Product Review - Hermie: Who Is In Charge Anyway?

~ Posted on Friday, July 16, 2010 at 12:08 PM ~

This is my 1st DVD review under the Book Sneeze (formerly known as Thomas Nelson) Blogger Review program.

To be honest, the moment I saw the name of Max Lucado, I immediately request for a review copy and I didn't even realised that it's a DVD until I received the parcel today! Not complaining at all, since I love Lucado's work.

So anyway, I'm constantly looking for educational materials to expose to my 16 months old boy and although I'm trying not to rely so much on IT gadgets as a medium for teaching and learning (we wanted more hands on learning approach), I still gave this a shot.

Ben checking out the DVD cover...

I like the DVD cover because it is attractive and the illustrations are just too cute!

On the inside of the DVD box, there's a small booklet of the products available and some discount coupons that we can use for purchase of selected DVDs or books.

Ben watching with full concentration as I played the DVD on my laptop.

He recognised some of the insects and animals shown in the video and  I love the sing-along of the "Just Can't Pray" song! Catchy, inspiring and cute! However, I don't quite like some of the characters - like the lizard... kinda spooky actually.

What is the DVD about you ask?

Well, it's about Freddie the flea who's feeling pretty low because everyone around him seems to have a purpose in life, as if they are put on earth for a reason and that as a flea, he couldn't think of what good he is to be alive and God told him all about the Garden gangs when they are young and afraid and do not have confident like him. After listening to God, Freddie started feeling positive and he realised that God made no mistakes and everything has its purpose on earth!

Now, I would definitely play this DVD again as it also has bonus materials such as trivia game and a story read-along. Overall, I give this DVD an 8 out of 10.

Click on Who is in Charge Anyway?: A Lesson in Growing Up With God to buy your own copy today! 

Product Review - Label Daddy

~ Posted on Tuesday, July 13, 2010 at 10:30 PM ~

I am so honored to be given the chance to review this awesome product:

The Label Daddy company is such a delight to work with, they are just so awfully helpful and prompt!

According to their website (http://www.labeldaddy.com/OurCompany.php),

"Our two founders, the Label Daddies, met back in high school when they were just sixteen years old, and to this day have remained the best of friends. For many years they have dreamed of becoming business partners and having the opportunity to combine their entrepreneurial skills. Before they could do that, they needed to find a great product that they believed was practical, useful, and worth its value to consumers.     
   
Both daddies have substantial experience in business in very different arenas, thus bringing a wide variety of skills to the table. One of our daddies has worked in the garment industry selling and managing production lines for all sorts of products while the other daddy has worked with banks and financial institutions assisting them in managing their balance sheets.    
   
The daddies were inspired to create Label Daddy soon after becoming parents themselves. They would often hear many fellow parents complain that too much time was spent labeling and re-labeling clothes and other items that their children took to camp or school with so-called permanent markers that often faded in the wash. They realized this was the moment they had been waiting for, the opportunity to use their respective business experience to create a stylish, adorable, and extremely useful product. A product that would be easy to use, time efficient for mom, durable for dad, inexpensive for both and very personalized.
"

I received the product real fast, I was not even expecting it to arrive so fast (normally those products that I get to review from US took about 3-4 weeks to arrive!) and the moment I saw the packaging, my eyes practically lit up! Isn't that the cutest packaging ever?!

You have no idea how hard it is for me to contain my excitement from ripping the packaging apart to see what's inside! I had to quickly rushed upstairs, grabbed my digital camera and quickly and steadily snapped the first few shots of the packaging before I open up the packaging! And what fell out were these awesome stuff!

A total of 4 packets of labels with the name of Benjamin and David (that's my hubby!), each design were individually packed in a vacuum sealed plastic bag! There's only 1 packet of label under my hubby's name, that is because I earlier asked Label Daddy whether I could request for a design under hubby's name and without any further question, they really did send me what I asked for! Awesome! 

Btw, they have a variety of label designs and colors to choose from, but as I really don't want to be too demanding, I did not request anything fancy other than asking whether I can have a set of the labels under hubby's name. Anyway, I quickly read the instructions which was printed behind each of the plastic bag on how to apply the labels.

Now, I'm already planning that I'm going to stick the labels to hubby's working shirts and pants and suddenly Ben snatched the labels and proceeded to investigate them... I let him investigate for a while more before I proceed to start sticking the labels with hubby's name to his working shirts and khakis.

FIRST TEST: PEELING AND FOLDING

I look for a shirt which hubby often wears to work and I proceeded to peel one of the label, ensure that the surface is clean and dry and started applying pressure to the label as I stick it onto the shirt's label.

Once it's applied completely, I tried to bend the shirt label at ALL directions. Just to see whether the Label Daddy's label is going to peel open or not. I fold to the left and the label stays on. I even tried flicking the label edges and it stays on! Good, good!

Then I fold from the top, even halfway and it remains where it should be. The Label Daddy edges are so strong that it doesn't peel open.

I stuck another one onto hubby's khakis that he just wore and is about to be send for washing...

SECOND TEST: WASHING & DRYING USING WASHING MACHINE

The label on hubby's working shirt stays on even after wash! Ok, guess those guys at Label Daddy are true to their word! It's machine washable!

I actually tried peeling and folding the label on another shirt that I tested on (after wash) and they still stay strong!

However, sad to report that the label I stuck onto hubby's khakis came off after the wash. I just peeled it and it came out easily. Am not sure whether the material is not compatible with the khaki's label or that the khaki's label was a bit damp when I styck the label on.

* Note: After browsing through Label Daddy's website, I found out that I'm supposed to wait 24 hours before washing the clothing labels! Yikes! My bad!! But I wished this instruction was printed at the back of the sealed plastic bag as well...

THIRD TEST: IRONING

I ain't going to stop the test at washing and drying. I wondered whether the label is going to be able to withstand heat, and I waited a few more days to collect more speciments (ehem I don't do my ironing everyday, normally I waited until there's a big pile of clothes before I proceed to do my ironing!) in order to perform this last and crucial test - The Ironing test!And the label remains unscathed!
Look at me having a go at ironing the label! I actually placed the iron and left it on the label for about 10 seconds.

Here's another shirt I ironed.

Here's me showing you guys what temperature I'm using to iron the shirt and test the label... In case you can't see clearly, the maximum is at level 6, and I'm using 5 for my ironing.

IN SUMMARY:

Other than the one label on hubby's khakis that came off after machine wash, the rest of the labels remains strong to this day.

As for Ben's name label, I stuck a few on his glass cointainer which I always used to store his food prior to going out. Because I homemade and homecook all Ben's food, I will cook his oats real hot, poured it into the glass container and serve it to Ben during his meal time whenever we are out. So far, the labels remain where they were stuck at and did not peel off after washing and scrubbing.

What I like about the Label Daddy's labels?

* Very easy to apply onto the clothings.

* Prompt & very friendly customer service and very cute packaging!

* Its machine washable and withstands heat from ironing!

* Looks so awesome and lots of trendy designs to choose from, which makes it very unique and eye catching! (Darn it! I should've choose mine!)

Go to Label Daddy's website and choose the type you would like. They have labels for clothing, camp pack, school pack, combo pack and other stuff such as labels for garbage bin, allergy note, photo stickers, zipper tags and much much more! Once you've got the type you like, you can proceed to choose the designs you like - the icons, label colors, font style and font colors. You can even choose to laminate the labels for some extra protection! The 4 sets of labels I received are all laminated! Awesome again right?!

But wait just a minute!!! I'm in the midst of finalising the details for a giveaway of this awesome labels with ONE of my lucky blog reader! Yes, yes, I know, you all love me, yes, please, don't stop praising, keep them coming, oh thank you, thank you... So, stay tuned and watch out for the giveaway post coming up soon! Control your drool please! I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO jealous of you guys for this giveaway!

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with a free product by Label Daddy in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine.

Product Review - Alternative ABCs

~ Posted on Friday, July 2, 2010 at 4:23 AM ~

The product I'll be reviewing this time is:

Yeap! A board book by the title of “Alternative ABCs”!  I  have  been  given  this wonderful opportunity to review this board book through the Business2Blogger program and the contact person, Ms. Sara DeGonia is a wonderful person to work with! She has been providing me updates and help all the way from the point I submit my request for the book review until the book was delivered safe to my hand half way across the globe!

(Excerpts from the website): 
This “
Alternative ABCs” board book features original, colorful, and graphic illustrations and typography by Southern California based designers Eric Ruffing and Dave Parmley of 13THFLOOR. 

Aesthetically borrowing from street, surf, skate, and music subcultures, the custom design and typography beautifully spell out this unique alphabet. From Calligraffiti to Pin-Striping, and from Goth to Punk, this little book crosses genres and is sure to create a buzz.  Further details of the board book:

* ISBN: 9781934429396, Dimension: 6 x 6 inches and number of pages: 56 pages

The moment I read about the opportunity to review this book (without even seeing the pictures of it!) I was hooked!  I mean, how often you get to see something other than the normal A for Apple, B for Ball, C for Cat type of board books?!! I’m not sure about you but this is the first time I read about this concept! Just look at the pictures of Ben below enjoying the book when it arrives!

The book also instils a sense of responsibility in us, as you can see, R is for Reduce, Reuse and Recycle! How uber cool is that?! 

Ben flipping to the next alphabet for more!

Picture above of Ben, obviously intrigued with the vibrant colors used!

What I like about this board book?

* A different concept towards getting your child to learn alphabets

* Vibrant colors used for each alphabet which attracts and caught your attention

* Creative illustrations used where some of them actually helps instil preservations and love towards environment and our planet earth!

* The thickness of each page is just right (flimsy and thin books always get chewed by Ben and doesn’t last more than 1 week)

* The dimension of the board book is also just nice, not too big that I get tired holding them for Ben or too big for Ben to carry around. 

You can go to  http://www.ammobooks.com/books/altabcs/  to order a copy.

Similarly, you can also order from Amazon by clicking at this link: Alternative ABCs (Chunky Edition)

*** Btw, I am in the midst of liaising with AMMO Books for a giveaway copy to one of my lucky blog reader (yup! Could be YOU!!), so watch out for this OK?

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with a free product by AMMO Books in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine.