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  • Big Moving Event: Pottery By Dan Review and Giveaway!

    Big Moving Event: Pottery By Dan Review and Giveaway!

    I love pottery!  When I see pottery, I see all the hard work behind each piece.  However I have one problem with pottery, I never know where to display it, and how to display it.  It just never seemed to fit in a good place in my home.  Having 3 kids, has probably contributed the most to this.  I was so excited to have an opportunity to review some products from Pottery by Dan, because it meant I had to find and make a place for it in my home.    I am even more excited to share Dan’s pottery with you!!  That’s right, you have the chance to win a piece for your own home.  Keep reading.
    I sent Dan a questionnaire, and here is his response!
    PotterybyDan
    HMS: What is your name?
    PBD: Daniel King
    HMS: Tell us a little about yourself.
    PBD: I am 38 years old, married, with a lovely 2 year old daughter.  I work in construction primarily, and create handcrafted items in my spare time.  The majority of my items on Etsy began as designs and creations for our own home, or that of family, and friends. I enjoy working with various materials – including wood, pottery, stained glass, and metal.
    HMS: How did you get started? How long have you been working with pottery?
    PBD: My first contact with pottery was while I was in elementary school, a friends mother had a pottery studio – and I was amazed at the process.  It wasn’t until later in life, while attending college, that I began to actively pursue pottery, with classes and workshops – which evolved into a small home studio.
    Initially I preferred functional stoneware pottery, the last few years my focus has shifted to decorative Raku pottery.  Raku is a distinct firing process, in which the pieces are removed from a special kiln while upwards of 1800 degrees F with tongs – while the glaze is molten – the pieces are then placed in a container of combustibles, as the combustibles ignite, the container is sealed creating a reduction atmosphere – the unique colors and patterns within the glaze are a result of this process.  Raku pottery is decorative – and not designed to hold liquids or food – prefect for dried arrangements.
    HMS: Do you have a favorite piece?
    PBD: Truthfully, all of my creations are favorite, and this makes it very difficult to sell any one piece.  This is especially true with the Raku firing process, as the glaze colors and patterns are unique to each piece and impossible to duplicate.
    HMS: What motivates you?
    PBD: The sheer joy of simply creating something by hand.
    HMS: How would you like to see your product used?
    PBD: The majority of my creations are decorative
    HMS: What is your decorating style?
    PBD: Country
    HMS: Do you prefer indoor or outdoors?
    PBD: Outdoors – hiking, camping…
    HMS: What’s your favorite season?
    PBD: Probably summmer – We spend a good amount of time outdoors, and prefer the warmer weather and longer days.
    HMS: Do you listen to music while you work?
    PBD: Usually country, or Classic Country.

    Thank you so much Dan for being a part of our Big Moving Event!  I absolutely love the pieces!!  Dan sent me 2 pieces of Raku pottery.  Remember how I said I have trouble figuring out where to place pottery in my home? I had no trouble with Dan’s.  I opened the box, and I knew exactly where and what was going with this pottery.  In our new home there is a built in bookshelf.  Perfect for books, and decorations.  The pottery had the perfect colors to compliment my Little History of the United States collection.  Don’t you think?
    And in case you’re wondering, the move is coming along just great, see – 
    GIVEAWAY TIME!!!!

    Are you ready to win a piece of Raku pottery for your home?  GREAT!  Dan sent me a Pottery Raku Birdhouse to give away to one of my lucky readers!  
    *Open to US and Canada residents
    *Ends 4/22
    Mandatory Entry: Visit Pottery y Dan on etsy and leave a comment telling me another piece you like.  Leave an email with this comment

    Extra entries: Leave one comment for each additional entry
    *Add Pottery by Dan to your etsy favorites
    *follow Home Maid Simple on GFC (right sidebar)
    *Follow Home Maid Simple on Twitter
    *Tweet about this giveaway using 
                     “I entered to win a Raku Birdhouse from Pottery by Dan @HomeMaidSimple http://tinyurl.com/42zb8tq”
    *I did not receive financial compensation for this review.  I was provided with a product to review and keep.  All opinions are my own.
  • Big Moving Event Pure Ayre Review

    Big Moving Event Pure Ayre Review

    Go back to the home page.
    I LOVE Pure Ayre Odor Eliminator!  What an amazing and innovative product.  I got the wonderful opportunity to review the Pure Ayre for Baby.  This stuff works!  It doesn’t just mask the smell, it really does eliminate it!  I was skeptical at first, but after using it in a number of different areas, I’m convinced.  
    In the Kitchen – Pure Ayre is a food grade product which means it can be safely used around food.  So I took it to the kitchen.  We don’t use a diaper pail, so all our diapers get tied up in grocery bags and tossed in the trash.  That on top of dirty dishes (yes there are dirty dishes in my house), was creating a slightly unpleasant smell in my kitchen.  Without bothering to close the bag of chips or put the lid on the salsa (a yummy afternoon snack), I pulled out the Pure Ayre and sprayed away.  It didn’t take affect right away, but after a couple minutes I could tell it was starting to work.  Pure Ayre has no fragrance (making it safe for those of us with sensitive skin), which I think is why I couldn’t tell it working immediately.  That fragrance wasn’t there.  My kitchen now smells nice, the chips and salsa have been eaten, and the dishes cleaned up and packed for tomorrow’s move.
    In the Bathroom – Face it, bathrooms stink.  And it doesn’t help when you toss wet pullups in the bathroom trash can.  Or when you’re potty trained 3 year old doesn’t quite make it to the potty (oh so close!).  Just like the kitchen, after a couple minutes, the air was free and clear.  
    On Stains – Say what??  Pure Ayre Odor Eliminator treats stains?  Sure does!  Following the directions I treated my *almost* 1year olds very dirty and discolored “I love Hugs” onesie.  I’d tell you about it, but how about I just show you some pictures?
    Pre-treatment
    Post-treatment with wash and dry

    Are you seeing what I’m seeing?  Except for one little spot that is only very, and I mean very, slightly visible, this onesie looks almost brand new to me!  I’ve never had clothes come clean like this after looking like what this did! 
    I of course had to show the hubby all enthused with excitement.  I even told him I thought Pure Ayre should change the name from Odor Eliminator to Stain Eliminator!  I think this is my favorite part of the whole product!  I’ll probably use it 90% of the time while I’m doing laundry. 
    Now, don’t you wish you had some of this?  
    Where to Buy: You can buy online at the Pure Ayre Store. Free shipping in the USA!  Or you can go here to locate a local store that sells Pure Ayre products.
    * I was provided with a 14oz and 4oz product to try in my home from Pure Ayre via The Product Review Place.  I was not financially compensated for this review.  All opinions are my own.  I only recomment products I believe in.

  • Couponchief.com Review

    I was so excited last week when Couponchief.com contacted me last week to review their website.  Since I decided to start couponing this year, I’ve been looking for all different types of websites.  Most have very similar coupons – manufacturers that you print and take the store.  That is where Coupon Chief is unique.  All the coupons on Coupon Chief are for online products and services.  In this age of technology and busy schedules, many people have started shopping more online for even the basic needs.
    Here is a list of things Coupon Chief offers – 
    1. Free to join and submit coupon codes
    2. Pays-2-Share program pays YOU when coupons you submit are used*
    3. Over 50,000 coupons to over 15000 stores
    4. Easy to search for specific stores or products
    5. Coupon clipping made easy with one click access to store.
    I have been using Couponchief.com for a week now, and have thoroughly enjoyed it.  I personally don’t do a lot of online shopping (although diapers.com has me considering it more), but I get emails and flyers with coupons codes all the time!  I hated throwing the flyers away and deleting the email knowing there were plenty of people out there that could use it.  Now I have an easy place to share these codes, and get paid to do it too!
    It is my belief that everything has room for improvement.  Couponchief.com does not miss the mark in that belief, but from my experience, there is not much it needs to change.  When you click on a coupon, it pops up a handy bubble “Did this coupon Work for you?”  It only gives you two options, yes or no.  There have been many I’ve clicked on that I ended up not even using the coupon, because I didn’t buy anything.  I think adding that third option in would help make their stats more accurate when calculating how effective the coupon was. Last I would add in the personal profile.  You can see the coupons you’ve uploaded, but you can’t click on them.  So if you want to use a coupon that you had uploaded, you have to search for it, and then go through the many coupons similar to find yours.  Not impossible, but it could be made easier.
    *Pays-2-Share program does not work with all coupons submitted.  Select stores have partnered with Couponchief.com to give back to members submitting coupons. When submitting a coupon the site will tell you if it is a pays-2-share participant.
    **I was compensated for this review.  All opinions are my own from personal experience using Couponchief.com.  My opinions were not influenced in any way by this compensation.  I strive to bring my readers knowledge based on personal experience. 
  • EcoFresh cleaner review

    EcoFresh cleaner review

    I won my first ever blog Giveaway at the beginning of this year!  What did I win, some awesome green cleaners by EcoFresh. I finally got around to trying them this last week, and really enjoyed them.  I tried them first out in the bathroom.  Wow, they really smelled fresh!  I was pleasantly surprised.  So after finishing the bathroom up, I moved onto the kids room.  One of my favorite things about this product is that it is safe to use around kids because it doesn’t have any of the harsh chemicals in it.  Now this is where the product really amazed me – You know that strip of wall next to your kids bed that gets gross from their feet, hands and who knows what else.  Well it was time to clean it.  Normally I have to pull out the big stuff like ammonia or Mr Clean Magic Erasers to get this off the wall, and then it still usually leaves a bit of gray stain.  With EcoFresh, I sprayed, left it for about 10-15 seconds, then wiped it with a dry cloth.  NO SCRUBBING!  Seriously it shocked me.  Today I’ll be trying it out on my white chairs (don’t ask why we bought white chairs with toddlers in the house, I don’t know!).

    Dsiclaimer: I won these products.  I was not asked to review them.  I just really enjoyed them and wanted to share the product with you my readers!