Not So Extreme Couponing

Pin It In honor of the new TLC show Extreme Couponing, I decided it was time to better organize my coupons.   My coupons were organized into 2 groups- food/services and groceries.  They looked something like this.

Not exactly organized.  More like shoved in an envelope and dropped in a pile.  This system wasn't working out for me at all because I was constantly forgetting what coupons I had and not having them with me when I needed them.  So I started with the grocery coupons and made this:

I had a bunch of black and white paper and ribbon left from making my wedding album, so I decided I'd put it to good use with this project.  I started out cutting and scoring plain manila folders.

until I had this:

Then I made four more of these as well as a cover.  I covered them with decorative paper and hole punched them (breaking my sad little hole punch during the process.  Don't worry, I upgraded!) then used ribbon to tie it all together.

 I printed out a bunch of labels for the cover and the pockets based on how I wanted to divide my coupons.

I trimmed them down and inked the edges and this was my finished product.

 Well, I didn't save 98% on my grocery trip, but I did save a bundle!

With my store card, it ended up being over $30, so I was pretty proud!  It was fun to be able to double up store coupons with manufacturers coupons and get a couple of things for only a few cents.  And despite the fact that I had less than 20 coupons, I did freak out the cash register and had to have the manager key everything in.   I certainly won't be extreme couponing anytime soon, but at least I'm saving a bit here and there.  More left over to replace broken hole punchers.  :)   How are you organizing your coupons?   Leave me a comment or a link so I can check out your projects!

Psykopaint!

Pin It While blog surfing, I came across this fun website called Psykopaint.  It takes a photo you upload and turns it into ART!  So I started with this picture of from my tulip border

and (with the help of Picasa for a collage) made these.

How neat are these options!  Here are some individual closeups of the different types of art you can make. 

 Dirt

 Peace Ribbon

 Feathers

 Flowers

 Monet

 Mozaic

 Rift

 The edgehog

 Zigzag

A Day at the Park Layout

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This is actually a really old layout that I started ages ago & just got stuck on.  I knew the colors I wanted to use, and had the paper ready to go, but as far as embellishments I was just STUCK.  What do you call that?  Scrapblocked?  But then I got the Simply Charmed cartridge and was re-inspired!  I had been looking for some whimsical tree paper or embellishments, but hadn't been able to find any I liked.  I was looking for something like these from Picnik.

So when I got the Simply Charmed cricut cartridge at Joann's the other day, I immediately pulled out some of the American girl paper scraps I had left over from my daughter's birthday card and went to work!  The result was this:

I used some leftover purple stickers for the title as well as the George cartridge to cut out "park".  I used a white gel pen to add some texture to the plain colored cardstock I used for the hills and grass.  I also added a little "bling" to the flowers on the tree.  If you haven't discovered AC Moore's $1 section of bling, check it out!  The grass was cut from the Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge, then trimmed into smaller pieces. 

 I also cut out the sunshine from the Simply Charmed cartridge.

Here are some close-ups of my bottom borders.  I raised some of the grass and trees up using foam adhesive to make it a little more interesting and give it some depth.



I was really happy with the way this turned out.  I can't wait to cut out more with the Simply Charmed cartridge.  I'm also really happy that I finally used up some scraps!  I think we should have a use-up-your-scraps week in the crafting world.  Have you made anything lately using up your scraps?  Leave me a comment with a link so I can check out your projects too!

Easy Toddler Toys

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I wanted to use some craft supplies to make some simple toys for my daughter to play with.  I purchased some cheap supplies from Michaels, including an unfinished wooden spatula, 3 rolls of polka dot ribbon, and long plastic tubes with stoppers, none of which were over $1.  I bought the spatula because it had a pre-drilled hole in it to thread the ribbon through.  I painted it with some non-toxic, metallic, acrylic, purple paint.  How's that for a lot of adjectives!

I really hope someday she takes rhythm gymnastics. :)

I used the tube to make a shaker.  I filled it with colorful paperclips and glued on the end so it wasn't a choking hazard.

I'll admit, these are not the cutest crafts, but she's pretty easy to please.  Give her anything from the recycleables and she's in heaven.  So these went over pretty well.  :)

Spring Cleaning

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As I taught my one-year-old daughter to say - BLECH!  My craft room is a disaster!  I decided this would definitely be the place to start my spring cleaning, because as all crafters know, if you're not crafting, organizing your craft supplies is the next best thing to do!

So I started out with a trip to The Container Store which I've been dying to go to since I first heard it existed.  One just opened in our area, so it was definitely worth the trip.  I started out with this container to organize my plain colored cardstock and a pill container to organize my brads.

I decided to go with a low-budget ribbon organizer and just hang them up in the closet.  This isn't the prettiest method of displaying ribbon, but I have a bunch of ribbon and don't want to buy several organizers for it.  For now, this is fine.

I also bought a hanging clothes organizer from Target to store my fabric and sewing stuff, which was previously all hidden in a rubbermaid container.  While this area still needs a little work, I am definitely much more likely to use my sewing things now that I don't have to move heavy bins and dig through stuff to find what I have.

Well, it's still a work in progress, but I'm getting there!  Any good organizing tips you'd like to share?

Do Not Disturb!

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Flashback time!  So I made this about 5 years ago for my hubby's office door.  I found it the other day and laughed because it's so awful.  Eh, still fun to keep around though.  Sometimes it's fun to look back at this stuff and see how far we've come.

Baby's First Craft Project

Pin It So I've been collecting some craft supplies in the hopes that my one-year-old might follow in my footsteps and love crafting.  The other day I did her first craft project with her.  Here it is!

Foam stickers on freezer paper.  Fun!  Believe it or not, this project actually held her attention for about 15 minutes.  She particularly liked the circles, which were the middles of the flowers.  She also liked ripping the leaves off the flowers, which I helped her to mix & match.  ;)  Okay, so she might be a little young for this kind of craft, since she couldn't figure out how to get the stickers unstuck from her fingers, but at least now we have something to hang on the wall in the playroom.  Yay!  Don't you just love kids' art?

Guest Designer- BFF Sara!

Pin It So BFF Sara came out for a nice loooong visit and we took my daughter on her first trip swimming.  To go along with the theme of firsts, Sara did her first scrapbooking layout about the trip.  Check this out!

Isn't it incredible?!  I'm totally jealous.  You should see the first scrapbook pages I made!  (Seriously, I might have to post them sometime.  They're awful!)  So she came up with some really great ideas and details to make this scrapbook layout a big splash!  For example, see those tiles that look like the edge of the pool?  They're foam adhesive squares that she colored with a blue metallic marker.  And all those little splash marks?  They're clear bubbles she attached with zots.  The boogie board she made out of a blue piece of craft foam and she made the title using the George cricut cartridge and some cool wavy blue paper from Target.  The bottom of the layout is lined with rick rack recycled from a present she gave to my daughter.  How amazing is this?  I just love it!  Here are some closeups.

A new winner!

Pin It Our first winner for the spring blog candy didn't get back to me yet, so I chose a new winner and that is Jackie!  Congratulations Jackie!

I've Been Nominated!

Pin It I've been participating in Lamb Around's weekly linky party for a couple of weeks now, and I was just nominated as one of 15 nominees for a Best in Show award!  I'm so excited!  If you get a chance, stop by her great blog & look around.  While you're there, vote for me! 

$18.99 carts at Joann's!

Pin It This week's ad came in the paper today & I saw there were some Cricut cartridges at Joann's regularly priced at $89.99 on sale for $18.99!  The ones in the ad were New Arrival (one of my favorites!) and Opposites Attract although it said "selected cartridges" available.  It was noon when I put my daughter down for a nap and got a chance to read the paper, so I was SURE there would be tons of people there and no cartridges.  I left my daughter napping with my husband and rushed over.  But I was wrong!  I asked at the front and they said they had three available- New Arrival, Opposites Attract, and Simply Charmed.  Since I already had New Arrival and didn't want another font, I asked to see Simply Charmed, which is simply charming!  Check out the cuteness:


So I was totally worried and disappointed when it rang up at $45!  But the cashier overrode it and now I am happily back home having made amazingly cute stuff during the rest of my daughter's nap which I'll take pics of and share later.  So if you're in the market for one of these carts, head out to Joann's today!  I can't promise they'll give you Simply Charmed since my store may have made an error, but I definitely recommend New Arrival.  See some of the projects I've made with it here.

My Tulip Border

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I wanted to share a few more pictures of my tulip border.  I'm really enjoying these, although I followed the directions and actually planted them a foot apart, so it's a little spread out.  I think this fall I'll plant a few dozen more around these to thicken the border up a bit.

And the winner is....

Pin It Thank you all so much for becoming followers and entering my Spring Giveaway!  I was celebrating 80 followers, but now look- over 100!  I'm so excited!  Thank you all so much & keep the comments coming!  I try to hop around to all of your blogs too & see what you're all up to.  I'm also hoping to do some link ups soon so you all can have a way to show off what you've created! 

So congratulations to our prize winner- Amy T!  I can't find Amy's email or blog on her comment, so if I don't hear from her by Sunday night, I'll select a new winner Monday.  Amy, if you're out there- leave a comment with an email address & I'll contact you.  Congratulations!!   Thank you all for entering, and a huge thank you to Deanne and Mama Hen for featuring me on their blogs.  Make sure you stop & check them out!

Another New Baby Card

Pin It So many babies- so many cards!  Here's another baby girl card I made using the K&Company baby girl paper pack & borders.  I was really excited to use these papers even though they're not usually my style.  I have an idea it might be like the new mom's style, though, so I hope she likes it!

I'm in love...and hungry!

Pin It You know that little feeling you get when you lay your eyes for the first time on the blog of your dreams?  I just found Picky Palate and I am in love- and hungry!  This woman is totally my new hero!  Now I love to bake, and I've been baking since I was old enough to safely use an oven, but I very very rarely can make up a recipe on my own.  Jenny, the author of Picky Palate and creator of these recipes, is BRILLIANT!  She reminds me of Sandra Lee from the Food Network, but way better.  She uses a lot of packaged items like Pillsbury dough or oreos and makes incredible recipes with them.  Since I'm married to an incredibly picky eater and generally dislike cooking, this is right up my alley.  Here are some I want to try:

Smore-Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cheesy Pepperoni Pizza Quick Bread

No Bake Chewy Cookies and Cream Bars

Easy Cheesy Bacon Biscuit Pull Aparts

Do you have a new blog crush?  Leave a comment & let me know!  I just love finding new amazing blogs!