Around the Bloggy World

Oodles and Oodles found this cute apron yardsale shopping. It would be a great way to use up extra squares from quilt making. I have never seen an apron of this design and think it is such a cute and clever use of fabric. A great beginner project!

I just absolutely love all the colors in this string quilt made by Film in the Fridge. So cheery and bright.

Love this wall art created by Domestically Speaking. I have alot of shells and our half bath has a tad of a seashell theme. I didn't want to go overboard, just small touches. This would be perfect for that room.

Check out this bubblegum necklace made by Happy Together. Isn't it so cute!

Couldn't end without some ch0colate from Texas Monkey. She has many other ideas in this post.

Isn't this cool!

(Photo from Facebook Dr Pepper page- member submission without credit) In case you didn't notice it is made out of Coke tabs. For unSouthern people it can be Pepsi, Dr Pepper, Mountain Dew, Sprite, Orange or Grape Soda, or any other drink with a pull tab- otherwise known and referred to as Coke by us in the south.

Have you seen this lady?

I have some ladies from church that look at my blog and are learning how to coupon. I thought I would link to a lady that is like the ultimate queen of couponing. Her name is Erin, although she calls herself Jane on her blog. She is a single mother with 3 teen girls- one actually is 18 now and I think has moved out to go to school, but anyway, check her out. Don't let her intimidate you, though, she is one more to look at with an awe rather than even try to imulate everything she does. She has been couponing for four years now. She started by looking at Hot Coupon World and learning what sales matched the coupons. She trades coupons on their site, so she is getting multiple coupons when she knows about sales. She takes it all a step further and goes to the managers of Kroger and Walgreens and asks them to order cases of a sale item so that she has the item without taking all their inventory. That is where she loses me- I think I would be humiliated to be known as the lady that orders cases of stuff then uses 80 coupons for them. I am not in any way condeming her, she is really resourseful and had to be as a single mom, I just always try to fly under the radar at stores. Some people go to CVS and do up to 10 transactions back to back so they can continue to roll the first ECB into the second and so on. I have done up to three but that is really too much for me and really only will do two.

Back to Erin- she spent three years stocking up and this is a link to her photos of her pantry stock which is amazing. She then made a challenge to feed herself and her three girls only spending $800.00 for the year. On HCW she said that she could not have done it without the three years of stock to begin the year with. This does include health and beauty products. It is still amazing that she was able to pull it off this past year and is doing it again this year. She grew a garden, she does online surveys to acquire gift cards which she uses, and her family does not seem to eat a lot of meat.

From Erin I have learned that you can freeze bagged salad. You cannot defrost it to eat as a salad, but can add it to soups or stirfries or dips. You can do the same with spinach. She just throws the whole bag into the freezer. Anyway, check out her photos and blog to see if something helps you, but please remember that she is extreme and that you don't have to do as well as her, just see if you learn anything new.

My Pendants arrived!

One is missing because my daughter grabbed it and ran. I ordered my daughter's, the red one above for my step- mother's birthday, and the pink one for me- all mine. It even has my initials on it, thank you. Well, sweet Kerrie threw in the other three! I absolutely love them. They look even better in real life. My only problem? Which to wear. Decision, decisions.

What are YOU doing today?

This is me today. All sick and feeling bad. It happens everytime I start exercising. I think my body rebels and tells me that all the cookies are stayin. So, today I have searched for things to do, later, when breathing is coming from my nose. Here is some of what I found that is so good!
Use up all your scraps and make scrappy bias tape for all your projects. They are from I heart Linen. Go to her last post and see her photos of her little kids. They are so cute.

Oh my goodness! Look at this time party. How funny!

I am definitely going to tell the kids their Scrabble game ran away so I can make these! Make and Takes shows you how. I just ordered three pendants today from Kissisng Kumquats Etsy store. She has a sale because she has to sell these before the new law goes into effect where you have to have items tested for lead. If you buy two of her pendants for $18.00 you get one free- so 3 for $18.00. I bought the brown one for my daughter, the pink one for me, and the red one for my step mother's birthday in February.

How about a nursing cover for a gift idea. It is from Made by the Mama Monster and she shows you how here.

How about this fabric covered wash tub from Joys Hope! You could do this on the smaller pails. I love the papers used here. A tutorial is here.

Check out this scarf tutorial from Thirty Handmade Days. My niece has baby blankets made like this out of flannel and LOVES them. The more you wash them the softer and more the edges fray. They are so in love with them that this is a definite Christmas gift for next year.

You can make this doll sling using this tutorial from The Wooden Spoon.

Free Samples

Get a free Schick Quattro Titanium Razor.

Walmart has put up their new samples for the month.
Goodnights Underpants sample.
Tampax Pearl sample.
Benefiber sample.
Kotex pad sample.
Glad trash bag sample

Free batteries at Target.Print this coupon for $1 off Rayovac batteries. The batteries are usually found near the front in the dollar spot section. Remember to hit the back button on your computer and you can print two coupons. (Thanks Common sense with money for this alert!)

Coupons.com has put out their new internet coupons for the month. You can print them up to two times also, but not using the back button. You have to go back and reselect the coupons to print. There is only a set amount of coupons available per item so when the limit is reached the coupon will disappear, so print what you think you will use now while it is available. I set my printer to the lowest quality, and only black and white. If I do not use all the paper on one side I turn the paper over and print on the other side.

Southern Savers shared that you can go here and print all the internet available coupons that are in entertainment books without having to buy the books.

Money Saving Methods shares how to get three sets of Christmas holiday cards from Kodak for shipping- she paid $.48! Instead of rewriting a post I am just linking to it so you can get the check out codes and all the info. Hey, send me a card!

Look who I got to meet!

(Fat Albert, Lorie, Connie, and Valarie)

Sunday, Connie from Laughter by Lakeside and I went to a decorating class at Pottery Barn. She and I have left comments on each other's blogs for months and we only live about an hour apart so it was so good to finally meet her. After the class we went to Panera Bread and met up with Valarie Lea from Tennessee now In Alabama and Meme Lorie. They both live about 30 minutes from me. I met Valarie back in August when she showed up at my birthday party, but this was the first time to meet Lorie. I have made many good friends through blogging and it was so good to get to visit in person with them. They are all beautiful Christian women with a great sense of humor. I could have talked and shopped all day! No chocolate was involved with the meeting- what was wrong with us ladies????

Thanksgiving Linky Love

I thought I would share a few of my favorite posts and ideas from around Blogland this past week. Enjoy finding new blogs and ideas!

Kimba from A Soft Place To Land copied this tablecloth from Better Homes and Gardens. It is fabulous! She used $6 dropcloths for the cloth and fabric paint. She explains how she did it on her blog so check it out.I like that hers says "Give thanks with a grateful heart." That is a Christian song so it would really be cool to make some scripture cloths.

Marcy at Stretching a Buck wrote an article on Staying Sane While Couponing. I would like to just copy it and publish it as my own. It is exactly me. I was working hard to get all the deals each week in the beginning. I cannot emphasize enough to take it slow. I almost burned myself out. One week I was sick and missed getting the deals and found out that it did not kill me. I did spend time thinking about how I was missing out, but it is so true that the deals come back around in cycles and you can catch it next time. If you are first starting to use coupons just add a few things each week to your normal shopping. In time you will start building your stock of supplies. Don't drive out of your way. Find a couple of stores with the best deals and let the others go. I sometimes hit CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreen, Publix and Kroger in a week. But, all are within 4 miles from me and I only go in long enough to grab the deals and am out within 15 minutes per store. I try to go to Walmart and Target once a month.

• The Nester is at it again with a Christmas garland. I think floral display is my worst creative gene. I see what I want, but I have a hard time unless I can really copy something else. Well, she gives enough detail and information on how to make this that I could do it.
  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  Here are a couple of cookie ideas for you to make if you hurry!