Carolina Pad Review & Giveaway (USA/Canada) 02/05/11

class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-20247" title="carlonia_pads_logo" src="http://canadianfreestuff.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/carlonia_pads_logo-300x105.jpg" alt="carlonia pads logo 300x105 Carolina Pad Review & Giveaway (USA/Canada) 02/05/11" width="300" height="105" />

It is a brand new year and time for a brand new product review. I am super excited to tell you all about some wonderful new products I just received from href="http://www.carolinapad.com/" target="_blank">Carolina Pad, but first let me tell you a little about this amazing company.

href="http://www.carolinapad.com/" target="_blank">Carolina Pad began way back in 1945 in Charlotte, North Carolina. A gentleman named Joseph K. Hall and some of his business associates gathered up as much money and equipment as they could and launched a brand new company called Carolina Pad. This company started out by manufacturing school supplies and since Joseph was a former teacher, principal and coach he knew a thing or two about school supplies. He had previously been operating Hall and Morris in Belmont North Carolina, but this new business was going to be different. They would manufacture there own products and sell them directly to the schools. They created composition books, notebook paper, primary tablets, pencils, crayons as well as other school supplies. To make the company stand out from the competition he made sure his notebooks had more sheets in then but would cost less. He built the company on quality and value.

Fast forward to the year 2000 when Clay Presly became the company?s president. In this year they shifted their focus from manufacturing products to designing them. href="http://www.carolinapad.com/" target="_blank">Carolina Pad helped transform the stationary industry by introducing fashion into their school and office supplies. In 2003 Clay bought majority interest in the company and expanded operations internationally.

Today href="http://www.carolinapad.com/our-collections/our-collections.cfm" target="_blank">Carolina Pad is known for it?s fashion forward designs and as always their exceptional quality and value. href="http://www.carolinapad.com/subpage.cfm/page/collections/id/9C63844D-CE93-4785-8EA3-6BCAB0A12FE9" target="_blank">Carolina Pad can be found in the USA, Canada, Mexico and Europe. They are sold in retail stores such as Target, Wal-Mart and Staples. You can even buy them on-line through their href="http://02ca560.netsolstores.com/" target="_blank">wonderful web store.

So last week I was very excited to receive a parcel from Carolina Pad. It arrived just as the power had went out!  No, really I was standing in the dark trying to sign for the parcel. LOL. Inside I found three fantastic products. The first item I received was a brand new two year Pocket Calendar. This portable calendar is a must for every busy person. No matter whether you are a mom on the go or a busy career woman/man. The one I received is from their href="http://www.carolinapad.com/our-collections/hot-chocolate.cfm" target="_blank">Hot Chocolate collection and is designed by href="http://www.jackiemcfee.com/carolina-pad.php" target="_blank">Jack!e for Studio C.  Here is what it looks like.

class="alignnone size-full wp-image-20250" title="2 year planner" src="http://canadianfreestuff.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/2-year-planner.jpg" alt="2 year planner Carolina Pad Review & Giveaway (USA/Canada) 02/05/11" width="150" height="240" />

What I love about this href="http://02ca560.netsolstores.com/hot-chocolate-2011-12-month-planner.aspx" target="_blank">Pocket Calendar is you can take it anywhere. It measures 3 ½? by 6.25″ when closed and can easily be tossed into my purse. It has a soft, flexible, clear protection cover on it too which will add to it?s durability over the next two years. When you open the calendar the month is displayed over the two pages and this gives you ample writing space for each day. You can record any appointments you have as well as birthdays, anniversaries or special reminders. Each page is bordered in a different co-ordinating colour that matches the cover. At the back of the two year Pocket Calendar there is some extra lined pages where you can keep notes. I love the overall design and know this one will get lots of use over the next two years. You can check out other patterns and designs that Carolina Pad offers href="http://www.carolinapad.com/our-brands/our-brands.cfm" target="_blank">here.

The next little goodie I received from Carolina Pad is the href="http://02ca560.netsolstores.com/hot-chocolate-2011-12-month-planner.aspx" target="_blank">Planner. This like the pocket calendar is going to be extremely useful for me. I am an organization freak so this one is right up my alley.

class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-20251" title="planner" src="http://canadianfreestuff.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/planner-276x300.jpg" alt="planner 276x300 Carolina Pad Review & Giveaway (USA/Canada) 02/05/11" width="276" height="300" />

This Planner is also a Jack!e design for Studio C and is the href="http://www.carolinapad.com/our-collections/hot-chocolate.cfm" target="_blank"> Hot Chocolate pattern. I just love the warm chocolate colour matched with pinks and purples. So Cool. This planner will assist me from January 2011 thru December 2011. It has a durable card stock style cover and a snag resistant coil spine. If you have ever purchased a dollar store notebook, than you know how important the snag resistant coil is. This planner measures 8.5″ by 5.6″ which is a nice size and still very portable. This baby is chucked full of little extras too. To start off on the first two pages you have a total of four years at a glance from January 2010 right up to December 2013. Flip the page and there you will find two pages dedicated to your weekly class schedule. (perfect for any student) After that you will see the month of January spread over the next two pages. The layout is bright and bold with again ample writing space for each day. There is even a side column where you can add little notes if you need to. One thing I didn?t?t notice at the beginning is that there is a little helpful hint at the top of the page. January?s say; Be a good friend. Big or small, actions seem to count the most in friendship. True friends are loyal, honest, trustworthy and willing to make a sacrifice when you need help. Awwh, I love it.

Now on to the next pages and there you have each individual day. It is laid out with three days per page, which gives you about seven lines on which to write on. Plenty of room to organize your day. Each month is has a separate tab which makes it easy to flip from one month to the next. Each month has it?s own colour scheme as well and the whole planner has a modern, contemporary look to it. At the back of the planner there are a few more goodies. There you will find a handy conversion table, multiplication table, a map, parts and figures of speech, as well as contact pages where you can record friend, family or business contact information. The last few pages are for notes, which will be very helpful as well. This monthly/daily planner is going to keep my super organized in 2011 and no more excuses for forgetting to get things done. I love it.

class="alignnone size-full wp-image-20253" title="calendar" src="http://canadianfreestuff.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/calendar.jpg" alt="calendar Carolina Pad Review & Giveaway (USA/Canada) 02/05/11" width="300" height="295" />

The last item I received is the desk calendar. I have never owned one of these before and couldn?t wait to start using it. This large flat calendar is the perfect stationary accessory for my home office. It measures 18″ by 10 ½ ? so it is large but super huge like some others I have seen. It completes the three piece set beautifully and once again I adore the Hot Chocolate design. This twelve month calendar shows one month per page and has lots of room for jotting down notes. You can easily see the previous and next months in the upper left hand corner which is also useful. The corners have nice clear plastic protectors on them so the edges won?t curl up over time. The top of this href="http://02ca560.netsolstores.com/hot-chocolate-2011-12-month-desk-calendar.aspx" target="_blank">Desk Calendar also has holes punched in the top of it so if you wanted to hand it up on a wall you actually could. The design is bold, clean and modern. Again this item is going to get a lot of use. It will be perfect more to keep track of what I am going to write and when as well as appointments and for me when contests will be ending.

I am very happy with all three items I received from href="http://www.carolinapad.com/school-zone/school-zone.cfm" target="_blank">Carolina Pad as I have been in the past. Their quality and value is very impressive and I encourage you to have a look at their website and discover all the other wonderful, fashionable pieces they have to offer. There are many different designs and patterns available. Even within the Hot Chocolate collection you will find that they offer different colours to choose from. I think their prices are very reasonable too for the quality you are getting. So head on over and check them out.

class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-20254" title="Hot-Chocolate_Family2" src="http://canadianfreestuff.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Hot-Chocolate_Family2-300x200.jpg" alt="Hot Chocolate Family2 300x200 Carolina Pad Review & Giveaway (USA/Canada) 02/05/11" width="300" height="200" />

USA residents can enter for their chance to win a $25.00 Gift Certificate to the Carolina Pad Webstore and Canadian residents can enter to win a prize package with a retail value of $25.00. (Please note that only one winner will be drawn)

PLEASE NOTE: Anyone who has won a Carolina Pad prize package or gift certificate in the last 90 days is not eligible.

Mandatory To Enter:

-Visit the Carolina Pad  href="http://02ca560.netsolstores.com/index.aspx" target="_blank">Web store and have a good look around at all their wonderful products than come back here and leave me a comment below as to which one is your favourite.

Bonus Entires:

-?Like? Carolina Pad on href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Carolina-Pad/20968565045" target="_blank">Facebook here (1 bonus entry) comment below once you have liked them

-Follow Carolina Pad on href="http://twitter.com/carolinapad" target="_blank">Twitter here (1 bonus entry) comment below with your twitter name

-Re-tweet about the review/giveaway (1 bonus entry per day) comment below each time you re-tweet

-Grab the Canadian Free Stuff button from the side bar and put it on your website or personal blog (3 bonus entries) comment five times or they won?t count

-Write about this review/giveaway on your website or personal blog (3 bonus entries) do not just cut and paste -comment three times so your entries will show up

-Follow Canadian Free Stuff on href="http://twitter.com/canadianfree" target="_blank">Twitter here (1 bonus entry) comment below that you follow with your twitter name

-?Like? Canadian Free Stuff on href="http://www.facebook.com/update_security_info.php?wizard=1#!/pages/Canadian-Free-Stuffcom/163248817773" target="_blank"> Facebook here( 1 bonus entry) comment below once you have ?liked? us

Contest Ends: February 5th 2011

Contest Open to: Canada and USA 18+

Disclaimer/Disclosure: I have a material connection because I received a gift or sample of a product for consideration in preparing to write this content. I was/am not expected to return this item or gift after my review period.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE !

REMEMBER EACH ENTRY MUST BE A SEPARATE COMMENT OR THEY WON?T BE COUNTED (and we wouldn?t want that)

href="http://canadianfreestuff.com/carolina-pad-review-giveaway-usacanada-020511/">Carolina Pad Review & Giveaway (USA/Canada) 02/05/11 is a post from the original source of : href="http://canadianfreestuff.com">CANADIAN FREE STUFF - Freebies, coupons and contests

href="http://canadianfreestuff.com/carolina-pad-review-giveaway-usacanada-020511/" rel="bookmark">Carolina Pad Review & Giveaway (USA/Canada) 02/05/11 originally appeared on href="http://canadianfreestuff.com">CANADIAN FREE STUFF - Freebies, coupons and contests on January 19, 2011.