Want a product that both you and child will love that is educational? Goosie Cards is just that. These are first and only flash cards that you can fully customize! They have sets already predone that you can choose from, or you can upload your own personal photos to make flashcards according to the needs of your children. I made several flashcards for Will (on top of doing a set they already have predone — they have over 150 free full color professional photos to help you design your cards too.). It is really simple to do also. You upload your pictures, label the cards how you want them to read, and then check out. That is it. I had my cards in less than a week (actually, I think it was within about 3 days!) For Will, we did some cards to help him recognize me, daddy, and Madison. It was super cute, because he immediately took Madison’s card and started kissing it. It was also very cool to see that he recognized the other items on the other cards (like the goldfish crackers). I am hoping these will help him talk or at least let us know what he wants. You can create 10, 20 or 26 custom cards and the prices range from $28 to $46. You can also buy someone a gift certificate for here also. Best of all, these are made in the US.

Goosie Cards are also being used by parents, teachers and medical professionals in the autism and special needs community. They can help children with autism to learn a variety of skills to communicate effectively in the following areas: social, emotional, sequential, memory and communication skills. There is a discount program to provide some relief in price, while providing one of the most advanced, communication learning systems on the market.

I love these cards and would highly recommend them to anyone. They are tough (Will tried to wreck them already and has not been successful yet). They also wipe clean very easily. Best of all, my kids like them.

Do your kids play on the Internet? Do you worry about them deleting your files or renaming them? Do you worry that they will end up on some porn site or worse? If you answered yes, you need to get KidDesktop.  KidDesktop was designed for children between the ages of 3 and 7. It gives them a safe learning experience, and you don’t have to worry about them deleting or renaming any of your files.
KidDesktop has a customized start screen and activity bar. You are able to customize it with activities, games, and websites that your children enjoy (for us, we did Noggin and Playhouse Disney. Madison knows those sites like the back of her hand). They even have the option to download and view pictures. (I can see some adults using this feature too, since it is about 100 times easier than my photo program). They even have a feature that allows you to search YouTube. For us, that is the greatest feature. We like to look for things on YouTube, but I never know when we start a video what exactly we are opening. Another great feature is that you can set time limits too! If I would let her, I think Madison could play on the computer for eight hours straight! I also like that the help menu is spoken too. Madison can’t read yet, so this helps her figure it out for herself without having to get me.

If you have kids in your house between the ages of 3 and 7 and let them on the computer, you definitely need to get a copy of this in your house! The internet will never be 100% safe, but this definitely helps make it safer for your kids.

A great gift to give any women in your life is Giella custom blend cosmetics. There is no more guessing on what shade will work best for you (or her). They make cosmetic pencils for lips, eyes, and brows. They also have concealer. For your lips, they have custom blend pencils that range from sheer to cream to full bodied. You can even add soy butter and conditioners if you like. For your eyes, you can create the perfect eye liner. You can keep it matte or add some shimmer in gold, silver, copper, or bronze. For brows, you can create a color that matches your hair, softens your brows, and is smudge proof. Madison and I tried the nail polish they also have this afternoon. It dried pretty quick with a great shine. The lipstick and lip gloss also has a great look to it. I love that you can customize everything, so it looks best with your hair color and skin tone. We watched While You Were Out Today, and this is a great show to see how much a little of the right kind of makeup can make a difference!  I’m not sure if they used this kind of makeup.  However, they had a lady that had 80’s makeup and was using all the wrong colors.  When they updated her look and showed her the right colors for her skintone, the difference was amazing.

The best part is that this can all be made while you are waiting. It takes about 5 minutes to make. You can find this at Henri Bendel’s in New York City, selec t salons in Baltimore, Louisiana, and Philadelphia, and online at www.giella.com.  To do this for Christmas, here’s what you need to do:

Purchase an empty lipstick case, lip gloss wand, cheek tint or concealer compact or nail polish bottle, and we will fill it according to what your gift recipient wants.  They will send the empty component(s) (for lips, cheeks or nails) with instructions of how to pick the perfect color and texture online at www.giella.com. Then they will mail the personalized custom colors and keep the formulas on file for future reorders.  How easy is that shopping, and you (or the woman you are shopping for) gets exactly what they want!

I am going to let you all in on a little secret that I am doing to do for Christmas this year. See the picture on the left? Those are stamps. I made them over at PictureItPostage and will be affixing them to all my Christmas cards this year. Tell me that isn’t the cutest thing you have ever seen?  There are just so many uses for these stamps.  You can do what I did and put them on Christmas cards.  However, I can see them being used for baby announcements, engagements, holidays and graduations.  You can’t make an invitation more customized and personal than this.  Plus, you don’t see stamps like this too often.  That makes it unique, and people will love it!  You will be the talk of everyone you send these too!

How hard is it to make these?  It is not hard at all.  PictureItPostage allows you to either create these stamps on their site or you can download a program, and you can create them on your desktop.  You can customize the background color and what color the text is on them too!  It literally took me about 10 minute to completely put this together.  Shipping took no time at all.  I am 100% satisfied with this company and would highly recommend you use them also.

Also, they are having a “Get Real” Photo contest that starts October 31st. They want to see the best of the worst when it comes to photos.  They want you to send them your worst pictures that you really don’t want to see the light of day. How do you enter?  On October 31, head over to PictureItPostage and upload your photo. Beginning November 21, all visitors to the “Get Real” contest website will have a chance to vote for their favorite photos.  The winners will be announced December 8.  What can you win?  They are giving away two Canon Digital SLR Camera and five PictureItPostage coupon codes good for 100 customized photo stamps. The ten first prize winners will each receive one PictureItPostage coupon code good for one pack of customized postage stamps.  We all have horrible pictures — now have them work for you!

Make sure you check out PictureItPostage!