This has also been posted on Lisa Cooking.

I am always a fan of anything covered in chocolate.  However, when you cover pretzels in chocolate, you know they are going to be good.  However, I’ve actually never tasted anything as good as Fretzels.  Bill, my hubby, actually wants me to order more!  That’s how much he loved them!

Fretzels by Jill are hand-dipped designer gourmet chocolate covered pretzels that are drenched in milk, dark, or white chocolate and adorned with a variety of candy toppings.  You can pretty much get whatever you want on your pretzel.  They even have specialty flavors like SugarPlum and Eggnog, and their latest Fretzels pretzel Bark – available in Espresso and Peppermint for the holidays. Each Fretzel is made with the perfect pretzel to chocolate and topping ratio, providing a multi-sensory taste experience with every bite.

Fretzels are a perfect stocking stuffer or gift for Christmas.  By far, these are some of the best pretzels I’ve ever eaten, and I can only highly recommend them!

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One of my favorite card companies to use is Tiny Prints.  They have a great product at a good price.  They have so many design option for their Christmas cards that it floors me.  You can certainly find something here you like no matter what your style.  I, personally, love the photo cards (though I didn’t start using these kinds of cards until I had children).  I have been checking these out for my Christmas cards for several weeks now just trying to decide what I want.  Don’t want picture cards?  They have a great selection of just really great Christmas cards.  Their design styles include: Contemporary, Classic, Vintage, Portrait, and Whimsy. There really is something for everyone.  They can get them shipped to you in whatever time frame you need too, and you can customize them however you like.  If you are still needing Christmas cards this year (and most of us are), definitely check out Tiny Prints!

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This giveaway is now over. The winners are DanV, tina reynolds, Courtney, Darcie Kayes. Congrats!

I recently got to check out Hallmarks new card lines, and I am literally crying right now.  These cards aren’t sad.  Instead, they are some of the funniest cards I ever read.  Seriously.  I have tears rolling down my face from laughing so hard.  I have to say this card is my favorite:

Whoever said “there’s no use crying over spilled milk” obviously never pumped six ounces then accidentally dumped it.

As a mom who had to pump, I’ve soooo been there. That’s a card I’ll be sending to my sister who is a new mom. The other card I absolutely adore is the one on the inside that says:

How can a kid who falls out of trees and crashes his bike on purpose think shampoo hurts?

That is sooo Madison. Hallmark, you’ve really hit the nail on the head with this series of cards. They are all hilarious and true! They are also great to send out to our fellow friends to let them know we are there for them, and they are in our thoughts.

The Hallmark encouragement for kids cards help parents give their kids an extra pat on the back for  “everyday” moments – whether it’s the first day of school, taking a test or trying out for a team. The cards have both humor and heartfelt messages.   Some of the cards allow you to record your own message for your kids!

I know that you want to get your hands on some of these awesome cards, so I have arranged for 4 of you to get five cards from each collection (10 cards total)!

Here’s what you need to do:

Leave a comment on this post. I want you to head over to Hallmark’s Edge of Motherhood series and tell me what your favorite card is!

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:

I just entered to win 10 Hallmark Edge of Motherhood and Encouragement For Kids Cards from @blm03! Enter here: http://lisareviews.com/2009/08/17/hallmark-edge-of-motherhood-and-encouragement-for-kids-cards-review-and-giveaway/
2. Stumble this post and 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:

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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 will end August 31st at noon CST! Good Luck!!

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0

As you all know, I love fun and educational stuff and The Flashcard Zoo fits the bill.  We’ve been working with will to get him to talk more and what better way we thought than flashcards!  We picked the animal cards from them to use.  However, you are able to make your own customized cards.

The thing I love the most about these cards is that they are indestructible (and trust me, Will has tried).  To quote the site:

They have been lab tested in hostile conditions and can withstand, chewing, drooling, being walked on, being used as a Frisbee, landing in the toilet, swimming in the bathtub and are great for keeping wooden train tracks level on the carpet.

They are laminated so even if they do manage to get them wet (by the toilet or their mouth), they aren’t ruined.  They also can’t be bent.  These cards are also good for Madison, because on the back, it has the first letter of the corresponding picture on the front.  It also has guided writing exercises.  Since it is laminated, you are able to practice each letter and easily wipe it off (as long as you use a dry erase marker or crayons).  The photographs used in my set are awesome.  These are high resolution photos and definitely make it easy to figure out what animal is on each card.

Best of all, these cards were created by a mom.  She knew what her child needed and set out to make it.  I am just glad she has allowed our children to use the same tools.  Needless to say, my kids love these.  We’ve spend countless hours using them to identify animals and animal s0unds and work on our letters.  They definitely get a two thumbs up vote here.

I have several paper products that are must haves this Christmas season.

I absolutely love Moo.com’s holiday cards.   These packs have 25 different holiday designs.   You are able to add your own message to the inside and upload your own logo or photo.  These can be used for family, friends, and business.  I found them super cute, and I have many plans them.  The paper is high quality too.

Moo.com also has sticker books that Madison couldn’t get enough of. I loved that the stickers are printed on individual tear-out sheets (6 to a sheet). I could control how many stickers she got to play with at one time (and didn’t have to worry I’d find them all over the place). You get to choose from six different colors for the books, and you can even customize the stickers in the books too!

Lastly, I got some of the MiniCards.  Now, these can be used as business cards.  I see a lot of bloggers hand out their MiniCards at blogging conventions.  The really cool thing is that you can upload the images that you see on the back side of these cards.  I’ve got some great MiniCards that I am going to use as gift tags, since they are very Christmasy.  I also love that these come in their own heavy duty box, so you don’t have to worry about losing them.

Another great site to check is Mabel’s Labels.  Two the products I recently tried out from are the Mama cards and the holiday labels.  The Mama cards are awesome.  With Madison in preschool, we try to set up playdates for the kids all the time.  The problem is that none of us ever have a pen on us to exchange cell phone or even home phone numbers.  It is so nice to just be able to hand someone card!  I was able to put that I was Will’s and Madison’s Mom on there, and I just put my cell phone and my home phone number.

Another product I am using this year are the Holiday gift tags. I love these for several reasons. First, they are stickers, so I don’t have to use tape to get them stick down. They are very brightly colored. I love the designs on them. I also love that you can get them preprinted to say what you want. Mine say “Merry Christmas! Love (my last name)”. However, you order them to say whatever you want.

HauteMammas.com are a line of inventive and creative stationery products. They have everything a mom can use from mom cards to preprinted babysitter lists to thank you cards to notecards and address labels.  These are made of high quality paper and have some extremely stylish designs.  Instead of fumbling around for this information, HauteMammas.com has made it all right at your fingertips.

These three companies have a ton of great products to check out.  This is just a small sample of what they have, but you definitely should use them.