Orb Factory SparkleUps Cupcakes: A Review

If you have a little princess at home (or two or three, like me), then I'm sure you know the absolute necessity for all things glitter, shine and SPARKLE. My girls can never (seriously, NEVER) get enough when it comes to sparkly wonders, especially when it involves any kind of craftiness. Orb Factory's new SparkleUps line is the perfect combination of both... and a practically no-mess craft for you moms that are tired of the bits and pieces many sparkly crafts can leave behind. SparkleUps are jewel-by-number stickers that allow your child to place self-adhesive jewels on super cute graphics in one of the following themes: Cupcakes, Unicorns or Butterflies. After the jewels are all in place, your child can peel off the bejeweled sticker and place it anywhere from her boots (like my oldest Princess did) to her mirror (like my 4 year-old did) to her folder, anywhere a sticker will stick.

I love SparkleUps Cupcakes! I'm a pretty crafty mom and love to do crafts with my girls. But, sometimes they are discouraged when their end products don't really measure up to mine (in THEIR eyes). While I try to convince them that their creations are unique and beautiful and that practice makes perfect, they are sometimes still discouraged. But, when we all did SparkleUps together, they were so excited, especially because their end product was exactly like mine... perfect! My 4 year-old was beside herself with the sparkling cupcake that she had created. They really are extremely cute and sparkly. Even my husband was impressed with their cuteness factor. My daughter asked, "We can't eat these, right? Even though they look very delicious, we can't eat them, right?" Yes, they're THAT cool!

The Orb Factory offers other great stick-by-number crafts like Sticky Mosaics and Stick 'n Style Jewelry. They even have a new Sticky Mosaics Butterflies iPad App. Check out all their great products here.

You can buy SparkleUps Cupcakes on the Orb Factory website for just $9.99!

WIN:

You can win a SparkleUps Cupcakes of your very own from The Orb Factory! For your mandatory entry, become a Google Friends Connect follower of Moana Saves (in the sidebar). This is the mandatory entry for this giveaway and must be done before all of the additional entries.

To earn an additional entry, do one (or all) of the following and leave a separate comment for each thing you do:

1. Become a Networked Blogs follower of Moana Saves (in the sidebar).
2. Follow Moana Saves on Twitter.

3. Follow The Orb Factory on Twitter.

4. Tweet about this giveaway (limit one tweet per day) using the following: #win SparkleUps Cupcakes from @theorbfactory and @moanasaves ends 6/6 http://bit.ly/jCtwsW
5. Subscribe to the Moana Saves feed via RSS reader and/or email updates (in the sidebar).
6. Like the Moana Saves Facebook page.

7. Like the The Orb Factory Facebook page.

Only one person per email/household/IPaddress can enter this giveaway. He/she must be 18+ years old and reside in the U.S. This giveaway ends on Monday 6/6 at 11:59 PM PST (Pacific Standard Time). One winner will be chosen randomly via Random.org. I will notify the winner via email and he/she must respond to claim the prize within 48 hours or I will draw another winner.

I was not compensated for this post although I did receive a sparkly product sample to facilitate my review. Any and all opinions here are my own.

Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure: A Review

I have to admit that I'm not a fan of Sharpay (back in the High School Musical context) but Second Born really wanted to see this movie and so I was glad to review it when Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure was available.

Some info about the movie from IMDB: Sharpay Evans travels to New York where she is pursuing a Broadway career but it's her dog who lands an acting gig first. Director: Michael Lembeck Writers: Robert Horn, Peter Barsocchini (characters) Stars: Ashley Tisdale, Austin Butler and Cameron Goodman. (90 mins)

To celebrate Disney's new Sharpay movie, Second Born invited two of her friends over to eat banana splits and watch it.  I was surprised at how the 7-9 yr old set were fairly savvy movie critics!  They could tell when a romantic moment or a twist in the plot was coming up.

First I want to talk about what works in the movie.  Sharpay is still a flawed, self-centered character and Ashley Tisdale's performance reflects that well.  Boi's subplot and performance were fresh and engaging.  The spoken dialogue of Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure is pretty snappy which is something I appreciate in films especially when there is no accompanying vulgarity (this movie is rated G, peeps!).  Plus the songs were great!

That said, the plot of Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure is fairly predictable for a girl's rite of passage film.  I was surprised at how quickly Sharpay got used to being a subordinate (not saying how!)--it didn't feel like a convincing character transformation.  And the ending was predictable as well.

Even with those flaws, Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure was a great movie for girls, reinforcing how one should reach for her dream and stay true to herself all the way.  This film is a frothy, pink 90 minute girl-power-fest that parents can feel comfortable sharing with their tween daughters.  Although Sharpay is as high maintenance as ever, her willingness to work hard for her dream is a great example for girls.

Here is a clip from Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure to whet your appetite for the movie:

Disney Movie Rewards currently has a $8 off coupon for the Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure Combo Pack HERE.

I was compensated for this post although I did receive a free copy of Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure to facilitate this review.  Any and all opinions here are my own.