so many great options to chose from, and I think most everyone could find exactly what they want in a card. Uploading photos to use in the card is easy, too. I had no problems uploading pictures that I wanted to use. I couldn't finish my card order yet, so I saved my work until I am ready to order. I love that feature of Tiny Prints. With your card selections, you can change the words or sayings on the card, too (on most cards). That way you can personalize your card even more!

Tiny Prints also has Photo Books and Photo calendars. I think these would make great Christmas gifts, especially to the people in our lives that have "everything," and you don't know what to give them.

If you haven't ordered or purchased your Christmas cards yet, I would highly suggest you stopping by Tiny Prints! I think they have so many styles to make so many people happy and satisfied!

You can follow Tiny Prints on Twitter, too!!

Edge of Motherhood (a Hallmark review and giveaway)

Attention all you moms out there!! I have a question for you to answer...Ever been on the Edge of Motherhood? You know, when you feel like you could just bust because you think you have gone threw the ringer, or been run over by a big truck? I know that I have had "one of those days..."a few of them, actually. Kids...they are super, wonderful, fantastic...tiring, wearing, demanding, needy~ yessiree, you can feel like you are on the Egde of Motherhood sometimes. There are other moms who feel what you feel, most likely because we all have experienced something quite similar, or the very same thing. Hallmark has come out with a great line of cards that are meant for those Edge of Motherhood moments, to humorously give cheer and sunshine to moms experiencing those moments. The new line of humor cards is called “Edge of Motherhood.”
These cards are meant to help moms connect by laughing at those "special" moments and celebrate the joys of motherhood. For only .99 cents, Hallmark's Edge of Motherhood cards are a great, and affordable, way to let another mom know you care. These cards are available at select stores nationwide where Hallmark cards are sold AND online at hallmark.com.
Hallmark also has a great new collection of encouragement cards for kids, from their parents. We all know our kids get bombarded with negativity and criticism, so the more we can send them positive and uplifting messages, the better! The cards can be given for those "special days," like: first day of school, first drive behind the wheel, first trip away from home, etc. The cards can also be given for their challenges: test day, Dr. appt., etc. The cards incorporate humor and heartfelt messages to help adults connect in an authentic way, showing support, pride and giving a special child a boost of confidence. And some of the cards include originally recorded sound clips too, which play when a child opens the card! My kids love this feature, and it is a great way to really bring out that smile on your child's face! These cards start at .99 cents, and the encouragement cards with sound retail for $2.99. All are available at select Hallmark Gold Crown stores and other retailers where Hallmark cards are sold.

Would you like to win a set of cards to help brighten someone's day? Hallmark is offering to sponsor a giveaway for my USA readers (bloggers and non-bloggers)! Just go check out Hallmark.com and leave a comment about what you saw or think is something great to know!

This contest will end on September 14th, 2009. **For extra chances you can: blog this contest (put up a picture of your "Edge of Motherhood"), add my button to your site, subscribe to my blog, twitter and/or facebook this contest, and/or visit everyday and add another friendly comment. Lots of chances to win! Don't forget to put the extra comments for the "extra" work. Good luck!**

Father's Day cards from Hallmark (giveaway~ 4 winners)

With Father's Day just around the corner, it is a good time to check out the card selections from Hallmark. Hallmark has put a whole new twist on card giving, and making the receiver feel extra special. I was given the chance to review the Recordable Father's Day cards from Hallmark. These cards are similar to the music filled cards, but you can record your (or your child's) voice with the simple push of a button. When the card is opened by the receiver, they hear the recorded message, followed by a pre-recorded sound clip. You get 10 seconds to record your message. I love that I can re-record over the recording if the first round didn't succeed, especially when it is my children doing the recordings. Kids have things that come up when they are recording and it is nice to have a few more tries at it.
Caleb, Madelyn and I had fun recording messages to fill in the card. We made a recording in a card for Daddy ~Caleb and Maddie did their recording in their own card. Caleb loved the Superman card he is going to give his Dad. Of coarse, Madelyn loved the Disney Princess card she is going to give her Dad with the, "I love you, Daddy," message she spoke into his card. We also recorded a message in Grandpa's card (who lives in Alaska). I really like the Looney Tunes Card we got to review, because it has a spot in it for a photo insert. I am excited to send off my Father-in-law's card, so we can get a family photo in the mail to him. I am sure these cards will be treasured with the personal messages inside. My kids loved hearing their voices in the cards, too! Hallmark's Recordable cards have a suggested retail value of $6.99 a piece.
Hallmark also has a new collection of “everyday” cards – each only 99 cents – that feature vibrant, colorful designs and special design elements not usually found in previous 99-cent collections. The new 99-cent cards cover a wide variety of situations — birthday, thinking of you, friendship, encouragement, and more. You can check out some of the new 99-cent cards on Hallmark's site.

Want to win an assortment of Hallmark cards to use for different occasions? Hallmark is sponsoring a giveaway for my readers! Each winner will receive 5 cards each, with four winners picked! To enter this contest, leave a comment about card giving, or something you found out while looking at the Hallmark website. This contest is open to those in the USA, and will end on June 30. Feel free to do the extra credits I offer for the giveaways. (see past giveaways).

Kids Cards Review & giveaway!

I love helping promote Mom invented products/websites! One product that I have just been introduced to is KidCards, created by an Ohio mom: Melissa Marra.
KidCards are books of pre-assembled cards that kids can tear out, color, fold, and give away. Each card has an unique design for different occasions: birthdays, get well, thank you and more. There is 20 cards and 20 envelopes in each packet of KidCards.
My kids loved picking out their own card to color. They had a lot of fun looking at all the different designs on the cards. The quality of the paper is great! The paper is thicker. All the paper is white, so kids can use any color to brighten it up for that special someone. KidCards also has a special Christmas edition booklet that comes with 15 pre-designed cards. I think that KidCards is a great product and fun activity to engage your child in. You kids will be encouraged to send cards to people for special occasions, and "just because" occasions. KidCards just won a 2009 iParenting Media Excellent Products Award in the Books Category, and I think that award is well deserved!
Here's what the iParenting reviewers had to say about KidCards:
What are the most positive characteristics of this book?
-The best characteristic of this product is that it promotes creativity and imagination. It gives the child the chance to create something for someone else with a personal touch. It gives a guide to work with, but allows the child to be as creative as they choose to be.
-There were many choices of cards and envelopes to use with the cards. The choices were plentiful and worked well for many occasions. The spiral binding was great for flipping through the pages.
-What a great way to teach children good social etiquette. With this product children learn the importance of empathy and helps them think of others on special occasions. These cards can really make a difference in someones life, especially knowing that it came from a young person.

KidCards would make a great gift to give a child, and it is the gift that keeps giving.
CONTEST!
Would you like to win a packet of KidCards? You can pick out which volume you would like to win (volume 1, volume 2 or the Christmas edition). This contest is open to those in the United States and will end on June 1, 2009. To enter, go to KidCards and learn more about the mom inventor, Melissa Marra. Come back here and comment about something you learned about her. You can have extra entries for doing any of the following: blogging this contest, adding my button to your site, subscribing to my feed, commenting on other posts, visiting daily with a comment, tweeting, etc. Just be sure to leave comments for the extras you do to get the credit you deserve! :)
Do you want to purchase some KidCards? I was given a code to give you to give you a bonus with your purchase! When you go to KidCards, click on Buy Online, then enter the Penny Promotion Code "Blogger Bonus" in the box. When you purchase 2 or more books, you will get the crayon set AND watercolor paint set for 1 Penny! What a great bonus!
Thanks KidCards, Melissa Marra, for the review of your great products! My kids love the pre-designed cards and have fun making the cards their own.