Product Review: PureForm Grip-Free Paintbrush

I have several home and DIY projects on my radar come warmer weather, so when PureForm approached me and asked for a review of their new patented grip-free paintbrush, the timing was perfect. I was intrigued by the ergonomic design and also by the claims of pain-free painting.

The unique design of the PureForm paintbrush offers "greater control, reduced fatigue, professional quality, and unmatched comfort."

I took this brush on a little test-run to a friend's house that happened to be painting her bathroom. Initially, you know this is a quality brush. However, I will admit that it takes a moment to adjust to the grip-free design, as your instinct is to grab the brush in the standard way. Once you let the brush rest on your hand, you can immediately feel that your muscles are relaxed and yet you still have complete control of the brush. If you suffer from any hand cramping, muscle fatigue, or elbow pain from gripping, this paintbrush is definitely a great alternative to a standard brush.

If you're interested in learning more about the PureForm Grip-Free Paintbrush, you can check out their Kickstarter campaign that is launching today, March 5, 2019. From there, you can snag some early bird specials during the campaign's first 24 hours. Sets of 4 sizes of brushes for only $25 and two sets for $45. That's an amazing deal for quality paintbrushes! The suggested retail price is $9.99.

Watch video demonstrations and more reviews on their website at pureformbrands.com, plus follow along on Instagram and Facebook.

What spring DIY projects would you like to tackle with a PureForm grip-free paintbrush? I can't wait to share my next painting project with you!

Happy painting, DIY'ers!

julee

****This product was gifted to me in exchange of an honest review. All opinions are my own.

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eShakti FX Feature Review

Do you know eShakti? You should! eShakti is an online women's retailer that gives you multiple options for customization of their clothing, all at affordable prices. Do you like your skirts long, or short? Do you like your necklines revealing, or modest? With eShakti, you get to decide!

I own two eShakti dresses which I wear in heavy rotation and rave about constantly. In addition to the many styling choices, I love that their height and measurement options gave me perfectly fitted dresses.

Now, eShakti has rolled out a new feature, eShakti FX, that lets you see their dresses transform as you click on the many style options. Most dresses feature customizable necklines, sleeve length, and skirt length. (As a bonus, and because eShakti knows what women want, most of their dresses have pocket options!)

I played around with the fun (and addicting!) FX features for...probably longer than I should admit. You can see in this gorgeous emerald dress above that just by changing the neckline and sleeves gives this dress an entirely different look. Here are other dresses that I styled with the FX feature:

Want to play around and style some beautiful dresses, too? Head over to eShakti and look for the FX symbol for products with this feature. What do you think? It's like DIY'ing a dress without the cutting and sewing and frustrations. I bet you'll love it!

Happy shopping!

~julee~

This post was written in conjunction with eShakti. All opinions expressed are my own, as always.

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The Bouqs Flowers: Review

There are few things that make me happier than fresh flowers in my home.  So when The Bouqs reached out to share about their flower delivery service, I was thrilled.  A no fuss way to send flowers?  Yes.  Sustainable growing methods that create jobs and quality of life programs for its farmers and communities?  Yes.  Affordable?  Definitely.  The bouquets start at $40 and includes delivery.

I chose the small Cake N’ Cream ranunculus bouquet.  Ranunculus are one of my favorite flowers, so it was hard for me to resist these beautiful blooms.  The website was honest in its description that this was a smaller bouquet that would take time to open, and that the flower colors would vary.  Once I placed my order, selected my delivery date and instructions, The Bouqs Company sent me a confirmation email right away.  I also received an email when the flowers were sent from the source with a FedEx tracking number.  The communication was great.

As the description said, my flowers did arrive as small closed blooms.  However, they immediately smelled heavenly!  I followed the directions on the box for cutting the stems, using the provided flower food, and placed in water.  (Greenery was also included in the bouquet, but I preferred the simplistic beauty of the ranunculus without the addition of the added greenery.)  Within two days the blooms started opening.  These photos were taken on the third day after delivery; Beautifully opened blooms, strong stems, and and a magnificent aroma. 

Although my bouquet was gorgeous, my one tiny complaint is that the flower colors were nothing like the website showed.  The description did say the colors would vary, but I was really looking forward to the deeper hued tones showed in the image on the ordering page, as that suits my aesthetic more than the super-romantic pale blooms that I received.  Definitely not a deal-breaker considering the price and quality of the bouquet, but definitely pay attention to the details in the description.

Have you ordered flowers from The Bouqs?  If so, what was your experience?  If not, take a look at their beautiful bouquets and let me know which is your favorite. 

~julee~

 

A sample product was gifted to me from The Bouqs in exchange for my honest review.  All opinions 100% mine.  This post contains affiliate links.

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Show Off Your Shoes with Ross Dress for Less

Confession time:  I’m a girl who loves shoes.  True story, my 1st and 2nd jobs when I was a teenager were in shoe departments in retail shops, and that wasn’t a coincidence.  So when Ross Dress for Less informed me that they were having a Show Off Your Shoes shoe selfie promotion and asked if I wanted to participate, I was all up for the challenge.

It works like this: Shop at Ross and find a fabulous pair of shoes, then take a shoe selfie with those beauties.  Upload your photo to Ross’s Facebook page saying why you love your shoes, and ask your friends to vote for you.  So fun, and you’ll have a chance to win a Ross gift card!  (Click here for more details.)

So what super cute shoes did I find at Ross this week?  Well, for starters, I was blown away by the selection.  So many cute and trendy summer shoes, in so many pretty colors and styles: Flats, wedges, heels, strappy sandals, flip flops, boat shoes, sneakers – you name it, Ross had it at affordable prices.



Because the selection was so great, I had a hard time selecting a favorite pair.  I am really in need of a new pair of heels to wear with summer dresses, but I fell in love these brown oxfords with the ribbon laces.  (Despite the fact that I already have two pairs of oxfords, but who’s counting.)



Ultimately, though, I found a pair of strappy wedges that may or may not have made me whimper a little when I saw them – I have been searching for a similar style since last summer and I felt like I hit the jackpot with these babies.  Behold (but look past the haphazard pedicure – it’s been a long winter, people):



This is my shoe selfie.  Show Ross yours!  Between now and April 18th, upload your favorite Ross shoes on the Ross Dress for Less Facebook promotion page for your chance to win.  If you enter, leave your link here – I’d love to come over and see your shoes!

If you'd like to vote for my shoes, you can do so here: http://bit.ly/1gRz3n6   Thanks!

~julee~

A gift card was provided by Ross to share my shopping experience.  All opinions are 100% mine.

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Shabby Apple Dress Review

I recently had an opportunity to review this gorgeous Grand National dress from Shabby Apple.  I love Shabby Apple’s feminine vintage styles, so I paired this dress with a vintage silver choker and my favorite silver vintage clutch (passed down from my mom).  I added a lovely handmade rose quartz bracelet from Robin Chard Jewelry, and black wedge heels to complete the outfit.  A few different accessories and this dress would be perfect for this season’s holiday parties.

You can see my full review of Shabby Apple and this dress at Oh My Gosh Beck.

Do you dress up for holiday parties, or do they tend to be more casual affairs?

Happy holiday dressing and handmade accessorizing, DIY’ers!

~julee~

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Travels with Gannon and Wyatt Book Review and Giveaway

 

Our family spends time each night taking turns reading aloud from my daughter’s books.  While the reading and family bonding is great, what isn’t always great are the books themselves.  We’re not typically a family of quitters, but I’ll admit that we have quit quite a few books mid-chapter when none of us could stomach going one page further.  Some kids books are really bad, people.  We have resigned ourselves to a lot of classic books because we find few new books that keep my daughter’s attention.  Her chapter books have to be either full of mystery, or full of funny.  I’m sure that’s probably pretty typical reading requirements for a lot of 10-year olds.

When I heard about the middle-school adventure book series Travels with Gannon and Wyatt written by Patti Wheeler and Keith Hemstreet, I was excited for our family to give them a read.  I had high hopes that an adventure series would keep my daughter’s attention, and I wasn’t disappointed.  The books are loosely based on real-life twin bothers Gannon and Wyatt as they set out on adventures around the world with their flight attendant mom and international businessman dad.  So far there are three books written in the series: Botswana (released May 2013), Great Bear Rainforest (released October 2013), and Egypt (to be released January 2014).

My daughter chose Great Bear Rainforest for us to read together, and she chose Botswana to read on her own.  The books are written in a journal form, alternating entries between each of the twin brothers.  The brothers’ relationship and interactions with each other are written in an endearing and humorous way such as I would expect twin brothers to act toward each other.  I loved that Great Bear Rainforest was not only educational (Did you know bears are mostly fond of salmon eggs and typically only eat the midsection of female salmon?  I didn’t!), but was also full of action and mystery.  Some nights we read a little longer than normal because we didn’t  want to wait until the next night to see what would happen next.  We each enjoyed the book and we took turns trying to guess the outcome of the mystery.

My daughter is a 5th grade advanced reader and she had no trouble reading these books herself, although a few words did come up that we had to help her pronounce or define.  For us, this only increased the educational value of the book.  We all loved Great Bear Rainforest so much and now we can’t wait to start on Travels with Gannon and Wyatte: Egypt.  If you have a reader on your Christmas list this year, I would highly recommend this book series.

Do you know an adventure reader who would love these books?  One lucky reader will win the entire Travels with Gannon and Wyatt series!  Enter via the Rafflecopter below.  Also, Travels with Gannon and Wyatt is giving away 3 Kindle Fires in November, and you can head to their Facebook page to enter to win.  Good luck!

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I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

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Fall Fashion at Ross Dress for Less

I was invited by Ross Dress for Less to check out their Fall Fashion Event going on this month.  I am always excited to shop at Ross, but here is a confession:  I wasn’t really in the mood to shop for fall clothes.  I’ve been sort of in denial that cold weather is approaching, and while I am definitely a girl who loves her boots and cardi’s, I wasn’t quite ready to don them just yet.

    

So I went to Ross with this funky mood of not really knowing what I wanted to buy.  New jeans?  New boots?  New jacket?  A pretty new dress to wear to the office?  They had all of those things and more. 

And then something caught my eye.  A rack.  A rack of seemingly endless sweater dresses.  Warm and gorgeous and perfect for leggings and boots, glorious sweater dresses.  I grabbed a pair of black boots that was calling my name, carried eight sweater dresses into the dressing room, and I started to feel a bit giddy about dressing for fall and winter. 

I ultimately selected two dresses to purchase because one just wasn’t going to be enough to get me through the winter.  (Sadly, I had to say goodbye to those gorgeous black boots, but not without a few tears.)

One of my purchases was a cotton blend long top/tunic style dress.  I loved the colored stripes and that the material was light enough to wear when the temps were just starting to dip but not yet cold enough for a hot sweater or coat.  At Ross I tried the dress on with skinny dark denim and loved the look, but once home I paired it with black pants and my own black boots for work.

Are you a Ross Dress for Less shopper?  Have you checked out their fall styles yet?  If not, I highly encourage you do so.  It’s a great place to shop for current trends, and the prices are incredible.  Especially worth checking out if you are currently looking for fall boots, jeans, colored tights, dresses or jackets.  I found all of these items on my recent trip!  Currently Ross is holding The Great Dress Event  in stores.  Also, be sure to check out Ross Dress for Less Facebook page.  You can keep up with their current promotions and they often post giveaways you can enter.

Happy fall shopping!

~julee~

 

*A gift card was provided by Ross to share my shopping experience.  All opinions are 100% my own.

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Easy Canvas Prints Review and Giveaway

Last fall my little family had a photo session with the amazingly talented Mia Bella Photography.  After receiving our initial prints, I took a while to decide what additional items I wanted to display in my home.  I love the look of canvas prints, and when I was recently approached by Easy Canvas Prints to try their service, I knew exactly which photos I wanted printed on canvas.

Ordering from Easy Canvas Prints was a breeze.  The website took me through the ordering process step-by-step, giving various photo on canvas design options along the way.  You can chose to upload any photo on your computer, Facebook, or Instagram, so this is a great way to finally use all of those pictures you’ve  been taking.  It is recommended that you use a high resolution image for your canvas print, and the website had a meter that would let me know if the picture that I uploaded maintained a good quality for the canvas.  This really helps to eliminate the uncertainty on the outcome of the final canvas.

I chose two photos from our Mia Bella session:  A picture of my daughter for our living room, and an impromptu snapshot of my husband and me making silly shadow hearts on a barn wall for my bedroom.  I had high hopes for the quality of these canvases, so let me honestly tell you that I was not disappointed!  The canvases turned out beautiful and the quality is superb.

Have you ever ordered photo canvases online through Easy Canvas Prints or another retailer?  What was your experience?   Easy Canvas Prints would like to give one lucky D.I.Y. Louisville reader a chance to win their own 8x10 canvas or a choice of one of the following awesome prizes:

- An 8"x10" Canvas Photo Prints From Easy Canvas Prints

- A $25 BuildASign.com Gift Card

- A $25 Gift Card for Custom T-Shirts from Allied Shirts

Use the rafflecopter below for your chance to win.  This giveaway is open to those within North America.  Easy Canvas Prints is responsible for prize fulfillment. a Rafflecopter giveaway

*A sample product was gifted.  All opinions 100% mine.

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Local Louisville: Pinot’s Palette

Craft E Magee and I were invited to Pinot’s Palette in St. Matthews this week to paint Louisville’s beautiful skyline as part of a Louisville Bloggers event.  When I received the invitation, I may have squealed with delight, as creating my own painting has been on my bucket list for quite a while. 

What was I waiting for?  Confession time:  I can tackle a sewing machine and a glue gun with the best of ‘em, but put a drawing instrument in my hands and I’m all fumbles.  In short, I have always been scared that my painting would end up looking like a toddlers unintelligible scribbles.  Friends, I can not draw.

Fortunately, at Pinot’s Palette, I didn’t need to worry about that.  Pinot’s Palette is a “paint and sip” studio and the class is designed to teach you how to create the evening’s painting in simplistic, easy to follow steps.  There was nothing scary about it.  Plus, there’s a wine bar if you feel you need a glass of vino to help kick the nerves down a notch.  Or, you can just keep the wine flowing until your painting looks good.  Whichever.

When we arrived, we were warmly welcomed and shown where to grab a smock and where to look for our names at our seats.  Everything we would need for our painting was laid out for us – canvas, paint palette, and brushes.  Then the fun began:  it was time to put paint to canvas.  As I said, everything was explained step-by-step and the artist-instructor gave everyone plenty of time to finish one step before moving on to the next.  There was an additional instructor walking out among the group to offer assistance if anyone got stuck and needed help during any part of the creative process.

Music was playing, everyone was laughing and having fun with their painting, and the atmosphere was easy-going and relaxed.

I love my finished Louisville Skyline painting.  It may not be perfect, the buildings may be slanted in the same weird way that my handwriting slants, but I feel very proud of it.

Pinot’s Palette has locations in many states and you can check out their website to see if there are any located near you.  If you are a Louisville local, I highly recommend checking out the class calendar at the St. Matthews location and signing up for your favorite painting.  I saw several hanging in their gallery that I would love to try my hand at now that I feel more confident.  Pinot’s Palette also offers private group parties – what a fun way to celebrate a birthday or bridal party!

Have you ever participated in a class at Pinot’s Palette or another “Paint and Sip” venue?  Would you like to give a class like this a try?   Leave me a comment below – I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences!

Happy painting, DIY’ers!

~julee~

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Pie in July at Whole Foods

Pie and summer picnics just kind of go hand-in-hand, right?  Right.  I love a warm picnic with scrumptious dessert, but here’s a  confession:  pie baking isn’t really my thing.

Turns out, I would rather enjoy the delicious  fruits of someone else’s pie-making labor.  You, too?  Cool, let’s be friends.

Lucky for us, Whole Foods is celebrating Pie in July with an amazing assortment of fruit pies, cream pies, and key lime pies for only $9.99 until July 14th.  Awesome!

In a dessert line-up, I will always choose chocolate.  So when Whole Foods offered to let me sample a pie from their bakery, I chose this decadent chocolate cream pie and invited Craft E Magee over for a picnic. 

  

It was hard to make a selection, but the chocolate cream pie did not disappoint.  So yummy.

Plan a picnic for this weekend and stop by your local Whole Foods and check out their selection of $9.99 Pie in July pies.  Let someone else do the baking for a change. 

Happy pie eating!

~julee~

*A sample product was gifted by Whole Foods.  All opinions are mine.

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April Umba Box

This is my farewell Umba Box.  It’s been extremely enjoyable to receive these handmade surprises every month, but alas, all good things…right?  It seems appropriate that my final package is a bon voyage theme, as an upcoming trip is precisely the reason that I’m saving all my pennies and not renewing right now.  These are some of the new goodies I’ll be packing along on my adventure this summer:

Tangerine shampoo bar by Scum Soaps.  (Best name ever for a soap company, by the way.)  Fresh Fig skin stick by Rinse Soap Co.   Blueberry  granola by SoSoft 7 Nola.  Linen luggage tag from Lovell Designs.  (The reverse side has a clear slot for your info.)  Adorable postcards from Sarah Doriani and Maple & Belmont. 

My experience with Umba Box has been a great one.  The selected items were always of the highest quality, and it felt good to support small, handmade businesses.  I look forward to signing up again in the fall.

Do you subscribe to Umba Box?  What has been your experience with them?

~julee~

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Wear It: Firmoo Glasses, Review and Giveaway

These Firmoo frames have been my favorite fashion accessory since they landed in my mailbox a few weeks ago.  You may have seen me wearing them in action here and here.  Firmoo is an online prescription glasses retailer specializing in trendy, fashionable, and affordable frames. 

Firmoo has so many cute frames to choose from and it was hard to select just one pair.  I almost always choose light brown frames, but I decided to step out of my comfort zone this time and selected this darker brown tortoise shell.  I honestly really love them!

Firmoo has a First Pair Free program where you can try their prescription frames (or non-prescription frames, if that’s how your fashionable self rolls)  for free and all you have to pay is shipping.  That’s a great way to get a pair of quality glasses at an affordable price.  If you’ve never ordered prescription glasses online before, there is nothing to it.  Simply ask for your prescription in writing when you get your next eye exam.  Then, Firmoo’s ordering process takes you step by step to accurately input the prescription.  That’s all there is to it!

Now, do you want to hear something really awesome?  Firmoo is giving away a pair of glasses PLUS shipping to one of you lucky ladies or gents (they have mens frames, too)!  AND 4 E-vouchers to put toward their Designer Glasses.  Here are more details:

For the grand prize winner (1 person): a pair of fashionable eyeglasses including shipping, any pair from http://www.firmoo.com/all-products.html , both prescription & non-prescription are available. Designer glasses and sunglasses are not available to choose.

For the second prize winners: each winner will win a $30 E-Voucher which can only be used on designer glasses.  The vouchers can only be used on Firmoo designer glasses at http://www.firmoo.com/designer-eyeglasses.html.

The giveaway is open internationally, but the winners have to be located in the area our delivery can reach to. Please visit http://www.firmoo.com/help-c-10.shtml to get the countries we ship to and details of the postage.

Are you feeling lucky?  Use the Rafflecopter below to enter.  Good luck!

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