review – Page 20 – Luv Saving Money

How to Make a Lighted Container Fairy Garden

This post is sponsored by Dollar Tree. Any opinions expressed are my own. This post also contains affiliate links and I will be compensated for purchases through these links. Thank you!

I’ve always wanted to make a fairy garden. I’ve searched online and looked at all the super cute fairy garden supplies. Much of it is so expensive for how tiny it is. I was so excited to see Dollar Tree had fairy garden supplies. It was a game changer for us because it meant that starting a fairy garden was going to be easy and affordable. Since it’s still pretty cold here in Pennsylvania we decided to do a container fairy garden.

You can find bulk fairy garden supplies on DollarTree.com. Everything you need to make a whimsical fairy garden with little houses, fairies, decorative rocks, and so much more. What’s fun about fairy gardens is there’s no one way to make them. You can make it completely your own. It’s a fun project to do with kids. Here I show you how to make a lighted container fairy garden with materials from DollarTree.com

MATERIALS:

Container of your choice medium flower pots or short squat vases work well
Fairy garden buildings and/or fairies
Soil
River pebbles, accent gems, aquarium rocks in neutral colors
Floral moss and floral grass
real or artificial flowers
real or artificial succulent plants

Optional items:

Fairy lights
glitter

I was able to get all the supplies I needed from DollarTree.com or my local Dollar Tree store.

First fill your container with soil. I was able to find soil at my local Dollar Tree store. Two bags were plenty to fill up my medium size flower pot I chose. You can do these as small or large as you like.

Next, decide how you want to arrange your fairy garden. You can set your fairy building, fairies, and flowers around before you start adding texture and planting things into the soil. You can plant real plants or you can use artificial plants for a year round fairy garden. Since it’s pretty cold here in PA yet, we opted for artificial plants.

We started by putting our fairy building we got from DollarTree.com on first then building and decorating around it. We decided to plant the artificial succulents into the soil so they weren’t bigger than the buildings. If you’re using real plants you’ll do the same, of course. We already had an idea of what we wanted to do. We added river pebbles to add texture. We used blue accent gems that we bought on DollarTree.com to make a little pond in our container fairy garden. Floral moss added some sense of whimsy while artificial flowers gave our garden more depth.

We had bought some cute battery powered dragonfly lights at our local Dollar Tree that we wanted to add to our container fairy garden. They only had a few lights on them and were light weight so they worked well with our container garden. We sort of weaved them through the artificial flowers we placed in the pot.

We had so much fun with this project. It’s a fun family project. Would also be a fun playdate or party project. You can buy bulk fairy garden supplies at DollarTree.com

You can really add your own touches by adding more or less scenery items. A pinch of glitter, real flowers, or other decorations.

Get Ready For Valentine’s Day With Oriental Trading

My 7 yr old son needed Valentines to send in for school. My 3 yr old wanted Valentine’s because her brother was getting Valentines. I realized I had a serious lack of Valentine decorations. I also realized I was going to be inviting my nieces up to play with my two youngest kids and they love creating stuff. So I went to Oriental Trading and took care of everything.

Oriental Trading has prices that won’t break the piggy bank. They also have lots of choices for just about any theme or holiday. I love their craft kits because most of them come with everything you need.

My 7 yr old son picked out these super cute ninja Valentines that came with matching ninja lollipops. While browsing all their Valentine stuff I also found matching bendy ninjas that matched the Valentine cards perfectly. I just had to get them. We put his Valentines together and they turned out so cute.

Then I found a cute craft kit to make Valentine cookie magnets. The kit had enough to make a dozen magnets. Plenty for my little ones and my nieces to each make two if they like. The kit came with individually packaged packets that had the base, foam stickers to decorate the magnet, and individual packs of glitter. It also came with the sticky back magnets to finish the project. The project was easy enough that even the littlest ones could do it but came with enough items that it let the older kids express their creativity.

Also while skimming through the Valentine stuff, I was trying to find a decoration or two for Valentine’s day . That’s when I came across the cutest sign. I’ve not seen anything like it before. I thought it was funny. When I opened the box I couldn’t help but giggle. I didn’t know what my hubby would think about it. I figured it would be a decoration for our bedroom. He laughed when he saw it. When I told him I wanted to put it in the bedroom he said “no you gotta put it where people are going to see it more often, that’s funny” So we decided we’re going to put it in our family room.

I always put little things together to give all the kids for Valentine’s Day. Just something small. I found these cute Peanuts canvas bags that are perfect to fill with treats or whatever you want. I was thinking of making some candy or caramel apples with heart sprinkles on them, packaging them in cellophane and putting them in these bags to give the kids.

Last but not least, my daughter’s Valentines she picked out. She wanted these ones because they came with glow-in-the-dark bracelets. I thought the star theme was cute. I made the mistake of leaving some of the stuff in the box until we were ready for it. I went to work and my daughter was home with the hubby in the morning. When I came home I saw a long glowing line on the floor. My daughter got into a pack of the glow bracelets broke them all to light them and connected them all together. Thankfully she didn’t “need” them for school she just wanted to give some to her brothers and her cousins. There was still one pack left. As I was trying to put one together for the picture the stick got caught on the slit and popped so it started glowing. I realized…wow had she needed these for school they would never make it. If they had to be put together and put in a backpack they’d all be busted and glowing before they even got to school. These would be better served as a party favor for a birthday party (think magic wand) OR keep the bracelets in the box and let the child pass out the bracelets as they hand out out the paper valentine part.

There are lots of fun Valentine items to choose from at Oriental Trading. What would you like to received from Oriental Trading for Valentine’s Day? What is your favorite item I reviewed here?

I received the above mentioned products at no cost in order to complete an honest review. Any opinions expressed are my own.

Making Chocolates With Your Valentine with GLEE Candy Kits

Time together is a precious commodity for us. We’re always so busy. The boys’ with football, archery, soccer, lifting. My hubby working full-time, me working part-time, running my blog, and running kids to all above mentioned activities. When we have a day together …I mean actually together when I don’t have to drop a kid off somewhere or attend a meeting I like to take full advantage.

I could easily just buy my kids a small box of chocolates and say Happy Valentines day but it’s so much more fun to make chocolates together as a family. Everyone can make chocolates the way they want adding marshmallows or peanut butter or just plain old milk chocolate. It’s time away from the TV screens and video games. It’s a way to get creative. GLEE candy kits make it super easy to do this.

If chocolate isn’t your thing, they also have make your own gummy candy kits, and make your own gum its. ALL the kits and all candy they sell on GLEEgum.com is all natural. Each kit comes with almost everything you need to make the candy you’ve chosen.

Another thing I like about GLEE candy kits is that they’re also educational. They give info on where the candy comes from. The chocolate kit, for instance, has 2 cacao beans and information about cacao in the box. It even tells you to taste them. I don’t want to ruin it for you but the cacao bean does not taste like a chocolate bar lol.

The kids enjoy baking and cooking as a family. I have to give each one jobs and we take turns. This one dumps something in, this one stirs, this on dumps the next thing in, etc.

After getting everything mixed and cooled to the right temperature it was time to put them in the chocolate wrappers and add our favorite things to it. We kept some plain, some just had peanut butter, others had marshmallows and pecans. We mixed it up. It made a decent amount of chocolates. We’re a family of 6 and each of us got to have a couple pieces.

It didn’t take long for them to harden in the fridge then they were ready to enjoy. The chocolate was smooth and sweet. The kit had easy to follow directions. Most the steps (aside from heating the chocolates) were easy enough so even the little ones could participate.

GLEE candy kits are only $13.95 per kit but I have a coupon for you for 15% off everything at GLEEgum.com Use code: LUVSAVING until 4/30/17

GLEE gum also has lots of flavors of natural gum which make nice Valentine treat handouts for school and natural Gum Pops too!

You can find GLEE Gum on these social media channels:

GLEE Gum on Facebook

Twitter: @GLEEguy

Instagram: @glee.gum

GIVEAWAY

One Luv Saving Money readers will win

a GLEE candy making kit of their choice

US only

Valentine GLEE Candy Kit Giveaway

I received the above mentioned product at no cost in order to complete an honest review. Any opinions expressed are my own. Prize is sponsored by GLEE gum.

BottleKeeper: A Valentine Gift Guys Really Want

There’s lots of choices out there for Valentine’s Day. I’m sure my husband would be happy with some chocolate covered strawberries or a new watch but I like to think of something different. My husband enjoys his beer now and then. I just found something I know he’ll enjoy, BottleKeeper.

If you ask my husband, warm beer is disgusting. He’ll take a beer or two out to his garage while he’s chopping wood or after he’s finished cutting the grass. Until he gets to finish though, it might be warm. That’s where BottleKeeper comes in. Think of it like a cooler for your current bottle of beer.

BottleKeeper looks something like a metal water bottle but it’s lined with neoprene to keep beer cold. It opens from the bottle to easily get a bottle of beer in the BottleKeeper. BottleKeeper is available to fit 12 oz regular bottles, 12 oz stubby bottles, or 22 oz bomber bottles. Buying the right one ensures a perfect fit for your favorite beer. You can choose from 6 different colors too. My hubby chose the orange BottleKeeper.

Another benefit to BottleKeeper, it helps protect the bottle should you drop it. No broken glass on the floor or in the garage.

My hubby using BottleKeeper in his garage

My hubby used it out in his garage the day I gave it to him. He said it really worked to keep his beer colder longer. I can see this really working out in the summer. This could make a big different at picnics, trips to the beach, while watching your fave teams play, etc. I’m thinking of getting one for myself too, I like the pink one. We can watch the Pittsburgh Penguins together while we drink cold beer from our BottleKeepers. Talk about quality time!

I did a short video to show you how BottleKeeper works:

Get your guy a BottleKeeper and a 6 pack for Valentine’s Day to make his day. Get your BottleKeeper Here. Use coupon code: Luvsavingmoney10 to save 10% off!

This post is sponsored by BottleKeeper. Any opinions expressed are my own.

3DLightFX We Tried It

When I first heard about 3DLightFX I really didn’t know what it was. The picture I had been seeing made them look really neat. Definitely something my kids would ask for. So when I had a chance to try one, how could I say no?

There were so many cool designs. I knew my daughter would love the paw patrol themes and my son would love most of them. I liked the fact that when turned on and left on, they were cool to the touch. The fact that they have a 3D effect was a plus.

When we first got the package I though there was a lot of detail put in the plastic light. It had some weight to it. They had instructions for how to hang it and even had a template for the screws. One thing I was disappointed about however is that you can only put it on walls that are completely smooth since there is a decal that needs to be transferred onto the wall to give the cracked effect for the hammer. Unfortunately my son’s room has textured walls and of course the decal would not transfer over. His door was hollow so we couldn’t put it there. The only place we were able to put it was the solid wood closet doors which I hated to do but had no choice at that point.

Once set up the hammer looked pretty cool. My son really liked it. He used it as a night light for several days.

When used as a night light, the light seemed to dim after only 3 or 4 days. My assumption is the batteries were already draining down. Another issue we ran into is that the entire back of the hammer where the screw notches and battery compartment is pulled apart from the rest of the hammer making the hammer fall to the floor after only a weeks use. We tried to put it back together but it fell apart again.

The idea is great. It does look really cool. For the price tag though, I think it should stay together better. I also think it would be great to see it with a timer so it shuts off after 3 or 4 hours so as not to drain the batteries so much when used overnight as night lights.

3DLIGHTFX 3D Deco Lights. They have a full range of comic book, super hero, Disney Princess, sports and car lights that look as though they are popping right out of the wall! They are battery operated and cool to the touch so you can place them any where in the room! Your kids will loves having these in their rooms and they’re also the perfect editions to a den, family room, man’s cave or office! Find all of these amazing products here: http://bit.ly/TargetUSFamily

I received the above mentioned product at no cost in order to complete an honest review. Any opinions expressed are my own.