AstroBrights Back to School Crafts + Sweepstakes

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Astrobrights Papers by Neenah Paper for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

It's back to school time! I love shopping for school supplies and have been having so much fun this year picking out the things our kids need. While it is not on the official school supply list, one thing that is on my personal school supply list is AstroBrights Paper! Why AstroBrights Paper? It comes in 23 brilliant colors so anything you create with it is sure to stand out and get noticed. In fact, I was at Office Max today and the AstroBrights Paper display grabbed my attention immediately! This paper is perfect for all sorts of things, from sending a note to the teacher (the bright yellow is sure to grab her attention) to birthday party invitations to flyers to announcements. The bold colors also make it easy to organize forms, schedules, and reports.

To help personalize school supplies, let your kids pick their favorite color AstroBright Paper and decorate it with stickers and markers (be sure and add their name somewhere).  Then, simply slide the paper under the front clear cover of their three-ring binder. In a couple of months, when they are ready for a design change, they can easily change the paper to another color! AstroBrights Papers can be found at Staples, Amazon, Wal-Mart, Target, Kmart, Office Depot, and Office Max. 

You can help support your local elementary school by entering the AstroBrights "Give a Brighter Year" sweepstakes. The winner will receive a cash prize and school supplies valued at $30,000 for the elementary school of their choice. 

You can also check out the family friendly "Make Something AstroBright" design challenges by visiting Astrobrights on Facebook. Share your projects with video and pictures for the chance to win Astrobrights paper and other prizes.

My kids love to create things and lately, using paper seems to be their favorite way to create. Lately, they have been creating a lot of doll clothes using paper (perhaps I should introduce them to paper dolls?) They typically color white paper and then cut it to the shape they want it to be. I know they could come up with some unique and festive clothes for their dolls using the AstroBrights papers. What would your kids create using AstroBrights Paper?

Dyson DC24 Vacuum Giveaway

Mom Powered Media proudly presents the 

Dyson DC24 Giveaway

Dyson "The Ball" DC24 Vacuum
Impress yourself with your beautiful floors when you use the Dyson DC24 All-Floors Lightweight Upright Vacuum. Ultra lightweight and compact makes vacuuming with this machine effortless. The Dyson "Ball" technology turns the vacuum on a dime with no loss of suction, combined with the patented Root Cyclone technology makes this one extreme powerhouse of clean.

Dyson "The Ball" DC24 All-Floors Lightweight Upright Vacuum Includes:

• Bristle brush
• Product manual

Product Features:

• Clear hygienic dust collection bin - empty the bin with a push of a button
• Lifetime washable HEPA filter - requires no maintenance and lasts for the life of the vacuum
• Fingertip brush control - turn brushbar on and off at the touch of a button
• Motorized brushbar - powerful bristles remove dirt and pet hair from carpets
• On-board tool storage - brush, stair and crevice tools store right on your vacuum so they're always on hand
• Reversible wand - for dual usage
• On-board tool storage - brush, stair and crevice tools store right on your vacuum so they're always on hand
• Certified Asthma and Allergy Friendly by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America

ABOUT DYSON

Many vacuums use filters to trap dirt, which can cause clogs and suction problems. But Dyson, maker of the world's first cyclonic bagless vacuum, features technology that uses centrifugal force to separate dirt out of the airflow, so the vacuum doesn't clog. Dyson proves no loss of suction using the IEC 60312 Cl 2.9 test standard. As the only vacuum to be certified by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America and featuring Clean Exhaust Air, it's easy to see why Dyson is an excellent choice for all your floor surfaces. Dyson vacuum cleaners are amazing! I own the Dyson DC-25 Vacuum and it's very similar to the DC-24 and works wonderfully for my floors!

One lucky winner will receive a Dyson DC24 All-Floors Lightweight Upright Vacuum. 

Giveaway ends August 31st at 11:59pm, open to US and Canadian residents, ages 18+. To enter please use the Rafflecopter form below. Good luck!

Thank you to Mom Powered Media owners: Mom to Bed by 8, Powered By Mom and Real Mom Reviews for organizing this event.

Make sure to visit our fantastic co-hosting blogs This Mama Knows, To Sew With Love and Life With Levi.

NEW! Fiber One Nutty Clusters & Almonds Cereal Review & Giveaway!

I’m a big fan of Fiber One products. I enjoy their bars and I like the Fiber One brownies for a sweet treat I don't have to feel guilty eating. The kids (especially Jaxon) like the Fiber One Chewy bars, which we reviewed a few months ago. So I was excited to try their cereal, even though I’m not much of a cereal eater.

I love breakfast – it’s definitely my favorite meal of the day. But breakfast for me is usually anything but cereal. There’s a couple of reasons for this: I don’t like milk, and I am picky about cereal. I don’t like super sugary artificially colored cereals, but I don’t like boring flakes that lack flavor and get soggy either. I recently tried almond milk and love it. I found it to be a great milk replacement for me, but I had yet to find a cereal I really liked.  

But then Fiber One sent me their new Nutty Clusters & Almonds cereal to try. I love almonds, so I was intrigued. The flakes were promising, with lots of texture. They also tasted good dry – this is a cereal that would be good to munch on straight from the box. Each 1 cup serving is 180 calories and contains 11 g of fiber! That’s almost half of your daily fiber needs. It contains both whole grain wheat and whole grain oats, so it’s very filling.

After I added almond milk, I let the cereal sit for a few minutes first, to taste the flakes ability to hold up to the milk. They were not soggy at all and retained their crunchiness. In addition to the textured flakes, the cereal has oat and nut clusters to give it extra crunch. There are also almond slices in the cereal, which is awesome!

The cereal was sweet, but not syrupy sweet. I was concerned about where the sweetness was coming from, and was pleased when I checked the ingredients list and find out that sugar, honey, molasses, corn syrup, and brown sugar syrup used instead of something artificial. There are 12 g of sugars per serving. That sounded like a lot to me, so I compared it to other cereal boxes that we had on hand and found that most of our cereals contained between 9-11 g of sugar, while one contained 19g (yikes!). I’d love to see Fiber One bring the sugar content down just a little bit. 

Jaxon loves it! 

I really like it, too! I love that it is filling and tastes great!  

Want to try some yourself? You can print a coupon for $1.25 off of one box by clicking here. One lucky reader will win a Fiber One Nutty Clusters & Almonds gift package containing 2 boxes of cereal, spoon, and a Fiber One wooden bowl. Enter using the super easy Rafflecopter form below!

Costume Discounters Offers Great Halloween Costumes for Boys!

I know it's still hot outside so it's really hard to think about Halloween, but it's right around the corner. Last year, we ended up looking for Halloween costumes for a couple of weeks before Halloween. We had the hardest time finding costumes the kids would like. Though we found quite a few options, none of them were cute, all of them were expensive, and most were cheaply made. This year, we're going to be better prepared, thanks to Costume Discounters.  

We were sent a zombie ninja costume for Britain to review. He was thrilled when it arrived and immediately went to put it on, even though the air conditioning was not working that day and it was like 90 degrees inside our house. 

As you can see the costume is pretty detailed. It includes several pieces: pants, a tunic, an "apron" that goes over the tunic and has an attached hood, a belt tie, and a mask with attached bloody ninja star. My kids love details on their costumes and most of the costumes at Costume Discounters have those extra little touches that make the costume special and fun.

It does not include the socks or the sword seen in the next picture. However, the kid who was modeling it online had a sword and was wearing black socks so Britain insisted on duplicating the look! 

If you're looking for discounted costumes for boys this year, Costume Discounters is the place to go. They have a huge selection! Whether your son wants to be a pirate or a cowboy or Spiderman, they have you covered. They also offer the lowest prices guaranteed - if you find the costume priced better somewhere else, they'll match the price and take off an additional 20%. They also offer free exchanges! Right now, their current promotion is 20% off of costumes priced $20 or more. With the wide selection of costumes, you're sure to find something that your child will love.




I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.