A Little Arizona Warmth..

Hi Everyone!!

I am not sure how many of you are in freezing temperatures right now, but I thought I would send a little warmth your way and show you a few more photos I have taken this week with my nearly NEW Canon Rebel EOS SL1. 

I now take my camera everywhere with me... even when we go on little walks around the block with the dog.. I just can't help myself...

I took the following photos around my neighborhood in Verrado. Believe it or not, I did NOT do ANY Photoshop tweaks aside from adding my logo for copyright purposes. I stil can't believe how amazing these photos come out without filters or edits..

Here is a picture of a Mocha Coffee Energy Bar called, Java Me Up from Shoplet.com!

Sometimes I get a chance to try new products from various companies and I recently had the honor of sampling a box of coffee-fueled energy bars called, Java Me Up from Shoplet.com!  Although the bars really did not give much of an energy boost from what I could tell, they were tasty and the kids really seemed to enjoy them. 

Each Coffee Energy Bar is equivalent to about a half cup of coffee, so there is not a ton of caffeine packed in these little bars, but they are pretty filling and quite yummy. These would be a great snack to keep around the office as a little pick-me-up. 

Now that I am leaving you a little bit on the hungry side, I would love to know where you are and what you think of my latest photos... 

I hope you all have a wonderful week!!

A Little Help to Get You Organized in 2015 Giveaway!

I know, I know!! 2015 is still a couple of months away...
But if you are anything like me, then you like to get your calendars/planners printed or ordered ahead of time.

I consider myself to be a planner/calendar hoarder.... seriously, I can never have too many.

I have my glass whiteboard calendar that hangs behind my desk and I use as a weekly guide.

I also have a large monthly desk calendar that I use to keep track of custom blog designs and a weekly planner that I no longer use. I have since replaced my weekly planner with my FAVORITE Hello Planner, which I designed myself.

To be quite honest, I have no idea why I use a variety of calendars, but it seems to work for me. This month, I have already received my 2015 "At a Glance" wall calendar and weekly planner from Shoplet.com! I've  used the "At a Glance" planners for a very long time. I love how simple they are in design and how the planners are organized both monthly and weekly. I typically get them from OfficeMax or Amazon, but I decided to get mine from Shoplet.com this year!!

Even though I absolutely LOVE the simplicity of the At a Glance Monthly Planner, I probably will not get much use out of it this year since I am using my Hello Planner everyday now.

The At a Glance Monthly planner is available in two sizes and two colors. I am not a fan of the gold one, but the black one is very nice. The cover feels almost like a soft rubber and seems to be quite durable.

The preview on Shoplet.com makes the lines seem a bit yellowish or light gold; however, I can assure you that the writing lines and grids are a soft gray. The Planner is organized by month and includes a two-page monthly spread followed by a two-page weekly spread.  This gives users a lot of room to write in. 

The At a Glance 2015 Wall Calendar is a MUST-HAVE tool for me!! I have to have a monthly visual hanging up at all times and I love the new size of the 2015 Wall Calendars! Again, the preview below makes the calendar color seem a bit dingy when it is not so.  I used the image below because I do not have my new wall calendar hanging up, but I wanted you all to see how it looks.

The At-A-Glance wall calendar is a big calendar, and measures 12 x 16-1/4 inches. It features a monthly grid on each page with lined blocks as well as a past and future month reference. It starts the day of the week on Sunday rather than on Monday, but this is what I prefer. The pages are perforated, so at the end of each month I can cleanly tear the page from the calendar. This calendar also features a smooth black headband with a copper hanging grommet so it easily hangs from a nail, tack, etc. There is also plenty of room at the top of each month's page where you can add notes, quotes, doodles, etc.
I love the use of clean, modern serif fonts and the overall design. There is not much more I can say about a wall calendar - only that this is one tool I will always have hanging in my office. Feel free to click the images to check out these calendars on Shoplet.com.

I think this will be the year that I retire using any At a Glance Monthly Planners because I am in LOVE with my Hello Planner! I am able to print it up for any year, edit the pages before I print them, print only the pages I need, and organize it however I want. It really gives me so much freedom to get organized in such a personal way!

I have many more add-ons and Hello Planners in the works, but you are more than welcome to check out what I have available now by clicking the image below.

To have a little fun this week, I am going to give one lucky Blogger the chance to WIN ALL of the planners I have featured in today's post!!!

All you need to do is leave a comment below telling me what your favorite planner has been this year, along with your email address!! That is it!! On Friday, I will run a number generator and announce the winner!!

HOW TO ENTER:

1. LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW TELLING ME WHAT YOUR FAVORITE PLANNER/CALENDAR TO USE HAS BEEN THIS YEAR

2. MAKE SURE TO INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL IN YOUR COMMENT

THE WINNER WILL RECEIVE:

At a Glance 2015 Monthly Planner

At a Glance 2015 Wall Calendar

&

A Digital Copy of my Hello Planner

TERMS: Winner will be notified by email with instructions on Friday, October 31st 2014 by midnight PT. This giveaway only applies to residents in the United States. 

Thank you everyone and good luck!!

Shoplet Product Review: Saunders Office Supply Goodies!!!

#shopletreviews

This week I had the privilege of trying out a few Shoplet office supplies!! And yes, I do get that excited over free office supplies.... I'm weird...
Well, here is my little pack of goodies!!

First up on the list is the Glue Style Pen! Who doesn't love glue?? 

Well, maybe teachers... and stay-at-home moms... and exactly for all the reasons you are all thinking of... THE MESSES!!

I found the Glue Style Pen to be extremely useful! I actually use quite a bit of glue for my creative smash book where I create a collage of things going on in my head or projects that I am working on....or want to work on.  I found the glue to be surprisingly strong and quick drying... The cap is a twist cap with a plastic needle on the inside to prevent the glue from leaking or building up on the tip. Although I like the design, I keep grabbing for it, thinking it's a highlighter.. haha...  I also liked that there is virtually no odor. I can't stand strong smelling glue... Below are a couple of pages from my creative smash book where I used the Glue Style Pen to add images and little notes. One more thing to add about the glue is that it does not leak through thin sheets of paper... Once you glue, you can close the book and not have to worry about the glue seeping through the paper and binding your pages together. Plus, they are only $2.44 when you order 4 or more through Shoplet.com. 

I was not so excited about the glue stic that changes colors. I have used those glue sticks before and they truly are messy. However, when I opened up the Glue Stic, the glue had no color pigment at all... despite being a color stic. It also smells like yummy chapstick... which might be a problem if you have little ones who are curious taste-testers...ha! 

I rubbed a little on my finger and the glue even feels like chapstick. It is sticky like a glue stick..as it will effectively work as such, but it feels more like a chapstick and does not cause your hands to get sticky.  I rubbed my finger on the glue in order to see if it caused my fingers to get sticky. I am baffled as to how this glue effectively works to bind paper together, but is not sticky to the touch... strange, but awesome!! If I had to choose between this and an Elmer's glue stick, I would definitely choose this one...  It is about $9.50 for a set of 12, so it might not be the most cost effective product for a classroom, but definitely worth the extra money for home and office projects. 

Next up... the Saunders SlimMate Storage Clipboard! I would have LOVED to receive the white one in the product picture below, but I got pink and I will not complain about a free product!!

I have been carrying it around all week and using it to store my idea notepad for my Hello Planner (which is ALMOST FINISHED!!). Although the clipboard is not very deep, it does a great job holding all of my small necessities for writing down my ideas. I also found the latch to be extra sturdy. Many of the plastic clipboards I have purchased always seem to have problem with the latch over time. So far, this one is quite effective and durable...but it has only been a week!! Shoplet also sells these by the carton (which includes 6). They are about $10 each or $44 for 6... That is like getting two of them for free when you order them in bulk.. not bad...

I also got to try out the mini Recycled Clipboard, which I don't have much to say. It is sturdy and perfect for carrying around with you. I decided to use the Tac Adhesive I got with my goodie bundle and stick the Recycled Clipboard behind my desk to keep notes on... It has been very convenient to have!  At only $1 each, you can't really go wrong with these little ones. 

Below is a picture of where it hangs in my office. This brings me to my very last goodie..... TICKY TACKY!!  My mom was a Kindergarten teacher for MANY years and when I was young, I got so excited to use the tacky to hang things up for her in her classroom. I have no clue why I get excited over this weird tacky stuff, but I do... haha

I received two little baggies containing four little packages of UHU Tac Adhesive... I especially loved the little mini ones...

I will just give you a run down of the types of tac I got to try..

1. UHU Tac ProPower: 

Okay, the package states that the adhesive is strong enough to support up to 6lbs, depending on the texture of the surface. I actually used the ProPower to stick my Recycled Clipboard to the drywall and left it on there all week before taking the clipboard off of the wall. Some of you will know why I did that....

Well, guess what? You might NOT want to use the ProPower one on walls using a flat paint because this is what happened when I removed the clipboard from the wall today...

YEP... the first image above is a piece of the paint and texture missing from my wall upon removal of the clipboard. It was actually quite difficult to pull from the wall. The second image above shows you the chunk of my wall that is stuck to the Tac. You might not want to use the extra strength on flat painted surfaces... just a thought... 

The Tac did not do the same on the wall in our kitchen, which has a glossy finish. And yes.. that is a coke bottle with pennies in it.. haha!!

the other two: Tac HomeDeco and Tac Adhesive Putty both worked great and did not leave any residue on the walls or anything else that I stuck it to. 

And that is the end of my Shoplet  Saunders Office Supplies Product Review! I hope you found some of the information helpful or you discovered something new you might want to give a try... like a blue glue stick that is not blue and smells and feels like chapstick!! haha

Have a great weekend everyone!! 

**I occasionally accept free products and review them on my blog. If you have a product that you think might be useful to me or my readers, please contact me. I do not receive money to review products. I review what I like and turn down products I do not think would be useful to me or my readers...**

3 Useful Products Under $10.00!!

                                                                                                                                                               
 I recently had the honor of trying out three awesome (and very inexpensive) office supplies that came in quite handy!!


#1  Master Caster Rolling Wrist Rest

The rolling wrist rest has come in quite handy!!  Although I do not use a mouse very often, it is nice to have some wrist support when I do. It is VERY light, small and moves quite easily on a wood surface. So far, the rolling feature has not left any scratch marks on the wood either. The thin design places your wrist right at an even level with your hand when using a mouse and the foam padding is nice and soft.  Again, I do not use this as often, but it is small enough to store on my desk in my work space and roll over when needed. I actually like this design much better than my little bean bag styled wrist rest, because the mobility of this one is very smooth!! It moves with you wherever you move your hand and I do not need to adjust my hand placement. At right under $10 dollars, this is a great little treasure to have! Here are a couple close-up photos for you to see the design a little better. 

#2 Master Caster SMARTer Dual Action Microfiber Gloves

These are great!!  I do not live in a state with cold weather, but I do have kids who LOVE my electronics!!  These are very comfortable and light. I am not a big fan of gloves, but these are actually very nice for how inexpensive they are. My hands are very small and they were not very bunchy on my hands, but they also fit well on my husband (who has large hands). What is really nice about these is that they work just as well on with the ipad as if you were not wearing any gloves at all. I was very impressed & forced my son to start wearing them when he grabs the ipad... haha... No more fingerprints on the screen to clean up!! These would be great to have on hand in a classroom. You would only need to provide each student with one glove and you would not have to clean up the screens when the kids were finished with them. The only thing that I did not like was the ginormous tag that is sewn on the opening of each glove. I used a quilting cutter to remove the tag and all was good. 

#3 Master Caster ReStor-It Furniture Touch-Up Kit

This last one is an absolute must have & definitely speaks for itself!! 

Check out these before and after photos I took of one of our kitchen cabinets that had some minor damage. 

I PROMISE... the before and after is a real photo of the EXACT cabinet door!! I was not a huge fan of the pens that are included, but the crayons worked great!! I mixed two of the colors to get an exact match to our wood and the result was amazing!! These are great for minor scratches and dongs. My kids (and I) climb on the counter-top to reach inside of the top cabinets sometimes.... haha I am short.... and have adapted... I was very pleased with the product and placed in in our handy tool closet...just in case... 

So there you have it... 3 very useful products under $10.00 each. You can click on the images or titles to grab these on Shoplet.com!! There is also a  Shoplet UK!!

I have started ordering some of our office supplies here and, so far, I am very impressed with the quality, the promptness of my orders and the customer service!! Most of the prices are very reasonable. Other then bulk printer paper, which I usually pick up at my local Office Max at the beginning of the school year, I always check this site first if I need anything. 

Hope you all enjoyed this little product review!!! I do receive occasional free products from companies and I write reviews for the things I find useful. I do not get paid to write these posts, but I do LOVE free stuff!! haha

A Shoplet Review & A Colorful Freebie!!

I have recently had an opportunity to  test out some new Smead products from Shoplet- a great online depot to get office supplies!! Shoplet also provides great promotional products that are great for small businesses!!

I received three Smead products to try out:

1. Smead SuperTab Heavyweight Folder