Layered Fabric Flowers

So I looked at a million tutorials for how to make these. Basically you are cutting three layers of rounded edge squares and melting the edges. They have to be synthetic fabrics in order to melt and not catch on fire! I tried using a fireplace lighter on them, but it worked so much better to hold over a candle flame and let the edges melt. Then I just did a couple of stitches in the center and tied it in back. I hot glued the rhinestones in the middle. The only synthetic fabric I had was this white and turquoise, but I plan to make a million more of these in other colors for hair clips, headbands, hats, pillows and clothing clips for me or the baby! :) She is going to be very well accessorized!

Fabric Hair Clip Board

Yesterday I came across a hair clip holder that was made out of a frame and some ribbons, so I went to look for a cool vintage frame today at Hobby Lobby but didn't love any of them. I remembered the Fabric Photo Board that I made with canvas and fabric and decided to replicate it as a hair clip holder in a smaller size. I used a piece of one of the fabrics I bought for the baby's bedding I plan to make soon.

I also threw together a couple of ribbon hair clips from this tutorial to put on the board and get it started, I love it!! Ribbon by the spool was half off at Hobby Lobby so I was able to get a bunch of really cute ribbon for a $1 a spool. There are so many ideas for hair clips out there, I'm sure that this is going to fill up fast!

Boppy Cover

We found out last week that....IT'S A GIRL...and I am so excited I can't even stand it! I have two boys and can finally do all the fun girly sewing and crafting that I've been drooling over. First thing was my trip to JoAnn's because I had 50% coupons, which ended up not even using because all the fabric was either already on sale or a red tag fabric. I found all the fabric to make her bedding, including coordinating solids for making my own crib sheets! I also found three really cute flannel fabrics that I picked up in the red tag clearance section that I knew would be perfect for a boppy cover and they will coordinate well in her room with her bedding. What I have leftover from the boppy cover, I will use as receiving blankets or for little stuffed animals. :)

I thought I would just wing it on the boppy pattern, but double-checked on line for a good tutorial. I came across this "quick and dirty" tutorial that was basically what I was planning to do myself. The funniest part was she used the same fabric that I had planned to use! :)

Here's the final result (the other side has a cool red and dark pink tight polka dot pattern but it is not photographing very well):

It turned out great, and I feel so excited to have one item done from my list of MANY projects I want to do before she gets here! Best part was the cost was about $4.50 including the zipper!! That's cheaper than what I could have found in the store, especially with a unique pattern!

Much more to come!

Free Right Guard or Dry Idea Deodorant or Body Wash

This week at Walgreens they have Right Guard deodorant and body  wash and Dry Idea deodorant buy one get one free, combined with the BIGI Right Guard or Dry Idea product coupon from the 5/1 Smart Source insert and they are both free. I just picked up four deodorants and four body washes for my hubby, that should keep him smelling good for a while. :)

I also went Saturday to get some of the deals that were ending and ended up paying $6.32 and saving $23.45.

3 Bayer "baby" Aspirin $3.19
Used 3 $1 off coupons from May coupon book
Took $2 off each with in-ad coupon
= $0.19 each

3 Hunts tomato sauce for $1  with in-ad coupon
2 Mandarin orange cans for $1 with in-ad coupon
2 diced mushrooms for $1 with in-ad coupon
1 gallon of Dean's milk on sale for $1.99

2 Bayer Advanced Aspirins $3.99
Used 2 $1.75 off MF coupon
Took $2 off each with in-store coupon
= $0.25 each

I get my  coupon match-ups for the week from Couponing For 4, all of this week's Walgreens deals are here. These deals end Saturday, but she should have the upcoming match-ups by tonight or tomorrow.

Couponing for me has been such a life saver. As a stay-at-home mom with a family of four (almost five) on on e income, it is so nice to afford name brand products and have a stock pile of necessities on hand all the time! If you haven't started yet...you need to!! :)

Ground Turkey Meatloaf

After a busy and hot day last week, the last thing that I wanted to do was cook. All that I really wanted to do was order some good Chicago-style pizza...but my budget and my thighs wouldn't allow it. So after searching the internet for something to make with the ground turkey I got at Jewel buy one great one free (besides the obvious chili), I came up with my own little version of turkey meatloaf.

1 lb ground turkey

pinch of salt

2 teaspoons pepper

2ish teaspoons dried basil

3 cloves chopped garlic

1 egg

1/2 cup of milk

3/4 cups of fresh bread crumbs (the crust that I've been saving from Louie's bread)

1/2 cup of grated fresh parmesean cheese

1/4 frozen spinach

1/2 cup of BBQ sauce

I mixed everything in a bowl with my hands except for the cheese and spinach. When it was at the consistency  that felt right for a meatloaf (this was my first time so I just kinda guessed), I put it in a casserole dish and flattened it a bit. Then I added the spinach and cheese to the middle and wrapped the loaf over top to seal it into the center. I formed it into a loaf shape and spread the BBQ sauce on top. Cooked for 1 hour on 400 degrees.


I must say...it was delicious!!! So proud of myself.

Walgreens Trip 5/3

I'm trying to jump back into this couponing thing in a major way! This week at Walgreens was a great week to do so. I did an exhausting 4 different transactions (with both the boys!!) in order to maximize all the register rewards I was getting and to pay less out of pocket. I also went back later in the evening for a 5th transaction...I know I'm crazy. However, half the reason I went back out was to pick up the free Right Guard body wash but they were out so I got a rain check to be sure and get 4 free next week. :)

The coupon matchups are here at Couponing for 4, I will not be breaking down my 5 crazy transactions but here is a list of what I got, and a picture of only some of it. 

2 Bic Soleil 4 pack Razors ($0.99 each after coupon and RR)

4 Cottonelle 12 packs ($2 each after coupon and RR)

1 Gillette Fusion Power Razor ($0.99 after coupon and RR)

3 Austin Crackers 8 packs ($1 each)

2 Toy Story Sippy Cup 3 packs ($4 each)

3 3M Transparent Tapes ($0.39 each after Walgreens coupon)

1 Hershey Kit Kat Bar ($0.69 each)

1 Noxema 4 Pack Razors ($1 moneymaker after coupon and RR)

1 Tylenol Precise Muscle Cream (Free w/ coupon stack)

1 Tylenol Precise Heat Pack 4 pack (Free w/ coupon stack)

1 Skinny Cow Bar ($0.60)

I spent $33.88 for $100.35 worth of items...67% savings. Not bad considering the Sippy cups and crackers that I just happened to need and used as filler items for all my coupons. I'm so excited for the razors, I always buy cheap ones so it is great to get these really nice razors for super cheap!

These deals end Saturday night, the link will also have the matchups for the deals starting Sunday...happy shopping!

Easter Cake Recycle

I know, it's been ANOTHER month since I've posted anything! We are really close to being done with our kitchen now, just a matter of some more trim and paint touch ups. Pretty soon I'll be much more organized and ready to start some serious couponing...especially because I need to build up my stock piles before the new baby comes in the fall!

I hope you all enjoyed your Easter, we certainly had a great time with our family at my sister-in-law's house. The kids had a blast with their Easter egg hunt, even Leo found some! :) I decided to make an Easter egg cake since I had some bright colored fondant leftover from Louie's cake that I wouldn't need for the boys' upcoming birthdays as it was mainly pink and purple. It wasn't anything too spectacular, but it turned out ok and tasted great.

The best part was that I had some white cake leftover from cutting out the egg shape and had an idea for a dessert that my mom used to make. I had strawberries that needed to be eaten and vanilla pudding that I got at Aldi at some point for like $0.30. The strawberries were going bad so I cut them up and soaked them in water with a little sugar overnight. Then I picked up cool whip at Jewel (on sale for $0.89 thankfully!). The dessert is a layer of cake pieces on the bottom, then the pudding, then strawberries, and then cool whip on top. It was SO good and I was happy to not waste the cake or the strawberries!

It's Been a Crazy Month

So I realize that it's been over a month since I've posted anything...so sorry about that!

First of all, we found out we are expecting our third baby in October!!! We are very excited, but I've been very sick and very tired and haven't been up to doing too many projects lately. :( Starting to feel a little better (probably from the Zofran they gave me), and we are about to take on a kitchen renovation!

Here's what it looks like with our first side of cabinets out:

The boys were trying to help clean of course :)

So it'll be a bit chaotic until everything is finished, but we really need this!!! So excited!

The kids have been busy being cute and crazy:

 They are very excited about the new baby, Louie has lots of questions and Leo keeps pointing at my belly saying "Baby"! :)

While I've been really sick and mostly resorting to shopping at Aldi, I've gotten some great deals with coupons:
8 Free Right Guard Deodorants
5 Purex Laundry detergent for $2 each
1 Pair of Maternity jeans at Target for $2
2 Johnson and Johnson saftey cotton swabs for babies $0.27 each
And much more!

I'll post the new great deals that will be starting Sunday sometime soon and keep you all posted on our kitchen progress! Have a great weekend!

Fabric Photo Board

I've been wanting to make a fabric photo board for months, I bought a pre-stretched canvas months ago when it was 50% off for I think $4. I had also bought a few great fabrics for our new house that I planned to use in our pillows and other things that were on clearance. The only thing that was holding me back was that we didn't have a staple gun. Well....my husband recently started insulating our attic so he had to buy one! I swiped it while he was at work the other day. And here's how I did it:

1. I measured a piece of fabric about 2 inches  longer on each side than the canvas. Do the same with 3-4 pieces of cotton batting (not pictured because I forgot this the first time around).

2. Begin stapling on one side then stretch the opposite side as much as possible for a nice finished look.

3. Wrap corners like a present.

4. Lay out your ribbon on a diagonal,  3 in each direction. Staple each piece to back of canvas.

5. The ribbons will cross each other, place a button in those places. Instead of sewing, use a needle and thick  thread  and push  each end into two opposite button wholes. Then take the ends in the back to pull and tie as tight as possible to create an indentation in the batting. 



6. As you may be able to tell from the pictures, doing step 5 insures the secureness of the photos or papers.


And here's the finished product:




All of these are pretty old pictures, but some of my favorites :)

 

I plan to put this in my hallway off the kitchen and may add some recipe ideas, to-do lists, grocery lists, or even kids artwork. Who knows...possibilities are endless! I love how it turned out!! (And the staple gun is my new best friend!)

My Valentine's Day

Usually we don't really make too big of a deal out of Valentine's Day, but this year I felt VERY SPECIAL!

My hubby took the kids all day while I went to lunch and shopping with my sister-in-law. We are going out on Saturday so I was on a mission for the perfect outfit. It was fun to shop without kids, but stressful to focus so much on myself. After like 5 hours (????) of shopping, I finally found something. We kept reminded ourselves that it was the journey not the destination. :) I'm very excited to wear my new outfit this weekend...especially my new shoes!

The best part is that when I got home I found what the boys had been working on:

I'm a lucky lady :)

Hope you all had an equally special day!

Even When I'm Sick...

On the way to my niece's birthday party yesterday (where I gave her this hand bag), Louie had a circumstance that needed my attention in the car. I have received the wonderfully annoying gift of motion sickness from my mom, however not nearly as bad as she has it. Generally, I don't get sick, but when trying to do something in the car while we are moving (and in this case getting on the highway), I get extremely nauseous. So the whole way to my niece's I was just trying to breath and cracked the window for the cold air. Once we got off the highway, my mother-in-law who was driving stopped so I could run into Walgreens and get a Sprite to calm my stomach and run to the bathroom.

Well, even when I'm sick I can't resist a good deal. At the register, they had several Right Guard body washes for $3.99 and you got $3 Register Rewards back. To make this deal even better, there was a $1 coupon peelie right on the bottle...making this FREE after RR!! That, the sprite, and being out of the car in fresh air for a few minutes made me feel so much better! :)

Hand Bag

Yesterday my oldest niece had her 9th birthday party! I was so excited to make her something special because she is a big girly girl and she wears her heart on her sleeve. Giving her a present is very fun as I love to see how excited she gets! Her favorite color is purple so I went rummaging through the remnants (50% off) at JoAnn's for some purple fabrics. I discovered a couple cute fabrics in purple and a beautiful black satin. I also had some rhinestones I bough with a coupon several weeks ago. I sort of made up my pattern as I went (loosely based off a couple purses I've seen in the sewing blogosphere), and this is how it turned out...

I even lined it with purple fabric.

Then I found a rhinestone cosmetic mirror, butterfly nail file, and light purple nail polish to put inside.

Her reaction was worth every minute I spent on it!

Dining Room Inspiration

Our dining room is one room where we will have minimal renovations to do(take out carpet and buff the original hardwood), so I decided to make that room my project right now. I received a gift card for Home Goods from my mother-in-law for Christmas and decided to dedicate it to dining room accessories. I found so many cute things that are fitting to the era and charm of our house. I picked the paint and will (hopefully) be completely finished with everything soon. One thing that helped inspire my style for his room was a picture on a journal of mine. The picture was of a stack of tea cups and saucers. I haven't painted in years, but was so inspired by this picture that I decided to take a crack at it again to create a focal point for our dining room. Here's how it turned out:

Now it's time to find a nice antique wood frame! I can't wait to see everything all together...I will keep you posted!

CVS Trip

After checking out Couponing for 4 this morning, I found out about CVS's Big Game deal. When you spend $15 on select Coke and Kraft products, you get $5 Extra Bucks. They also had Dawn Hand Renewal for $0.97 and I had coupons for $1/2 from 12/26 P&G.

So here's what I got:

First Order
3 12-packs of Diet Coke and Coke Zero=$9 ($3 each)
3 boxes of Wheat thins=$6 ($2 each)
Paid $15 plus tax, got $5 Extra Bucks

Second Order
4 Dawn Hand Renewal = $3.88($0.97 each)
Used 2 $1/2 coupons
1 CVS 2-pack sponges= $2.50
1 pack Orbit Gum= $1.27
Used $5 ECB, Paid $0.65 plus tax. got $0.50 Extra Bucks

If you are having a Super Bowl Party, stock up on your snacks and soda, these deals are good until Saturday!

Bow Tie

So making girly things has sure been fun!

However, there's one problem...I have two boys. 

I though of something cute and simple....bow ties! I used the tutorial on how to make a fabric bow from Kitty Cats and Airplanes that I used here. Instead of ribbon, I sewed together a piece of fabric and turned it  inside out. I folded it over in back and hot glued it. 

I pinched the front and hot glued it.

Then I wrapped another piece around it for the center of the bow.

 To clip it on, I glued a hair clip to the back.

Then I just clipped it to Leo's dress shirt...and Ta-da! He's so cute. :)