Easy Canvas Prints Review and Greyhound Love. @easycanvas

Sponsored Post Disclosure: I have been compensated for this post, however all opinions are my own and truthful. 

This post does contain paid links.

When Easy Canvas Prints contacted me and offered me the opportunity to try out their website and make my own canvas I was super excited. Then I realized I was going to make one of my kids very unhappy if I picked a photo of one child and not the other. 

I could not find a recent photo with both of my children smiling that I wanted on a canvas 

so instead I picked my "furry kid" and avoided hurt feelings. 

We adopted Pippi, our retired racing greyhound rescue from Florida this fall. 

Her racing name was "Wild Pipsqueek" hence the name "Pippi" now. 

She is the best dog in the world and we are all madly in love with her. 

She is my best buddy and spends the day glued to my side. 

The girls adore her and everyone who meets her remarks 

about how sweet and gentle and quiet(!) she is. 

  

Then, I looked through our recent family photos and liked this one of sweet Pippi

hanging out with the girls in the backyard. It's one of the rare photos where she isn't sleeping!

This wasn't the prettiest photo background with my chipping outdoor furniture and dead grass

but I loved her sweet face.

 The website lets you design custom canvas prints anyway you want, 

so I switched the color to sepia and cropped the whole photo.  

Once the crazy background became neutral, Pippi became the star attraction (that she is) and 

I really liked it! I selected a 12" x 12" canvas with wrapped black edges. I love squares (and circles.) 

I find that size and shape very comforting -- probably because I've been a scrapbooker for years!

See that weird white speck? I thought it was something stuck on Pippi's head 

(like a piece of fluff from the yard) so it wasn't until I uploaded the photo to the Easy Canvas Prints website and edited my picture to make it "Sepia" that I realized there was some crud stuck on my camera lens. Whoops. Couldn't take it off the photo but I don't mind it. 

Everything arrived in perfect condition. 

They did a great job of packaging the canvas so it wouldn't slide around 

and the corners were protected from getting smashed on the UPS truck!

My canvas arrived quickly and in great shape. 

I put the canvas on a floating shelf in my bedroom 

with another piece of artwork from Mod Dog Shop on Etsy

and a little ceramic greyhound I picked up on clearance ($6!) at Target this fall. 

My mini greyhound shrine --- I look like a crazy greyhound lady.

But, I guess I kind of am. She really is the BEST. dog. ever. 

Now, I'm planning to paint my floating shelves with some Annie Sloan chalk paint

and give our room a mini makeover to match our cute new artwork! 

I couldn't be happier with the way my print of my sweet fur baby turned out. 

Any other greyhound owners (lovers) out there? 

I even have a greyhound board called 50 Shades of Greyhound - har! 

You can see what Pippi is up to on my Instagram page! 

Warmly,

Pink and Green Mama, MaryLea

Disclosure: Products for review were provided by Easy Canvas Prints. 

The opinions expressed herein are my own and are not indicative of the opinions of Easy Canvas Prints. 

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ALEX Toys Craft Kits Review and Giveaway! @alextoys #alextoys

Sponsored Post Disclosure: I have been compensated for this post, however all opinions are my own and truthful. 

This post does contain paid links.

My friends at ALEX Toys were generous to send some of their super fun craft kits
to me and the girls to play with this month! The girls had a blast with them and we wanted to share the fun with you by offering a giveaway from ALEX Toys to Pink and Green Mama readers.
If your name is drawn by Random.org, you may select one of the three craft kits we sampled
to Create, Play, and Explore with your own kids!
ALEX's mission is to provide children with creative products to help them learn and build confidence, personal expression, and self-esteem -- I couldn't agree more on how important that is!

ALEX sent us an Eco Scrapbook kit to play with.
My oldest daughter, "E" (age 10) got into the Eco Scrapbook kit immediately.
She has been working on it for several weekends and is still working on it.
She is making a scrapbook about our backyard and taking photos with my camera for it.

She loved the fun alphabet stickers, the cute papers, and the suggested layouts shown on the box cover.
She's having fun adding her own touches like "faux woodgrain"contact paper trees, washi tape, and nature drawings. She's also using mommy's scrapbooking trick of marking her layout pages with post-it notes to remind her of which photos she wants to go back and add later!
It's so fun to watch her creative process.

ALEX sent us the Super Window Sticker Art kit to play with. 

"E" also loved the Window Sticker Art Kit. But it was too challenging for her little sister, "C" (age 6.) 

The kit comes with black and white line drawings to use as patterns

 but my girls wanted to make their own designs so they sketched some drawings 

with a black marker on white paper and used them instead. 

"C" really wanted to try it though so her big sister took one of C's drawings of her favorite stuffed tiger "Hobbes" and made her a custom Pink Tiger face window cling for her bedroom window! 

"E" loves squids so she made her own squid window cling by outlining a custom line drawing. 

She used the kit's flower, fish, and "BFF" patterns to make some clings for friends. 

DIY stained glass with a personal touch! Love it. 

They were also generous to send us the Sweet Treats Jewelry kit, 

we are planning to play with that one this weekend! We ALL love shrinky dinks!

So...now I bet you want to play and create with some ALEX kits as well. 

Here's your chance, enter my giveaway below 

for a chance to win your choice of one of these three, super fun craft kits from ALEX Toys! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

o       Like ALEX on Facebook: www.facebook.com/alextoys

o       Follow ALEX on Twitter: https://twitter.com/alextoys

o       Follow ALEX on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/alextoys/

Warmly,

Pink and Green Mama, MaryLea

Disclosure: Products for review were provided by ALEX Toys. 

The opinions expressed herein are my own and are not indicative of the opinions of ALEX Toys. 
ALEX Toys is not responsible for how the winner is selected, 
or for the manner in which this giveaway is structured (that is solely up to me!) 

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DIY Nature Journal for Kids With Tombow Art Supplies #Tombow100

I was contacted by Tombow products and asked to participate in a special program 

to show how crafters and bloggers use their "Tombow Time." 

The best part is that it helps give back to a cause I feel strongly about -- Arts Education. 

 In March of this year, Tombow kicked off its "100 Days of Tombow"program at the National Art Education Association Conference in Forth Worth, Texas. They promised to provide up to $10,000 of Tombow art products to the Council for Arts Education, a national nonprofit dedicated to promoting and supporting art education and quality art programs nationwide. They asked 100 different bloggers across America to share a project using Tombow's products. For every submission by a blogger, Tombow donates $100.00 worth of products to the Council for Arts Education. You know I'm all about art supplies and getting them to art teachers to use in their classrooms! 

Tombow was established 100 years ago, in Japan in 1913, as the wood case pencil provider for Japanese students. Since then, they've grown their company to provide adhesive tapes, ballpoint pens, drawing pencils, dual brush pens, glue sticks, and other scrapbooking and art making supplies. 

Tombow sent my family some lovely colored pencils and dual brush pens to play with. 

My Kindergartener, "C" (age 6) is a little naturalist like her big sister and wanted to make her own Nature Journal to record her bird drawings, leaf rubbings, and other sketches. She loves making her own books as she is learning how to read and write. 

It was a very basic and simple book construction method. 

We folded piece of lime green card stock to use as the cover.

Then, I folded some white printer paper in half and drilled two small holes in the fold with a large needle. I laced some twine through the holes to bind the pages. We cut out a simple tree silhouette from "woodgrain" contact paper and she did the rest - adding words and drawings to her journal. 

Happy Creating and Exploring! 

Are you a blogger that would be interested in participating in the "100 Days of Tombow" movement? They still need bloggers! Contact Barbara Pritchett, public relations coordinator, who will facilitate the provision of the 100 days of Tombow starter kit, containing: Dual Brush Pens, Irojiten Color Pencils, and the Stamp Runner Adhesive. Every submission to the "100 Days of Tombow" blogging program will result in a $100.00 product donation to the Council for Arts Education. 

They hope to donate $10,000 worth of product to this dynamic, vibrant cause that shapes the future crafters and artists of America through its educational programs. 

Warmly,

Pink and Green Mama, MaryLea

Disclosure: Products for review were provided by Tombow. 

The opinions expressed herein are my own and are not indicative of the opinions of Tombow Products. 

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If you are looking for even more ways to have fun with kids in your own backyard this summer, 

check out my "Backyard Fun" ebook! 

(With 13 Arts and Crafts Lessons to make cool stuff for your own yard!)

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Easy Kid-Made Father's Day Gift: Popsicle Stick Fix-It Sign

My hubby has a late May birthday so we always have birthday gifts

 that run into our Father's day gift timing. The girls made their daddy some sweet homemade gifts

this year that would be perfect Father's Day gifts too, so I'm sharing them here with you today!

"C" my 6 year old made this Daddy Fix-It sign for my husband. 

He's a homebuilder and a very handy guy to have around, he really can fix anything. 

Don't know what we'd do without him around here!  

We loved this project from B-inspired Mama and it was the jumping off point for our own gift!

She glued popsicle sticks together and wrote the message with sharpie.

The tiny popsicle sticks on the side are from Michaels' "Creatology" brand. 

She made a Duct Tape card to go with it - I love the rainbow heart. 

Then, we picked out some cool looking and colorful hardware goodies and do-hickies

from daddy's tool box and I glue-gunned them to her sign. 

Daddy's special sign is hanging in a place of honor in his workshop! 

For more great Father's Day gift ideas, click here to check out my 

Father's Day Pinterest Board. 

Click Here for my Gifts From the HeART ebook

Happy (Homemade) Daddy Gift Making! 

Warmly,

Pink and Green Mama, MaryLea

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Last year's Back Rub t-Shirt Was a Huge Hit too!
Click HERE to see how to make your own.