Product Reviews - Pocketful of Joules

Printcopia Canvas Review & Giveaway

You read that right, I’m having ANOTHER giveaway!

It’s like Christmas at Pocketful of Joules – in addition to having the National Ice Cream Month contest where you can win a free Target gift card and free ice cream (entries accepted until noon on Wednesday), I’m able to offer you another treat!

The kind people at Printcopia reached out to me and asked if I would be interested in reviewing one of their photo canvases. In addition to trying out their service myself, I would be able to give away an 8 x 10” canvas to one of my lucky readers!

PLUS, everyone who enters the contest will receive an email with a 60% off code just for being a friend of Pocketful of Joules!

How could I say no? Especially since I’ve been drooling over this artwork hallway over at my friend A Graceful Life’s house.

So I picked one of my favorite pictures of me and Jack from this summer and had it printed by Printcopia on an 8 x 8” canvas. It was super easy to lay out my picture on the canvas online and the finished product was delivered really quickly to my house. I was very impressed with the quality of the canvas print (especially when comparing it to the cheapo ones I bought from the craft store). The canvas wraps all the way around the wood frame of the picture and just looks really expensive and nice on my wall.

Once my new canvas arrived from Printcopia, I grabbed up a pack of blank canvases from Michaels for Jack to unleash his inner artist on. I stripped him down to a disposable bib – because all serious artists obviously have to be almost naked to create – and gave him crayons and finger paints.

Lastly, I scooped up an old project we did last summer where I stamped Jack’s feet on a little canvas and created my own artwork hallway!

Well, it’s only three pieces of “art” so far, but as Jack grows I plan to add lots and lots of kid art to this snazzy little space outside my guest bathroom. So THANK YOU to Printcopia for giving me this adorable canvas and THANK YOU to Kari at a Grace Full Life for giving me the idea!

Now it’s time to share the wealth – do you have a favorite picture that you’d like to have printed on an 8 x 10” canvas?

Click here to enter the giveaway!

A winner will be chosen on Tuesday, July 30th and everyone who enters will automatically be emailed a 60% off code that you can use on whatever you’d like at Printcopia!

Disclosure: Printcopia provided me with a free canvas to review; however all thoughts and opinions in this review are my own. A representative at Printcopia will randomly choose the contest winner and contact them with their special promo code for a free 8 x 10″ canvas. Everyone who enters the contest through Rafflecopter will automatically receive a special 60% off code from Printcopia.

8/2 Update: And the winner is… Jocie Hagan! Jocie, I will be emailing your special promo code so that you can claim your prize. Thank you to everyone who participated and I hope you enjoy your 60% off codes!

Not Geeky Enough?

I’m a winner.

No, really. Quirky Chrissy had a contest and I totally won a $25 gift certificate for Think Geek. Cool, right?

I’ve never actually checked out the Think Geek website before though, so it was pretty fun clicking around to decide what I would get for my free $25 of awesomeness.

After a bunch of clicking here and there I realized that I’m not really THAT geeky. I’ve never actually watched a full episode of Doctor Who, I’m not that into Star Wars OR Star Trek, and I have no idea what a Minecraft is.

Hmm… I always through I had a little bit of geek going on. Maybe I’m more of a nerd instead? Which one is the one that likes to read? Would it be a geek or a nerd if you’re totally not ashamed when this song* comes on your Pandora mix station at work?

After my clicky-clicky travels, here are some of the items that made me giggle:

Campfire Cologne – What?! My husband can smell like a campfire? Heck, rub a marshmallow on him and I’m IN!

Texting Umbrella – With the texting umbrella I don’t have to choose between “staying dry and staying online,” so there’s that.

Bacon Soap – Who DOESN’T want bacon soap? It would go delightfully with the campfire cologne.

Secret Decoder Ring – I actually kind of want this ring, but I’d have to buy one for all my friends so that we can have secret conversations. Oh and I’m totally bringing back handwritten notes on lined notebook paper too while I’m at it.

Scrolling LED Belt Buckle – This would be perfect for BlogHer. I could promote my blog name AND have random people staring at my crotch!

Cosplay Pajamas – Oh look, some special pajamas for sexytime!

After much consideration, I think I’ve decided to go with something that is just very, very ME…

So a great big THANK YOU to Chrissy for the gift certificate! I’m going to rock the crap out of my Wonder Woman t-shirt.

* By the way, what is UP with the mostly-bald guy’s random head eyebrows he has going on? And am I the only one who wasn’t expecting the Barbie Girl to be a tattooed brunette?

What’s Better than a Chick Party? A Chic Par-DIY!

Do you guys remember when I did a review of a Brit Kit a few months ago? I called it Having a Polka Dot Party with Myself because even though I had the makings of an awesome party… I didn’t actually have time for a party.

Well, fast forward to last weekend because I linked up with my friends at Brit + Co again as part of their brand-spanking-new Brit Co-op!

As a member of the Brit Co-op, they provided me with their May Brit Kits so I could have a party (or actually a par-DIY) with my girlfriends. It was the perfect excuse for me to have my friends over AND gave us something to do while we talked, drank wine, talked, munched on snacks, talked and um… talked.

Part of the fun in hosting the party was that I had no idea what the craft would be until a large box arrived at my house a couple weeks before the event. My only hint was in the original invitation — it would be something beachy. As soon as the package arrived, I ripped that box open like a rabid spider monkey and found a couple of canisters of tea (thank you to the Blackbird Tea Company!) and kits with all the ingredients to make a…

DIY Chic Weekend Tote:

Canvas tote bag
Three bottles of fabric paint – magenta, navy and gold
Gold studs
Paintbrush
Painters tape

Everyone had such a great time and I was surprised that each person’s tote bag turned out so unique when we all had the same kits to work from. I especially loved that the crafting party gave me a reason to take some time for myself to have friends over. Even better, since everything was included in the kit all I had to do was provide some munchies!

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the par-DIY:

blog 2 — Delicious, right? I made up a recipe for the oversized marshmallow “s’mores” that I think I’ll probably post on Friday if you guys are interested.

blog 1 — I unintentionally matched the kits with my cheapo tablecloths I picked up to protect my kitchen table. Um, I mean that totally happened on purpose because I am very, very stylish.

blog 3 — Bestie Annie and sister Katie getting their tape on!

blog 4 — Me and my buddy Jessie. I have no idea why I look like a giant next to her in this picture because we’re basically the same height (check out the last picture if you don’t believe me!)

BLOG 5 — Fabulous friends, Kendall and Ilana — I LOVED their bag designs!

blog 6 — All of us with our gorgeous totes. Bring on the beach!

I wish I could have invited all of you to join us, because it was like a grown up version of summer camp. However, one of you CAN kind of join us because I have an extra kit that I’m giving away!

All you have to do is leave me a comment on this blog post and tell me your last DIY project (whether it went well, or not). All comments left between now and noon on Tuesday, June 11^th will be entered to win a DIY Chic Weekend Tote Brit Kit. In addition to your entry here, you can earn one additional entry by “liking” the status on my Facebook page that says “Like this status for an extra entry!” I will choose one winner by using a random number generator.

Disclosure: Brit + Co provided me with the Brit Kits for free. I was not required to review the kits or even write a blog post about the party. I just wanted to because we had so much fun and I could see this being a cool idea for a bridal shower, baby shower or birthday.

6/11/13 Update – Sara S is the winner of the DIY Chic Weekend Tote from Brit + Co!