This contest is now over. The winner is Karen. Congrats!

My kids recently got some fun toys from Story Time Felts that I wanted to share with you all.  With all the toys out there that require batteries, these felt items are awesome.  They require your children to use their imagination which they really can do when allowed.  Madison may love Star Wars, but she does love the stuff that requires her to pretend on her own.

Will has the Animals of the Ark felt activity book.  He loves it!  Each page of this book has him doing different fine motor skill activites.  His favorite page has to the the one with the lion on it.  This page is all about working snaps, and he loves to take off the lions legs and tail and then reassemble it.  This book has already provided countless hours of fun, and Will has yet to figure out how to destroy it (huge plus in my house).  The book is also made from felt, so it is soft when your children decided to throw it at one another or use it as a pillow (not that either have occurred here).

Madison got a felt dress up paper doll set.  Now I remember paper dolls as a kid, and I also remember that they don’t last long.  However, since this set is made from felt, I see this as a nonissue.  Madison also does not play with dolls themselves very often, but she does love this set.  She really enjoys dressing ther doll.  She giggled when she realized that there was a cat outfit for her doll to wear.  Unlike the doll sets from when we were little, there is no pushing tabs down to make the clothes stick.  You just put the clothes on them and you are done (which ends the biggest frustration that I remember as a kid).  All their clothes come with a carry case which makes losing this difficult.  Best of all, the felt is washable too!

Since I love their products so much, I want to offer one of you a $25 gift certificate, so you can join in the fun!  Here’s what you need to do:

Leave a comment on this post.  Head over to Story Time Felts and tell me what you’d spend the $25 on.

Each of these gives you one additional entry:

1. Twitter about this contest.  Please leave me your username so I can verify.  Or use something like this:

RT @blm03 is giving away a $25 gift certificate to Story Time Felts! http://lisareviews.com/2009/05/11/story-time-felts-review-and-giveaway

2. Stumble this post.

3. Add this post to other social media sites like Digg, Kirtsy, Blogging Zoom, Reddit, Propeller, Etc. (1 entry for each social network).

Each of these gives you 5 additional entries:

1.  Blog about this on your blog.  Please give me the URL, so I can verify.
2.  Add this to any forums you belong too. Please give me the URL, so I can verify.
3. Subscribe to this blog using either my email or RSS feed
4.  Add my badge to your sidebar:

<a href="http://lisareviews.com"><img src="http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk258/blm03_photos/125ad-1.png" alt="Lisa Reviews" border="0"></a>

If this isn’t working, please let me know.  For some reason, Wordpress seems to be eating the code up when I post.

Each of these will give you 10 additional entries:

1.  Join my Spark E Crew at Social Spark.  Click here to find out how to sign up. If you are on my crew, please leave your social spark ID, so I can verify it.

2.  Sign up for my free newsletter!

This contest is for US residents and will end at May 25th at noon CST!  Good Luck!!!

This contest is now closed. The winner is Elizabeth. Congrats!

I love when toys from our childhood come back.  When we were little, all of our toys didn’t entertain us.  We had to use our imaginations to make them work and come to life for us.  I am very happy to see the shift in kids toys back to the toys we played with.  That is why I am happy to see that they brought PJ Sparkles back.

Now that Madison has gotten older, she has discovered dolls. Granted, she doesn’t play with them a lot, but she really loves her PJ Sparkles. We got ours last weekend, and she has played with it every single day this week. We even got her a little case to put all the small pieces in (she has a 20 month old brother who still puts little things in his mouth). She loves playing with the doll and brushing her hair (which is funny because Madison hates me brushing her hair).  It is really cool to watch her imagination at work while she plays with her and makes up her own stories.  She even shows her brother how to play with them.

Now, PJ Sparkles was originally released in 1989, and is back better than ever.  There is heart on each doll that lights up for your child.  Want to know the best thing about PJ Sparkles?  They haven’t raised the price.  Yes, you can buy a PJ Sparkles doll for the same price your parents paid for it!

Since I want your daughters’ to experience what mine is, I am giving away a P.J. Sparkles doll for one of my readers, and I have another surprise for you! Tell all of your friends to enter and list you as their referral, and if they win, you do too! Here’s what you need to do.

Leave me a comment here telling me your favorite thing about PJ Sparkles Twinkle Town or about PJ Sparkles.

I’ve also got some extra ways to enter because I know you all need one of these! Each of these gives you one additional entry:

1. Twitter about this contest. Please leave me your username so I can verify. Or use something like this:

RT @blm03 is giving away a PJ Sparkles doll for you and your friends http://urlbrief.com/52ac12

2. Stumble this post. If you don’t know what Stumble Upon is, please read Lori’s post at Blogging Cents. She explains it extremely well.

3. Add this post to other social media sites like Digg, Social Median, Kirtsy, Mixx, Reddit, Propeller, Yahoo Buzz, Blogging Zoom, Etc. (1 entry for each social network).

Each of these gives you 5 additional entries,

1. Blog about this on your blog. Please give me the URL, so I can verify.

2. Add this to any forums you belong too. Please give me the URL, so I can verify.

3. Subscribe to this blog using either my email or RSS feed

4. Add my badge to your sidebar:

<a href="http://lisareviews.com"><img src="http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk258/blm03_photos/125ad-1.png" alt="Lisa Reviews" border="0"></a>

This contest will end on April 2nd at midnight CST and is for US Residents. Good Luck!!!

Up until recently, I had never heard of the Only Hearts Club.  The Only Hearts Club are real dolls for real girls. There are eight culturally diverse dolls.  They dress like real kids, are poseable, and are nine inches tall.  Their names are: Taylor Angelique, Karina Grace, Olivia Hope, Briana Joy, Lily Rose, Anna Sophia, Kayla Rae and Hannah Faith.  These girls form a club together called the Only Hearts Club and their motto is to “listen to your heart and do the right thing.”  For our house, these fit perfectly into Madison’s dollhouse.  There is another kind of doll out there that I cannot stand (I won’t name it), but these are a welcome alternative!  I love the positive message they are sending out to little girls.  They also have soft bodies which is great in my house (not that the kids are going to whack one another with them, but you never know).

They also have a line a books for your daughters to enjoy. We have the hardcover It’s Hard To Say Good-bye book.  The book about one of the girls losing her dog. One of the other girls goes to find another puppy for her and falls in love with the puppy herself.  I won’t tell you about the rest of the story, but it is about how the Only Hearts Club came about.  It is a cute short story and just the right length to hold young girls attention spans.  It also taught some morals without being obvious about it.

They even have Only Hearts Pets.  They are 2 1/2 inches tall and really cute.  They are really soft and each pet has its own name.  It also comes with a backpack clip.  The paws of each animal also have Velcro on them, so you are able to have them hold small objects like a pen or you can create a bracelet with secerql of them.  There are all sorts of pets also:  dogs, cats, monkeys, cows, pigs, frogs, and elephants.

All of these Only Hearts Club products are perfect for the little girls you have in your life.  They can be found at Target or online at The Only Hearts Club.  The Only Hearts Books retail at $3.99 each. The Only Hearts Club dolls retail at $15.99 each, and the Only Hearts Pets retail at $3.49 each.  These prices make this a very affordable present this holiday season.

Who are the these cute dolls sitting on my couch?  These are the Groovy Girl Dolls.  They are a huge hit in my house, and they will be in yours too!  I personally like dolls that look like a little girl.  I don’t need my daughter to grow up any faster than she already is.  The Groovy Girls Dolls fits that bill and are super cute.  I love that my son (who is one) can also play with them.  There is nothing on them that he can rip off and stick in his mouth (for example, a lot of dolls and stuffed animals have eyes that I have to worry about).  These dolls are super soft, so if your kids whack each other with them, no worries.  They are also small enough to be easily put into a suitcase for a trip to Grandma’s house.  The Groovy Girl Dolls come in several different nationalities too, so your child will easily find one that she can relate too.  The Groovy Girl Pets are so soft that I wouldn’t mind sleeping with them.  I also think they are super cute too. My son loves to walk around hugging them.

As you can see from the picture above, each doll and pet comes with a tag on them.  Now, on the tag, there is a code you can use on the Groovy Girls website, so the fun doesn’t end with just the doll:

As an RSVP member, your child will:

* Receive access to exclusive online RSVP Parties and games
* Use the Creation Station to create hundreds of new outfits
* Get extra Groovy Girls Tunes to play – and download!
* Be able to earn Party Points – and receive digital rewards!

With an RSVP Doll, she’ll also get:

* Her Doll’s outfit added to her Closet, Creation Station and Dance Floor,
* Additional items added to her Creation Station per doll
* A song from her Doll added to her Mod Pod and Dance Floor,
* And, she can chat with her Doll on her Groovy Girls Laptop-what fun!

With an RSVP Pet, your child can also:

* Call her pet to her Mod Pod any time,
* Play with her pet and show off super-cool tricks,
* Mix and match a t-shirt from her pet in the Creation Station – and wear it wherever!

I love that everything related to these dolls is all about promoting age-appropriate values and attitudes. Moms, there is even a place on the site for you too! Madison has had a blast with these, and I know other girls will too (though my one year old boy loves them just as much). The ages for this are 4-9, and these will make any little girl happy come Christmas or her birthday.