Pinion Pins Review

I love when something comes into your life at just the right time. For me the right thing at the right time was a tiny little pin and magnet. Last summer I searched high and low for the perfect light weight comforter for our bedroom and wouldn't you know I found it at my favorite store good ole target. It was perfect for the summertime. Then the super cold snowy/icy winter hit and we were not prepared. We like to keep our heat as low as we can possibly stand which means we like to bundle up at night and my beautiful light weight comforter wasn't cutting it, but I didn't want to have to buy a whole new comforter just for a few months. Thankfully I remembered I had an old down comforter tucked away in the attic and quickly threw it on our bed under my pretty cover. And that was when things went all wonky and it wasn't pretty. There was a bit of cover pulling during the night and inevitably one of us would end up shivering under the lighter blanket while the other was nice and cozy and everything ended up looking like a big ole jumbly mess.

 Then the worst thing possible happened and my pretty comforter slid off the bed onto the bedroom floor and with two large dogs there is always dog hair everywhere no matter how much I vacuum and I had had enough. I was just about to run back to Target to pick up a heavier comforter to keep us warm when I received a very interesting email asking me if I would like to try out Pinion Pins and write a review about them. After reading about them I thought they could help out with my dilemma.

A few days later my package of  Pins arrived and I immediately got to work pinning things together. I wasn't sure how the pins would actually hold together and stay on until I was unsnapping them to put them on the covers. They are like magic little magnet pins with a magic little magnet that releases them. I wish now I had held onto my old duvet cover that I got rid of because the down comforter inside was always sliding around and getting lumpy down at the bottom because these would have been perfect for holding everything in place. I strategically pinned 8 pins pinning the top cover to the down comforter underneath.

The top button part of the pin is clear so it just blends into the pattern on our comforter so you don't even see it. On the back of the pin is a little white button that slides on the pin part and magically stays in place.

  

Now here is where the magic happens. if you want to remove the pins a little magnet is included in the package. All you do is tap it on the white button on the back of your pin and it will magically release. trust me when I tell you I tried to pull the buttons off without the magnet and they do not budge!
 Now when I wake up in the mornings my bed looks a little less crazy and all I have to do is pull both covers up together and I have a pretty room again.

 Thank you Pinion Pins for saving my sanity these past few weeks! I hate that I will have to take them off because it is starting to warm up here, but they will definitely be stored in a safe place ready to be pinned again next year.

Great Pretenders Review

So you may remember when we were iced in for a month week.My girl and I played Hi Ho Cherry O so many times I wanted to flush all of those tiny cherries down the toilet, but then I knew we would have to move on to Candy Land so I poured myself another cup of coffee and dumped my bucket of cherries out for the millionth time. I don't sit still very well and sitting back and relaxing makes me nuts! I need to be up and moving until my head hits the pillow and when you are stuck at home in a teeny tiny house you end up running out of things to do and clean real quick like. This is what my house ended up looking like after day two of being trapped at home. I even got on my hands and knees and scrubbed the grout with a mixture I found on Pinterest. My floors didn't come out as sparkling white as the ones posted, but it was definitely a noticeable difference.

We were both BORED! and in desperate need of something new to do besides watching Peppe Pig episodes and water coloring old coloring books. Thankfully I was contacted by Great Pretenders a few days before icemageddon 2015 asking if we would be interested in trying out one of their Colour Costumes and we of course said yes because we love art projects and we love dressing up and what is better than an art project you can wear! The companies products and story seemed like it aligned with our family perfectly. As a preschool teacher I could relate to their search for not only fun, but educational activities. Play is such an important part of every child's day at school and at home. I can sit and talk to my class of four year olds all day long about bumble bees, but giving them cheetos and a bumble bee ring and telling them to pretend they are bumble bees flying around the room and pollinating flowers by rubbing their cheeto covered fingers on paper flowers is when the real learning occurs.Free play is not only important because it gives the child time where they can discover on their own terms, but it is also a great opportunity for them to develop social skills, sharing skills, and it creates perfect opportunities to interact with peers.

 
I wanted Mckinley to choose the cape she wanted so I let her check out the boy and the girl sections for the Colour Capes. She ended up going with the Butterfly Fairy Wings, but the Spider Superhero was a strong contender. Our packaged arrived and we got to work coloring all of the fun details.

Give this girl art supplies and sparkly jewels and she is happy!

 

I am also a believer in letting children be creative on their own terms. I like to not only let my babies have freedom when it comes to play, but also when it comes to making art. I wanted Mckinley to pick what she colored, where she colored, and what colors she used. I feel like children are always being told what to do in most aspects of their lives so why not give them a little freedom to create as they wish to create. Why not give them a little independence to choose and create for themselves.

We both loved how easy the markers colored on the pretty shiny fabric of the cape. The markers are washable and anything that got on our hands because it remains a little wet after coloring washed right off with barely any scrubbing. We also loved all of the colors provided and how well they stood out on the white background.

We had an absolute blast coloring our Butterfly Fairy Wings and this project truly saved this mamma's sanity! Thank You Great Pretenders for allowing us to work with you and for providing us days of endless entertainment.

We were provided our Butterfly Fairy Wings Cape by Great Pretenders to Review. All opinions are my own.