Cullen Kids Mum

Kroger Deals: January 2012, Week 3 cont.

2012-01-20T20:24:00.001-06:00

I continued the deals I have been doing this week with the addition of Barilla pasta since my coupons came in from Ebay..

This morning I ran in my favorite Kroger and walked out with:

8 Tennessee pride sausage gravy packs
6 Wolfgang Puck Iced Organic Coffee
8 Barilla Whole Wheat Pasta boxes
8 Men's Speed Stick

Paid .95 (this was the tax)

This afternoon i went to another Kroger:
8 Tennessee pride sausage gravy packs
8 Barilla Whole Wheat Pasta boxes
8 Men's Speed Stick

Paid: .48 (this was the tax)

Total OOP for this week was $91.98 so just under my hundred dollar budget.
This total included:
4 12pks coke products
4 boxes of Ritz Crackers
4 Planter peanuts large canisters (With these 12 items listed above, I received a $10 GC from CVS) $20.00
5 Double packs lysol spray/wipes (received a $6RR). $20.00
Dollar General Christmas Clearance (15) .30c items 70% off
Dollar Tree : $7.00
Big Lots: 15.00
32 Tennessee pride sausage gravy packs
20 Men's Speed Stick Deodorants
16 Barilla Whole Wheat Pasta boxes
17 Wolfgang Pucks Organic iced Coffees
8 Stay Free products
2 Finish Dish detergents
One trip to Kroger & Easy way Product for weeks essentials: Milk, bread, Fruits and Vegs, OJ, Hamburger Meat: approx. $20.00
Forgot to add: Charming Charlies $14 and Bath and Body Works: $12

Total savings for this week: $254.42

Target Semi-Annual Toy Sale: January 2012

2012-01-20T19:50:00.002-06:00

Be still my heart! I love this sale so much.

I know most people think I am crazy for buying toys literally right after Christmas but you have no idea how much you can save until you have experienced this sale. Target starts with 30% sometime the end of December and then it drops to 50% off and in about a week it goes to the coveted 70% off (it use to be 75%) This past Thursday was the DAY!!

Each year it really varies if there will be lots of girl toys or lots of boy toys. This year was the boys year, lots and lots of boy toys.

Here are the highlights of what I bought:

LEGO Space Center set: Reg price $69.99, Target Clearance Price: $34.99

Love that I found this set, my little peep got the Space Shuttle for Christmas.

LEGO Cars Spy Jet Escape 8638: Reg price: $49.99, Target Price: $24.99

LEGO Star Wars Hoth Wampa Set (8089)

Regular Price: $39.99, Target Price: $19.99

Blip Squinkies Cars 2 Globie Dispenser

Regular price: $20.00, Target Price: $5.98 (I have four packs of Squinkies to go with it.)

The LEGOS were only 50% off but I was so happy there were still some in the toy clearance. My littlest peep will be six in February and he is completely into LEGOS. And if you are a parent of a LEGO Kid you know just how expensive those sets are.

I got many other great toys too. My kids Christmas and Birthdays are almost done and it is just January. Nieces and nephews birthdays & Christmas D.O.N.E. Gift closet restocked!

In all I spend around $250.00 (I had saved up more than half to pay with cash)

I SAVED around 450.00!

Kroger Deals: January 2012, Week 3

2012-01-18T15:57:00.002-06:00

Not everything is pictured

15 Tennessee Pride Sausage Gravy 10/10
Used .55 coupon on any Tennessee Pride product (no size restriction) that doubles and adjusted too $1.00= FREE

11 Wolfgang Puck Cold Brewed Iced Coffee 10/10 used $1.00 on one IP coupons = FREE

8 Speed Stick .88 each - 50c coupon (no size restriction) dble & adjusted = FREE

6 Stay Free $2.49 each - B1G1 coupon - (3) $1.00 off any Stay Free product= $4.47 or .75 each

Before coupons total: $47.98
After Coupons oop: $4.47 plus tax for 40 items

Almost forgot!! Here is my beautiful Amaryllis flower from the Target After-Christmas Clearance.

Just 2 weeks ago, it looked like this:

You can find my original post about this beautiful flower: HERE

My "Terrific Kids" are honored at school

2012-01-15T13:13:00.002-06:00

Our elementary school has a Terrific Kid Program that honors one child out of each class ever six week. The teacher from each class picks one child she or he feels has shown the best character over the past weeks. One student that goes above and beyond to show compassion, care and politeness to others. My two beautiful kids were awarded this honor last week and there was a special program held for all the kids that received the award this past Friday.

This program is sponsored by the East Memphis Kiwanis Club. A wonderful organization that devotes themselves to volunteering in the Midsouth. Kiwanis International is a global organization of volunteers dedicated to changing the world one child and one community at a time.

Here is Kiwanis International Website Link: Click Here

Some pictures from the program:

When Sara was walking across the stage to receive her award Joshua jumped up and hugged her. You should have heard all the "awes" from the parents in the audience.

To celebrate after school we went to our locally owned cupcake shop:

Muddy's Bake Shop

And then to the Children's Museum Of Memphis:

CMOM

A great day for the Cullen Family.

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GREAT DEAL: Ortega 12 count Taco Shells

2012-01-14T14:25:00.000-06:00

Read this deal on A Full Cup coupon site. It would be a great way to start a stockpile. I mentioned this deal a few post back but since I just picked up eight more boxes today I wanted to do a specific post on it.

My family loved taco night and whenever I can stock up on taco supplies, of any kind, I do. We probably have taco night two times a month, so if I wanted to stockpile for a year I would need 24 boxes. When I first started couponing about 5 years ago, I couldn't wrap my mind around stockpiling because I thought it just meant having excess.

Excess: the state of exceeding what is normal or sufficient: 2. An amount or quantity beyond what is normal or sufficient; ...

But then I realized how important it is to stockpile items when they are on sale or a good price. This understanding has saved our family thousands of dollars year after year. And has given me the opportunity to share with family and friends or donate items to a food bank.

THE DEAL:
The Ortega Taco Shells are $1.69 at Kroger and they all have $1.00 coupons attached to them.

(8) Ortega 12 Yellow Corn Taco Shells X $1.69= $13.52 - (8) $1.00 off one coupons=
$5.52 oop plus tax.

Be sure and check the expiration date: All of these boxes do not expire until February and March of 2013.

This is a close up of what the peelie coupon looks like on the package:

I found the majority of Ortega Taco Shells on a separate display by the luncheon meat, so keep your eye peeled if there are none on the regular grocery aisle. I looked last week at the Mexican food aisle just to check and there were none of the boxes with peelie coupons there, today I'm in a completely different part of the store and found a whole display.

Kroger: Shopping Trip 1/10/2012 P&G Buy 4 save $4 and Buy 4 Save $3

2012-01-10T13:22:00.001-06:00

Kellogg's Fiber Plus Bars @ $2.99 x 8 = 23.92- 6.00 store promo- 3.00 manu coupons= $14.92 total or $1.87 each

Kellogg's Fiber Plus Ceral @ 2.99 x 4 = 11.96 - 3.00 store promo - B2 (Fiber bars G cereal FREE)= 3.00 credit

Ortega taco Shells 1.69 x 3 = $5.07 - (3) 1.00 off 1 peelie on box = $2.07 or 0.69 each

Not pictured:

Charmin TP @ $6.99 x 2= 13.98 -2.00 store promo - (2) 1.00 ecoupons = $9.98 total or $4.99 each

Bounty PT @ 6.99 x 2= 13.98 -(2) 1.00 store promo - (2) 1.00 ecoupons = $9.98 total or $4.99 each

Total before store promo & coupons: $68.91

Total OOP: $33.95 (that is $1.78 per item)

Kroger: HOT WHEELS GENERAL MILLS Collector toys on clearance

2012-01-10T11:27:00.001-06:00

I saw these the other night but I had my youngest peep with me and he would have claimed them right then and there and I wanted to save them for his birthday or Christmas! So I went back today with my fingers crossed. I found these on an end-cap display close to the magazine aisle.

Kroger Delta region:

Hot Wheels General Mills collector toy cars:

Regular price $3.99 x 6 = $23.94

Clearance price $0.40 each (I bought 6) = $2.40

~Savings: $21.54~

I got:
Cocoa Puffs
Cinnamon Toast Crunch
Count Chocula
Honey Nut Cheerios
Franken Berry
Trix
Wheaties

(The other two are Boo Berry & Lucky Charms)

January 9, 2012 Savings

2012-01-09T15:54:00.004-06:00

I have set a budget of $100 a week on all groceries, paper goods, dollar store, thrift store finds and Target (that store being my weak point every week)

My husband and I went through the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace Program about three years ago and while we still use many of the awesome tips; we have gotten lax on other wonderful points this program provides. One being the money envelope system. You put cash in separate envelopes and only spend that money and/or save that money for specific things. I am starting a money envelope for my weekly groceries, so when the money is gone I spend no more, no matter how great the deal is. It will take discipline but I know I can succeed. I would like to drop my budget back down to $50 a week like I have done before. I hope week by week as I rebuild my stockpile that I can drop $5.00 every month until I am down to a $50 weekly budget.

Kroger saving today 1/9/2012

Deal: select 8z Kraft and Sargento cheese 2 for $5 ($2.50 each)
(4) Kraft Cheese 8 oz. packages
(2) Sargento Cheese 8oz packages
Total $15.00 - 4.40 in Manufacture Coupons - 2.00 off Dairy order of $10.00 or more = $8.60 oop
Or $1.43 each (Awesome price for name brand cheese!!)

Deal: Buy 5 Lean Cuisine get FREE Skinny Cow Candy (coupons on S.C. boxes)
Lean Cuisine 5/$10 - 1.00 Manu. coupon = 9.00oop
Plus Skinny Cow Candy $3.50 - Free w/ purchase coupon= $0.00

Skinny Cow Candy 2.$7 -B1G1 manu. coupon= $1.75 each

(2) Starkist Tune Pouches $1.29 - .50 manu. coupon x 2 (doubled) = 0.29 each

Total before coupons = $38.08

OOP $24.29 ( saved $13.79)

*********************************************************************

HOT coupons right now:

$2.15/1 Finish Quantum Dishwasher Detergent 25 ct+ X1/30

SPEED STICK or LADY SPEED STICK DEODORANT COUPONS .50/1 02-20-12

$.55/1-- Any BARILLA whole Grain Pasta CAN BE DOUBLED Exp 3/4

BOGO FREE COUPONS - BOGO FREE Stayfree product coupons max value: $4.49
A little side note about the above coupon: The last time I bought B1G1 Stayfree coupons, Walgreens had an awesome deal that made both packs free. That was four years ago and I still have around 10 packs left! lol

I'm going to use my blog to keep track of my savings this year. So you will see a lot of these post start popping up.

My year to date total saving this year includes sale pricing, store promo and coupons:

January 2012: $254.52 so far

Master Bedroom (Phase 2)

2012-01-07T19:36:00.008-06:00

Pre NEW paint and a empty room

The antique armoire stayed in the room.

With no room for a king size bed frame with a foot board, we brainstormed and came up with creating a custom headboard that could be bolted to the metal mattress frame.

I designed the king size headboard and my husband cut it out of thick plywood. We had the foam custom cut at a local upholsterer company. You would be surprised how cheap having this done is. I priced foam at Joanns and Hancock and I would have spent double and also would have had to piece two smaller pieces of foam together. All I did was bring them the paper pattern I had made for my husband to cut the plywood out and 2 days later I had my custom cut foam!!!

Add a little spray adhesive and you got yourself a custom headboard!

I love, love, love the wall color!!

Our furniture from Pier One:

We have looked and looked for furniture that would be size appropriate for our room. The bedroom is 12x14. And with a king size bed smack dab in the middle there isn't much room for much more furniture. We needed something petite with lots of drawers. The BIGGEST deciding factor (our budget) I have been saving up money for a year to buy our furniture but have you LOOKED at the prices of bedroom furniture lately? Craziness I tell you, why do they need to charge so much, what is the markup, like 500%. Any way I am a bargain shopper, we checked out thrift stores and a few high end furniture stores but I always kept coming back to Pier One, they really have nice pieces THAT are affordable too. And if you visit the store on a regular bases you will find that everything goes on sale eventually. and they keep marking down the price every week or so. Be patient the price will go down, also have them check inventory on the pieces your are interested in. If inventory is getting low and you are in LOVE with the item go ahead and get it.

We got a steal on this beautiful dresser, it also has a mirror we put on later.

Two night stands: Finally we have our own side tables!!

Antique milk glass lamps with marble bases : FREE

My mom and I rewired them and I bought new plain white fabric shades at Lowe's Home Improvement store. These lamps have been sitting at work collecting dust, unused, for about 7 years but I just knew I would find a perfect home for them one day.

Shades were $6.99 each.

In the middle of all the Master Bedroom redo, my husband finally got little peeps antique bed refinished. So good by to the convertible baby bed he has called home for his first 5 years and hello.............----->

BIG BOY BED!!!!

This beautiful bed is actually one half of a bunk bed set, you can see where the other half is HERE!

You can check out Master Bedroom Phase1 HERE!

Next up: Phase 3

(THE BIG reveal)

~After I clean the room and make it look pretty again~

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Starting the New Year off with good savings

2012-01-07T19:04:00.002-06:00

~ HAPPY NEW YEAR~

I took a ridiculously long break from couponing last year. Sad to say I was a little burned out, not on the savings but on the work that goes behind every penny saved. When my husband ask me to start couponing again, I knew it was time to step back into the crazy coupon world.

With all the negative hype around the extreme couponing showing that have been on tv. I had heard the stores have tightened their coupon policies and really restricted how coupons can be used but I decided it was time to relearn all the store policies and all the new rules that have came about over the last year.

So here is a few deals from this week:

Walgreen's: Buy 2 Kids Triaminc (2/$10) get a $5RR

I paired this deal with (2) $3 off 1 coupons

$10 -(2) $3coupons= $4 received a $5RR (made $2 off this deal)

I did this deal twice, so I have $10 in Register Rewards to use

Got to L.O.V.E. Target

I love the after Christmas sale at Target. We went out of town this year for Christmas and lucky for me we took two vehicles; my first stop back in town on the 26th was to Target when every thing went 50% off. I was actually shocked at how much they had left; besides all the artificial trees being gone the Christmas aisles looked partically untouched.

Today I had to run over to Target to return some items and decided to check the Christmas clearance because I knew it was finally 90% off, there was still many item left.

I bought two of these bulb pots when they were 50% off last week but I was so excited to find about 10 on an endcap so two more for work. These little beauties help me get through the winter gloom.

Original Price: $9.99

Sales price: $2.98

More Target deals:

Boxed Photo Cards: $7.00 -90% off = .70 each
Flintstone vitamins: $5.57 -$2 Target Q -$2 Manu. Q= $1.57 each
Market Pantry Mac & Cheese: .74 -$1 Target Q= $0.00 FREE
Dunkin Doughnuts Pumpkin Coffee $9.49 - 50% off -$1 manu Q= $4.74 each
Bulb pots (shown above) $2.98 each

Original price (presale and clearance) totaled $71.84
My OOP (out of pocket): $20.68

Stopped by my favorite thrift store and they had all Christmas items 75% off

2 beautiful glass candy jars .25 each

Saving these for next Christmas' candy gifts

Baby steps, baby steps. Start coupon, ever penny saved adds up and by the end of the year you will be surprised how much you have saved!

***Happy 2012***

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Sock Bun Curls

2011-11-16T07:44:00.001-06:00

Sock bun curls have been on my "To Do" list for weeks now and we had an extra 5 minutes last night. I tried it out on my daughter's hair. It is a little difficult to get it started just keep working in the loose ends.

Instructions:
Start with barely damp hair
Make a high pony tail on the top of your head.
Get a sock and cut the toe out of it, I think a thicker sock would work best. Roll it up like a doughnut.
Put hair straight up and pull it through the sock "doughnut"

Start rolling the ends of your hair and keep tucking and tucking all the lose pieces, eventually it will start forming a bun and just keep rolling it down until it is as close as you can get to your head. It will stay with no pins.
Go to bed and get your beauty rest!
Next morning unroll and you should have beautiful curls, I don't think I did my daughter's tight enough but it was really cute!

I will be trying this again!~

The bun itself is super cute, add a flower pin and you are good to go!~

I bet two days in this bun would make the curls even better.

~The next morning~

Thanks so much for stopping by.

My next BLOG goal is getting the Master Bedroom Phase 2 pictures up!

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The Master Bedroom Redo (Phase 1)

2011-10-11T19:56:00.003-05:00

I am so excited to share about our grown up master bedroom we finally have after almost 14 years of marriage. I have wanted to redo our bedroom and get real furniture for oh about 12 year now but something else always seemed to need the money I saved up more. So my dreams of a new bedroom got put on hold time after time, which was ok to me because the money I saved up always went to something more important. NOT this time, this time I was able to design, paint and reorganize the entire bedroom and ALL on a very strict budget. (Dave Ramsey would be so proud)

We refinished the floors in all the house over the years and this was the first room we ripped the carpet out of. My husband sanded them and I put 4 coats of poly on them with a 4 inch brush. Very time consuming but worth the work.

A little back story: This was a rental house for years before it was finally put on the market to sell. Imagine, off white walls everywhere & beige carpets throughout, very B.O.R.I.N.G. This house had been neglected for way to many years and needed a lot of love!

Before pictures aka HOT MESS:
It doesn't always look this messy, we were in clean out stage at this point. For my husband's Father's Day gift this year, I let him pick out a brand new Posturepedic Mattress. Paying that baby off for the next few months........
(Something he has been begging for, for years)
So that was the beginning....New Bed, NEW ROOM!!!!!

My kid dresser and chest a drawers. While they are very cool and over 100 years old; every time I walked into the bedroom I always felt like a kid NOT someone fixing to celebrate 14 years of marriage.

The curtains I have loved (my Mom made them for Dave's and my very first apartment) But I was ready for a change and longer curtains.

My husband and I somewhat compromised on "brown" He wanted baby poop brown, you know the brown that has yellow in it! NO NO NO, I wanted the brown with gray tones in it. The color swatch picture is really hard to show the true colors. But we went with the lightest brown on the far right..

It is Valspar Signature Series: Dust Bunny

So that was the beginning of the redo this Summer. More to come this week, hold only your seats people, it going to be a crazy ride, including a kidney stone in the middle of painting the room. Me NOT him!~ O.U.C.H.!!!!!!

~Please join to follow!~

Party links:

Happy October: Teacher Treat (Orange)

2011-10-08T16:40:00.003-05:00

I'm back!

End of the Summer, beginning of school, welcome to Kindergarten, HELLO 3rd grade and oh my, two kids with homework. That about sums what where and what I have been doing~

We are in week 8 of our school year and this past Friday my little peep's teacher's received little treats.

All you need:

Beautiful Oranges

Candy Corn

Clear plastic treat bags

Ribbon

Homemade tags ( I just found some vintage looking tags on the Internet and "borrowed" them. Copy/pasted them into my photo program so I could type the names in!

The words are: : (Orange You Glad It IS Friday!)

How simple and cute is that!

You can click on the pictures to make them bigger~

I've also been busy pinning on Pinterest. That site is so additive~ If you would like an invite just drop me a comment with your email address and I will get on sent out to you.

Party Links:

Pinterest, my new addiction

2011-08-10T07:36:00.001-05:00

I received an invitation to Pinterest about three weeks ago and took my pretty little time getting over there BUT when I did oh boy!! I am so addicted to that site. For anyone that is remotely crafty and slightly leaning toward wanting to be organized this site is like a ray of sunshine from the Heavens. I have two computers, in different locations and those two computers have bookmark after bookmark on them of all sorts of crafts, photography, to do list, blogs, you name it but the problem is I always end up needing the bookmark on the computer that I happen not to be around at that time. I either get frustrated and go find something else to get into or search and search trying to find that cool internet clip so I can get started on creating~

Well be still my little heart Pinterest takes care of every thing for me now. So no matter where I am I can get online and all my little pretties are right there all beautifully organized into their very own categories ready for me to explore. You can have as many or as few categories as you like, name them whatever floats your boat and pin an endless about of things that you may or may not ever do BUT atleast they are all there at your fingertips!

Would you like an invite???

If someone sends you an invitation you can get started that much faster, so drop me a message with your name and email address and I will send one out to you! And trust me I won't be sharing your email.........I don't even know how to do that~ lol

~Happy Wednesday everyone~

~I am making the drapes for my master bedroom redo today~

Where did the Summer go???

2011-08-09T19:31:00.010-05:00

We have been so busy, I think Summer packed up & left without even saying good bye. School registration was last week and the first day of school started August 8th. We have been swimming at our local YMCA, gardening, redo out master bedroom (more from that Summer project to come), crafting and reading all Summer.

Our Garden has out done itself this year. We have enjoyed sharing all our produce with our friends, neighbors and family.

Here is a few pictures from July/August:

Those are the Cherry Tomato ~~trees~~ bushes behind Baby J. Last time we measured they were around 8 foot, crazy people just crazy I tell you!

So last Saturday Dave started picking the garden and tying up all the super heavy plants and Baby J brought in what you see in my sink below.......and then..........

He just keep bringing in bowl after bowl.

After BOWL of tomatoes

I ended up canning 4 quarts of homemade tomato sauce & 4 pints of salsa

Dad's great little helpers

We gave away tons of cherry tomatoes this weekend to our neighbors and my hubby brought a gallon ziplock of them up to his work Monday.

Link parties:

Angled French Braid and Waterfall Braid

2011-08-09T07:53:00.012-05:00

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My oldest peep has been growing her hair out for a few years now and I have had so much fun fixing all different hair styles for her. So wish I could french braid my own hair, I know I just need to start practicing and hopefully could figure it out, my hands get all confused when I try french braiding my hair.

Today for the second day of the new school year I tried the angled french braid. I wasn't sure how it would work but with her hair being so long and all one length it was perfect for this style:

I started with spraying all her hair down with detangler spray and a wet brush. This really helps when you are trying to pull the separate pieces apart and get a clean line of hair and she has LOTS of hair.

Angled French Braid

Waterfall Braid

First attempt at the Waterfall Braid

I love this so much. Reminds me of how little girls wore their hair in Victorian times. I will be doing this one again when it cools off, this is way to hot for a Summer look. My goal for school is to keep her hair off her back during these last few super hot months..

Here is a link to a post from May 2011. I did two french braids down the sides of her head and then braided them together into a large braid to finish.

FYI: I don't think I ever told ya'll (I can say that I live in the South) lol My daughter and I got a sweet little feature on My Yellow Sandbox Blog. The girl, Oh My, she is a hair genius and I have gotten so much inspiration from her 30 days of hair styles. You have to check out her site!! LIKE NOW.......go!!
Here is the post that has our hair pictures in it: Yep right Here....all the way down at the bottom. Mine is the second on the top row and my DD is the second on the third row.

Link parties:

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First Day of school! 2011-2012 school year

2011-08-08T18:44:00.003-05:00

Isn't he just the cutest little ray of sunshine! He totally rocked his mohawk and check out the boots in the picture below! Remember his pre-k graduation pictures. I love that boy!!! When I picked him up today his teacher was just beaming at how sweet and charming he was! And I had 5 people stop me in the hall to tell me how cute he was in his black boots! Yep I have a heart breaker on my hands!~

~His dad polished his boots up for his Big day in Kindergarten~

We live down south and our school year starts early! Wanted to share a few pictures from this morning. Baby J starts Kindergarten today and my sweet baby girl started 3rd grade!

My sweet little girl is growing up too fast!!! She had a wonderful first day. We are so blessed that our elementary school allows us to submit Teacher Request forms and we were lucky enough to get both the Kindergarten and 3rd Grade teachers that were at the top of our list. No working the system like so many of the parents try to do. We write about how our child learns and about their personality and the wonderful principal hand picks the perfect teacher for each child. Pretty cool don't ya think!

And I didn't cry, I was so proud of myself! He is my baby, my last one and not crying my eyes out when I walked out the door was a huge deal!

Baby J and his daddy.

Hope everyone has a wonderful & blessed 2011-2012 school year!

Cullen Gardens July 2011

2011-07-07T19:36:00.001-05:00

Wow this summer is flying by so fast. We have been busy swimming, vacationing, planning a complete redesign of our master bedroom, my husband has been refinishing an antique bed for our youngest peep and of course we have been gardening. I'm not sure if it was the rain, soil, sun or the PERFECT combination of them but our garden has grown beyond words...........just take a look.

My husband picks around 30 to 50 yellow and red cherry tomatoes every day!! By the afternoon there are atleast a dozen more ripe and ready to pick. Our neighbors are very happy campers, fresh FREE produce right next door! You can't beat that~

Bell Peppers, sweet banana peppers and mild jalapenos (or at least the ones I made fresh Pico de gallo last week were mild) CRAZY Yummy

Our Roma Tomatoes are finally coming in too.

And the flowers:

This is our first year ever planting Gladiolas. Guess where I got them??? Dollar Tree of all places. I think there were 5-6 bulbs in a bag for a $1. So far I have had the beautiful peach color below, the dark purple and right now a deep burgundy red bloom. Needless to say I am very pleased with my dollar store finds.

Crepe Myrtles are a southern gardeners staple. This one is a Candy Cane Crepe Myrtle that forgot it's top half was suppose the match its bottom half. All the bottom limbs are the red candy cane color and the top is white but still very beautiful.

~Happy Gardening~

What I see through my camera's lens

2011-06-12T14:58:00.001-05:00

I love photography as many of you may have noticed. I take pictures almost every day. Yesterday we went and visited some family in Ripley , Tennessee. I took 149 pictures yesterday of kids and dogs and vintage bonnets just to name a few things. As we were leaving it had been raining and thundering and I was just ready to get home and avoid anymore thunder storms.

THEN.....my sweet little girl from the back seat told me to look out the window....

And this is what I saw~

(Click on the picture to enlarge)

Have you ever seen a double rainbow? I haven't, isn't it the most beautiful thing you have ever seen!

Creations like this can only be made by His hands... In a matter of minutes the rainbows were gone.

I don't know how anyone can look at something like this and not believe in our Heavenly Father.

Winter T-Shirt Refashion to Summer T-shirt with Ruffles

2011-06-10T19:42:00.013-05:00

I bought two long sleeved t-shirts for my daughter in March after they were marked down at Target. I think I paid around $2.50 each for them. Don't you just L.O.V.E. Target. They are the only store were you can really see how much you have saved and they cycle through their clothes so well that if you are patient you will always fine great things marked down each week. Anyway back to my refashion tutorial. Sorry I only have the end result pictures, I forgot to bring my camera to work today. :-(

This is what the original long sleeved t-shirt looked like:

My sweet girl peep on St. Patrick's Day this year at our beautiful zoo.

Materials needed:

Long sleeved T-shirt

Matching thread

Sewing machine

Scissors

Instructions:

1. Decided where you want to cut your shorter sleeve. On the green t-shirt I cut them just above her elbow. With the extra two long sleeve pieces you have left cut along the serged edge and throw away the serged pieces, also cut off the hemmed cuff.

2. Next lay out your sleeve flat (it may curl up a little, flip it over), Start cutting strips down the lenght of your fabric. Cut whatever width you want. For the green t-shirt I cut mine around 1 1/2 inches wide and for the Orange t-shirt 1 inch wide.

3. Lay the fabric pieces out and stitch end to end together so you create a long strip of fabric. Trim all threads. Trust me it doesn't have to be perfect and the ends don't have to match perfectly when you sew them together.

4. Set your sewing machine to gather (I have an old machine so for me I set it to the biggest stitch and the highest tension) The fabric will gather itself as you sew.

5. After your strip is gathered, adjust the gathering to your liking and pin around edge of new sleeve.

6. Reset your machine to regular stitch and guide the sleeve around as you stitch on the gathering. I overlap my ruffle at the end. (Also I start at the sleeve seam)

The beauty of knit is that is doesn't ravel so you don't need to really hem any part of this shirt.

I love how the orange t-shirt turned out, I am so happy I cut the complete sleeve off. NOTE: If you decided to cut the sleeve off completely, cut just beside the serged edge so you have the nice edge underneath.

Check out me easy 1 Step Tutorial for the mock double layer winter t-shirts.

~Happy Sewing~

I am halfway through getting the tutorial ready for the fabric flowers; should be ready by Sunday evening. You can check out the finished flowers HERE.

Please join to follow my blog, I am 2 away from 100 followers!! My goal by the end of the Summer was to have 100 followers, looks like I am hitting my goal early, thanks so much to everyone!! 100 might not seem a lot to many people but I am thrilled!~

YEA THANKS SO MUCH LADIES I'm at 103 followers!!!!!!!!!

Link Parties:

Custom case for an HP Notebook

2011-06-04T18:50:00.016-05:00

So my beautiful niece's 10th birthday was last Tuesday but her party wasn't until today. I had decided I was going to make her a custom purse because she has watched me so many summer's at work sewing up a storm for everyone else. THEN, my brother, on Wednesday, tells me what he was getting her for her birthday and could I made a case for her new computer/notebook/laptop.............hmmmm whatever it is called.

Ok, so let me think... I have never made a case for a very expensive piece of machinery, what if it is too flimsy and falls out??? Then it would be a cute expensive paperweight. So for two days I stressed over how to make it and them 9am Friday morning I had him pick out the fabric from my stash and I got started.

So what do ya think?

I LOVE it, makes me want one too, but I don't have a notebook, just a big laptop~

Today at her birthday party:

I would say the HP Notebook was the biggest hit.....

Her asking my brother if he REALLY got her one?!?

My giftt was next:

Fits perfect!

I think when I was ten I was still asking for Barbies........ my how times have changed. LOL

Thanks for checking out my blog post, please join to follow.

~Next up is the flower tutorial from the Teacher Gift: Custom Purse Post & sun visor CD cases~

Parties I'm linked to:

Cullen Gardens : June 2011

2011-06-04T09:34:00.014-05:00

~ Cullen Gardens ~
We are in full bloom around here!

Hydrangea

Orange Lilies

Rose of Sharon:

This is a great hot weather plant, very drought tolerant. Mine started out and bare root plant that was around 1 foot tall, now it is around 15 foot tall and 8 foot wide.

More Hydrangeas

Manda villa vine, just getting started. My goal is for it to cover the ugly chain link fence this year. And this is the vine to do the job, once Manda villa Vine get started they spread like crazy and bloom all summer long, They are very drought tolerant, I planted this one in the driest part of our back yard.

I have never had my caladium bloom, so seeing this was a great surprise, now I just need the three plants I put out to take off and grow big Big BIG!!!

My yellow lilies in the front berm look beautiful!!! I bought them two year ago at Lowe's on the clearance rack after Easter for around $1.50 each, The blooms were almost done but I knew that the next Spring they would be beautiful all over again. Now two years later they are triple the size and all the neighbors love my yard! (Big smiles from me)

I do not have any type of brick or metal border around my berm. I didn't want to have one that had to be reset/leveled or the weeds pulled out of it or anything my husband could hit with the lawn mower. This is a natural border, all it takes is a little work around the edges about every couple of weeks. My husband does clean up the grass edge with the weed eater and cuts a sharp 90 degree edge when the grass starts growing good in the Summer. I call it my paisley shape berm, my husband calls it an amoeba.... I find that offensive for some reason, I much prefer calling it my cute paisley print berm.

My little peep approves!

These are Stella d'Oro daylily from my mother in law. This is the second year they have been in the front berm and she was right they grow fast, I will be thinning them out at the end of the season.

Our Vegetable Garden:

Zucchini

The blooms are so beautiful on these plants. Today I spied the first zucchini growing, I'm so excited. I consider the plants just growing a success. They never ever grow for me, I mean NEVER! But this year is looking up!!!!

Tomatoes:
Yellow & Red cherry tomatoes
Yellow tomatoes (less acidic)
Roma
Better Boys
Big Boys
Plum tomatoes

Lots of fresh basil to go with all our tomatoes this year.

Flat Leaf Parsley too...

Other herbs growing in our yard: Rosemary, fennel & chives

Cullen Veg. Garden

Our backyard: June 4, 2011

I forgot to add this little find!

I was thrifting at my favorite secondhand store and came across this umbrella stand for $4. I think it will be perfect in my garden......somewhere.......maybe with a fern stuck in the top or an ivy vine growing around it!

I love finding treasures like this! So what would you do with it, have an idea, please share!

Happy gardening and STAY COOL!!!!!
~ Please join my blog to follow~

Parties I'm linked to:

A Teacher gift for a WONDERFUL 2nd Grade Teacher

2011-05-25T18:20:00.021-05:00

Thanks so much for the feature!!

Today was the LAST day of school, where did the year go???

Ever since my daughter started school I have made her teachers a special gift at the end of year and this year was no exception. I have had the honor of reading every week to my daughter's class. Twenty of the most wonderful children have sat and listen to me read adventures of all kinds, from Camilla with her bad case of stripes, to Mona the Vampire with glow in the dark Dracula teeth to Clementine cutting off her best friends hair and then drawing it back on in permenent marker.

I volunteer that time because I want to, not because I have to. It allows me to get to know each child, not just their names but who they are, we laugh and talk about what they did on the weekends, I quiz them on big words in the books I read and I always, always listen, really listen to what they are saying. Those kids know when you are just half way listening to them and they don't appreciate it! lol

Not only do I read to them every week I also stay and help out in the classroom. I file their weekly work in their Tuesday folders and sort and organize whatever needs to be done. I run earns, make copies (the copy machine doesn't like me) I run to the office, library, other classroom and anywhere else. You know WHY? because I LOVE it! See the way I look at it is that I get that much more time with my daughter, to see her grow up, to see how she learns in class, how they ALL light up when their teacher talks to them about projects or something new they will be learning. Did I mention she is an AWESOME teacher.

When it comes to creating something special for each teacher, I completely take their personality into account, what colors they love, their hobbies and I design each purse from scratch. Yes, yet again, no pattern I just started cutting and sewing and creating.

Hope you like my latest purse design:

I love the colors and fabrics I chose. I knew she loved greens, blues and yellows and after an hour in the fabric store these are the fabrics I selected.

Love how the flower turned out, I have made tons of flower clips for my purses but this one really worked well. I will be doing a tutorial on how I made it next week.

My sweet peep modeling the purse this morning:

Here is my daughter the first day of

school this year and the last day:

Summer here we come!!!

~3rd grade see you in August~

* Please join and follow my blog *

Parties I'm linked to:

What I'm Sewing This Week: May 2011

2011-05-22T16:47:00.017-05:00

Now for some much over due girl stuff!!!

~A super fun, super comfortable summer dress~

My friend sent me this LINK from Sew, Mama, Sew! the other week and I fell in love with this top. I decided to make a dress for my daughter using the tutorial. Making the top into a dress is super easy you just add that much more length to you main body piece and I also added a band at the bottom.

I used seersucker fabric. I have never use seersucker before and I am so in love with this fabric. Easy to cut,sew and washes beautifully.

I purchased the fabric from Joann's Fabrics. It was 50% off so around $3.50 a yard.

I also made her another skirt with the stretch knit top band.

The fabric is Micheal Miller's Hot Pink Eiffel Tower and the black and white hoodstooth was purchased at Hancock Fabrics.

One more thing, I love fixing my daughter's hair and the other day we did a little different braid in her hair. I french braided both sides and braided the left across the back of her head and then finished up the braid together into one large braid. I love the way it turned out!

~Happy Sewing~

Parties I'm linked to:

Meet my sweet graduate on his special day

2011-05-15T09:16:00.008-05:00

I just love this photo, it is amazing to me by just changing a color photo to B&W and putting a black border around the image can make such a dramatic difference. The original image is further down in my blog post.

Yesterday was the big day. My sweet baby boy graduated from preschool. He is my last, there are no more babies to come, so it was even more emotional than when my daughter graduated from kindergarten. How did they grow up so fast. It seems just like yesterday that I was carrying him around at 2am while he was crying with colic. He still looks like a baby to me. My 8 year old daughter lost her baby look at 13 months but not my little boy he didn't start looking like a little boy and not a baby until he was about 3. Somethings even now the way he turns his head or looks at me a still get that glimpse of my little baby boy.

I told him Friday night after his graduation that I will always call him my baby. On his graduation day from high school, his wedding day and even when he is 40 years old, he will always be my baby. He smiled and said that was fine with him and he gave me a big hug~

My two handsome men.

I'm sure most mommy's would have dresses there little graduates in maybe slacks and a sweater vest with dress shoes. Not me, see this is WHO he is. He is known for those cowboy boots. lol We get stopped everywhere we go because he never leaves the house without them, and he totally rocks them. Most days at school he is in shorts and boots and I wanted his graduation day to be no different. Both of my children has their own sense of style, they don't dress like the other kids and they are both trend setter in their own little way.

This is who he is and he totally owns it.

Oh, and I made the shorts! ;-)

Big sister and little brother.

Walking down the aisle:

Yep this is when I started crying, all I could think of was; that in a very short time he will be walking down to receive his high school diploma. I need to treasure ever minute with this little guy. They all grow so fast.

He looks so little.....

They had 30+ graduates this year.

Love this picture of him so much, not posed or looking at the camera.

You can tell he is in the moment, enjoying his graduation.

Getting his diploma from his wonderful teacher. She has been such a huge blessing to us; kind, caring and has worked so hard with each child getting them ready for kindergarten.

Signing "I Love you" Be still my heart.........

All finished and has his diploma

All the graduates were ask to make a poster for the reception. I love crafting and I wanted all the pictures to define who he is: Click on the picture to make bigger.

This is a close up of the center of his poster: All the things that make up who he is~

Two best buddies being silly for the camera.

Joshua and his teacher

~My sweet little boy~

Parties and blog hops I'm linked to:

What I'm sewing This Week: May 9th

2011-05-13T21:42:00.006-05:00

Since Blogger ATE my sewing post from earlier this week, I will do my best to redo it~!

Here are the shorts I promised to post about. Once I got the hang of sewing them I was flying through them super fast. My boy peep adores them all and no matter what shirt he has on (matching or non-matching) he has been in these shorts every day since I made them.

He doesn't like to slow down, hence the red face but I got a few pictures of him at the park last week. I also cut out three of the squares from the puppy dog fabric and satin stitched around them making a matching t-shirt. The red T was $3.50 at Walmart.

Click on any picture to make larger:

I used approximately 1/2 yard of fabric for each pair of shorts. So they cost around $2.50 to $4.00 depending on the fabric. I actually used fabric I have saved the last few years with the intention of making something.... sometime..... eventually....... so the only item I had to purchase right now was the elastic for the waistband.

I also had a local seamstress with an embroidery machine * I want one so bad!) make some personalized t-shirts for my little peep. Love how it makes a $3.50 t-shirt from Walmart look like a $20 t-shirt from a fancy children's clothing line.

Of course now the latest request from him is that ALL the shorts need pockets. Yes pockets, look kid I just got the hang of how to sew these suckers together now you want pockets?!? Yep, I will be figuring the whole pocket thing out next week~

Oh, I almost forgot to add my sweet little guy up there is graduating from preschool tomorrow!!!!!! My baby, my last one, my little stinky boy who leaves hot wheels and kleenex in his pockets and then I wash all of it. Yes, him, I'm not going to cry, I'm not going to cry, repeat, repeat, repeat.....

We had to make a poster for him that will be on display after graduation along with all of his other friends posters. I tell you just making that poster I got teary eyed, WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME!!!

Lots of pictures to come!!!!!

Happy sewing!

Parties I'm linked to:

Tatertotsandjello Weekend wrap up party

Mother's Day Weekend in Hot Springs, Arkansas (Picture overload)

2011-05-09T19:33:00.008-05:00

My beautiful mom and I at the Arlington Hotel's Mother's Day Brunch.

We left Friday morning to head west from Memphis to Hot Springs, Arkansas not knowing how far we would be detoured around all the flood water down here. If you haven't heard on the news about the Mississippi River & the White River in Arkansas rising then you need to google it. I can think of no better words than just pure amazement. Water goes where it wants you can't force it away. Once the rivers are full it just starts spreading out and over taking what use to be farm land, our downtown parks and Riverside Drive (which you can no longer drive on). There are many neighborhoods under water in Shelby County in north Memphis. I heard on a radio news report that the Mississippi is usually around 1/2 mile wide as of this morning it is 3 miles wide. Please pray for all the families effected by this devastating flood. The water is suppose to crest in Memphis around midnight tonight. These are just a few of the quick pictures we took over the Memphis Bridge heading into West Memphis, most of what you see is suppose to be farmland.

See the tree tops

On to the our special weekend in Hot Springs. This is the second year we have been able to enjoy a weekend away from everything, everyone, work, bills, laundry, you name it we left it on the east side of the Mississippi River! My husband doesn't get me flowers or candy or jewelry, what he does give me is three of his well earned vacation days. He takes our sweet peeps to see his mom and grandmother and I don't have to worry about wiping noses or butts or bloody noses or bruises for three days! I have to tell you too that my littlest peep even threw up this weekend AND I DIDN'T HAVE TO CLEAN IT UP!!!!!! Being 5 hours away from the puke was an awesome Mother's Day bonus! lol

We stayed in the lovely historic Arlington Resort Hotel & Spa . If you go to Hot Springs you MUST stay in this unbelievable hotel. Many characters of varying degree have stayed in this wonderful mysterious hotel, such are Al Capone, Harry Truman, Franklin Roosevelt and even Barbra Streisand & Babe Ruth. We always get a Mineral Water Room, these are rooms where the natural mineral water that is running out of the under ground streams are piped right into your private bathroom.

The night view from our hotel room:

~Hot Springs Farmers Market~

Support local farmers everywhere!

~Mid America Museum~

http://www.midamericamuseum.org/

The Porterhouse Steak and Seafood

Phenomenal food and a beautiful historic setting, you have to go experience it yourself to understand how wonderful the steaks are! The staff is just as excellent!

And of course the wonderful Sunday Mother's Day Brunch at the Arlington:

~Sites around Hot Springs, Arkansas~

Bathhouse Soapery
You have to stop by this awesome little handmade soap shop on Central Ave. within walking distance of the Arlington Resort Hotel & Spa. The soaps are so yummy I could buy one of each (if I had the money). I love the shop it is simple and clean & not over cluttered. You can tell that all the bath and body items are fresh made, the staff is super helpful and loves to answer any beauty question you have. The soaps are cut right in front of you and labeled. This trip I got a slice of Honeysuckle Soap for my daughter, Honey Heel Glaze (flip-flop season is here) and the BEST Foaming Body Scrub in Bathhouse Couture favor! LOVE IT!

Happy Mother's Day Weekend

2011-05-06T09:47:00.000-05:00

My mom and I are headed to beautiful Hot Springs, Arkansas for the weekend!

There will be lots of pictures posted next week!

~Everyone have a WONDERFUL Weekend!!!~

Upcycle/Recycle a Winter Shirt to a Summer Shirt! (Easy 1 Step Tutorial)

2011-05-05T17:30:00.005-05:00

I have been making shorts for my little boy peep all last weekend and have also been cleaning out his closest and pulling out all the winter clothes and seeing what needed to be packed away for next winter. Then I had a revelation!

A clothing revelation, why not make all of the winter shirts into summer shirts. All the t-shirt are the same weight as the summer shirts in the stores so they wouldn't be any heavier or hotter.

I adore these cute mock double layer shirts. Guess how easy it is to make them a summer t-shirt?

1 Step:
Turn the t-shirt inside out and cut as close to the serged edge as you can get without cutting any of the stitching! 30 seconds later you have a t-shirt for summer!

T-shirt turned inside out. The serged edged has both the blue and orange fabric sewn together. But the upper t-shirt is hemmed about 1/2 inch longer than where they are serged together. Make sense? It will, keep going....--->

Cut just along the inside edge of the blue fabric. The upper t-shirt is just long enough to cover what is left of the blue fabric. No seam ripper needed and no sewing needed!

You can't even see the blue knit fabric from the outside once the sleeve is cut off.

I did the same to this t-shirt.

I'm also going to cut his regular long sleeved winter shirts and hem the sleeves to short sleeve.

That will take a little longer to do than this super easy 1 Step upcycle/recycle.

All of the cute boy shorts I have made will be coming up soon!

~Happy sewing~

Parties I'm linked to:

Organizing stockpiles and pantries 101

2011-05-02T13:16:00.001-05:00

I have written about stockpiling and how to keep everything organized before on my blog but thought a good refresher course would be good for me and my readers. Organization is key to a good stockpile because even though many of the items will not expire for a year or more that year can fly by and then you are stuck with a bunch of expired food items that can't even be donated becoming a waste of your time, space and especially a waste of good food.

It has been a long while since I organized my stockpile, we have been using it up over the last six months and I just wanted to start fresh. My husband even started making comments about how low everything was getting. I also took about 4 months off couponing because I needed the break and November through February was crazy busy with everything BUT couponing.

This is the state of my overflow pantry stockpile. My 5 year old has the biggest closet in the house so I "borrow" two shelves in this closet. As you can see the popcorn overflowed to another shelf also filled with all his pre-school papers and crafts.

1. First thing to do was pull all of it out, checks dates and organize into categories.

2. Wipe down all the shelves with cleaner
3. Get a sharpie

4. Date everything

5. Number you items (Will explain this later)

Reshelf everything the easy way it works for you.

I put all cake mixes, brownie mixes, muffin mixes, canned icings, powdered sugar, brown sugar & chocolate coating candy, so when I am ready to bake I have those things all together.

Here is a break down cost of just a few of the items I have stockpiled right now:

20 boxes of Popcorn (3pks) Free @ Schnucks after coupons. Sale price 10/10

14 Cake mixes / brownie mixes $10.86 (my cost) / Regular price $21.00

Varies beans: $9.80 (my cost) / Regular cost $21.80

Dating all items is a MUST. I also number them because I have a spreadsheet (cheap legal pad tacked to the wall) That I can mark off when I use something. That way I always know what I have, where it is and if I need to stock back up on the item. There is nothing more frustrating than knowing you have an item but can't find it. You end up wasting your time just hunting down that box of pasta rather than getting your meal started. Keeping an eye on what you use most for your family is very important; that way when a coupon comes up for those items you can order multipules from a coupon clipping service or do like me and order them off of Ebay. Most items will go on sale every three to six months.

Icing was 50% off after Easter purchase from Target

16 Krafts BBQ sauce FREE after in store promotion and peelie sticker on each bottle.

Hunt's canned tomato sauce, Hunts diced tomatoes: clearanced to .59 each / Regular price $1.09 each

Manwich sauce clearanced to .49 each / Regular price $1.00

These canned goods were only clearanced out because the store had no more room on the regular shelf for these products and they had to put them out. Yes, the same products, same expiration dates were on the can goods isle for regular price. So always, always check the clearance section of your store.
(This information came straight from the manager of my store.)

The pantry over our washer/dryer:

Purex Crystals Fabric softener: $.99 each

Target price $3.99- $1.00 (Target coupon) -$2.00 (Manu. coupon)=$0.99 a bottle

Shout Spray Target deal, last year:

Retail price: $1.99 -$1.00 Target Q-$0.55 Manu. Q = $0.44 each

And this, well this is the other important part of stockpile use: When your husband opens something that you already have open and then there are two open bottles of detergent or pasta or cookies or MILK.

I always mark what to use first!

My pasta is stored in clear resealable containers and not left in the cardboard boxes. The Barilla pasta was all FREE after coupons.

I know many people can't not understand he purpose of stockpiling I couldn't for about the first 6 months of couponing. We are always taught you only buy what you need right then not for 6 months to a year. Considering I have read many articles and been told by the manger of our local grocery store that the prices of food products will be going up this month, I am purchasing what I can now at the lowest price possible with store sales and coupons.

Here is a little background on how I got started couponing & stockpiling:

From A Full Cup Website

This is the main website I find my deals at, there are many, many more couponing sites out there that offer the same information. I have been a member a AFC since July 2007.

I started stockpiling Jan 2008.

I started couponing July 2007, I first started using coupons when we had our first child. The formula checks were a blessing and when we registered with all the diaper manu. and got those q I always used them. That was my first taste of couponing. My mom couponed when I was little but never on this level and we always shopped deals and sales; so it is in my blood.

My main reason for stockpiling is for my families needs. Before I would have bought what I needed at that moment NOT what I would need for a year. It did take me some time to understand the importance of stockpiling in today's economy. I thought if I just bought what I needed at that time and saved my money that was the way to go but then I would run out of something, it would be at the end of the week when all the money had gone to bills and there was $2.00 left in the account and we needed milk and bread.

The good news is we use to have to borrow money from my mom to buy groceries and baby needs (and she never minded) NOW I take her shopping and she gets to benefit from all my good deals. My way of paying her back.

I also give a lot to my family (those that will take it) I love sharing my good fortune with my family and my dear neighbors.

We have had some very rough years, loss of loved ones, lose of jobs, serious illnesses but with our stockpile and a well thought out budget, we are doing very well .

What I'm Sewing this week: April 2011

2011-05-01T11:59:00.013-05:00

I know it isn't April anymore but when I started this post last Friday it was! ;-)

Here is the link: Show and Share 14

I have had so much fun sewing the last few days. My projects have been a little bit of everything. First I finished up a purse for a dear friend's mother. She brought me the main fabric ( Alexander Henry's Green Yui Kokeshi Dolls) and I picked two coordinating fabrics with her two favorite colors from the Kokeshi Dolls farbic. I think the red and teal were a great choice.

Zipper Coin Pouch

Inside of Purse

I also made my very first pair of little boy shorts for my sweet little boy peep:

I love this fabric and he LOVES cars.

I followed this TUTORIAL at MADE.

So simple and so easy to follow, I'm one of those that gets totally confused with the whole inseam/ crotch area. Why? I have no idea but when I'm looking at the four pieces of cut out fabric my head starts spinning. Do I sew the front to the back or the back to the back or the back side to the front side, I know you are probably confused now, right?!?

~So THANK YOU Dana over at MADE for helping my head to stop spinning over how to sew pants~

Butt shot! lol

These ended up being a little shorter than I wanted so the next pair I made 2 inches longer.

Look for another What I'm Sewing This Week post soon!

I've been sewing all weekend!

Parties I linked to:

The Cullen Gardens: April Update

2011-04-26T17:08:00.008-05:00

I JUST squeezing in our April update:

We have been very busy working outside the last few weeks in between the crazy thunderstorms and tornado warnings. I love working in my yard, although my manicure and pedicure don't like it, but I would rather have dirt under fingernails than a boring yard. My husband tilled up the garden area and with the super duper help from a tough five year old the MAN WORK was done.

Miss S. pulled all the weeds out of the garden spot:

Apples are starting to form on the apple tree:

Joshua's zinnia seedlings:

Some of our plants: We went up to a locally owned garden nursery last weekend and found some wonderful vegs. and flowers. So wish I had waited and bought all of our plants there, half the price and better quality than the plants at the chain home improvement store.

Just a few of the plants are in:

~My helpers~

The front berm is doing wonderful I went out and weeded it last week and finally got the gladiola bulbs in (a month late). I decided to go with a white/pink theme this year for the new plants. I filled in the blank spots with white Sweet Williams (Dianthus barbatus) and light pink Periwinkles (Vinca). The front flower bed just in front of the house has the light pink Periwinkles and white/green caladiums. If the sun ever decides to stay out long enough and start warming up the soil the flowers will start growing and I can share some flower bed pictures. We are expecting some more crazy thunder storms tonight.

You know they do say April showers bring May flowers. More so for us, April thunder storms with tornado watches hopefully bring calmer, sunnier May days. ;-)

~Happy planting~

UPDATE APRIL 27th, after MORE rain, tornado warnings and flooding, this is what our garden looks like: Ugh!!!!!

Our ~~lap pool~~ Veg. Garden

Our ~~swimming hole~~ Backyard

Update: After all the rain, this is what my peeps looked like! lol

I know, I know (to the ones cringing at their clothes) I have learned to pick my battles.

The mud washes out and the peeps slept really good that night.

Parties I'm Linked to:

Cullen Easter Weekend 2011

2011-04-25T15:40:00.001-05:00

We had a wonderful weekend of egg hunt at our church, dying our own Easter eggs at home, early service at church Easter morning, followed by a special Easter Sunday lunch at my mom's house where we also celebrated my grandmother's 90th Birthday!

Here is our Easter weekend in pictures:

My husband got me flowers and my favorite adult beverage!

I was a happy girl! LOL

Saturday morning at our church, ready for Eggs-Ooh-Berance

Coloring our Easter Eggs:

Dyed eggs and dyed fingers.

Easter morning, the Easter bunny came!

Thanks to 50% off Target clearance last year!

Celebrating my grandmother's 90th birthday.

~Four generations all together~

All the great grand children with Grammie B

Sara Hailey (8) and Lyli (18 months)

~Hope everyone had a blessed and wonderful Easter weekend~

Sewing our summer wardrobe

2011-04-03T21:15:00.011-05:00

I love to sew!

I still laugh at that statement because I disliked it so much as a teenager in home economics class.

I started back sewing around 8 years ago and haven't stopped since. My favorite things to make are totes, diaper bags and purses of all shapes and sizes. I go against the grain and don't always use patterns. When I have a special project to do I design it in my head and just start cutting, that makes each one of my handmade gifts truly one of a kind.
Recently, I made a custom purse for a dear friend of mine, my best friend, for her birthday last month and she LOVED it so much. She picked the main fabric (Harajuku Girls Invade New York City) and I picked all the coordinating fabrics. It took me about an hour in the fabric store to decide which colors I wanted to pull out of the main fabric. I think the mauve/pink and blue really make the
Harajuku fabric pop.

(Photo credit to Sheila D.)

I love when I can make something for someone who truly appreciates all the hard work that went into it.

In fact this very same best friend was so inspired by my sew obsession that she went out and bought her very first sewing machine. Now she is as hooked on sewing as I am and I have someone to brainstorm sewing ideas with! How awesome is that! I gave her, her very first sewing lesson a few weeks ago (not that she needed it, she is a very crafty lady) and she has already made three dresses.

My latest ~~obsession~~ project:

SKIRTS

I'm a skirt girl, I LOVE skirts. So many woman have moved away from wearing sweet, feminine clothes. Wearing pants and shorts just isn't my thing. Skirts instantly makes you feel more girlie and younger. I found some very good tutorials and fell in love with the bias cut knit waist skirts. They are crazy comfortable and fall so beautifully on an size figure. Anything cut on the bias is just gorgeous. I ordered a $40 skirt from a designer off Etsy and figured out how she made it and started cutting out my own skirt. A hour later I was wearing my first skirt creation! Two hours after that I had made matching skirts for my daughter and I. Ok, I was hooked on skirt making, they are so simple and the fabric combinations are endless. My skirts only cost me around $8 -$15. You can't beat that! The few skirts I had been looking at in some clothing magazines were $40 and up, ouch NOT in my budget.

You can make them any length you want and the fabric combinations are endless.

I bought these fabrics from Hobby Lobby. It took three yards of fabric because I gathered the second layer to make it more full. When you are doing a bias cut skirt you cut a full circle out for the top layer and straight strips for all the other layers. The knit waist is so comfortable, and you don't see it because your shirt covers it.

I also love the Mock Smock Cotton Prints that you can find more and more of these days. All it takes is a seam up the back and you are done. I added two ribbon ties to make it into a halter top for my daughter. It is so cute with leggings you can get a Target for $4-5 dollars. Top cost around $12 for materials.

This is the -Fancy Nancy Posh Puppy I found it at Joann's Fabric.

This fabric was also purchased at Hobby Lobby. I used a dark navy knit for this waist band too. The thicker the knit the better, the thin knit stretchs too much.

Matching skirt for my daughter.

This is a good picture of the knit waist band.

Another skirt I made for my daughter using the mock smock fabric. This could easily be a top too.

Taking a break waiting for the wind to calm down, it was crazy windy today!

Happy sewing!

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Be sure and check out all the crafty ladies out there!

Prepping for the Cullen Garden

2011-03-27T16:48:00.020-05:00

We have had some gorgeous weather here the last few weeks and everything in the garden is starting to wake up and bloom. My tulips in my front burm garden get taller and taller with each day; even our dogwood tree has blossoms all over it. (I don't think they will last til Easter)

Of course the last two days have brought thunder storm after thunder storm across our city and some cold 40 degree temps too. The children have been spoiled to the longer sunny days and being cooped up inside watching it thunder and rain isn't their idea of fun. It isn't mine either..... I was very tempted to throw them outside yesterday and tell them to go play in the mud just to get them out of my house for a few relaxing moments. No rain today but I think we will visit our wonderful children's museum. They can run off lots of energy and I can relax and read a little.

Our vegetable garden spot. Small but we pack a lot of great plants in there every year. See the rosemary bush, we are going to move it over to another flower bed to make room for my vegs. This is my oldest plant, when I first started gardening in my parent's backyard I planted this rosemary bush when I was fourteen. It has been moved 4 times.

A view of our very wet rainy backyard this past Saturday. The tree in the foreground is a white crape myrtle and the other tree is our Johnafree apple tree. See the lack of grass there on the bottom left, I will tell you about that in a bit.

What I have blooming right now in my yard:

Dogwood Tree (my sweet tree that my mother in law gave me from her yard 10 years ago)
Purple Tulips
Johnafree Apple Tree (my husband trimmed it back so I am hoping we will get more apples this year)
Jonquils
Wild Violets (Only because my sweet 5 year old brings me bouquets of them every day) Of course when my real flowers go in the beds these get pulled out. They are extremely invasive!
Azaleas blooms are just starting to open.

Inside I started a little herb garden from a kit I purchased from Big Lots. It was a cold, dreary winter day when I splurged in the hopes of a little green Heaven to sit in my kitchen window to help get me through the last few months of cold. I was a little sceptical if it would actually work so I saved my receipt and hoped for the best. Beside Burpee's had their name all over it so that made me think it would be a sure thing. The kit was $5 and contained basil, chive and parsley seeds, seed starter dirt, two Miracle-Gro packets and it was packed in cute oblong metal tin.

Sure enough it all grew and did so well I had to go buy some peat pots to transplant some of the seedlings out. I am super excited that now I have 9 basil plants and 3 parsley plants ready for my outdoor garden.

I also bought seed packets of my three favorites flowering annuals. These are always are in my flower beds every year: Zinnias, Bachelor Buttons and Cosmos.

I used a Jiffy Greenhouse to start some of my flowers seed early this year. I sure hope my early prep work pays off, this is the first time I have used the Jiffy seed starter kit.

(Purchased at Lowe's Hardware Store: $8.97)

My husband has been working in our garden plot for our vegetables this year. This warm weather has him starting early too. Huge plus for me because we are always a little late getting our vegetable plants out; but this year we are ahead of the game. Our sweet elderly neighbor across the street gave us his tiller last fall. This was something we have always wanted to purchase but it wasn't in our budget so we had to borrow a tiller every year. Of course that meant usually fixing it first and giving it a good tune up and returning it better than we borrowed it. Isn't that what your parents taught you, mine sure did. NOW we have our own, aren't wonderful neighbors GREAT!

See that handsome little guy in the picture above. He is the reason I have a patch of dirt where there should be Zoysia grass. He will also be the reason I have no Zoysia grass in my yard this year or at least in the repeated circles he rides his 4-wheeler around and around and around my yard. By the way if you are in the market for an awesome kid 4-wheeler I highly recommend the Razor electric 4-wheeler. It has pneumatic tires (not those plastic cheap tires on all the other kid ride-on toys) It cost a little more but it will also last! It is rated for ages 8 and up but my 5 year old does just fine riding.

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Sugar and Spice Link Party #52

A simple thrift store find~redesigned

2011-02-13T13:39:00.008-06:00

I decided I really needed to get out of this winter, snowy, icy yucky funk I have been in. We normally get, oh maybe two good snow falls in January and February but we have had alot of snow this year. We southern girls are just not into snow. We like it for about 5 minutes and then we are over the pretty white stuff! Our last snow was Wednesday a week ago. Our city completely shuts down with the first speck of a snow flake. People flock to the grocery store and empty the shelves with wild anticipation of a snow storm that you think would last a month. I can say with great enthusiasm I am OVER ice and snow, I went outside Thursday to play with the peeps and their dad and 5 minutes into snow bliss I slipped and fell on ice. I think I tore every muscle in the back of my right leg. All I could do was just sit there as the ice under my injured butt began to melt. I managed a faint whimper and my sweet 8 year old tried to help me regain some type of grace under the excruciating pain from the choir of leg muscles screaming.

All I managed to say to my husband as he tried to 'dust' the snow off of me; was if I could please go inside and cry in a fetal position in a corner somewhere. So today, four days later with the sun warming up and melting the 'white crap' outside; I decided I really needed to get my blog going again before I start losing the wonderful followers I have!

~Sweet and Simple~

I have always, always wanted a cigar box purse and for some reason I just never got around to making one from scratch. I was thrifting around in one of my favorite junk shops last year and came across a cigar box purse. Perfect!! I thought and then I flipped it over to see what was on the other side and was disappointed to find a beaded (in my opinion) gaudy print of a roll skating car hop. Thanks but No thanks and walked away. Then I started to think about it and the potential it had so I went back for a second look and to see how easy it would be to take the fabric print off. For $3 I couldn't pass it up!

Cigar purse before:

Love this side:

I took the metal corners off with a small flat head screw driver and pealed back the fabric (it was backed with thin cardboard and only glued around the edges.

I picked a beautiful floral upholstery fabric, I have been saving for awhile now, to recover the blank side of the cigar purse. I put a thin layer of craft glue along the edge, let it dry completely with a heavy book on top to weigh it down, then replaced the metal corner

I wanted to dress it up a little more so I cut some black tulle and tied it to one side of the handle and added a vintage rose pin I found at an estate sale years ago.

Isn't it the cutest, sweetest little out-on-the-town purse you have ever seen.

Happy early Valentine's Day!!!!!!

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New years resolutions and reflection

2010-12-26T18:32:00.004-06:00

Since I have taken almost a month off blogging, I decided I needed to wrap up my year with a final blog post. Reflecting back over this year I can say it has been a good one. Sure we have had struggles, hardships and upsets but we also had great joy and blessings happening in our lives. God has been so good to my family and I, we have been blessed every day, whether large or small the blessings have been there for us to lift up to God and praise Him for the good He does.

My resolutions for the coming year is simply this:

I want my life to be filled with as much joy as I can possibly cram into every day. Why do we always find the negative before the positive; it baffles me and I do it all the time. There is so much negativity circulating around us why on earth would we want to expand on it. To give it a reason to grow and spread. Gossip and hatred cause the destruction of so many relationships. I have seen the breakdown of so many marriages just this year and the negative impact on everyone especially children. I told a friend just the other day that with great certainty I do not open my heart up easily, too many hurts tend to follow but if we are so reluctant to take the first step and offer our hearts to each other then we are nothing but lonely souls going throughout our daily lives.

And smile for goodness sakes, I can't go a day without smiling. I smile at everyone, even strangers & I say hello to them. Think about this, you have no idea what that person is going through, the personal struggles they may be enduring in their own lives. Your simple hello and smile could reap huge benefits and you not even know it.

Caring is a huge quality that so many people have forgotten to do. We are so wrapped up in fending off our own demons that we forget to care for each other. To care for our elderly friends and family, a simple visit to them brings such joy to their eyes, to care for people that are financially struggling, trust me there is someone else worse off than you and they need you to care for them. Whatever you are able to give of yourself do it. It doesn't need to be monetary, a big production or given recognition for the deed. What it does need to be is from your heart and what your heart tells you to do with it.

God bless you for the New Year, may the paths you choose be exciting new chapters in your life. May they also be so impacting to you that the ground beneath your feet shake.

Our First Nutcracker performance~

2010-12-15T07:35:00.001-06:00

When I was a little girl I took dance for many, many year. Eighteen to be exact but for all the places I took none of the studios or dance academy ever did a Nutcracker performance. That is the one ballet I always wanted to dance in.

My daughter is taking ballet from a wonderful company and guess what? They have a performance of the Nutcracker each and every December. When this semester ballet class first started she wasn't sure she wanted to be in the performance (in the past her stage fright has gotten the better of her). My heart sunk just a little but I told her that whatever she decided I would support, even if I was praying and hoping she would change her mind and be in the Nutcracker. November rolled around and rehearsals for the Nutcracker were in full swing and she had not said anything to me and I wasn't about to ask for fear of bringing up the subject might cause her to make a hasty retreat to the closest exit.

Then a few weeks into rehearsals, I was tucking her in for bed and she hugged me and told me she had made a decision about dancing in the Nutcracker. I held my breath and sat down on the bed beside her and listened. She told me she loved ballet so much and because she had two very special friends in her class and because they were dancing with her it gave her the confidence to be in the performance. My heart did a leap I was so happy! I told her that she was going to make her ballet teacher very happy.

The first weekend of December was the Children's Ballet Nutcracker, we are fortunate to have a beautiful Preforming Arts Auditorium to perform in.

Here are a few pictures for that weekend. The girls had three performances total, two on Saturday and 1 on Sunday.

It was truly a magic experience for all the girls and for me too. I volunteered backstage as a chaperon and was able to watch for the wings of the stage. Being backstage is even better than being in the audience. You are right there watching just feet away from the performers. I think I loved it more than the girls on stage~
Enjoy the pictures:

On stage rehearsals

The first performance:

Some fun behind the scenes pictures:

My sweet girl and her best friend

The ballet company also had a silent auction to raise money for the performance and I contributed one of my tutu purse for the auction:

I was so happy that my Tutu Purse sold for $55!

If you are interested in ordering one of my Tutu purse please drop me an email or comment and I will get in touch with you.

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TOP Secret Desk Surprise and Birthday Bash

2010-11-26T11:57:00.002-06:00

The 8th Birthday was a complete success! My sweet 8 year old had so much fun with her friends.

Mixing homemade Hot Cocoa Mix

Decorating their own Cupcakes

Playing Games

Making Kid Trail Mix

Now the BEST part, Sara seeing her Desk for the very first time!!!

She has told me every day that she loves her desk!

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Week Day Linkie parties:

Friday Linkie Parties:

Cullen Kids Mum

Kroger Deals: January 2012, Week 3 cont.

Target Semi-Annual Toy Sale: January 2012

Regular Price: $39.99, Target Price: $19.99

Blip Squinkies Cars 2 Globie Dispenser

Regular price: $20.00, Target Price: $5.98 (I have four packs of Squinkies to go with it.)

Kroger Deals: January 2012, Week 3

My "Terrific Kids" are honored at school

GREAT DEAL: Ortega 12 count Taco Shells

Kroger: Shopping Trip 1/10/2012 P&G Buy 4 save $4 and Buy 4 Save $3

Kroger: HOT WHEELS GENERAL MILLS Collector toys on clearance

January 9, 2012 Savings

$2.15/1 Finish Quantum Dishwasher Detergent 25 ct+ X1/30

SPEED STICK or LADY SPEED STICK DEODORANT COUPONS .50/1 02-20-12

$.55/1-- Any BARILLA whole Grain Pasta CAN BE DOUBLED Exp 3/4

BOGO FREE COUPONS - BOGO FREE Stayfree product coupons max value: $4.49A little side note about the above coupon: The last time I bought B1G1 Stayfree coupons, Walgreens had an awesome deal that made both packs free. That was four years ago and I still have around 10 packs left! lol

BOGO FREE COUPONS - BOGO FREE Stayfree product coupons max value: $4.49

A little side note about the above coupon: The last time I bought B1G1 Stayfree coupons, Walgreens had an awesome deal that made both packs free. That was four years ago and I still have around 10 packs left! lol

Master Bedroom (Phase 2)

Starting the New Year off with good savings

Sock Bun Curls

The Master Bedroom Redo (Phase 1)

Happy October: Teacher Treat (Orange)

Pinterest, my new addiction

Where did the Summer go???

Angled French Braid and Waterfall Braid

First Day of school! 2011-2012 school year

Cullen Gardens July 2011

What I see through my camera's lens

Creations like this can only be made by His hands... In a matter of minutes the rainbows were gone.

I don't know how anyone can look at something like this and not believe in our Heavenly Father.

Winter T-Shirt Refashion to Summer T-shirt with Ruffles

Custom case for an HP Notebook

Cullen Gardens : June 2011

A Teacher gift for a WONDERFUL 2nd Grade Teacher

What I'm Sewing This Week: May 2011

Meet my sweet graduate on his special day

What I'm sewing This Week: May 9th

Mother's Day Weekend in Hot Springs, Arkansas (Picture overload)

Happy Mother's Day Weekend

Upcycle/Recycle a Winter Shirt to a Summer Shirt! (Easy 1 Step Tutorial)

Organizing stockpiles and pantries 101

What I'm Sewing this week: April 2011

The Cullen Gardens: April Update

Cullen Easter Weekend 2011

Sewing our summer wardrobe

Prepping for the Cullen Garden

A simple thrift store find~redesigned

New years resolutions and reflection

Our First Nutcracker performance~

TOP Secret Desk Surprise and Birthday Bash

BOGO FREE COUPONS - BOGO FREE Stayfree product coupons max value: $4.49
A little side note about the above coupon: The last time I bought B1G1 Stayfree coupons, Walgreens had an awesome deal that made both packs free. That was four years ago and I still have around 10 packs left! lol