holiday guide 2015 – Luv Saving Money

We Tried the I DO 3D Art Pen

I received the below mentioned product in order to complete a review for my Holiday Guide. Any opinions expressed are my own.
Welcome to the official kick off of the Luv Saving Money Holiday Guide 2015. Here’s you’ll find budget friendly gifts, affordable holiday decor ideas, holiday deals/coupons, and pretty much anything for the frugal conscious during the holidays. Follow the list in the right side bar for an updated list of holiday guide posts or just search the term “holiday guide” in the search bar.

We’re kicking this off today with a new toy to hit the market for the holidays. It’s meant for ages 8-99 according to the box. You may have heard about 3D pens. Maybe even saw youtube videos of some amazing art made with 3D pens. But 3D pens aren’t even everyone’s budget. If you have a budding artist, a teen with a 3D pen on their list, or you’ve been wanting to try it out for yourself maybe you could start with the IDO3Dart pen

We received the I Do 3D Pen 4 pack that came with 4 different color pens, a plastic drawing sheet, a spotlight, and a 3D Guide Map. This packages says it can make up to 20 projects. This would of course depend on how big your projects were and how much ink you use. We started with a smaller project from the 3D Guide Map.

I’ll be honest it wasn’t exactly what we thought it would be. The pens are prefilled with their corresponding color. They don’t seem to be refillable. It uses a special ink rather than the 3D printer filaments. You can put the clear sheet over the 3D Guide Map patterns. Once you draw for a bit you need to use the spotlight to dry the ink. Then we started building up once all the pieces were completed. We connected the pieces by, sort of, sautering the pieces together with the ink and spotlight. This process does take some time.

I Do 3D pens are available in 4 packs, single pens, and a 7 pen deluxe set which is a Toy R’ Us exclusive for $39.99. I Do 3D can also be found at Walmart and Michael’s for the 4 pen set at $19.99-$24.99 per set and Walmart, Target, TRU, Amazon, Michael’s, and Kmart for the single pen set at $7.99-$12.99 each. Visit IDO3Dart.com for more details

This product did not work as quickly an easily as it shows in the commercials but what ever does? This is a project that is going to take some time. Perhaps a few session to get a completed project done depending on the size of the project. For once, I agree with the age recommendation. My 6 year old son tried this and got a bit frustrated with it but my 11 and 13 year old enjoyed it. This would make a great gift for a teen or tween that likes to work with their hands and is imaginative.

Look At This Jewelry From Pretty Peacock!

I will be received a Pretty Peacock piece to review. Look for Pretty Peacock in the Holiday Guide 2015.

In a little studio located just north of Seattle, we create jewelry that is created to tell your story. We like to mix in things like gemstones, texture, even a little geekery from time to time so that you can tell your story in new and creative ways.

There is a lot of thought and love that goes into each of our handmade pieces – you’ll be able to feel the difference from the moment you open up one of our sparkly, purple packages.

Life is a story: write it, share it, change it, wear it – with jewelry by Pretty Peacock.

My readers get to save big! Pretty Peacock: FAMILY2015 and for 30% off the entire site valid until 12/31/15! National and Abroad .@usfg

Make Your Holiday Treats Stand Out with Love Cooking Company Pans

Love Cooking Company will be reviewed in the Luv Saving Money Holiday Guide 2015.

Love Cooking Company has set out with a mission to make baking a simple task. Partnered with some great names in the baking and entertainment industries, Love has crafted bakeware that helps you easily achieve the best-looking baked goods on the table, from filled cakes to bite-size desserts and more.

The PushPan is a 100% watertight and leak-proof cake pan with a patented silicone-lined removable base making it perfect for cheesecakes, pies and more! An alternative to a spring-form pan, you simply place the pan on something sturdy, press the sides down, and voila – the perfect cake! The PushPan also comes with a 25 year warranty

The Mrs. Fields Cutie Cakes pan creates 48 bite-size cakes when you need a small amount of something sweet. It’s ideal for savory options, like mini corn dogs or potato pancakes. After you create your tiny treats, just pop the pan in the dishwasher.

The Mrs. Fields Fill N Flip is the easiest way to make a layered cake and create a surprise center that everyone will love. Once you bake your cake, add filling to the side with the large opening, place the non-filled layer on top, and enjoy! Plus, the pan is dishwasher-safe, making clean-up a breeze.

My Readers receive 10% off your entire order – Love Cooking is inviting you to take 10% off your entire order on lovecookingcompany.com with the promo code LOVE10. For a limited time only.
For details on this and other special offers go to http://usfamilycoupons.com/coupon.php?regionid=75&bid=12246&dealid=2092

What would you make with these pans?

Libre Tea, Perfect Gift for Tea Lovers

Look for Libre Tea review in the upcoming Holiday Guide here on Luv Saving Money. I will be receiving one to review.

We all want to lead healthy, active lives and inspire our families and friends – enjoy a tea moment anywhere anytime with the stylish and convenient solution for teas, herbs and fruit infusions ‘on the go’.

The Libre tea glass is a pretty and practical choice for convenient leaf tea ‘on the go’. Its removable filter keeps all the leaves, or the bag, in the glass away from your mouth – great for fruits or soothing herbal elixirs. You can create your own flavorful beverage and enjoy. Wonderful herbal teas are a great way to wind down at the end of a long day. Our ‘how to video‘ shows 3 ways to use and brew tea.

The 100% BPA free, Libre tea glasses keep drinks hot or cold, are very durable and ensure a fresh taste every time due to their easy wash glass interior – its the only to go thermos you’ll need at the soccer field, yoga class, on a hike, the morning dog walk or curled up on the couch. We love to inspire tea moments anywhere, anytime – take a sip, watch your tea leaves dance and enjoy relaxing tea moment for yourself.

This holiday give your friends and family an inspired and unique gift you can use all year round. Choose from our Classic Collection – sophisticated metal trim with gold detailed lids, or our Libre Life Collection – bright, joyful patterns – and watch the leaves dance. We have great deals on 6pcs Holiday Gift Paks for all the tea lovers on your list.

My readers get to save! Great for Holiday Gifts, Calm moments and Traveling!
Pretty’n practical tea glass infuser! Enjoy a tea moment @libretea – 10% off til Nov15 – Use code USAMoms10 @usfg

Baking Cookies With The Kids and Making It Easier On Myself

I received the below mentioned product in order to complete an honest review. Any opinions expressed are my own.

My kids love to help me bake. I love baking with them. I’m not a big fan of the clean up afterward though. I keep a couple mixes in my cupboard at any given time so in a “I’m bored” pinch I can grab a baking mix. It usually works.

I have 3 boys and a toddler girl, baking is something enjoyed by all and they can all have their own jobs to do. My daughter usually gets to help stir or dump in an ingredient. My 6 year old gets a few stirs and helps with ingredients too. My older boys can help spoon the batter on the cookies sheets, or cupcake tin, or whatever and they get to help break the eggs which they love to do.

Since my older boys weren’t available for this project I let the little ones try their hands at scooping the cookie dough. My 6 year old didn’t do too bad. My daughter had the right idea but those little tiny clumps of dough you see on the lower side of the pan, yea that was her scooping and placement method.

Now, I had mentioned about not being a fan of clean up afterward. You can’t really get away with not cleaning up after baking but anything to make it easier for me is alright in my book. Do you see those silicone baking mats inside the baking pans? These have become a staple for me when baking cookies, especially around the holidays when I’m making a lot more cookies. The cookies don’t stick, the slide right off. No trying to pry them off the pan with my spatula. And clean up…yea since the cookies don’t stick you don’t have to scrub your pans as hard. The silicone pads you just wipe with some soap and water and rinse. No cookies residue there either. These are made to fit an 18×13 pan which I used here. I do use them in smaller pans or larger pans. For smaller pans I just have to place it in and put my cookies on. It doesn’t look as neat but it still works.

You can find the same Greenco Non-Stick Silicone mats I used on Amazon. You get a set of 2 for only $9.99! You’ll definitely want to grab these before you start your holiday baking.

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