Samantha on the Prairie

Sinful Colors introduced SinfulShine nail polish colors a while ago, but I only noticed them before Christmas. Even with a higher price, the SinfulShine colors are still way cheaper than most of their competitors. I was with my daughter at Walgreens, shopping for blush for me and a kid-friendly lipstick for her, when we saw the very enticing Sinful Colors display. I'm sure you aren't surprised to hear we went home with three new polish colors. Penny picked a purple and a pink, which I'll talk about another time. Today, I really want to shout from the rooftops about the SinfulShine collection. I bought VIP #1231, which is a lovely, rich pink that is very work-appropriate, feminine, and fun, but not super cutsie or immature. I quite like it, though I admit I normally wear reds for work and less traditional colors (black, green yellow, etc) for weekends and vacation. It's not the shade, or the bottle, or the brush, that's awesome about SinfulShine. It's r

I was contacted recently by Smart-Fab representatives who offered to send me a sample pack for review and 3 sample rolls to offer as a giveaway to one lucky winner. This will be the first giveaway on this blog, so I'm super excited to kick things off! First, I want to say that I hadn't heard of Smart-Fab before, so I checked out their website to better understand the product and how it's used before agreeing to do the review. Since a good friend of mine is a public school teacher and Smart-Fab looks perfect for classroom decoration, I decided this review would be best done as a team, with my friend, Andrea, trying it out too. Smart-Fab is a non-woven fabric that is great for art projects and for classroom use. It can be easily cut, glued, and painted on, sewn, stitched, and stapled. Andrea and I spent an evening playing with the Smart-Fab color swatch book, which let us see all 15 assorted colors and get a sense of the texture. We were both impressed how bold and bri

When I am desperate for a relaxing evening, I run a hot bubble bath, light some candles, and turn on a scented wax warmer. It's been a while since I've bought bubble bath, so when I saw Dr. Teal's Foaming Bath in the store, I grabbed it. It was a good price at less than $6 and the bottle looked appealing.   Dr. Teal's promises to "transform an ordinary bath into a relaxing spa." After a 20 minute soak, I felt relaxed and calm and my skin was soft and gently scented. I love that a little goes a long way. Just a capful loaded my tub with long lasting foam. Check out the Dr. Teal's website for deals and special offers on their products.

About a month ago, I wrote about how helpful Claritin-D is for cold symptoms . Since then, I've even overheard my husband bragging about how it helped his cold and kept him going all day. Today I came down with flu-like symptoms. I'm not sure what's wrong with me, but I've got a fever, lots of aches and pains, a major headache, earache, and sinus pressure. I'm pretty sure without Claritin-D, I wouldn't have gotten through my workday today. When the Claritin-D wore off, it was clear I need a long night of sleep because I'm hurting bad. We'll be keeping Claritin-D around for colds this season. It's good stuff and for me, works way better than Sudafed.

I am not familiar with gluten allergies and sensitivities, but since there are people looking to find out if gluten is in a hair dye product, it must be fairly serious. People are asking if Garnier Olia is a gluten-free product. The answer is yes. Olia doesn't contain gluten. Just to be sure, I asked Garnier's customer service. Garnier (a part of L'Oreal) was very clear in saying there isn't gluten and that if ever there is an ingredient question, be sure to check the product label. If the product is very small, ingredients may be found on the in-store display. To ensure there is consistency and make life easier for customers, Garnier uses FDA-recognized industry standard ingredient names. So there you have it. Olia is gluten-free.

With the holiday shopping season already in full swing, I thought I'd recommend a few books for your favorite sewing fan. I consider myself an intermediate sewer, able to make kids clothes and craft projects without a pattern, and adult clothing from altered commercial patterns. Before I buy a sewing book, I either browse the pages and projects at Barnes and Noble, or I'll borrow a book from the library and try out a project before committing to buying anything. These are the books that made the cut and ended up in my collection: Fabric Reference More Fabric Savvy: A Quick Resource Guide to Selecting and Sewing Fabric  by Sandra Betzina I rely on this thorough resource all the time when selecting fabric for projects and making sure I'm using the right needle, foot, and stitch length. I can't say enough about how valuable this book has been. There are some obscure fabrics included, but overall, definitely a great reference book. Beginner and Intermediate Se