Handcrafted Artisan: product tester

Showing posts with label product tester. Show all posts

Meet the Blogger: Tia Mckenzie from Lady Stitch Has a Glitch.

Hi Friends!

How are you? How is your summer going? Ours has been pretty busy. The three older kids have all attended camp, as a family, we went to a conference in June, we finished up school, have gone to the pool, two of our kids participated in the kids day of Arts Fest just today. I have been running around trying to figure out where to send our youngest to school next year. Just this week we finally have that figured out for the most part. I got to be at a craft show a few weeks ago. My shop Mt Nittany Creations has been in several giveaways online. I have been selling my wares in a shop in Clearfield for the last several months and have an opportunity in August to be an artist in a Pop-up shop and go to Bead Fest in Philly. I am so excited about this opportunity. I also have started being a distributor for Young Living Oils. Needless to say, life has been full. Hence I have been kind of absent on my blog. I am sorry for that because I love the opportunity to introduce you all to some really neat people.

So for today's Meet the Maker we actually have a blogger, who similarly to me is trying to support small shops. So I am going to allow her to take over my blog and tell you about herself. Without further ado, let's meet Tia.

Hi! I am Tia. I am 27. I grew up in Arizona, but my home is now in Northern Idaho. I am a mom of three. Two stepdaughters and one son. Ages 12, 9 and 2.

I don't do crafting anymore (at least not to sell!) I am strictly a review / general life blogger. I started blogging as an outlet. My friends and I are all grown up now with children of our own so when I didn't see much of my closest friends anymore, at the time I was a stay at home mom I didn't get much social interaction with anyone. So I created working through life's glitches.

I was having the hardest time writing without sounding winey. I mean my days were pretty routine. I was dealing with a teething baby and my fiance was working full time and in school full time. After talking with my sister (who is a review blogger as well) she got me started on reviews. I thought this is an excellent way to help other companies out to get their names out there and it gives me a subject to write on. Plus I get to work my daily life into it! So it began.

Now I work full time, mom full time and blog almost full time. It works, I get to be creative, I get to help other companies, and I get to experience what is out there for small companies.

https://ladystitchhasaglitch.blogspot.com

https://www.instagram.com/unbelievably_stitch/

https://www.facebook.com/ladystitchesglitches/

DIY and Product Review: Pumpkin Carving using a Pumpkin Carving Kit from Vita

Hi friends. How are you? How has your week been? We are doing much better. It seems we are finally coming out of all the sickness that has been hitting our family. I'd love to hear from you. Comment below or email me.

Recently, I was contacted by Abby, a representative for a premier Arts and Craft brand, to review their Pumpkin Carving Kit and write a blog post about my experiences. I am excited to share with you how it went and a carving contest that Vita is sponsoring that goes in conjunction with Halloween and this fall season.

I ordered the toolset through Amazon. Here is what it looked like when it arrived. My kids were very excited to get started. Last weekend, we had the opportunity to head to a local farm for their Apple Festival and purchase our pumpkins.

We started by laying out all of the fun stencils that are included in the kit to pick which one we wanted to use.

We went with one of the jack-o-lantern faces. Whipped out the tools and started working. My husband loves to work with his hands so he got right in there and took off the top using the saw from the kit and had us all helping him pull out the guts.

We found it easier than in years past to get the guts out by using the scoop tool included in the kit. In years past we have used various large spoons and such to help us scrape out the guts. I think the scoop was one of my favorite tools.

We then proceeded to tape the stencil to the side of the pumpkin where we wanted to cut out our face. We then used the poker tool to poke the corners of each part of the face. We removed the stencil and drew the face with a permanent marker using the pokes as a guideline.

Then we went back to using the saw and cut out the face by following along the face lines that we drew. Each of us took turns using the saw to cut out different parts of the face.

Our families thoughts on cutting out the face:

"This was fun." 12-year-old daughter.

"Fun" 10-Year-old daughter.

"Fun" 8-year-old son.

"Was this fun?" asking our 4-year-old "yeah"

" I wish it was electric." Jeff my husband, "but it worked well."

I think it worked really smoothly. Seemed to cut through the pumpkin really easily and seemed easy to follow our lines we drew for our face. Each of our kids, minus the four-year-old, seemed to be able to handle the saw fairly easily. We didn't really use the etching tool but probably would if we had been doing a different design.

The tools seem really sturdy and easy to use for all sorts of ages. Great kit for the whole family. We had a lot of fun carving our pumpkin and if we have time hope to carve out four more before Halloween. The kit seems reasonably priced and it arrived quickly through Amazon. Anyone out there looking to do some fun pumpkin carving this would be a great kit to get. Vita has given me a coupon to be used by my followers. Look below for the info on how to purchase and for the coupon. In addition, Vita is having a Pumpkin Carving Contest. See below for more info.

Here is the Company and Product Info:

LINK TO PRODUCT(NOTE: link redirects to Amazon):http://vitacarving.com
EXCLUSIVE 20% OFF COUPON CODE: QQL8Y4FW
Vita's FACEBOOK: Vita For Home
Vita's INSTAGRAM: @vitaforhome

So here are the simple details regarding the pumpkin carving contest Vita is sponsoring:

1. Must be a pumpkin (of course!)
2. All entries must either be published to Instagram with @VitaForHome tagged and hashtags:

#VitaForHome
#CelebrateWithVita
#CarvingContest

OR the contestant can email their submissions to hello@vitaforhome.com

3. The winner will be announced on November 20th so contestants will have time to participate even after Halloween.

4. The prize is a $200 Amazon Gift Card.

How exciting is all of this! I hope you will join us and get one of these fun pumpkin carving kits and enter into their contest. Don't forget to use the exclusive coupon included above. If you have any questions, please let me know and I will try and answer them.

Have a great rest of your week and please share pictures with me if you do end up getting the kit and carving out a fun pumpkin. I would love to see what you create.

I did receive this product to give my honest opinion on the product and to share about their contest. In addition, there are affiliate links included in my blog. If you click on one and possibly purchase something you can help support my blog. Thanks in advance.

Product Review: Natural and Organic products from Manning's Handmade Crafty Creations

Hi, friends. How are you? How is your week going? Our week is going well. We have started back to homeschooling. It is nice to have more structure to our day again.

I have the special privilege to review some products of my friend Tamara from Manning's Handmade Crafty Creations.

Here is the selection that Tamara sent me. There is so much to choose from. I will have to come back and review some of the things that I can't do today. Today I will be sharing with you about some hand soap and face soap that I am trying out of Tamara's creations.

When I opened my package I was hit with such a heavenly array of scents. They definitely tickled my fancy and my nose hairs in a good way. I couldn't wait to finish the bar of soap that I had sitting on our sink so that I could start using Tamara's soap. As you can see she has sent a great many of samples I can't wait to try them all.

The first soap that I want to share with you is the one pictured above. I believe it's the Oatmeal, Coconut oil and honey soap. The soap leaves my hands smelling lovely and feeling smooth and not dried out like other soaps tend to with my hands.

The second soap is a facial soap. This one has a lite scent and I love how it leaves my face feeling clean and smooth.

So far I have really loved all the products I have used from Tamara's shop.
I highly recommend you give her products a try.

You can find Tamara's shop online at:
https://www.facebook.com/manningshandmadecraftycreations/
http://www.manningshandmadecraftycreations.xyz/
https://www.instagram.com/manningshandmadecraftycreation

Product Review: Doterra Essential Oils. Seller Esperanza Lacayo from Essentially Love it.

Hi, friends. How are you? How is your weekend going? I am really excited to start our new endeavor of product reviews. I hope to get into reviewing handcrafted products because you see so little of that. I want to help and promote the small shops and get them some more advertising. If you are a small shop and would like us to do a product review head over to our product review page and follow the directions.

Today, we are reviewing Doterra Essential Oils. I was given a sample of this product for my honest review. Esperanza sent me three different samples peppermint, melaleuca, and lavender. The samples arrived in an envelope with three little glass bottles. I first tried out the Lavender. I was having trouble sleeping so after reading the suggestions on what can be done with the oils, I decided to sprinkle some lavender on my pillow to aid in sleeping. It seemed to help me to settle down that night. I did wake with a stuffy nose. I am not sure if I am just having an allergic reaction to the oils or what ever is blooming outside.

Next, I tried out the Melaleuca while washing my hair. I didn't see much difference. You may have to try to use this several times to get a result. I hope to try it out again.

The last oil for me to try was the peppermint oil. This one I placed on the back of one of my clay necklace pendants because it was unglazed and porous their and would absorb the oil. I think that it cleared up my stuffy nose a bit. It smelled very nice around my neck. Made me think of candy canes and such.

I don't know how specifically Doterra manufactures their oils. I know some other companies have special manufacturing. My guess is I will use oils again. What company products I will use, I am unsure of at this point. Esperanza is very sweet. She would be a great advocate to work with and buy your oils from. Here is a small blurb from her web page.I was introduced to the world of essential oils and loved the high-level quality of the products and decided to become a Wellness Advocate to advocate for my own overall health and wellness and help others reach theirs as well.

You can contact Esperanza through these links:
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/essentiallyloveit/
Website:https://www.mydoterra.com/essentiallyloveit/#/

Meet the Maker: Kaitlyn Timms

Hi, friends! Welcome back to another post in our Meet the Maker series. How are you? How has your week gone? I hope well. We have had a different week than expected with two of our kids getting sick. It certainly can change the flow of life.

Today, I am sharing my interview with Kaitlyn with you. This interview will be different from the others in the series so far because Kaitlyn does not sell products on-line but actually is a product reviewer. Kaitlyn approached me about reviewing one of our products and I thought it would be interesting to interview her about what she does. Not only does she review products but she is a young homeschooled girl who is helped by her parents to take on this job.

Kaitlyn is from upstate South Carolina and currently lives there. But she dreams of moving to Tennessee when she is older.

I asked Kaitlyn "How long have you been a tester and reviewer of handmade crafts, and products?" Kaitlyn shared this "I started contacting different companies about one or two years ago!"

I also asked if she crafts herself and she resoundingly said "YES!!! I absolutely love creating things homemade, I especially love to make things for my family!!" That's great Kaitlyn. I love making things for my family as well.

I was curious to find out what drew her to become a tester/ reviewer. Kaitlyn shared with me "Well, when I started contacting people, I had big hopes and dreams, so I started contacting big business, business that you would see while shopping, well, let's just say my dreams were busted when they never replied. So then I sat down and started thinking, I wonder if I could help smaller businesses? And then I contacted a few people here and there, and amazingly, they were super happy to send me items to review! I remember the first small business that I contacted, agreed to send me items to review, and I was so happy and surprised! The one thing I always think to myself when I review smaller businesses is if I could be the person to give them that little boost, that would be amazing! I personally am really glad you started working with smaller businesses. I am looking forward to our collaboration together.

I asked Kaitlyn when did she start posting on YouTube and Instagram? She shared "Well, I started YouTube when I was maybe ten years old, and my mom managed my account, so, I have been doing YouTube for about 4 years now! As far as Instagram goes, I just started it about 2-3 months ago!" Wow, that is very interesting. Welcome to the world of Instagram.

When asked "what drew you to do this kind of work?" Kaitlyn shared this fun story. "Well, when I was little, I always watched all these videos of people doing different things on YouTube, and it looked so cool! I remember my first video I watched was a girl opening things she had received in the mail to review, and I thought that was so cool!! So, I asked my mom and dad if I could do videos on YouTube as well, like all these other cool kids, and they said yes! And I was so happy they did!" That's great Kaitlyn.

Another question I asked was about her future hopes for her business, Kaitlyn shared this. "My hope is that one day I will get to meet all my amazing and sweet viewers! And I would love to be able to walk into the mall, and just have people come up to me and say, 'hey, aren't you that girl on YouTube?'. That would definitely be a dream come true!"

I was curious to find out what her most favorite piece to review was and Kaitlyn said "Well, all the items I have received have been absolutely amazing and beautiful, so that would be a really hard one to say... I really couldn't decide!!!! I love all the items that I have reviewed so far! That is so great to hear.

I asked Kaitlyn what advice she has for others that want to become a tester, she shares. "Well, I would have to say, make sure you have the best interests at heart, don't just be contacting people so they send you free stuff, contact people, so you can help them grow their business! And also, I would have to say, if you want to get into the YouTube world of making videos, don't be scripted, just turn on your camera and have fun!!" Thank you for this great advice, Kaitlyn. It has been great to get to know you better. I wish you all the best in your endeavors.