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I received some intoxicating scents to review from Auric Blends.  Their perfumes and incense are handcrafted and made with high quality ingredients from around the world.

The oils I received were Egyptian Goddess, their #1 bestseller, Love, their #2 seller, Ocean Song and Coco Mango.

I also received Temple Essence Star Jasmine solid perfume and Nag Champa incense sticks.

 The jasmine came in a beautiful round orb and was a very rich floral scent with a hint of sandalwood:

The Nag Champa is the top selling imported incense in the US. It’s hand rolled and made with herbs, resins and other natural materials. It is my favorite incense and brought back fond memories of ashrams I’d visited around the world.

The Egyptian Goddess is a roll-on perfume oil and has a light floral musk and soft powder scent. It’s warm, seductive and a bit exotic.

The Love roll-on perfume oil is similar to the Egyptian Goddess but a bit sweeter with touches of white amber, white musk and woods.

The Ocean Song I found to be very interesting. It has a white woodsy musk base and top notes of white lavender, Italian lemon and French Riviera mimosa. I liked it very much.

The collection includes warm exotics, spicy woods, sweet fruits, florals,
fresh greens and citrus.

Something for everyone. 

Gigi Hill Katharine bag

Katharine Bag in Fleur de Lis

Carol Bag in Bordeaux

Recently, I received a  lovely bag from Gigi Hill to review. This is the Katharine Bag and it has a beautiful  Fleur de Lis pattern (Faux Leather) outside and inside a Bordeaux striped print.

I really like the Katharine Bag. It’s like a tote only much more stylish and sleek. I love the elegant black and white Fleur de Lis pattern outside and the Bordeaux pattern inside is bold and bright . Just in case your outfit or your mood changes, it’s reversible. I found the size perfect to take anywhere.

You can use this bag for books, papers, snacks, or anything really. It has a secure zippered pocket both inside and out for important items (including sunscreen and lipgloss). My cell phone fits there perfectly. I’m loving the fact that if it gets wet or anything spills, due to the material inside and out, you can simply wipe it off. That’s a definite plus.

Gigi Hill carries handbags, totes, wallets and accessories. The inspiration came when two moms met on a soccer field and wanted to come up with a better bag that would really work with a mom’s daily life – bags that were stylish and functional.

Gigi Hill is modern and chic yet also feminine. They have a really nice variety and you can choose your own style of bag as well as from a large combination of patterns, so you can put together something you truly love.

 Connect with Gigi Hill

Website
Twitter
Facebook 

Would you like a bag like the one I reviewed? Just come back to the blog for the Magical Mother’s Day Hop starting May 7 and enter to win one. See you there!

I find Zazzle to be very cool since you can customize gifts for your mother with unlimited photos, colors, and designs, whether it be a Spa Bag, a necklace, a Keepsake Mug, or a Family Photo Album.

Mother’s Day Necklaces

Mother’s Day Mugs

Pamper your Mom with a unique, custom-made gift. I found it very easy and enjoyable to create and personalize a gift that my Mom would love. You can use their designs or add your own photos. They have customized t-shirts, mugs, keychains and more great gifts for your Mom, grandmother, friend, daughter, wife or girlfriend designed by artists — or you can create your own.

Made in just 24 hours, Zazzle’s Mother’s Day gifts will make Mother’s Day extra special.

I thought this was a great idea. They had funny tshirts and mugs and others that really spoke to the heart. They even had kindle skins and iPhone cases, notebooks, candy jars and more.

How fun to create a mug and yet not have it come out misshapen or lopsided like it would if I actually made it! I chose to get my Mom, an art lover, the Mother and Child by Klimt mug. I love that you can choose your color scheme or add an interior color. I chose pink and I loved the combination. It’s also dishwasher and microwave safe – a bonus.

My gift arrived super fast and was just perfect. I can’t wait to add it to my Mother’s Day gift basket.

Feeling inspired? You can start here and create your own lovely Mother’s Day customized gift.

Come back to the blog for the Magical Mother’s Day hop on May 7 and win a $25 gc to Zazzle to create your own masterpiece for Mom or yourself.

Connect with Zazzle:

Website
Twitter
Facebook

 Disclosure: I was provided items for review but all opinions expressed are my own. 

Here’s a great free blogger event. If you’re interested, simply sign up here and tell them Strange Daze Indeed referred you if you don’t mind.

Techy Tribe and Mom to Bed by 8 are proud to present the Techy Summer Xbox Kinect Bundle Event from July 8 to July 22. This is a free blogger event and accepting signups now.

Join the Techy Summer Xbox Kinect Bundle Giveaway event today, grow your readership and offer a gamers must-have giveaway! I know I’d love one.

You can sign up here and if you would mention I referred you that would be very cool. Thanks!

Huge Office Supply nerd here! I especially geek out over paper notebooks,  notepads, and pens. I suppose that’s natural being a writer. So when I got a wonderful package the other day from Shoplet and Roaring Spring, I was understandably thrilled.

Inside I found:

It has a strong poly cover which is great because if it gets wet you can just wipe it off. And the covers come in 4 awesome colors: Aqua, flamingo, plum, and kermit!

Moving on to my new favorite notebook that I have in my purse and take out when I get home: The Roaring Spring Environotes Sugarcane Notebook. I just have to say: Sweet! It’s the perfect size for me, 9 1/2″ x 6″, wirebound, college-ruled and with 80 sheets of white paper produced from sustainable sugarcane fiber. This paper has a smooth and silky feel and is great for my notes on stories, poems or projects. It inspires me.  There’s just something about having a notebook that fits you and is the perfect size. This would also be great for business meetings as it fits easily into a purse or a briefcase, yet is big enough for whatever you need. It’s great to have a sustainable, environmentally-friendly product that is just as good, if not better than the norm.

And now, we get to the most fun item in the package, Roaring Spring Elephant PooPoo Paper. This is a really cute mini-notebook/journal. It is really attractive and the paper looks like the homemade kind I used to buy for exorbitant prices with pressed flowers or other designs. This paper has bits of fiber in it that look very cool and I like to write quotes in it or snippets of poetry that I think of as I’m going through my day.

But, let’s get to the interesting part here: PooPoo Paper. Yes, I’ll admit my friends laughed, my family laughed. No one wanted to smell it, but, guess what? No smell whatsoever. In fact, if you didn’t tell me what it was made of, I would think it was handmade paper made without poo at all. And what’s great is that this is 100% recycled paper, individually polywrapped. Elephants eat lots of grass each day and since grass has so much fiber and the elephant’s digestive system doesn’t digest it well, the poo is full of great fiber. How wonderful to recycle this for something so useful and harm no trees. The paper is a good thickness and very attractive in my opinion. I feel this is a great gift for your green-loving friends, for artists, writers, poets, note-takers, and anyone who likes something out of the ordinary.

The demand for sustainable products is rising as more and more consumers realize how small changes can add up to a better environment for us all.

In fact, Roaring Spring was named 2010 Recycler of the Year by the American Forest & Paper Association.

Through recycling, we annually save 25,889 trees, 11 million gallons of water, 4690 cubic yards of landfill space, 6.4 million kilowatts of electricity, and eliminate 93,809 pounds of air pollutants.

So, thank you Shoplet and Roaring Springs! You’ve introduced me to a great line of products that I will be using in the future and I will be including the PooPoo Paper with my eco-friendly gifts just because I think it’s that cool.

I was sent products for review purposes, however the opinions are 100% mine.