The cylindrical glass jar is plain and clear and you can see the red of the vanilla passion fruit on top and a creamy colored bottom on the bottom for the Hawaiian breeze. I really enjoyed the first half of this candle and it burned quite evenly, which is always a plus. I burned it for several hours — I’d say four to six — for two days before the mixed scent started filling the air and it was also quite enjoyable. The burning wax made for a subtle change that was interesting but not sense-assaulting.

After the candle burned down to just the Hawaiian breeze, I was a little less impressed. It wasn’t horrible but the smell of wax was more noticeable and the scent of the candle itself was a) not quite what I expected from using the air freshener and b) just too weak to do a good job at fragrancing the air.

Still, for a small jar, the burn time was impressive. I’m not sure if it was quite 22 hours but I did burn it for at least 16. It burned cleaner and more evenly than I expected and the first half really made the open area in my apartment smell good. My nose didn’t become used to it so that I could no longer smell it. I would probably purchase it again but not all the time. I’d rather wait for a coupon or sale before I buy the Haiwaiian Breeze & Vanilla Passion Fruit candle from Glade.

Crisp Waters Plugins Scented Oil

The good news is I probably wouldn’t die because I actually like the Crisp Waters scent that I received to try and spread word about. It’s floral with a subtle fruity undertone. I know that’s a generic description but I’m not familiar with floral scents to be any more specific. It’s pretty strong so I’ve had my plug-ins set on low for the most part. Because the weather’s been so nice, I’ve had my bathroom window open and when I closed it, the scent seems to be even stronger. In fact, I haven’t switched the old freshener in my room because it’s so strong.

Although it won’t replace my love for the Hawaiian Breeze scent (and I do mean LOVE!), I’d buy Crisp Waters for use in the living room–which I try to switch up every month or so.

Unfortunately, I’m not feeling so benevolent toward Glade’s limited edition Sparkle of Spring candle. My mom had purchased some of the holiday scents so I was familiar with the jar candles and, if you’re not the candle type, Sparkle of Spring and Bring on the Blossoms (which are both limited editions) are available as room sprays, oil candles and plugins scented oils, too.

Glade Sparkle of Spring Candle

I’ve actually burned the candle to its end and have to point out that, as it burned down, the scent slowly faded and became replaced with something much more soapy and waxy. I rather don’t like generic soapy and waxy scent but perhaps the lime contributes to that as so many cleaning products are lime scented. Like I said, lime isn’t my thing and, at first, I didn’t mind it. The undertones of vanilla were pleasant enough. Nevertheless, ginger didn’t really make an appearance as far as I can tell. I probably would have better enjoyed Bring on the Blossoms. I also don’t think I got 22 hours of burn time with this candle but it definitely lasted longer than a votive.

While the candle burned pretty evenly, it seems to end sooner than one would expect. There’s a bout one half of a centimeter of wax left but the wick just won’t hold a flame. It feels a little wasteful. As does the glass container. I always have this problem when I’m done with candles, though. Do I force myself to reuse the jar or just recycle it? I can reuse it for a votive but I’ll probably wind up taking it out with the co-mingles.

Of course, SC Johnson sent me a few more items so my house will be and smell clean. Look for those reviews and a giveaway soon!

Thanks to BzzAgent and SC Johnson for this opportunity!

So the Picture Hanging Strips are kind of like velcro in that you stick one strip to the frame/picture and one to the wall and they connect in the middle. The design is not the same as the rough/soft velcro; in fact, each side has the same plastic texture but the concept is similar.

The instructions say that you must clean the wall with alcohol and allow it to dry before sticking the strips to the wall. You separate the strips, stick two of them together and then stick that to the frame which you press to the wall for 30 seconds. I didn’t clean the wall and probably didn’t hold for 30 seconds. My frame (a 16×20, I believe) has been sticking nicely with 2 sets of Picture Hanging Strips on either vertical side, toward the top.

With that said, I don’t know what size I picked up. I didn’t realize there were multiple sizes or colors. It’s not a big deal but if you look behind the picture frame, you can see the white hanging strips because they’re about 1/4″ thick. For the curious the small strips hold up to 8″ x 10″ frames, the medium strips hold up to 16″ x 20″ pictures and you can use the largest strips for 24″ x 36″ pictures.

3M includes a number of tips for using these, too.

• Maximum of 4 sets per frame.
• Wait minimum 7 days after painting to hang frames.
• If there is paper backing on frame, remove to attach fastener directly to frame.
• If using 4 sets, lower set should be 2/3 down on frame, not the bottom corners.

So the good news is that I love them for my medium sized picture on a basic, painted dry wall that I didn’t even clean. The bad news is that not everyone is so lucky. The Amazon reviews clearly depict that these do not work in every situation. I wouldn’t use the 3M Picture Hanging Strips on slick surfaces or paint, for one.

And, apparently, the adhesive can melt in 90 degree weather but I have to ask who is moronic enough not to turn on their air conditioning when it’s that hot anyway? Freaks. I mean, I live in Texas and I use 3M stuff for everything.

My only major complaint is that I’m pretty sure the set I bought only had 3 sets of strips. I don’t know if this was a mistake, as I can only find sets of 4,6 or 8 in online retailers, but I used two pairs and now only have one left and that’s.. not really enough to hang anything. LOL It’s definitely a better deal if you buy the 6 packs, though.

So I was glad to find a print that I really liked. All I had to do was choose was type of product I wanted and I opted for photo print. At the same time, I bought a frame and mat to fit an 8″x10″ photo so I looked for that size. This is where I hit my first and, really, the only snag in shopping at DeviantArt. When you choose size, you are choosing size of the paper a deviation is printed on, not the actual size of the image. Because of specific ratios, your image may be smaller than than the paper so you will see a border which will actually exist. Because you also cannot view it face to face or even in 1:1 size, it’s difficult to tell how larger that border is. I knew my mat would overlap at least 1/2″ but I didn’t know if the borders would be larger than that.

I bit the bullet and purchased the print anyway. Of course, it turned out that it didn’t fit. Despite overlap of the mat, the border was too large and showed through on the sides. Height-wise, it fit just fine, however. When I contacted DeviantArt, I suggested they employ some way that they could minimize this issue and I was told very few people have troubles with it. That response was snippy and rude because I believe my concern to be valid. You do have to guess as to the size of the borders and even if you can see it, you cannot line it up with your specific frame or mat to see if it will fit. Granted, you could purchase it framed from the shop or you could cut your own mat but my situation would have been a bit improved had DeviantArt tried to take out the guesswork.

I was able to send to print back, on my dime (but it was cheap), to get a refund. Unfortunately, they do not have an automated refund system so I had to get this information from customer service who then had to alert another department. Although I used delivery confirmation, it did not show up as confirmed on the USPS site and I had to contact customer service again. I think it’s worth mentioning that, during this time, they switched their help set up. The customer service rep verified that the print had been received and a refund issued; however, I was never alerted and that seems like a pretty common sense thing to do.

I bought my new, slightly larger print (8.5″ x11″ – for one damned cent more LOL) and it shipped quickly. It arrived in a tube type package, was rolled up and wrapped in plastic. It was in good shape and I was relieved that it fit my mat, width-wise. I had to cut off a bit of the top when framing it, which I had figured would be the case so it wasn’t unexpected. In the end, it looks pretty nice. I’d love to show you a picture of it hung but I need a new cord for my camera. I might have opted for a larger size and I may even buy the rest of the images in the series. However, if I may future purchases from the DeviantArt Prints Shop, I will make an effort to purchase a print which takes up the entire page (the paper has the same ratio) so I can avoid issues like this in the future.

For example, when I was shopping for a refill to use with our diffuser (I had to dump the oil when we move )=), we checked out a few places but very few of them carried refill oil by itself or, if they did, the scents were not appealing. Pier 1 has a lot of options when it comes to diffusers and what I really like about the store is that have testers out so you can smell almost ever scent.

We looked at several lines/brands or kits and settled on buying a bottle of oil from what appears to be Pier 1′s store brand: “Make Your Own Diffuser”. Although we didn’t need a bottle, they were having a sale and we bought a great little bottle for a great price. We also added some basic reeds (because the ones we have are scented with the previously oil). Pier 1 carries several styles of ‘reeds’ from the basic sticks which we picked to more intricate styles. While it wasn’t out intent to buy a whole new kit, we did. (Now we do have an extra empty bottle which I should use for something else).

From the line, we bought a 16 FL ounce bottle of Island Orchard scented oil. In the two or so months which we’ve had this oil, we have used less than a third of it (the bottle is about 2/3 full and I just refilled our diffuser). The diffuser bottle which we have is fairly small so it will use less oil than larger bottles.

I love the scent: it’s a bit tropical and a lot apple. In the air, the scent smells exactly like it does in the bottle. With the previous oil I had, it did seem like the fragrance was better in the bottle than in the air and it had a particular alcoholic scent. However, Pier 1′s diffuser oil does not smell like alcohol. There is not an ingredient list on the bottle, however. It does say it is flammable but it would be nice to know everything which is in there.

I set up the reed diffuser on a lamp shelf in the corner of my bedroom. It definitely smelled good but wasn’t as strong as I would have liked, originally. If you were standing right next to it, it was easier to smell but you would probably not notice it if you were across the room, sadly. Occasionally, I would just be lying in bed or in the room and get a whiff of it which made me smile but I wanted it to be stronger. So, when I refilled the bottle a few days ago, I also flipped over the reeds which does seem to have made the scent a bit stronger but not much. It’s a shame because it’s usually so hard for me to find scents I really like and I wish this one were stronger.

Even though I really like this product, I would probably buy something else in the future. For $15, I think I could purchase a different oil which would be stronger. Nevertheless, Pier 1 does have a lot of great options for packaged reed diffuser kits as well as individual supplies if you need to replenish or want sometihng more unique.

However, I really like the lights. I was initially wary of buying a Faceted Light Set because I wasn’t fond of the flame tip shape (sort of tear drop with a pointed end) but it has really since grown on me. I especially love how the faceted lights – which include red, pink, blue, yellow and green bulbs – appear. They leave a kaleidoscope-like pattern on the wall which looks amazing when the colours blend together. (I am kicking myself for not being able to find my camera!)

The lights come in strands of 45 and each bulb has a small clip on it to help put it up. I simply draped outs over the curtain rod and let it hang down over the window so I didn’t need any further tools. I actually didn’t notice the hooks at first but I think they could be extremely useful.

These lights are extremely bright and easy to see. They’re hung in our bedroom and we definitely have to unplug them or else we’ll get no sleep.

These lights are a nice addition to our Christmas decor. The colours and light patterns are gorgeous and I’m glad we snagged the last box.