floam & gak {a review} …

If you are as old as I am, you probably remember Nickelodeon’s Floam and Gak hitting the stores in the 1990’s.  I was too old to be interested, but I bet my little brothers played with it!  When I was given the opportunity from Team Mom to receive the brand new, “completely reformulated and better than ever” Floam & Gak to try out and review, I jumped at the opportunity!  I knew my little boys would love it!  Guess what?  I was SO right!

Here’s what I received in my package:

The boys were excited to get it out and play (which I may have taken advantage of…and told them they could play after they cleaned their room…hey, a mom’s gotta do what a mom’s gotta do, right?!?)

We stared with the Floam:

Zach wasn’t sure what he’d gotten himself into.  It was kind of gooey and sticky at first.  Once he warmed up to it, he had a good time!

Seth got busy with the yellow Floam:

If you don’t know what Floam is, it’s “an incredible molding compound designed to encourage creative expression.  Mold, fold, flatten and roll it into any creation imaginable.”  And that’s just what the boys did – for almost an hour!  After they were done, we squished it back into it’s air-tight container so they could use it again and again.  There’s also the option to mold it, leave it out overnight, and let it harden to be kept forever as a work of art.  You can check it out at www.floam.com!

Next up, we opened up the Gak.  Gak is a stretch and squishy compound that kept these two boys entertained for a long time too…not only could they squeeze, squash, stretch, twist, roll, and bubble it…but they could make some pretty wacky sounds by squeezing it into it’s container.  And if you have boys, you can imagine the giggling that ensued!

You can check out Gak at www.gak-is-back.com

Floam and Gak were both a raving success with these two boys!

You can purchase Gak and Floam at Target, Toys R Us, Bed Bath & Beyond, AC Moore, and Walgreens.  Or you can click on these links and order from Amazon.com right now!!

easy canvas prints…

We’ve been in our new home for nine months now.  I’m still struggling with putting things up on the walls.  I am nervous about making holes to hang things.  The big blank walls are crisp and fresh, but frankly, they are starting to feel a little boring.  So when I was contacted by Easy Canvas Prints a few weeks ago, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to order a new family photo to hang in our new home.  Easy Canvas Prints is a company that will turn your personal photos to canvas.

The actual process was super easy – I just had to upload a photo, choose a size (they offered to send me a free 8x10 print in exchange for an unbiased review here on my blog, but I wanted something a bit larger, so I paid to upgrade to a 16x20), select a border option ( I opted to have the photo wrapped around the edges, but the mirror image effect or the solid color option would have been cool too), and that was it! 

A few days later, my canvas arrived!

It was packed so well – nice and safe!  I was so impressed with how crisp the photo looked (photo taken by Lori Muse Photography).  The colors are exactly how they should have been, the images was crisp – no noise or blurriness - the quality is amazing.  I only own one other canvas print, and I love it…but this one is definitely better quality.

It took me about 3 minutes to unwrap it, decide where to hang it, and put it up on the wall!

We have this little cut-out between the entry room and the family room – the space on the left side of the window was the perfect size for this canvas to hang.

I really like it… and now my other walls are feeling REALLY empty.  I am thinking about ordering a set of small canvases to put on the right side of the cut-out.

I will be ordering from Easy Canvas Prints again, and if you’re in the market for having one of your photos printed on canvas, I would definitely recommend this company!

moon dough (take 2)…

Do you remember about a year ago when Team Mom sent us some Moon Dough to try out and review?  No?  You can click HERE to read about it if you’d like. :) My kids loved it and they played with it a lot.  Eventually most of those little dough pieces crumbled away (but they never did dry out – just as the box promised!) and I hadn’t gotten around to buying refills for them.  As I said in my review, I didn’t have an issue with the dough being too messy or causing any problems…so I was a little surprised to receive an e-mail from Team Mom last month asking me if I’d like to try out and review an ALL NEW DOUGH FORMULA!  They said this amazing molding dough “now features a better consistency for molding, and is less crumbly.”  The colors are supposed to be brighter and more vibrant too!

Of course, we were all for reviewing this new and improved moon dough, so we accepted and anxiously awaited the arrival of our Moon Dough Push N’ Pop Ocean Pals set.

Zach and I were the only ones home when the UPS man delivered our long awaited package – and he was anxious to open it up and start testing it out.  I was busy doing something and told him he couldn’t open the package yet because I had to take pictures first.  He was in no mood to wait – he got my camera and took photos all by himself.

Lots of photos.

At various angles.

Just like he knows his mama would have done.

Good boy.

And because he was being so cute, I stopped whatever it was I was doing and took a few photos of him with the box…

And then I offered to let him open it up and play.  He opted to wait for Seth to come home (he LOVES his brother so much!!).

Zach was excited to be able to tell Seth about the package that had arrived.  When we got home, we opened it up – and they had a blast! 

I’ll be honest and say that I didn’t really notice a big difference in the dough – but remember I didn’t have any issues with the dough last year.

The Ocean Pals set included 3 “push &pop” tools, twisty animal molds, 2 colors of moon dough, and a themed mat (which is basically glossy cardboard). 

I think it’s safe to say that Moon Dough was a hit at our house (again)!

Oh, and in case you were wondering…Moon Dough is odor free. :)

You can purchase Moon Dough at Toys R Us, Target, Walmart, Kmart, Amazon.com, AC Moore, Michaels and eToys.  For more information about Moon Dough, you can visit their website HERE.

These little sets retail for just under $10, so they would make a great little gift to have on-hand for birthdays or even Christmas – yes, I said Christmas…It’s right around the corner!

Thanks to Team Mom & Moon Dough for sending us the play set to try out and review.  What you have just read was my opinion.  I was not compensated in any way, other than the product that I reviewed here. :)