$5 Dinner Mom is Giving Away Free Cookbooks!

The $5 Dinner Mom is giving away her new Cookbook - click here to enter!

Ralph's Savings!

Coupon Queen In-Training :~)

Woo Hoo!

That's a lot of food for under $100!

Ok, I promised my girls that I would not do this every week...they think I am quite crazy unpacking all the groceries and then organizing them to take a picture! Although the first words out of my 14 year-old's mouth was "how much did you save?" I love it! She's gonna follow in her Momma's footsteps :~)

So, I think I did really good at Ralph's this week. There were a few things that I needed that I didn't have a coupon for, but that were still on sale...

Drum Roll please!!! My "Verified Total Savings" was $128.82!!

I also had some extra cash in the form of recycling (which I did right before my shopping trip so that I wouldn't lose the paper vouchers!). My total was $22.35!

So after deducting my recycling vouchers, my Grand Total came to $96.66!!!!

Even without my recycling $, my total out-of-pocket would still be less than my total savings - you gotta love it when you save more than you spend! Woo Hoo! Can't wait to see what kind of deals I'll come home with next week :~)

Menu Planner/Grocery List Giveaway

Here's the Menu Planner/Grocery List Clipboard for the Pinch That Penny giveaway. Our winner chose the paper/ribbon combinations and I think that they came out great!

Coupon Queen Strikes Again at CVS!

I am so excited to share the amazing deals I got today at CVS!!! This is evidence to show that the drudgery of coupon clipping & organizing does pay - huge!

Ok, so here's the rundown:

Before any discounts my total would have been $113.75...

My discounts including sale prices & coupons totaled a whopping $70.86!!!

Which brought my total to $42.89.

That's a great savings but that's not the end of my discounts! Because I purchased certain products that were listed under the "Extra Bucks" Rewards, I received $19.00 back in Extra Bucks!!! These can be used as cash for my next shopping trip.

So, including my Extra Bucks, my Grand Total came to: $23.89!!!!!!

And I must add that one of my items was a Gillette Fusion razor which was priced at $9.99. CVS was offering $5 Extra Bucks plus I had a $4 off coupon. That's right, I got a $10 razor for $1.00!! Woo Hoo!! What a great way to start the week off :~)

Pink & Black Paper/Ribbon Choices

Congratulations to Cathy from Texas! She was the winner of the Pinch That Penny Till It Screams Giveaway ~ www.pinchthatpenny.org . Heather @ Pinch That Penny wrote a nice review for my Menu Planner/Grocery List Clipboard here and Cathy was the winner of our giveaway.

Cathy has given me a few color choices and I have laid out some paper & ribbon combinations for her to pick from.

Just let me know (by number) which combination you like best:

#1

#2

#3

#4

Fall Decorating in our Home

I'm so excited! Our home feels all warm and cozy now that I've gotten the Fall decorations up. Now if only the weather would cooperate so that we could use our beautiful fireplace!

Guest Room Re-do!

Thanks to a two week bout with the swine flu (and an overdose of HGTV!) my husband and I decided to start a few home improvement projects. Why do all the rooms in the whole house suddenly become a mess when you are re-doing one room? In our case it was because we decided to change our guest room/office/dumping zone for anything that doesn't have a home into a guest room/crafting room and so all of the office supplies & stuff with no home had to be re-located!

Here's a before photo:

This was actually taken right after we moved in 5 years ago, so add a bookcase, a dresser and a bunch of clutter and you'll get the idea!

So, we've made quite a lot of progress on the new & improved guest/crafting room, but we've still got to finish painting (we ran out of paint & couldn't go to the store because we were still contagious!) and hang shelves & pictures, etc.

This armoire (a hand-me-down) was originally used as a t.v. cabinet....

Nice half-painted wall! It's a work in progress :~)

I re-purposed the bookshelf once used for homeschooling books...

Notice my Christmas goodies I'm packing up to sell!

Lastly, the inside of the armoire...so much storage!

Snowman Cards

I'm still working on creating items to sell at my friend's Holiday Boutique and this week I decided to create some Christmas cards. I love snowmen, so you will see that they will find their way into my holiday projects more often than not :~)

Christmas in September

Here are a few projects that I am working on for a Holiday Open House that a friend & I will be hosting in November. I also plan to add them to my Etsy Store. Please email if these are something you would be interested in so that I can get a head start on the holiday rush!

Snowman Soup ~ Quick & Easy Gift in a Bag!

Great for teachers, co-workers, kids, stocking stuffers and so much more.

I provide the gift bag & decorated tag with Snowman Soup Poem

You fill with: Cocoa, mini marshmallows, a Hershey's Kiss & a Candy Cane

Hand Stamped Gift Tags

*sold in sets of 6*

Large size: 4" x 2.5"

Projects in Progress

These are projects that are still in the creation stage: I have the ideas in my head of how I want them to look and to perform, but they still need some tweaking!

Here's a smaller version of a coupon/receipt holder that I would like to create:

Here's an almost finished "Mom's Organizer" (still working on the name!) - it will hold shopping lists, a coupon envelope, a place for store "club" cards...still working out the details. Sometimes I have to set projects aside for awhile until inspiration hits me again!

Blue & Brown Paper Combos

I am uploading these three paper layouts for a client....

Tuscan Recipe Clipboard

Description

I've had so much fun making recipe boxes I decided to add a little twist! Now I've designed a Recipe Clipboard. I always have a tough time reading my recipe cards when they're laying flat on the counter and they usually wind up with a bit of the ingredients on them! So I decided to design a clipboard that's just a little larger than the recipe cards - it measures 9" x 6" and has a hole in the top of the clip so that you can hang it on a hook, etc. I think that I will use a small plate stand to set mine in on my kitchen counter, but you could just lean it up against the wall or hang it too. I've embellished the clipboard with sage & brown ribbon and have antiqued the edges to give it that "old world" look. I'm including 20 recipe cards - the ones that are shown in the picture.

Beautiful Clipboard, Card and Gift Bag Set

I've been busy creating again!

Description

This is a great gift set for a teacher's gift, co-worker or friend's birthday or just an "I'm thinking of you" kind of gift! I've used coordinating papers so all of the colors go really nicely together. The gift "bag" (it's made out of heavy cardstock) measures 5" tall by 4.25" wide and 1.75" deep. I've included a piece of pretty tissue to wrap the gift in :~) The clipboard measures 5 1/2" x 3 1/2" and is covered on both sides. The notepad measures 5" x 2 3/4" and has 20 lined sheets of white paper. The card measures 5 1/2" x 4 1/4", is blank on the inside and comes with a white envelope. All of the items fit perfectly into the gift bag. There's also room to fit the recipient's favorite candy or perhaps a gift card...

I am so excited about my very first product review! Kristi did such a nice job in giving me a "glowing" review on her website: http://www.texascouponersanonymous.com/. Check it out and who knows, you might just be the winner of her giveaway!

This is my Designer Debs Menu Planner/Grocery List!!

Designer Debs Etsy Shop is wonderful. You can get a wide variety of handmade notebooks, journals, clipboards, notepads, recipe boxes, baby blankets, and so much more!

If you are looking for custom work, this is the shop for you. I was given a menu planner/grocery list clipboard to try out and I love it when I am sitting down on Sunday afternoon to figure out what my family will eat for the week. I have a bin next to the frig that I keep all my menu planning items. We all staples in our pantries, well since I received this planner, this has become a staple in my kitchen.

For my family to stick to a menu is an astonishing thing. We usually always decide that we want something else, but since I received this, we have been doing wonderful at sticking to it. So I must thank Debbie with Designer Debs for her great menu planner/grocery list for helping to keep my family on track.

I have also been given the great opportunity of offering you all a great giveaway!!! Are you all ready for this?

You will get a Designer Debs product!

THE GIVEAWAY RULES!!

Giveaway will begin today and end on September 22th. At that point, I will announce 1 lucky winner of this reallyawesome giveaway. Winner will be announced September 23rd and at that point, you will have 24 hrs. to get back to me.

Your ways to win include:

1. Become a follower of Texas Couponers Anonymous.
2. Sign up for my feeds.
3. Blog about this giveaway. (leave link)
4. Add my button to your blog. (leave link)

5. Add me to your blog roll. (leave link)
6. Follow me on Twitter.
7. Check out Designer Debs and let me know what product you like.

Enter as many times as you would like, but please leave each entry as a seperate comment (link and email). Open to US residents only. Product will be mailed directly from Designer Debs.

Fleur De Lis Elegance

I am so excited that my newest client loves her Fleur de lis Recipe Box!  In fact, she loves it so much that she's having me make a second one for her Mom - yea!  Here's the finished product:

My New Adventure

About a month ago, I decided to expand my little ebay hobby into an online business through Etsy.com.  I'm having a blast creating recipe boxes & notebooks, sewing baby taggie blankies and stamping notecards.  My purpose for this blog is this: to give my customers a place to see the colors, textures & style of paper & fabric that I have to offer and to choose the combinations that they would prefer for their project.  I love the fact that I can converse with a client through my Etsy site and then allow them to choose their colors, etc. and preview their item through my blog!  The internet can be a wonderful place! I look forward to creating something special and unique for you :~) 

Recipe Cards

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