Graco Smart Seat Review

I {heart} our new carseats!

Love-Love-Love them!  It is amazing how fast carseats change!  You can buy the BEST seat, then a week later they come out with one that is even better!

I am a carseat snob.  I will admit it!  But if I am going to be a snob about anything, carseats are a good thing to be snobby about!  The lives of my babies are resting upon my snobbiness!  I only want the best for my kids when it comes to this issue.

The car seats I had before were really good.  I spent hours upon hours researching what car seat was the best on the market.  I am glad I did because Jaxon & Jett were the only ones not hurt in our car accident.  Jaden who is in a booster did get hurt (whiplash & hit head).  He is too big now to be in a 5 point harness (if he wasn't, he would be in one RIGHT NOW), so I have to rely on seat belts & the booster.  When we got into the  accident, the integrity of the car seats were compromised.  There could have been unseen structual damage & the structure could have been stressed due to the impact of the accident.  Even in small car accidents it is important to have your child's car seat & booster replaced.  Your insurance company should replace these for you.  Just ask!

Anyway, of course when I went to get replacements, they didn't have the ones I had before the accident. The one's I got to replace the car seats that I had before that were comparable to what I had before was the Graco Smart Seat All-in-One Seat.

Look at these awesome features...check out the video:

Graco Children's Products - Smart Seat™ All-in-One Car Seat Product Demo

Things I LOVE about this car seat are:

• It has a steal frame! This sucker is STRONG!  It was easy to install...but be warned...this thing is heavy!!
• I love the recline feature on this seat.  It glides so easily!
• It GROWS with your child.  It is an infant seat, a forward facing seat & a high back booster!  Awesome, I know!

Take a look at the girl seat....sooooooooooooo cute!!!

If you are in the market for a new carseat...get this one!  It is a lil pricey, $300 (Yikes...I know!) but in the long run, it will save you money because you will not have to buy 3 separate seats.

HERE is an in better review of the car seat by a 3rd party reviewer.

How Great

Beautiful...just beautiful!!!!  Grab some tissue!

You Hold Me Now

This morning, I was listening to some music on my way to church.  One of my favorite songs played, "You Hold Me Now" by Hillsong United.

I turned it up as loud as I could so I could focus on the words & the message of the song.

I don't know how you could listen to this song & NOT bawl your eyes out.

THIS is the song I want to be played at my funeral.  I know that may sound depressing to talk about on my happy craft blog, but I want it to be on the record that I want this song to be played.  Death is not about the end...only the beginning.  When you hold Jesus close to your heart here on Earth, He will hold you close to Him in Heaven.

Take a listen to this song....and I dare you not to be moved!

CRASH

{continued}

Sorry to leave you hanging...it has been a really, really hard week.  Physically, mentally & emotionally!

If you guessed that we were in a car accident...you were right!

On Sunday we were rear ended by a college aged kid.  He was going like 45...and BAM, just hit us!  Didn't even put on his breaks!  We felt the impact hard.  The kids were screaming!!!!  Our poor dog went flying thru the van.  Luckily we only experienced minor injuries (whiplash, bump on head, ect.). The back end of our van is smashed in (whaa!!!!!)...the kid who hit us, his Prius was smashed to smitherines!

So this week we have had to deal with insurance companies, adjusters, repair estimates, replacing all our car seats & doctor appointments.

And that is why my blog has been so slow.  I am sorry!  And on top of that, I have had to deal with someone taking pics of Jett off the blog.

Crazy week!!

After the weekend is over, I will get back to posting more crafty/fun stuff on my blog.

I promise!!!

Plus, I am gonna give you all a review on the new ROCKIN car seats we got!!!

Happy Easter my friends!!!

Shift in Blog

I am very sad. Very sad & very disturbed.

I have an invisible tracker on my blog that allows me to keep up with what people do on my blog. 99% of the time, it shows what pages are viewed & if I am featured on other blogs (which rocks my socks off!), but yesterday I saw that someone from the Chicago area downloaded some pictures of my youngest son, Jett.  About 12 or so pics...a few from the day he was born & mostly from a the past few months.  I do not know this person.  I wish I did!  (btw, if for some chance I do know you or if you happened to used these pictures in a non-creepy way...please e-mail me at simplyjennablog@gmail.com to reassure me.  I won't be mad.  I just want to sleep at night)

Because of this incident, I have decided to not post any pictures of my kids on my blog anymore.  For my family & close friends, I will be creating a new family blog soon.

I am sorry to my wonderful readers who have enjoyed following my family, but I need to protect my kids.

Pretty Wreath Find!

The other day I had to run real quick to go buy a harness for my dog.  We decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and go for a family walk with the kids & dog.  Lil Buzz's out grew his old harness & was in desperate need of a harness!  It was a Sunday evening & Petsmart was closed...so we decided to see if Kmart had one, since it was close to the park.  I have a Kmart down the street from me, but I never go there.  Honestly, I forget that it is even there!  If I need something, I automatically go to Target or Walmart, always forgetting Kmart!

As I ran into Kmart (with my hubby, dog & kiddos in the van) to get the harness (they had one, btw), I saw the prettiest wreath!  Not only was it pretty, it was SALE!!  50% off!  Woohooo!  So I grabbed it & checked out!  While I was running through Kmart, I took notice of some pretty cool home decor items!  I want to go back & scope 'em out some more!  Who knew Kmart would have really nice home decor!

Here is my wreath...isn't it pretty & springy?

I love it!

So back to our "perfect" day!  We had the best time on our walk...well, why dont' you take a look:



After our walk, we went to go get some milkshakes....Mmmmmm!!

Joe said to me as we were driving home, "You know, this has been a really nice weekend!  It has been a long time since we have had a good weekend together" (there has been a lot of sicky bugs & surgery in our house these past few months!)

Then.....CRASH!!!!!!!!!!!


{to be continued}

Suppose to be Cleaning...

I am suppose to be cleaning up my craft area....

....but I got sucked up in a 5 min craft!

I was organizing some of my old scrapbooking stuff. I found these cute felt flowers (that I didn't even know I had!) and thought,

"I wonder what I can do with these?"

Didn't take long to come up with a magnet!  I grabbed an extra magnet, some glue & a happy yellow button...glued them together...and voila!

A pretty flower magnet!

Lovely Fabric Wreath

OMG....look what my {BFF} made...

 

Isn't this the sweetest lil wreath?  She made one for her front door, but had some extra fabric left over so she made this one for our shop.  She used "Lovely" by Moda Fabric.  I think it is the prefect spring/summer wreath! 

It makes me happy just looking at it!!  I want one for myself!  I need to research some different fabrics that would coordinate with my front door & my living room!  I need something cheery for my front door....it is bare & lonely!

Good job Mis!!!

Personalized {Pillow}

A friend of my husband's (mine too!) just got married!  Joe asked me to make this sweet couple something....and of course I said YES!  Anytime I can craft guilt free is some goooooood crafting! :)

I decided to make a personalized pillow with the couple's last name & a "est 2011" for the establishment of this brand new family!  I think it is pretty cute if I do say so myself!  I mean, if I got a gift like this, I would be thrilled!  This is something that they will probably keep forever (at least I hope so! LOL!).  Newlyweds, especially brides, get goo-goo over becoming a family & having a new last name!  At least I did!

Here it is...tell me whatcha think!

I used cream colored canvas that had speckles of tan & brown in it for the front.  I hand painted the font onto the pillow using an old ancient secret (just kidding...used freezer paper, fabric paint & my Cricut).  For the back of pillow I used my favorite Moda fabric, "Its a Hoot".  I love the chocolate brown oval poke-a-dots!  It makes me happy when I look at them!

I am thinking about putting this (personalized pillows, i mean!) up in a my etsy shop :)  I am defiantly gonna make one for myself!

~*~ I am entering this pillow into the Bloggers Pillow Party for the month of April ~*~

Product Review: Fabri-Tac

I am head over heals in LOVE with Fabri-Tac!!!

Beacon Adhesives makes this wonderful product!  The back of the bottle says, "Throw away your glue gun"!  And it is true!!  Since buying this miracle in a bottle, I have not pulled out my glue gun once!  These are the reasons why I love Fabri-Tac:

• It is a permanent adhesive!  It bonds together almost anything together!  
• What is cool about this glue is that it reminds me a the consistancy of rubber cements.  If you get a lil on your fingers & rub it together, it turns into a rubber ball.  But once it dries....it is not going anywhere!
• This glue is really flexible.  With a glue gun, if you glue something down, there is no room for error.  With Fabri-tac, you can move your fabric around a lil to get it into the right spot.
• It dries clear!
• It goes a LONG way!  I have been using my bottle non-stop for weeks...and I am only 1/3 of a way through it!

One thing that I do not like about it is that it is a lil stringy...just like a glue gun.  BUT I just read on their website that if you add some vaseline to the tip, it will keep the stringing down!  I am about to try that!

Have you used Fabri-Tac?  What do you think of it?

I got mine at JoAnn's, but it is MUCH cheaper if you get it on Amazon...especially if you take advantage of their free shipping offers!  Click on the link below to get yours today!! (I sound like an infomercial! LOL)

Sneaky-Peeky

Those of you who know me personally know that I can't keep a surprise!  Yesterday I finished my portion of a coupon organizer.  My {BFF} is going to finish it off by adding some super cool dividers & an awesome matching pen!

But I couldn't wait to show it off to you completely done...so here is a sneaky-peeky...

Isn't it soooooooooo cute!?!?!?!  Wanna see more pics of it?  You know you do....especially the pen holder {my favorite part}....go HERE to see the rest of the pics!  And while you are there, make sure you follow "The Vintage Honey Shop" blog!  It would make my heart so happy!

This coupon organizer will be just like the LAST ONE I made....it attaches to your grocery carts handle.

What do you think?

Inspired by Fruit

When I saw this fabric, my first thought was fruit tea!

Mmmmm....don't you just love fruit tea in the summer???

And who doesn't love a juicy orange in the summer?

I am calling this rosette ring..."Orange Slice"!  Yummy!!!

Both of these items can be found on ETSY....just in time for summer!!!

{sweet} lil find

Yesterday I found the {cutest} lil shop with the {cutest} lil bracelet!!!  So I have been hearing about this small lil shop in Smyrna, TN.  It is about 20 minutes south of Nashville.  It is called, "The Market".  It is shop that sells a bunch of super cute items made by local artists.  I wanted to check it out to see if it could be a potential shop to possibly sell some Vintage Honey stuff. 

While I was there I found this bracelet..

Isn't it yummy?????  This bracelet is {totally} me!  Best of all, it was only $18!!  Now, on a normal basis, I am a pretty thrifty {aka, cheap!} person and would not splurge (on myself...my boys, yes...me...no!)...but this bracelet was tooooo pretty to pass up!  Plus it goes with everything!

If you are ever in the area & want to go to a sweet lil boutique....head over to The Market!

Blog Makeover Reveal!

Remember the blog makeover giveaway that Blog Beautiful Designs was hosting here on my blog?  Well, the winner, Jennifer, now has a super cute blog design!!!

This was her BEFORE...

 

And here is her AFTER...

Didn't Christine, from Blog Beautiful Designs, do a super awesome job????  Now that I see Jennifer's I want some cute Facebook & Twitter graphics....but then I suppose I would have to join Twitter & make up a FB page for my blog....nevermind....just thinking about all that work makes me tired!  Maybe in the future!!

Take a look at Life According to....Us!!!  Show her some blog love & follow her!

And again, a HUGE thanks to Blog Beautiful Designs for hosting such an awesome giveaway!!!

Coupon Organizer Proto-Type

So who has been watching the show, "Extreme Couponing" on TLC?  It seems to be the major topic with my friends on Facebook.  I have seen a few episodes.  I will admit....it peeked my interest in couponing, but I will agree with most of my friends...the couponers on that show are more hoarders than anything!  Seriously, why do you need a cart full of toothbrushes & a zillion yogurts!  I say, get what you need & stock up responsibly.  Everything in moderation, people!  :)

So a month ago I was asked to make a coupon organizer for a grocery cart.  My husband's older sister gave me some fabric to make one for her.  It took me some time to figure out the logistics...but in the end I think it turned out pretty darn cute :) 

It hangs from the handle of the cart & fits perfectly into your purse!  Nifty, huh?

My goal this week is to make a few for our shop.  I am going to make the organizer and my {BFF} is going to make some really cute dividers for it!  I can't wait to show them off to you!!!  Got some super cute fabrics to work with!!

Stay tuned!!!!

Lost in Lost

I am a bad, bad blogger.....

I have a bad addiction right now....

I am addicted to....

 

Yeah, yeah...I know that this show is now over...but I just started watching it on Netflix.  My life is consumed about this stupid island, the Others & trying to figure out where Rose & Bernard are! LOL!!

I can't do anything crafty until it is over!!  Every waking moment I have, I am watching this show!  But don't worry...I am on the last season....only 10 more episodes to go!  At the rate I am going....I should be done with the series by Friday!

I am actually looking forward to the ending so I can get on with my life! Hahahaha!!!  Anyone else know what I am going through?

Help!!!!  I am lost in Lost!!!!

Knitted Phone Cozy

My SIL, Anabella, took up knitting a few months ago...and she made me this cute phone cozy!!!!  I LOVE it!!!  My favorite colors too!!  I just had to share it with you!

 

This is the same SIL that I made the knitter's kaddy for :)  I think she has some real talent! She just stated knitting in February, with no one to teach her!  Good job Anabella!!!