We were lucky enough to be selected to host a Tryazon party featuring Spinmaster Extreme Sports products!
We invited many former and current classmates but so many were out of town and unfortunately couldn't party with us. The ones who were able to make it had a great time, even in the 100 degree heat index, and one friend even told me her son picked out one of the products to gift a friend for his birthday after the party!
First, if you don't know what Tryazon is, check out this video! You get free products to showcase with friends, submit reviews and have fun!
We got the following toys from Tryazon and Spinmaster. I've shared marketing photos and my own photos below so you can see what they're all about and get my opinion of each of them:
Monster Jam, Monster Dirt Arena 24-Inch Playset with 2lbs of Monster Dirt
The concept of this toy is awesome - monster trucks and dirt! However, while they brag on the box that it comes with 2 lbs of "monster dirt," that 2 lbs doesn't fill the arena by any stretch of the imagination. My other complaint is that the blue sides of the arena easily pop out from the bottom, so it can't be moved once you set it up until you remove the sand and are ready to put the toy away.
This amount of "monster dirt" was so disappointing that for our Tryazon party, we used play sand from the sandbox and filled the arena. The kids loved using the toy and molding jumps cars with the plastic pieces included and squishing them with the trucks.
Monster Jam, Megalodon Monster Wash
This was a favorite of the kids at our party as well, it was played with for the entire two hours. You put water in the aqua blue circle part and when you drive a truck into it, and crank the handle, the truck spins around like it's in a real car wash! Then there's a conveyer belt that really moves, and lastly the truck can roll off into a mud puddle again and start the process all over! I was surprised how long it took them to realize that they could take the sand from the monster truck arena and put it in the mud puddle part and make dirty water. However the sand jammed up the conveyer belt and I had to disassemble it to clean it out to make it work again. I don't recommend using sand with the Monster Wash set.
Monster Jam, Blastin’ Bones Playset with Exclusive Monster Mutt Dalmatian
This toy didn't keep the attention of the kids quite as long as the sand and water (go figure), but it works well and everyone tried it out. You use the launcher to launch a monster truck at the blue box. When the box is hit, it opens up and bones fall out of it. One kid even realized that you could put other trucks in the hanging box and when the box explodes open the truck falls out. I have no complaints about this toy at all, it works as intended and stays together well.
Monster Jam Mini, Megalodon Race and Chomp Playset
This set uses the mini monster jam trucks, which are super cute! You put the cars in the launcher, they go completely upside down along the track (cleverly designed to look like a wave) and then when one car hits the teeth of the shark, its mouth closes on the truck. Fun idea, but it took us about 10 tries for the truck to even make it to the teeth to hit them and close on the truck. That didn't stop the kids from coming up with a creative way to use the toy though, the boys just made the sharks mouth close themselves.
Tech Deck
Tech Deck, Bowl Builder X-Connect Park Creator, Tech Deck, Nyjah Skatepark X-Connect Park Creator, Tech Deck, Jump N’ Grind X-Connect Park Creator, Tech Deck, Play and Display Transforming Ramp Set and Carrying Case
I'm combining my review of the Tech Deck toys into one, since they are better combined together when playing anyway. With the various pieces you can build a skatepark for a fingerboard skateboard (one included with each set). From what I've seen on YouTube, you can do some cool tricks with the fingerboard, but my son didn't have the patience to watch a video to figure out how to use these. The kiddos all visited the Tech Deck station at our party and tried them out but they didn't get as much love as the Monster Jam toys.
Here's a video I found on YouTube showing some fingerboard basics (I didn't even know fingerboards were a thing before we got these toys....)
Supercross
Supercross, Authentic 1:10 Scale Collector Die-Cast Motorcycle Replica and Supercross, Race and Wheelie Competition Set, Includes Ricky Carmichael and Ken Roczen
The Race and Wheelie set bikes are cute! You rev them up and then they go by themselves, spin, and it includes a ramp to make it more fun (the ramp worked best on a low pile rug, as it slid across the wood floor when the bike would hit it). The Collector Die-Cast Motorcycle comes with a stand, so it can be placed anywhere. It is sized nicely for kids hands also for playtime as well.
We decided to test the Casper Pillow, the Purple Pillow and the Coop Pillow because we needed new pillows. So we tested all three pillows to see which one we like the best.
Casper Pillow
CASPER PILLOW
The Casper Pillow was 65 dollars regular price. We got it at 60 dollars with a discount. It was shipped in two days, faster than the other two pillows. It also has a 30 day money back guarantee. It actually is 2 pillows, one inside of the other, one for fluff and the other for firm. They advertise that it's as soft as a cloud. It is as soft as a cloud because you fall right through! I didn't like this pillow that much. It was too soft.
Purple Pillow
PURPLE PILLOW
The Purple Pillow was 109 dollars. It was shipped in 8 days. It also had a 100 night trial. They also say it is high tech and has no memory foam inside of it. The inside of the pillow feels very weird. The best way to describe it is how when you squish a bag of water, that's how it feels. I love the Purple Pillow and it feels like sleeping on water.
Coop Pillow
COOP PILLOW
The Coop Pillow was $79.99, but with a discount it was 72 dollars. It took 13 days, the longest of all the pillows. The guarantee is 100 nights. They advertise that you can add or remove fluff from the pillow so that it can feel good to everyone. It is okay but not the best.
CONCLUSION
All the pillows where pretty good, but, my favorite pillow is the Purple Pillow because its so different from all the other pillows. It feels like I'm sleeping on water! The Casper Pillow was my least favorite because it was too fluffy and the Coop Pillow isn't as good as the Purple Pillow.
I've been looking for a good bucket hat pattern for years - my kids inherited such big heads, that a lot of the cute kid hats in stores just don't fit them. Enter the new Pepper Street Bucket Hat by Tie Dye Diva Patterns. This hat comes in 9 different sizes for a perfect fit from infant to adult. In addition, there's the option to make it reversible, with a stripe or color block, or add a chin strap or drawcord.
I went with an otter theme, because William is obsessed with these guys lately. It also gave me an excuse to play with my new Cricut Maker.
I wanted to use fabric that complements the otter theme and gave the kids several options. Jillian chose the shell and William chose a water texture.
It's show and tell time! I got to test Tie Dye Diva Sewing Patterns new releases, the Peony top and Pansy shorts. It's hard to find patterns that Jillian likes these days, now that she's 10 years old and all, and to be honest, she wasn't sold on the drawing but once I had them finished she loves them!
There's multiple options for the Peony top - cropped or hip length, tiered ruffles or without, on or off the shoulders and with or without ties on the shoulders. Then of course add in the variety of fabrics and trims and the options are endless.
The Pansy Shorts can have ruffles, lace or other trim and offer pockets!!!
Jillian really wanted dragon wings for her birthday and since we're quarantined at home and couldn't have a party I really wanted to make these happen. Enter twig and Tale's Dragon Wings pattern!
Check out my new favorite knit tee, the Cee's Tee, by Tie Dye Diva Sewing Patterns. It's a knit tee with a woven collar...and a cute little vented droptail hem with a color accent.
In all, the pattern offers 9 sizes, 2 collars, 3 sleeves and 2 hems. And I couldn't believe what an easy sew it was! No longer should you be afraid of a collar!
January came and went and we're well into February already - how'd that happen???
Here's a video showing how I'm connecting the second point (February) to the first point (January). I created a temperature tracker spreadsheet with space to fill in the temps and a cheat sheet showing what the stitch numbers are for each day, which you can download here, and you'll see in the video below.
(Click the square down in the corner to view full screen)
It's been 2 years since I made a temperature blanket and I'm ready to try it again! This time I'm going for something a little big smaller and more manageable....recall A Row a Day for 366 days.
I saw several people in the facebook group Temperature Blanket Yarn-Along doing a 12 point star and I've totally fallen in love with it. I'm going to attempt this blanket this year, in a purple color scheme.
To begin, follow the instructions on the pattern, using the color you want for the center of your blanket, for rounds 1-6.
Now, instead of working in the round for the rest of the rows, I'll be doing one star section per month. Each star section will be 31 rows (for months shorter than 31 days, fill in the last row(s) with your center color).
Begin with a slip stitch to the right of one of the points. Chain two. Double Crochet in the next two stitches, stitch a "small shell" (refer to pattern from Ravelry) in the chain space, and finish the first days row by double crocheting in the next 3 stitches. You're done for today.
Follow the chart below, based on what day of the month it is:
Sl. Chain 2. Dc in next 2 stitches. Small shell in chain space. Dc in next 3 stitches.
Sl. Chain 2. Dc in next 2 stitches. Large shell in chain space. Dc in next 3 stitches.
Sl. Chain 2. Dc in next 3 stitches. Large shell in chain space. Dc in next 4 stitches.
Sl. Chain 2. Dc in next 4 stitches. Small shell in chain space. Dc in next 5 stitches.
Sl. Chain 2. Dc in next 4 stitches. Large shell in chain space. Dc in next 5 stitches.
Sl. Chain 2. Dc in next 5 stitches. Large shell in chain space. Dc in next 6 stitches.
Sl. Chain 2. Dc in next 6 stitches. Small shell in chain space. Dc in next 7 stitches.
Sl. Chain 2. Dc in next 6 stitches. Large shell in chain space. Dc in next 7 stitches.
Sl. Chain 2. Dc in next 7 stitches. Large shell in chain space. Dc in next 8 stitches.
Sl. Chain 2. Dc in next 8 stitches. Small shell in chain space. Dc in next 9 stitches.
Sl. Chain 2. Dc in next 8 stitches. Large shell in chain space. Dc in next 9 stitches.
Sl. Chain 2. Dc in next 9 stitches. Large shell in chain space. Dc in next 10 stitches.
Sl. Chain 2. Dc in next 10 stitches. Small shell in chain space. Dc in next 11 stitches.
Sl. Chain 2. Dc in next 10 stitches. Large shell in chain space. Dc in next 11 stitches.
Sl. Chain 2. Dc in next 11 stitches. Large shell in chain space. Dc in next 12 stitches.
Sl. Chain 2. Dc in next 12 stitches. Small shell in chain space. Dc in next 13 stitches.
Sl. Chain 2. Dc in next 12 stitches. Large shell in chain space. Dc in next 13 stitches.
Sl. Chain 2. Dc in next 13 stitches. Large shell in chain space. Dc in next 14 stitches.
Sl. Chain 2. Dc in next 14 stitches. Small shell in chain space. Dc in next 15 stitches.
Sl. Chain 2. Dc in next 14 stitches. Large shell in chain space. Dc in next 15 stitches.
Sl. Chain 2. Dc in next 15 stitches. Large shell in chain space. Dc in next 16 stitches.
Sl. Chain 2. Dc in next 16 stitches. Small shell in chain space. Dc in next 17 stitches.
Sl. Chain 2. Dc in next 16 stitches. Large shell in chain space. Dc in next 17 stitches.
Sl. Chain 2. Dc in next 17 stitches. Large shell in chain space. Dc in next 18 stitches.
Sl. Chain 2. Dc in next 18 stitches. Small shell in chain space. Dc in next 19 stitches.
Sl. Chain 2. Dc in next 18 stitches. Large shell in chain space. Dc in next 19 stitches.
Sl. Chain 2. Dc in next 19 stitches. Large shell in chain space. Dc in next 20 stitches.
Sl. Chain 2. Dc in next 20 stitches. Small shell in chain space. Dc in next 21 stitches.
Sl. Chain 2. Dc in next 20 stitches. Large shell in chain space. Dc in next 21 stitches.
Sl. Chain 2. Dc in next 21 stitches. Large shell in chain space. Dc in next 22 stitches.
Sl. Chain 2. Dc in next 22 stitches. Small shell in chain space. Dc in next 23 stitches.
When you start month two, you'll move to the next point to the right, and slip stitch into the first stitch of the previous months row for the given day to finish the row. Finally, for the last month, you'll slip stitch both the start and ending previous month chains to complete the rows. Then finish the entire blanket off with a slip stitch, chain 2, dc in next 22 stitches. Large shell in chain space. Dc in next 23 stitches.
I plan to blog this whole process throughout the year, so stay tuned!
