Jolly Mom: Recipes | Crafts | Atlanta Mom Blogger | Brand Ambassador | Product Reviews

Link up your giveaways!

Please make sure to link directly to the giveaway and list the name of the giveaway along with the expiration date. Don't forget to stop by Go Graham Go to link up over there as well!

Peanut butter is one of my favorite foods. I absolutely LOVE to cook with it because it truly makes everything taste good and just about everyone loves peanut butter. Plus, it can be used in both savory dishes and sweet treats! If you also love to cook and bake with peanut butter, I suggest you enter the Jif Holiday Spread Contest! The Jif Holiday Spread Contest, which runs through January 17, 2011, is inviting creative home cooks to share the ways that they will be incorporating peanut butter into their holiday cooking for the chance to win a $10,000 kitchen makeover! That would be an AWESOME win!



Jif is also sponsoring a fun giveaway right here!








Jif provided me with a complimentary gift basket as a thank you for spreading the word about the Holiday Spread Contest. All opinions expressed in this article are my own and not influenced in any way by anyone. Please refer to this site's Terms of Use for more information.

One of the major highlights of 2010 was most definitely our Carnival Cruise to the Caribbean. It was such an amazing trip that even Lucas still remembers and talks about it on a regular basis!


As we say goodbye to 2010 and welcome in the new year, I'm excited to share with you guys two wonderful campaigns that Carnival Cruise Line has launched recently. Many of you may remember from a previous post that Carnival is the official sponsor of the Times Square Wishing Wall this year. If you've never heard of the Wishing Wall, basically people come to the Times Square Visitors Center and write their wishes onto colorful slips of paper, and then post them onto the wall. Then, on New Year's Eve, these slips of paper become part of the one ton of confetti that rains down at the stroke of midnight.

What's awesome is that even if you can't be in NYC for New Year's Eve, you can still have your wish, resolution, goal, or dream be a part of the celebration! Just submit your wish online. Carnival will actually print it onto a piece of confetti for you, so that no matter where you are on New Year's Eve, your wish will be part of the Times Square celebration. Click HERE to submit your wish.


Plus, Carnival just launched the "Didja Ever?" campaign where they are encouraging people to live life to the fullest. To try new things, experience "firsts", and start checking things off their bucket list in 2011! Or, as Carnival would say, "Stop saying someday. Someday starts today." Love that! Carnival is collecting the Top 100 Firsts from its more than 420,000++ Facebook fans and all of America. Of course, there will be giveaways! Carnival will help to fulfill many firsts for participants that will include everything from giving away monthly cruise vacations for four to offering once-in-a-lifetime opportunities like appearing on-stage as the opening act for a favorite band, and many other fun activities!!


Happy New Year from Carnival Cruise!  And, to top it off--Carnival has an awesome New Year's themed giveaway for Jolly Mom readers!






Carnival Cruise provided me with a New Year's Celebration Kit. I am also a Carnival Mom-bassador and my family and I was sent on a complimentary cruise. All opinions expressed in this article are my own and not influenced in any way by anyone. Please refer to this site's Terms of Use for more information.

Thank you to Lori from Moms by Heart for compiling the best deals at CVS this week! For the full list, please make sure you stop by Moms By Heart!

May this holiday season
leave you with precious memories:
A Christmas filled with love and light,
perfect gifts, delicious foods,
love and joy all around.
A New Year with continuing blessings—
friends, family, good work, great fun,
and delightful surprises.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

...from our home to yours.

Poem Credit: Joanna Fuchs

Have you heard of the coolest new app by SWAGG yet? If you haven't, then you have to check it out! Basically, SWAGG has launched a new app that deals with the troublesome problem of how to deal with the overabundance of gift cards, loyalty & membership cards that clutter up your wallet or handbag. With the SWAGG app, you can now load all of those gift cards and loyalty points onto your iPhone or Android phone and shop right from your phone! Oh, and the SWAGG app is FREE. Yep, free. I love FREE.

For me, the SWAGG app is a must-have! If I tell you where I keep all of my gift cards, you honestly may not believe me LOL. I keep them in a mason jar. Even worse, I take that mason jar in my purse when I am going shopping. Yep. I need SWAGG. With the holidays, I know most of us get a bunch of gift cards and this is the perfect way to keep them all organized AND not in a jar LOL. When you’re in a store and ready to pay, just show SWAGG on your phone at checkout. Pretty cool, huh?! Plus, SWAGG is more than just a gift card organizer. You can also GIVE gift cards directly from your phone too! And, while you're out shopping and spending all of those gift cards...you'll get the best deal because SWAGG will send you exclusive offers redeemable at stores in your area!

As if all of that wasn't enough, just downloading the app is a way for you to give back! SWAGG has partnered with the non-profit organization Stand Up to Cancer. Every time you download the app between now and December 31,2011, SWAGG will donate $1 to Stand Up to Cancer – up to $125,000!

Oh, and the clever girls are hosting a fab sweepstakes! You can win a $4,000 trip for two to the Sundance Film Festival -- The Ultimate SWAGG Getaway Sweepstakes. Clever Girls Collective and SWAGG are sending a lucky pair of movie fans to the Sundance Film Festival! The prize includes:

* 2 night/3 day stay at Yarrow Hotel in Park City Utah (Jan 21 - Jan 23, 2011)
* Ground transportation to and from hotel to airport in Park City, Utah
* Dinner for two at Tao Lounge, including 2 nightclub passes
* All access to The House of SWAGG Gifting Suite
* 2 tickets to a movie premiere on Saturday, January 22nd -- movie tbd
* $4,000 value

To enter, click HERE.


Finally, I was chosen by SWAGG to be one of their Brand Ambassadors. As an added incentive to download the SWAGG App, the SWAGG Brand Ambassador who gets the most people to download the app gets to give away a $100 SWAGG GIFT to one of their readers! Just leave a comment on this post telling me, "I downloaded SWAGG." If this post is the one with the most comments, then I will choose the $100 SWAGG GIFT winner from the comments using random.org. To download SWAGG, click here.




I was selected to be a SWAGG Brand Ambassador by Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity. This is a compensated program, but all of the opinions I share are my own. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by anyone. Please refer to this site's Terms of Use for more information.

Merry Christmas Eve, everyone! Even though today is Christmas Eve, the holidays are far from over! Tomorrow's Christmas and we still have to ring in the New Year--not to mention that some holidays, like Kwanzaa are only just beginning for some of you. So, there's still time to figure out your holiday style! Are you a Holiday Heart Warmer like me or something else? Find out with BlueMountain.com's nifty new Got Joy Facebook application! To find out, the Got Joy app asks you a series of fun questions and only takes a couple of minutes. Plus, the Got Joy app is like a virtual holiday assistant. Not only does it figure out your holiday style, but the app also gives you really helpful time-saving tips and advice. For instance, I was wisely advised to keep my priorities in check and make sure to make time with loved ones. You have no idea how true this is!


If you're on Facebook, check out the Got Joy app and let me know what your holiday style is. And, if you still have holiday shopping to do--make sure to check out BlueMountain.com's Amazon eGift Card Holders--they are a great, easy way to send thoughtful gifts--and the perfect last minute gift! You can even send it TODAY on Christmas Eve! No shipping, no lines, no traffic...it's FREE and INSTANT.




This post is sponsored by Blue Mountain. All opinions expressed in this article are my own and not influenced in any way by anyone. Please refer to this site's Terms of Use for more information.

If you're suffering from itchy and dry Winter skin, I highly recommend that you try Eucerin’s Calming Body Wash and Calming Crème. I recently received a bottle of both to try out and they are simply amazing--especially the Body Wash, which is actually an oil. It feels so luxurious going on, but it still lathers and cleanses beautifully. After showering my skin is literally glowing. You know how many body washes will dry out skin in the Winter? Not this one. I could tell a difference in my skin after the first use. LOVE it! OK, now it's time for Eucerin's December Skin FIRST update and a giveaway!

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Have you ever wondered exactly what made Rudolph’s nose shine and glow so much? If you ask a skin care expert, they would probably say he has symptoms of dry, irritated skin from the cold winter weather. December’s Skin FIRST Movement Update is about keeping the cold winter weather from hurting your skin – as well as treating the inevitable dry skin patch. So would you be put on Santa’s skin care “naughty” or “nice” list based on your current habits? Here are some tips to help you get on the “nice” list and stay there:

Nice:

- Wear gloves in the winter to protect your hands against environmental elements.

- When washing the dishes or doing laundry, protect your skin with protective gloves, shielding your hands from chemicals and excess water.

Naughty:

- Do you use daily moisturizer for your dry, itchy skin? If you don’t, frequent scratching could lead to skin irritation and possibly infection, and no one wants to feel uncomfortable around the holidays. Be sure to use an oil-based moisturizer during the Winter to keep skin moisturized such as Eucerin Original or Eucerin Plus lotions.

- Now that summer is gone, do you decrease the amount of times you exfoliate? In the cold winter months, you should actually increase exfoliation.

- What type of cleanser do you use? Many soaps are alkaline, which can be irritating to unhealthy skin and lead to a condition called alkali eczema, resulting in itching, redness, small bumps and flaking. To reduce their drying properties, many soaps contain added fats like lanolin and paraffin and/or lactic or citric acid – so always look at the label before you buy! Soap free cleansers like Eucerin Calming Body Wash are great for this time of year and the Eucerin Calming Crème can be used to break the itch/scratch cycle.


Eucerin’s Calming Body Wash and Calming Crème can help with itchy, dry winter skin when used regularly. Make an early resolution to yourself to make it on the “nice” list next year by making 2011 the year you put your skin first. To get started, take the Skin FIRST Pledge found here.








The featured product{s} in this post were provided to me free of charge by the manufacturer or pr company representing the company. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by anyone. Please refer to this site's Terms of Use for more information.

Link up your giveaways!

Please make sure to link directly to the giveaway and list the name of the giveaway along with the expiration date. Don't forget to stop by Go Graham Go to link up over there as well!

I recently received the most extraordinary children's book called The Classic Treasury of Childhood Wonders (National Geographic Children's Books) written by award winning author, educator and family issues advocate Susan Magsamen. This book is all about recapturing the magic and wonder of childhood. The parts that are oftentimes missing in our modern day, fast paced society. Kids will learn how to make a firefly house, build a sandcastle, make a paper airplane, and other fun projects. There are sections on how to be a superhero, daydreaming ideas, fun treat recipes, even a how to on tucking in your stuffed animals. This is truly a lovely book that kids and parents alike will find magical. A true classic.

About the Book: In Childhood Wonders, Susan masterfully blends a vintage design and feel with a collection of activities, poems, nursery rhymes and art that underscores her philosophy on the best ways to encourage learn-through-play experiences and create special memories to last a lifetime.

Divided into five sections that illuminate a child’s world and interests -- Magic and Make-Believe; Outdoor Exploring; Crafts and Construction; Yummy for the Tummy; and Bedtime, Bathtime, and Dreamtime -- Childhood Wonders is more than a great gift book. It gives families a tool to reconnect with childhood whimsy and explore the importance of learning through play. During this season of off-the-hook consumerism and more, more, more,Childhood Wonders is a unique and lasting gift for kids, families, new parents and grandparents.

The featured product{s} in this post were provided to me free of charge by the manufacturer or pr company representing the company. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by anyone. Please refer to this site's Terms of Use for more information.

I love the Baby Alive line of dolls. They are so adorable and allow young girls to be their nurturing selves. Bouncin' Babbles, one of Baby Alive's newest dolls does not disappoint. This little cutie literally bounces up and down in delight when you squeeze her hands. She giggles and coos and is a perfectly happy little baby. Seriously cute!!


You can get Bouncin' Babbles at major toy retailers across the country. Lots of stores are selling her under $20, which would be a very affordable gift for a special little girl this holiday season!





The featured product{s} in this post were provided to me free of charge by the manufacturer or pr company representing the company. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by anyone. Please refer to this site's Terms of Use for more information.

OK, I know Christmas is just days away and most of us already have our stockings hanging from the fireplace mantel, but...if by chance you don't have your stocking yet or are looking for the perfect stocking for next year, then I highly recommend the Chunky Cable Knit Stocking at Lands' End.


It is GORGEOUS. I mean it. Truly beautiful knit stocking. It's large, which is great because it will fit lots and lots of little gifts and THAT is definitely a good thing LOL. The yarn is super soft and luxurious and the inside is even lined with 100% cotton, which helps it keep it's shape EVEN when stuffed full of gifts. It also comes with a felt Christmas tree, which Lands' End will actually personalize for FREE. LOVE it!

Buy it at LandsEnd.com for $29.50.



The featured product{s} in this post were provided to me free of charge by the manufacturer or pr company representing the company. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by anyone. Please refer to this site's Terms of Use for more information.

There are so many people I'd love to do a little something for during the holidays. To show them that I appreciate them. However, during these tough economic times, it is just not possible. That's why I was beyond thrilled when I heard about Restaurant.com's Feed It Forward program! Through this program, you can actually give up to FORTY...yes FORTY...FREE $10 Restaurant.com Gift Certificates EVERY DAY from now until December 31st! How cool is that?!!

Restaurant.com has set aside a total pool of $40 million worth of Gift Certificates, allowing every individual to gift up to $16,000 each! Now, you can do something nice for everyone you'd like to! You choose whom to give to and your gift recipients then decide where to dine among more than 9,500 participating Restaurant.com restaurants nationwide. To send free $10 Restaurant.com Gift Certificates, visit the giving site at http://feeditforward.restaurant.com/ and simply log into Facebook, Gmail or Yahoo email account to select the people you wish to give to. You can also type in email addresses manually, or give directly through Facebook to your friends!



Restaurant.com provided me with a gift card as a thank you for spreading the word about their Feed It Forward program. All opinions expressed in this article are my own and not influenced in any way by anyone. Please refer to this site's Terms of Use for more information.

Christmas is just a few days away and lots of us--including me--are still scrambling to buy last minute gifts. Stores are packed. Lines are long. Traffic is terrible. You COULD shop online, but shipping costs are high. Skip the lines. Skip the traffic. Skip the crowds. Skip the shipping costs. Give an Amazon.com gift card instead. Personalize it with a FREE and CUTE eGift Card Holder from BlueMountain.com and you're all set. It's the perfect gift for everyone on your list, including those pesky hard-to-shop-for-have-everything types!

Pros:
Instant Delivery – just in time for Christmas!
Amazon.com offers millions of items for the recipient to choose from.
Amazon.com gift cards never expire!

I am always on the lookout for fun action movies. Well, Knight and Day definitely fits that description. Knight and Day is a fast paced action packed movie starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz.


It’s one of those fun action movies that you can watch without feeling like you need to take notes to understand it. It provides incredible action and special effects backed up with great humor and interaction between Cruise and Diaz. Cruise is Roy, a special agent on the run being chased by the government for stealing the zephyr, a small battery with limitless power. Roy keeps you guessing throughout the movie as you wonder whether he is telling the truth that he is actually protecting the battery from another rogue agent who is attempting to sell it or if he wants to sell it himself. Diaz’ character, June, gets caught up in the action on a plane ride home. June doesn’t know who to trust as she is dragged around the world and chased after from one crazy adventure to another. As sparks fly she is forced to decide whether to believe Roy or not and the fate of the battery and its creator may hang in the balance. This is really a fun movie! There are so many great action scenes, but my favorite part is actually the first action scene, which takes place on the plane. There are seemingly only a handful of people on the plane…June, Roy, and lots of guys that are after Roy. Some flirty interaction between Roy and June leads June to freshen up in the restroom. As she tries to convince herself to “go for it” with Roy, Roy single-handedly eliminates everyone else on the plane, even the pilots. This forces Roy to land the plane in a field and their adventure together begins. The action and fighting in the scene is really fun to watch--especially since it's in such an enclosed space. The blu-ray disc comes with the blu-ray, DVD, and digital copy of the movie. This movie is really packed with special features. It’s got over 6 featurettes including a piece about the song from the movie, “Someday”, performed by the Black Eyed Peas and features Tom Cruise. I definitely recommend this movie. It’s the perfect “spouse, couch, blanket, popcorn” movie.

Buy the Knight and Day Three-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo+ Digital Copy for $18.99 at Amazon.com.

I absolutely love the Twilight saga. And for those of us that do, we knew it would only be a matter of time before someone made a spoof movie and poked fun at the Twilight movies. Vampires Suck is that movie and it has just been released on DVD.


Vampires Suck takes the three Twilight movies to an extreme level of humor where nothing is off limits. Excessively ridiculous gore & violence, sexual humor, and political incorrectness make this movie a nonstop wave of laughs. If you find movies like Scary Movie and Naked Gun to be funny, then Vampires Suck will have you rolling. If you don't, then you will not like this movie at all. Vampires Suck is about a young girl named Becca who moves out to a small town called Sporks…sound familiar? The town is obviously infested with vampires but no one seems to notice except Becca. The movie follows the same story line as the Twilight movies. Becca falls in love with Edward Sullen (yes, Sullen) and a friend from her past, Jacob (who has got fleas), falls in love with her. The actors all do a great job of copying the original characters & their mannerisms. There is not an ounce of seriousness in this movie. And if you laugh for too long you will miss something else to laugh at. The DVD actually features a gag reel, which is crazy because the whole movie is basically one big gag reel LOL.

Buy it at Amazon.com for $18.99.


I am a big fan of holiday movies and love stories so I was excited to check out 12 Men of Christmas.


The movie is based off the novel Decent Exposure, by Phillipa Ashley. This movie is right up my alley. It’s a fun romantic comedy that tells the tale of a woman going from the big city to small country to start over and in the process finds love. In this film New York publicist E.J. Baxter, played by Emmy winner Kristin Chenoweth (who many will recognize from her award winning performance in the television show Glee), losses her job and her fiancé all in one horrible night. She decides to move to Montana in an attempt to start over. The hilarities of life in a new town and a new way of life ensue. She finds a noble cause and a way to bring some city flare to the town by raising funds for the local search-and-rescue by putting out a risky calendar. To do this she must convince some of the rescuers to pose nude, one for each month of the year. Well naturally, as this is a romantic comedy, she falls in love with one of the rescuers. My favorite part of the film is her playful schoolyard banter with her love interest, Will (played by Josh Hopkins of television’s Cougar Town). You know the kind…the “I will act like I don’t like you because I really do” type of banter. The DVD does come with a cool feature. You can pop the disc in your computer and create your own calendar. I really love these types of movies. They are perfect to curl up with a warm blanket and a hot cup of coffee and watch, with or without the hubby {who I warn will NOT love this movie LOL}.

Buy it at Amazon.com for $17.99.



The featured product{s} in this post were provided to me free of charge by the manufacturer or pr company representing the company. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by anyone. Please refer to this site's Terms of Use for more information.

American Girl, the highly popular line of dolls and books has finally released its first full length, live-action movie on DVD and it’s based on the classic doll, Samantha (which has now been discontinued). Fans have been clamoring for a movie about their favorite dolls and now they have it. Samantha: An American Girl Holiday is set in 1904, and tells the tale of Samantha as she moves in with her grandmother and learns how to become a proper Victorian young lady. Everything starts to change when she mets Nellie. Nellie and her family are the servants next door. And even though they come from different backgrounds, Samantha and Nellie become great friends even becoming as close as sisters. The girls are there for each other through happiness, sorrow, adventure, and danger. Nothing, however, could prepare them for the life-altering surprises that lie ahead. A wonderfully heartwarming movie that you will enjoy, whether you are an American Girl fan or not.


Special Features on the DVD include:

• An all-new special feature: Votes For Women: An American Girl: Samantha.
• Samantha: An American Girl Holiday joins descendants of the real American Suffragists in a discussion about getting votes for women and the journey for equal rights.
• Mount Bedford News: A Victorian Wedding. A featurette including footage from the wedding scene in the movie.

Buy it at Amazon.com for $13.99.

Lucas absolutely loves the Christmas movie, The Dog Who Saved Christmas. He is constantly asking to watch “Christmas Dog”…all the time…all year long. Well you can image his joy when we got the next movie, The Dog Who Saved Christmas Vacation.


The movie stars Mario Lopez as the voice of Zeus, a former K-9 police dog who was adopted by a family in the first movie. In The Dog Who Saved Christmas Vacation, Zeus travels with his family to a Rocky Mountain Resort to celebrate Christmas. An unexpected family member visits them and brings along his foxy pet poodle, Bella, voiced by Paris Hilton. As Zeus attempts to impress Bella he gets in the way of two familiar bumbling (led by Dean Cain from the television show Lois and Clark). Zeus must once again save the day and return some missing jewelry. This movie is really cute {for kids LOL} and has some great comedy by the lovable Zeus. There are a lot of talking animal movies out there and what I love about this one is the fact that when the animals talk, their mouths don’t move. It makes the movie seem slightly more realistic and less goofy. Lucas’ favorite part of the movie are the thieves. Dean Cain and Joey Diaz are very funny. Joey’s character Stewey is such a mess. His constant worrying drives Dean’s character Ted crazy. Their banter throughout the movie as they stumble their way through their devious plan is funny and cute. The movie is warm-spirited, provides a good laugh for the kiddos, and is perfect for the holidays!

Buy it at Amazon.com for $13.99.



The featured product{s} in this post were provided to me free of charge by the manufacturer or pr company representing the company. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by anyone. Please refer to this site's Terms of Use for more information.

We have been looking for a Wii game for Lucas that is educational, fun and that he can generally handle and play by himself. We found one in Sesame Street: Cookie’s Counting Carnival!


About the Game: Join Cookie and Big Bird as they take your child through their carnival. Your child will enjoy games steeped in math skills, including counting, number and shape recognition, basic addition and subtraction, and patterns. Cookie and Big Bird will lead your child through all the areas of the carnival like the Grandstand, Midway, Petting Zoo, Food Court and the Arcade.


The game has several difficulty levels depending on your child’s ability and it even has a parent mode which allows a parent to jump in with a second controller if the child needs some help. This is a great feature to help little one's who are getting acquainted with playing on the Wii. The game itself is really fun and colorful...just like all things Sesame Street! Lucas really enjoys playing this game and he loves the ring toss with Cookie Monster, which teaches color and patterns. He also love the ferris wheel with Big Bird, which uses mice to teach counting. When I watch him playing the game I can really see him working to figure out each question and I can see just how much FUN he is having!

Sesame Street: Cookie’s Counting Carnival actually comes with a Wii gameplay helper, which is a cute and soft character Wii controller cover. It's supposed to minimize unnecessary buttons making it easier for kids to play.


I will say that although the cover is very cute, we've found that the controller responds better without the cover on so I say...just show your kids which buttons to press to play. Lucas has gotten the hang of it pretty quickly and I am sure that in no time, he will master it! All in all though, the actual game is a lot fun for kids while still being very educational. This really is the perfect game for young kids--especially for the kiddos who are new to the Wii.



The featured product{s} in this post were provided to me free of charge by the manufacturer or pr company representing the company. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by anyone. Please refer to this site's Terms of Use for more information.

Thank you to Lori from Moms by Heart for compiling the best deals at CVS this week! For the full list, please make sure you stop by Moms By Heart!