Saturday, March 10, 2012

Sparkling Reviews | $500 Amazon Giftcard Giveaway

Give Sparkling Reviews some bloggy love and, while you're there, enter for a chance to win a $500 Amazon giftcard! Ends March 10th, so hurry!

Sparkling Reviews Follower Appreciation Day Giveaway

Head on over to Sparkling Reviews and enter for a chance to win...
A sparkly new Ipad 2!
A leopard-print Kitchen-aid mixer!
A MacBook Pro!
$1,000 Coach Giftcard!
$500 Best Buy Giftcard!
Kobo Vox e-reader in your choice of color!

And the big daddy prize...

An Apple Giftpack! MacBook Air, iPhone 4s, iPod Touch 32 GB, Apple TV, and an iPad 3. Yeah. Huge.

Ends March 10th at midnight, so don't wait! Good luck. :)

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Easy Canvas Prints Review & Giveaway

Easy Canvas Prints, a company that puts your photos on canvas. A pretty easy concept, when you think about it, but there's something really exciting about it all he same.

For this review, I'll break it down into the ordering process and the product.

Ordering: Okay, this site is super easy to navigate. Total no-brainer. You can create a canvas with an uploaded image (you can even snag a photo from your Facebook account) in less than 5 minutes by first choosing the size, which range from 8x8" to 24x36" and all clearly priced, then loading your image (there's a handy meter which tells you whether your image is of high enough quality to be printed), then just follow the easy steps which follow and voila. Your very own, one of a kind canvas. The only downside I could find while ordering my canvas was that you couldn't change the orientation of the canvas from portrait to landscape. I had to rotate the image on my computer and reload it. But aside from that, it was really an easy experience, and the hanging hook on the back is oriented correctly to the image.
Another important thing to remember is that when you scan a photo that's maybe not so great--like, say, my parents wedding photo--the pixel count will be high enough for the quality-widget to give you the go ahead, but the image itself won't be good enough for printing. This is what happened to me the first time I placed my order. The good news: Easy Canvas Prints emailed me promptly saying that my order was on hold and why. They suggested that I choose another picture and gave me clear instructions on how to either change the picture or go ahead with the printing. I chose another picture and the canvas arrived three days later. I was very impressed with the service.
Another thing to keep in mind when choosing a digital image from your computer is that the screen is luminous but a canvas is not. Shadows might not seem like a big deal on your computer, but they sure show themselves clearly in print.
Which brings me to...

Product: I was pretty excited to see my canvas when it arrived, so I tore into the box, at which point I became even more excited. This was much more than I was expecting. I don't why, but I wasn't expecting the image to be so vibrant and clear. It's really an excellent product.
I have now ordered a total three canvases from Easy Canvas Prints (one was a prize, the second was for review, and the third we bought as a Christmas present for my parents), and I am really very pleased with each of them. When my review canvas arrived and I unpacked it, I was a bit distressed; the canvas was noticably loose on the frame, but by the next day it had tightened up. I can't explain why this was, but it mended itself; so if you order one and it arrives a bit loose, don't fret, just give a day and see what happens.

Now for the giveaway!
One lucky reader will win one 8x10 canvas with their picture of choice.

Rules:
Open to residents of the continental US (company's request)
Giveaway will run from 1/1/12 and will end at 12:00 am on 1/14/12
To enter fill out the Rafflecopter form below (please do not leave any personal information in the comments)
Winner will be contacted by email and will have 48 hours to respond before a new winner will be picked.
Note: If you Like Easy Canvas Prints on Face Book, which is worth 1 point, you can get 50% off your next order and free shipping! So really, everyone's a winner here.

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