Elf Pets Fox Cubs Christmas Giveaway Review

Movies

MBE partnered with The Elf on the Shelf for this review and giveaway

New Family Entertainment for Christmas

If you have young kids celebrating Christmas it's very likely that your children have been asking lots of questions lately about how Santa Claus manages to travel around the whole world delivering presents all in a single night to every good boy and girl. Elf Pets: A Fox Cub's Christmas Tale, the newest animated movie now available in-store and online on DVD from the people who brought us The Elf on the Shelf, answers those inquiries and so much more. 

Image by The Elf on the Shelf

Elf Pets: A Fox Cub's Christmas Tale, based on the children's book Elf Pets: An Arctic Fox Tradition, is a new twist on the classic story of Santa and the elves. Through the eyes of a Scout Elf named Newsey Noel, the North Pole's star news reporter who is invited to accompany the jolly old fellow on his annual Christmas Eve journey, little ones will learn how the man in the red suit magically pauses time so he can deliver gifts to everyone without being detected.

The new DVD includes

• Elf Pets: A Fox Cub's Christmas Tale Animated Special
• Movie Trailer
• Sing-along Version
• Making of A Fox Cub's Christmas Tale
• Filmmakers Commentary

Elf Pets: A Fox Cub's Christmas Tale Giveaway

Mommy Blog Expert is excited to be partnering with Elf on the Shelf to celebrate the new DVD that kids will love with another giveaway. See below for details on what you can wi9n and how to enter for your chance to win one of the two fun prize packages we will be giving away.

Elf Pets Christmas

MBE Giveaway
on Instagram

Thanks to The Elf on the Shelf, TWO (2) lucky MBE giveaway participants will win a 3-piece prize package that includes the new Elf Pets: A Fox Cub's Christmas Tale DVD featured in this review; The Elf on the Shelf which includes the popular Christmas book and one of Santa's Scout Elves; and an Elf Pets Arctic Fox book and plush with its own magical glow in the dark snow globe pendant. To enter this Elf on the Shelf sweepstakes we're hosting, visit this MBE Instagram post. Hurry, this giveaway contest ends on December 25, 2019 at 12 am PST/3 am EST. The Elf on the Shelf is providing the prizes and is responsible for delivery to winners.

More About Elf Pets and Elf on the Shelf

Elf Pets: A Fox Cub's Christmas Tale is available on DVD ($9.95) nationwide. For a limited time from now through December 31, 2019, this kids title is also available free for streaming on YouTube in the U.S. and Canada here. The Elf on the Shelf, published by CCA and B and written by Carol Aebersold and Chanda A. Bell, is a best-selling Christmas picture book that comes with one of Santa's Scout Elves for your child to name. The Elf Pets Arctic Fox plush toy is the newest character available for kids to adopt. 

Learn even more about the expanding collection of elf inspired toys and books by visiting the brand's official website as well as following them on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube. Plus get Free printables and The Elf on the Shelf Ideas app for iPhone and iPad in the App Store.

Blinger Girls Fashionista Review + Giveaway

Girls Style

MBE partnered with Wicked Cool Toys for this review and giveaway

Glam sparkles are trending everywhere this holiday season in clothes, shoes, and accessories for us grown-up girls. Bling is definitely a thing right now and one that women are really excited about. So why should the glitz be limited to what we're wearing? And why should we keep the fun to ourselves, when we can share all that glittering wonderfulness with young ladies ages 6 and up?

New, Fun Glam Styling Tool 

Introducing the new Blinger Diamond Collection, from Wicked Cool Toys, which was a finalist at The Toy Association's 2020 Toy of the Year (TOTY) Awards. It's a crafting and toy gift in one that girly girls will love to receive this holiday season and throughout the year. It is also a serious glam styling tool that us moms will want to borrow from our daughters so we can get in on the bedazzling fun since Blinger can me used to add sparkle in so many ways.

From the moment I first set eyes on Blinger at Sweet Suite, an annual invitation only New York exhibition for family lifestyle influencers, I was enchanted with this easy-to-use bling styling tool kit. What fun it was to see young girls react with glee as their hairstyles were glammed up at Wicked Cools Toys booth at this conference. 

Lucky for me, I also got to try it, having my own tresses blinged for a night out to see the longest running musical on Broadway, Phantom of the Opera. This is a dream come true for fashionistas -- no matter what your age -- for those of us who go for glittery jewel-like glamor accents and enjoy creating personalized looks that are uniquely our own.

The Blinger Diamond Collection comes beautifully boxed in a sparkling silver box ready for wrapping and giving with your choice of either a hot pink or baby blue bling applicator and 75 mini faux crystal gems in round, heart and star shapes. 

Since these little gems stick to most surfaces and work with all hair types, gals can use this to glam up your hair, cell phones, sunnies, kicks, hats, handbags, accessories, greeting cards, notebooks, and lots more. Kids can even become mini hair stylists and bling a friend's or doll's hair. Bling to your heart's content, even add a special touch to your manicure as I did. Infusing sparkle into everyday life is truly limited only by the creativity of Blinger's user.

How Blinger Works

Blinger is simple and safe to use, but due to small pieces it should only be used by ages 6 and up. The adhesive gems are easy to apply as well as to comb out or peel off, too. Just open the Blinger applicator and line up one of the interchangeable bejeweled plastic discs inside the carousel. Then snap closed and place it over the target surface, start blinging either with the applicator closed or opened using it like you would use a stapler on a bulletin board. Then push the button with your thumb to apply each gem individually wherever you'd like. 

Blinger Giveaway

Blinger Girls Styling Set

MBE Giveaway

on Instagram

Thanks to Wicked Cool Toys, the maker of Blinger, ONE (1) lucky MBE giveaway participant will win the Blinger Diamond Collection toy set in winner's choice of pink or blue. To enter this Blinger Giveaway Mommy Blog Expert is hosting, visit this MBE Instagram post. Contest open to US residents only and qualifying winners will be selected at random. Hurry, this giveaway ends December 31, 2019 at 11:59 PST. Wicked Cool Studios is providing the Blinger prize and is responsible for delivery to winner.

More About Blinger

The Blinger concept was invented by Angie Cella, a mom of four kids, including two daughters and two sons. The Blinger Diamond Collection set with 75 gems from Wicked Cool Toys (WCT) is featured in this post and carries a suggested retail price of $19.99. Related products include the Blinger Deluxe Set with 150 gems ($24.99) and  5-piece (75 gems, $9.99), 12-piece (180 gems, $19.99) and 20-piece (300 gems, $29.99) replacement jewel cartridges. All are widely available online and instore at major stores such as Target, Walmart, Amazon, specialty toy stores, and many others. For more information on Blinger, visit Wicked Cool Toys. You can also keep up on all the brand's latest news and creative inspiration on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube.

Basic Photo Editing Adobe Photoshop Elements

Technology

The reviewer has been compensated in the form of a Best Buy Gift Card and/or received the product/service at a reduced price or for free

Top Photo Editing Hacks for Amateur Photographers

If you're a hobby photographer or an influencer like I am who just loves shooting creatively staged photos with your smartphone or DSLR camera which you often wished would have turned out better, this post is for you.

After editing with Photoshop Elements 2020

Imagine this scenario, you're after the perfect photo. So you work diligently planning, styling and shooting a batch of photos and/or videos which you think at first glance came out great, ready as-is for sharing on one or more of your social channels. But then, after the event or vacation, you take a second look and discover a hornet's nest worth of flaws in many of your images. The photos you've ended up with are disappointing, not even close to what you remember them looking like through your camera lens when you pushed the shutter button.

Now what? At this point which option would you rather choose: delete everything and pretend it never happened or use an easy-to-use photo editor like Adobe Photoshop Elements 2020 and end up with some beautiful, professional-quality shots you can't wait show off to the world? Obviously the answer to that last question is a no brainer. 

This fail happens to me all the time and I'm afraid, assuming your own experiences have been very similar, I have plenty of company with many of you. That's why I'm glad to be using the latest version of Photoshop Elements and sharing how I'm working with it to edit photos for both my original photography on this website and our personal family photo archives.

So, as an example, take a look at this leopard in a tree image I captured on our family safari trip to Africa earlier this year. On the left is the before view and on the right is what my image looked like after I used Photoshop Elements in Quick edit mode. This choice is good for beginners who are just getting started in the world of photo editing. Here, like I did,  easily improve the look of your photo by clicking on various buttons to fix exposure, lighting, color, balance and image sharpness.

For those of you with intermediate skills who have worked with both Photoshop and earlier versions of Photoshop Elements, like I have, you'll want to check out the Guided editing mode which gives you even more options and editing flexibility. Then, there is Expert mode, offering the most functionality of the three options, making it a good choice for seasoned photographers who edit your own images.

The ways to improve the quality and look of your photos using Photoshop Elements are seemingly endless. In the before photo above, the scene is flat, dark and the colors are drab. But, in the after photo below of that same African savanna sunset, the image really comes to life, with minimal effort on my part. 

Common Problems Solved with Photoshop Elements 2020

• Blurry, Grainy, Shaky Quality
• Too Little Or Too Much Lighting
• Photo Bombers Or Unwanted Objects
• Colors Not Rendering Properly
• Whites Looking Gray or Yellow
• Faded Colors in Vintage Photos
• Flat Results, Lacking Image Dimensions
• Blemishes and Skin Tone Issues
• Red Eye, Eyes Shut
• The List Goes On

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An elephant & my family in South Africa

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About Adobe Photoshop Elements 2020

Getting started with Adobe Photoshop Elements 2020 for Mac and Windows and now available at Best Buy, is simple even if it's the first time you've ever done any photo editing on your laptop or desktop computer or tried to use a full-functioned photo editor like this. After you dive in and start experimenting I think you'll agree that this editing app is intuitive and easy to navigate to solve all kinds of oops photography moments and problems. 

From revitalizing photos by applying automatic colorization with a single click to using new Auto Creations including B&W Selection, Pattern Brush, Painterly, and Depth of Field effects to making people's skin tones smoother and realistic looking to touching things up and using the Guided Edits to remove unwanted objects there is no easier photo editor that does it all.