CVS Trip

A great trip to CVS is always worthy of a blog post.

I made a very simple trip to CVS today for some basic necessities. So I hope this shows you that you don't have to "extreme coupon" to be able to save money on household things.

I bought 2 Secret deodorants, 2 VO5 conditioners, and 1 Colgate toothpaste.

My original total (before sales and coupons) would have been $19.25.

I only paid $7.91, I saved $12.50!

{I also earned another $6.00 in Extra Care Bucks for my next visit!}

My savings:

$5.00 in sales

$2.50 in manufacture coupons

$5.00 rewards card from viggle

 (a reward program where you can check into your favorite TV shows and earn points/rewards)

I love CVS!

Welcome baby Grant!

I am a very proud aunt...introducing our newest nephew...GRANT.

We got to meet him over the weekend and love on him and breathe in that wonderful sweet baby smell. Don't you just wish you could bottle that smell? ahhhh...

Emma really surprised us by how much she loved holding him. He snuggled into her and slept so good she said "mommy this is easy!" And later that day she said "this is the best day ever!" I think she was in love as much as the rest of us!

Laila on the other hand held him for about a minute, giggled, and was on to something else. She did ask LOTS of questions about him though.

It fills my heart to see my brother-in-law and sister-in-law as new parents!

The day after he was born, I was sidewalk chalking outside with the kids and decided to take this picture. I printed and framed it for his room, which is Candyland themed.



You might have seen my post awhile back on the Candyland baby shower. Well, I couldn't help but contribute some of the decor to the room. Thank you Erin for letting me do this!



Candyland fabric is pretty rare to come by, but the new mommy was able to find some on eBay. She ordered 2 pieces of coordinating fabric which I made wall decor out of. I used the same method I used when I made the fabric memo boards so you can read the steps to that here. Basically, I just laid a piece of quilt batting over a 16 x 20 canvas, laid the fabric over the batting, and stapled to the back.

So welcome to this crazy world sweet baby!

May your world be filled with frogs and snails and puppy dog tails!

Girls Day Out

What a fabulous day!

My mom came down to visit for a few days and we planned a very special girls day out. St Louis opened a new American Girl store a couple months ago so we just had to make a trip there. Laila has a bitty baby that was her older sister's, and Emma (older sister) got a "Just Like Me" doll for Christmas. We had lunch in the bistro and the girls ordered mac n cheese. The girls' dolls had their own adorable booster seats, and mini cups and saucers. We all had their signature pink lemonade...yum!

Emma picked out the skater outfit set, a pair of reading glasses, and a hairbrush for her doll. Laila, who loves anything miniature, picked out a breakfast in bed set and a bitty blender set. As soon as she got home, she immediately set up her new play food for her Backyardigans and Lalaloopsies! Silly girl. And Emma was excited to see the "Addy" display because her class read the book during the school year.

After that, we made our first ever visit to Trader Joes. I had been wanting to check it out for a long time. I just wanted to see what they had and try some new foods. We loved the little kid shopping carts. My new foods to try: eggplant cutlets, almond butter, and pineapple salsa. Boy, those sound gross when you put them altogether, don't they?

Thankfully we were home in time to rest up before older sister's baseball game. Perfect ending to a fabulous day! Thanks to Grandma for spoiling us today, but more important, for just coming down and spending some quality time with us! Need to do it again soon...

I wanted some new creative layouts for my pictures, so I decided to give pic monkey a go. Check it out!

T-shirt Crafting

 T-shirt Crafting

A couple months ago I posted a picture of my Tshirt scarf (aka infinity scarf). Since then, I found a couple more accessories to make with old T-shirts.

Since I am a pinterest addict (c'mon you know you are too!) I did find these on pinterest so the links are listed below so you can follow the same directions I did. And if I can figure it out, so can you! All you need is an old Tshirt and a pair of scissors!!Oh, and a glue gun, unless you would rather sew...not me!

First up: Tshirt braided headband found at makeit-loveit.

My sister-in-law tried this first and it was a success, so I gave it a try and love it!

[caption id="attachment_860" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Braided Headband[/caption]



Since you are braiding with 5 strands, the idea is to braid on the left, cross your inner strand over, then braid on the right side, then cross your inner strand back to the left side. In my head it went something like this; braid, braid, crossover, braid, braid, crossover, PULL. Your braid will look more uniform if you pull or tighten it often.  I found it easier to braid standing at the corner of a table so that I could separate the left and right sides. It helped a lot! I used a piece of masking tape to hold the top end to the table while I worked. Even though it didn't take long to braid, I was able to walk away and come back if needed, without having to start over.



Knotted headband: I also tried another method for a little more dressed up look; this one I found at Sugar bee crafts. I used 4 strands for these and followed the tutorial here to create the pretty knot.

[caption id="attachment_862" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Knotted headband[/caption]


Wide headband: This one is made from a Tshirt sleeve! Who knew that the size of a man's Tshirt sleeve could fit perfectly around a woman's head?! Matilda did! (from Maybe Matilda.) I made different colored rolled felt flowers from fabric and felt. I cut out 4 1/2 inch circles cut out a spiral 1/2 wide to make them. Then hot glued them onto the headbands. For the gray headband I used jean fabric.

[caption id="attachment_864" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Wide headbands[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_867" align="aligncenter" width="279"] Spiral cut to create a rolled flower accent[/caption]



I am now in search of bright colored kids tees so I can make some for my daughters to wear!