Dork Diaries + Simply Create Kids Review & Giveaway

Dork Diaries follows eighth grader Nikki Maxwell, who chronicles through text and sketches her move to a snooty new school; her epic battle with her mom for an iPhone; her enthusiasm for drawing & art; and a love/hate fascination with the new school’s queen bee, a girl named Mackenzie who becomes Nikki’s rival in a school-wide art competition.

Our Thoughts: Renée instantly transported me back to the middle school drama days through Nikki Maxwell’s diary entries.  Written with a humorous tone but touching on reality enough that you can totally experience Nikki’s life through her words.  Having moved several times throughout my school years, I found Nikki’s story easy to relate to with an all too familiar ring to it. My daughter and I read this first book together and really enjoyed our time spent reading aloud to each other and following Nikki through her first month and a half at her new school. My daughter, who had a rude introduction to girl drama last school year, was emotionally connected with Nikki as she navigated through the days dealing with the “mean girl”.   Nikki is completely likable and I am sure that she will bring out a little bit of the inner dork in all of us (it’s a good thing)!

Website:  www.dorkdiaries.com
Dork Diaries Blog: www.dorkdiariesblog.com

Create Your Own Comic Here (like we did – check out the upper right hand “student of the month” picture)

Find Dork Diaries on Facebook
Publisher:  Simon & Schuster

Where to buy: You can purchase both Dork Diaries books through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and others for $12.99 each (or less).  Visit their site to find other retailers near you.

Do you have stacks of art work that you just can’t seem to part with?  I have folders, notebooks and boxes full of my children’s treasures that are just too precious to just throw out with the trash… but at their ages of 10 and 7 we have become pretty full in our storages areas and with still several years of masterpieces yet to be created ahead of us!  Johanna has come up with the most wonderful solution to turn our children’s artwork into fantastic pieces fit perfectly for framing!

About Simply Create Kids: A GREAT SOLUTION TO DISPLAY YOUR KID’S ARTWORK! Your child makes beautiful art, and you want to put it on display in a clean, professional looking way. Our designs fit tastefully with any home decor. You will want to show off this Masterpiece Display to everyone who stops by.

My Experience and Thoughts: When I first started working with Johanna she gave me the choice between a brand new design that holds 6 works of art or their 9 piece collage.  I decided to go with the 6 piece because I liked the bigger pictures in the design.  All I had to do once I decided which design I wanted was to take photos of the 6 pieces of artwork and email them off to Johanna.

All of them were similar sizes to the two she is holding in the above picture except for one which was considerably smaller.  Some were vertical and some were horizontal and all of them had been folded and collected in folders over the past couple of years (read wrinkles and creases).  I wasn’t sure how she was going to make it work but was absolutely thrilled with the final result:

Hanna was almost as excited about the final result as I was!  It is absolutely gorgeous and I can’t wait to have it framed and get it hung in our home.  This is going to be one of my most treasured pieces for sure and I can’t wait to gather up my youngest daughters art pieces and have one done for her as well!

What a great gift this would be for Mother’s Day or for Grandparents!  Need a great party idea?  Have each guest create a masterpiece for your tween and then have them made into a priceless keepsake for her to hang on her wall (thanks for the great idea Lauren!!).  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my collage and I know you would love yours just as much!

Connect with Simply Create Kids:

Visit the Website:  www.simplycreatekids.com
Visit the Etsy Shop for even more examples:  www.etsy.com/shop/simplycreate
Find Simply Create Kids on Facebook
Visit Simply Create’s Stunning Photography Site: www.simply-create.com

Where to Buy: You can order your own custom masterpiece collage through the Simply Create Kids Website and they offer the 6 piece ($65) one like I received for review as well as  9 piece ($65) and 12 piece designs ($80).

Now for the fabulous giveaway!!!

Win it: I am so excited to be able to host this fabulous combo tween package giveaway!  One of our very lucky readers is going to win BOTH Dork Diaries books as well as their choice between the 6 Piece Collage or the 9 Piece Collage from Simply Create Kids! (Total APR $90)

Or

Win it!!

Mandatory Entry: Visit Dork Diaries and Simply Create Kids then come back here and comment on this post telling us something you liked from each site (one comment).

If you are Like Dork Diaries Facebook page you can have a bonus entry.

If you Like Simply Create Kids Facebook page you can have another bonus entry.

For an explanation of Facebooks contest rules here.

See Newly Revised Contest Rules for even more Entries!

Open to US!

Contest ends 11:59 pm Central Time on 8/31

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Disclaimer:

I was not paid in any form of cash for this posting.

I did receive free product samples to keep for my testing purposes for this review.  I was under no obligation to write a positive review in return for the products.