Make Your Message POP with Pentel Pens Review and Giveaway #PentelPOP #ad

*This is a sponsored post. All opinions in this post are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance to FTC Guidelines. #ad

I wear many hats in my life, I am a Mom, a blogger, a sales person and a homeschooling teacher. All of these things require me to be creative! One of my favorite things for my sales job is writing "Thank You" notes for my customers. I like to add my personality in my cards with fun colors and little hand drawn art. I do not have the best art skills so I always need good tools to add the POP of color and fun that I want to my cards.

Using Pentel POP Gel Collection pens allows for my lack of skills to still make my cards fun. The Gel Collection set includes 3 types of pens, Sparkle Pop, Milky Pop and Solar Pop. I LOVE the Sparkle Pop since I like all things sparkly! My son was enjoying the Solar Pop for his art work. The fluidity of the pens sets them apart from the average pen. They are bright in color and easy to write with. I plan on leaving some of the fun sparkle colors at work for my co-workers to use on their "Thank You notes. My son has claimed all the Solar Pens and has stashed them away in his school desk.

Sparkle Pop

• Add a unique "Pop" of shimmering color to your writing world
• New innovative, reflective and sparkling iridescent ink is ultra-glittery
• Ink looks like a different color when writing on black or white paper (2 colors in 1)
• Perfect for cards, drawings, doodles and other designs

Milky Pop

• Add a "Pop" of pizzazz to any page with milky pastel ink colors
• Vivid pastel colored ink contrasts well with dark colored paper to make your writing and artwork stand out
• Perfect for invitations, greeting cards, drawing and more

Solar Pop

• Add a "Pop" of bright neon color to your life
• Unique ink glows bright under a blacklight
• Vibrant fluorescent neon ink colors give your writing and artwork extra visual attention

My son is truly a creative individual. He has loved writing stories and drawing the illustrations since he was in kindergarten. This last school year he has started writing and illustrating his own Comic Book series. His stories are filled with humor and the constant battle of good vs. bad as the characters develop their stories. He is always wanting new shades of color to make his illustrations more detailed. He enjoyed using the Pentel Gel Solar pens for his newest comic.

What would you create with Pentel Gel POP Pens? Enter my giveaway here on the blog for a chance to win a $40 worth of assorted Pentel POP products. If you are looking for inspiration for creative ideas using Pentel POP Pens you can check out their idea page HERE.

GIVEAWAY


a Rafflecopter giveaway
***GIVEAWAY limited to U.S. residents 18 years old and above. Giveaway starts July 16, 2018 and ends on July 30, 2018 at 12:01 am PST. Winner will be emailed and has 48 hours to respond before another winner is selected. The opinions on this item are 100% mine and may vary from others. The sponsor is responsible for providing the prize.

Family Fun with Art and Music at Festival de la Familia

Living near Sacramento and Cal Expo we have the opportunity to attend all sorts of festivals. We love to get outside to enjoy the food and music. On Sunday April 29th we had the opportunity to attend Festival de la Familia. This year the festival was celebrating 21 years of hosting a celebration of Latino Cultures. This was also the first year we went to see all the excitement. We thought about going last year but our son was so little I did not think there would be much for him to do. But I was wrong. There is so much for kids to do at this event.

The event had food, music, kids craft areas, lots of booths to win prizes, stages with performers and the atmosphere was an upbeat happy feeling. Everyone was smiling enjoying good food, family and music.

My son thought this bear was great. He got a sticker and a balloon from him.

They had 3 stages with music and dancing. We saw many great performances representing several countries such as Mexico, Cuba, Brazil, Columbia and many more. I loved all the beautiful costumes and how there was little kids in some of the performance. My son enjoys music and dancing so he was loving all the music.

The food area was covered from the heat of the sun. The beautiful flags of the Latino countries represented at the festival lined the ceiling.

Many vendors such as Safeway provided free snacks and samples of drinks.

One of my favorite parts of Festival de la Familia was the art exhibits. We had the opportunity see beautiful art work from 21 artists. The artist were happy to explain meaning and technique to us and had items for sale. One of my favorites was the Sugar Skull made of sugar. Another great artist is Diego Marcial Rios. He was painting a piece during the exhibit and had beautiful paintings made with acrylic paint on canvas.

These pieces of art were made from recycled materials. I love the Birch Tree one.

 After seeing all the art work we went back outside to see some of the interactive booths for kids. My son likes sports so we let him show off his putting skills. ( He did think it was a driver at first and whacked it really far, thankfully the volunteers were nice enough to run after the ball). We also bought tickets to go into the bounce house. My son always asks but this was the first time we let him go in. He was about half way through when he got scared, cried and had to come back out. He is a trooper for trying. Maybe next year he will make it to the exit. He got to see horses and even throw a baseball. There was so much to do and we had a ton of fun.

Exhausted from all the fun stuff we did we had some great food and drinks while we watched a band play on the main stage. They had a boy who did not look any older than 6 years old as the singer. Even though we did not understand the words to the song it was amazing! We finished up the day with Churros and one more walk through to make sure we did not miss anything. We had a great time and look forward to next year.

You can learn more about Festival de la Familia on their facebook and twitter pages.



*I was not paid for this review. The opinions are 100% mine and may vary from others. I was provided free tickets for my family for admission from the PR/Company that represents them.

FavoriteThings A Birthday Present

I have always loved birthdays. We have a large family so there is always someone's birthday to celebrate. As a mother of five children, I loved giving the birthday parties and buying the presents for their special day.

But like many women, when it comes to my own birthday I shy away from wanting a big fuss. As mothers we always seem to put everyone else first.

So a few years ago when my lovely and talented friend Cathy gave me a painting she had made for me, I was very touched. I loved that she had thought of me, had spent the time painting something that she thought I would like.This painting never fails to cheer me up. It's vibrant, yet calming, and I will always have it hanging on my wall, wherever that wall may be.

To me, a painting is such a special gift because it is a piece of the artist herself that she has put into the work. So thank you again, my friend. It really is one of my favorite things.