Pink Digital Photo Keychain Review

It's PINK.
Let me get that out of my system.
PINK PINK PINK.
I like pink.
Now on to business- It's kind of cool, and don't worry, you can get your own Digital Photo Keychain in different colors if pink isn't your bag.

The basics:
It comes with a USB cable to hook it into your computer, for things like recharging the built in lithium battery or transfering pictures to it.
The screen is a 1.5" square.
It comes with a small alligator clip to hook it to your key ring.
The instruction booklet is written in a super tiny typeface so you might need to bust out your magnifying glasses, but at least it's written clearly enough to figure out how to use it.
It has a clock setting, you know, in case your phone clock, wall clock, alarm clock, computer, vehicle clock, sundial, and watch all suddenly are overwhelmed with the prospect of telling time.
It has 4.8 MB of memory, so you should be able to get about 72 pictures on it.
It supports JPEG, BMP, GIF & PNG files, so you you can probably find something compatible for your favorite pictures.
You can buy your own Digital Photo Keychain if you go here.

The Awesome:

The picture quality is good.

It's a great way to show off your kidlets, pets, prize zucchini, tennis ball collection etc without having to bust out your mini-photo album or your phone.

Weighs less than carrying physical pictures.

It's easy to change which pictures you carry from time to time, and you don't have to waste time scrolling through the bad pictures like when you're showing pictures on your phone.

Really reasonably priced at $9.99, you can get one for each of the grandmas without feeling like you can't go grocery shopping.

This would be fantastic for a parent who travels a lot and doesn't get to see his or her children as often as he or she would like, I'm thinking my Uncle in the Navy might like it, well, maybe not a pink one.

The Dorktastic:

You're going to have to suck it up and switch out the keychain attachment ring for something sturdier.  It's not a big deal, or maybe your keys don't see the wear and tear mine do, but the little ring for that attaches directly to the Digital Photo Keychain strikes me as a little wimpy.

The clarity of the pictures is nice, but this is the sort of thing that just SCREAMS gift for grandma to me, and I think grandma is going to have to have to have all her friends put their glasses on to look at it because the screen is a keychain friendly 1.5" square.

Good luck keeping it away from your kidlets.  Seriously.  If you have a toddler, you might consider getting him or her his or her own, because the likelihood of your keys disappearing with pretty changing pictures attached to them is substantially greater than back in the good old days when they were just clanky shiny bits of metal with a wonder woman toy attached. (Did I just admit to having a Wonder Woman keychain? Don't worry, she's pretty pitiful and won't last another day now that I think about it.)

Overall:
All the cool of showing your pictures off on the go, none of the fuss of any other medium.  I like it.
Want a Digital Photo Keychain of your own?  Here's where they live.

Now that I've loaded mine full of pictures, I'm going to box it back up and give it to my mom.  She'll love it, if I can get it back from the JabberWalky.
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This Product Was a Free Giveaway

Buddha Bunz Dryer Balls Review & Art Project

So, I have this friend who makes wool dryer balls. They're awesome. I've bought a few of them and now have a grand total of 8 wool balls.
Basic questions and answers so I can get on to the fun part.

Do they work?
Yes. Very well.
I have been able to dry loads of laundry which normally took two to two and a half runs through the dryer in one to one and a half.  That makes me very happy.
How do they work?
They beat the heck out of your laundry to help soften it while the wool absorbs excess moisture, thus speeding the drying process.
How many do you need?
Buddha Bunz suggests around 9 to reduce your drying time substantially, but I started with three and started noticing a reduction in drying time immediately.
Will they lint-up your laundry?
Nope. I haven't had any trouble with them doing so.
Are they safe to use with cloth diapers?
Yep. And they make it so your cloth diapers actually come out much softer, way faster.
What if I don't use a dryer so much, is it still worth it to own some?
Definitely.  The kids seem to love them as much as I do. Mongoosine likes juggling with them and Snapdragon simply adores playing with them.  I like that they're lightweight and soft enough that I don' tworry when the kids are tossing them about in the house.
Shouldn't I just go ahead and order them from anywhere?
Nope.  I've gotten three different kinds of wool balls, and I've started experimenting with making my own, and here's what I have to say, Melinda from Buddha Bunz does 'em best.  My Buddha Bunz weigh the same as my Wooltopia, but are wound much more neatly and tightly, so all the same ability to absorb, without any of the "hey, could this come apart?" worry, plus they're nearly perfect little spheres.  My other ball, which I bought from a fair, though pretty with swirly black green and yellow (JabberWalky picked it out) is nice and big, but super light-weight, so not nearly as inclined to actually absorb excess moisture.  As for mine, well, lets just say that if I wanted to make them as perfect as my Buddha Bunz, I'd likely give myself carpel tunnel AND an inferiority complex.
Besides, Buddha Bunz are less expensive by the time you add shipping.


There. Done. Now the fun part.
Buddha Bunz sells plain dryer balls, colored dryer balls, and even specially custom designed ones.  They come scented or unscented, and she even makes ones specially as toys with la jingle bell in the center for extra kidlet amusement.  Well, I like the specially designed ones a *lot* but I'm A. cheap, and B. one of those creative types who always wants to figure out how to do things myself.  So, when Melinda from Buddha Bunz was having a sale on undyed wool dryer balls, I couldn't resist the urge to get some plain ones and see what I could do with them.

So, I turned to my favorite know it all, Google, and came up with these two sites on how to dye wool with common household or kitchen ingredients.  No really, very common ingredients.  One is on how to dye wool with kool-aid drink mix (here), and the other is on how to dye wool with vinegar and food coloring (here).

The first thing I noticed about both of these sets of directions was that they're for dying skeins of wool yarn.  Well, I'm dying balls, so it's a little different.

First I decided to try to dye wool using the kool-aid drink mix, so that's what I'll show you here.  I had my heart set on doing a Battlestar Galactica inspired Eye of Jupiter dryer ball, you know, because I'm a geek.

See? Pretty Eye of Jupiter?

So, I gently soaped and rinsed my pretty plain dryer ball, then wet it a bit more as per the instructions I'd read, and then I mixed the contents of a lemonade and a cherry  Kool-Aid drink mix pouch in separate empty clean baby food jars with a tiny bit of water in each, and then a blue raspberry generic drink mix in a third.  I started to paint on the color with a water color brush, but it didn't seem to be working well, though I admit that is likely because I started with the yellow, so I pulled out the baby-medicine syringe and sucked up the mixture into it and gently tapped the color into place until I was happy with my design. I should have taken a picture then.

So, if you're doing a 3 dimensional ball of wool, bear these tips in mind

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1. if you oversaturate it, the color will settle to the bottom.  

2. the directions i read said to heat set it in the microwave for 2 minutes, let it sit, then heat set it for 2 minutes... well, don't. heat it 30 seconds at a time because at 2 minutes, you start smelling something unpleasantly scorchy, well, i did.

3. if you have a lovely intricate pattern which you've carefully painted onto the ball, be sure to put that side UP when you are heat setting it, even if you're using a non-microwave heat setting method, because you'll be irritated when you open it up to find a hot ball of wool where the color has bled over the bottom half, obliterating half your design.  Also, see tip 1.

See how that started out  Eye of Jupiter-ish but ended up being all red on the bottom instead of nice concentric circles?  Yeah. Dang it.

It's still cool, but that was a bit disappointing.

4. wear gloves

Definitely wear gloves, that way you don't have to walk around with "Red Right Hand" stuck in your head all day, night, weekend, week, month, year, however long...

Well, after I heat set it, let it cool a bit, rinsed it, resoaped it, and rinsed again then wrapped it in a paper towel and rubbed it to verify that it was color fast, I realized two more things.  

A. This smelled good.

B. Melinda is better at it than I am.

Bottom line? Buddha Bunz wool dryer balls are the BEST ever, and it takes a while to wash kool aid off your fingers.

Don't worry, I'll show you what I do with my other ones too.

Disclaimer: I was not compensated at all in any way shape or form for this, and I really hope that my friend Melinda who makes the balls isn't irritated with me for sharing this.  But as I said, you can have her do the messy work for  you, get radder results, and not walk around with stained fingernails for a week.