Shopping List 10/23

There is so much going on with my family lately, but I still make time to craft!

Michael's has ribbon this week 3 for a $1 so I am going to stock up for Christmas. Also they have 24 inch pine wreaths at $5.99 each. You know I like to hang a wreath on every door in the house. Here are all the coupons for the week!

Hobby Lobby has been my favorite place to get crafts lately. It is so much bigger than Michael's and they have fabric! Spray Paint is 30% off this week and I need some fall colors. I love the small cans they carry!
I also need some felt as I am going to make some adjustments to the boys fabric bins in their room. Here is the 40% coupon for the week.

CVS is my candy store hook up for the week. We have lots of Halloween Parties and treat bags to fill. Candy is 4 for $7 after ECB's and there were tons of $1 off 2 coupons last week.

World Series Break

I have been so busy with my husband working a normal schedule. I was used to him being here 3-4 days a week. This week the World Series is on and my Texas Rangers are in it. Of course they are playing the St. Louis Cardinals and my friends and family have spent the week heckling me. On top of a busy week, evaluations due for preschool, and the World Series, my inlaws are coming into town tomorrow night. I will be using my treadmill and running after the boys are in bed while I watch the Rangers.

Outside Sensory Table

I made a sensory table from pvc pipe and plastic rubbermaid containers. I was going to take it to preschool, but it is in the backyard right now. D loves having it here. We had water in it and he loved scooping it and drinking it. Of course we do this while my germaphobe husband was at work! Someday I will post the pictures of the World's largest mud puddle (according to A) in the backyard!

Importance of Displaying Their Work

I think it is so important for the boys to have freedom in creating their work. It is equally important to display their work. They have work on the fridge, their walls, dad's office and in a rubbermaid in my closet after it comes down.

Cael worked forever on this paper while the boys did their homework. Then he just had to add it to the fridge with a few magnets. He is so cute!

Easy Halloween Crafts UPDATED PICS

This week was especially busy as my husband started his new job and we all adjusted to our new schedule. I did find a little time to craft. I modge podged a jack-o-lantern and friends on a mason jar ($1.50) and used scrapbook paper and letters from Hobby Lobby to make a sign (cost $7). I need to stop doing Halloween projects and start on Thanksgiving. The frame is a $1 frame with a $1 bag of eyes from Michael's. I am making a sign today and officially starting Thanksgiving crafts.

Costumes

Most people dress up because it is Halloween, but not us. We play dress-up year round. This is my favorite time of year to stock up on costumes for my children and preschoolers. I am counting down days until November 1st to see what I can score.

Cheap Baby Wipes

I also use Amazon to order our wipes. This morning I scored a 720 count box (10 packs) for $9.29. So you end up paying about 93cents per pack and it is shipped to your door. The cool thing about Amazon Subscribe and Save is that you are under no obligation to keep it. If you get the first shipment and decide you don't want anymore, log into your account and cancel it. 

See this post for Cheap Diaper FAQ.

Washing Machine Finds

Today was a good day for goodies found in the washer. I have to remind myself to check those sneaky cargo pockets. Today we have 2 pencils, some loose change, Spidey, a wad of trash, a popped balloon,  and a hair clip. This is one of my biggest loot finds to date!

This compares to this awesome day of laundry:



Shopping List 10/9

Michaels- there are 2 great coupons for Michael's this week. This one for 50% off good for today and tomorrow and this one for 40% good for Tuesday though Saturday. Craft pumpkins are half off this week so I think I am going to grab some to embellish with sequins. Also I am using my half off coupon for black feather boas.

Hobby Lobby- Here is the 40% off any item for this week.

Target- Buy 2 Gillette Proglide razors and get a $5 gift card. These are $9.89 and if you use 2 $5 off coupons from last week's paper you will pay $4.78 after gift card.

CVS- Not crazy about this ad. I have $11 in Extra Care Bucks and I am on my last pack of the Buy 6 get 1 free promo so I am going to get an extra pack of diapers for D to take to school.

Walgreens- I only see more candy corn 2 for $2. I am going to try my hand at Homemade Butterfingers from here.

Sensory Table #4

In honor of October being National Pasta Month and seeing an awesome sensory tub on Counting Coconuts, I made my own. It has:
3 boxes of tricolor rotini
Brown poms for meatballs
A clean parm cheese shaker
Pasta spoons
Regular spoons
Colanders
Going to add bowls for sorting

I am going to use this with Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

It will also be a great day to do a little Spaghetti Painting:

Be on the lookout for pics to follow

Also Parents Magazine had a great Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Recipe but their website doesn't have the pics up yet. Boo!

More Money Saving Opportunities for Christmas

A great way I get extra money is I have a Shop At Home and Ebates account. Any purchases I make through these websites give me a percentage back. I do the majority of my Christmas shopping online so I get a nice refund in February when my holiday purchases are taking a toll. If you sign up you will get an automatic $5 in your account.

I love that these websites also have special daily deals and sometimes they give you all your money back for certain purchases. I love free stuff!

Click Here for Shop at Home

Click Here for Ebates

Diaper Programs

Most people don't take the time to peel off the sticker that comes on the wipe packs, diapers, and pull-ups. I didn't do it when I had the first 2 boys and now wish I had. Huggies and Pampers both have reward programs that allow you to get toys, gift cards, free diapers and special discounts just by entering in these codes. They both work the same and just require you to enter in the special code found on the inside of diaper and wipe packs. This is how I get most of my gift cards (Applebee's, Dairy Queen, Sam's Club, etc). The prizes change often so make sure and check frequently.

Huggies Here

Pampers Here

All my friends need to do this to cash in on cool stuff!

Big Lots Friends and Family

I received an email with a link for 20% off your entire purchase at Big Lots on Sunday, October 9th. I think I am going to see if I can find some awesome baskets and craft junk for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Here is the link if anyone else is bargain hunting this weekend.

Mummy Jars

My friend Jen made these and posted a pic on facebook. Of course, I fell in love. These are made from a spaghetti sauce jar and a banana pepper jar. I just used crepe paper to wrap them and hot glued some eyes. I think the are adorable! I am going to buy some LED battery tea lights to put in them! Also I bought the crepe paper and eyes for only $1 at Dollar Tree

She had a whole mess of them lined on her shelf and they were adorable. Maybe I can add a few more...

Wise Investment

This is my favorite magazine because it offers tons of coupons as well as recipes, crafts, and fashion. Walmart is the only place that sells it, but you can also sign up for a subscription. It will pay for it's self with the coupons! If you do not buy it then you are missing out.

Big Family Changes

On Tuesday, my husband will start his new job. This means that for the first time in 11 years, he will be on the same shift as the rest of the family. Hopefully we ease into the transition and I can not be an absolute control freak. I will atleast get a little more time to blog and craft as I will not be solo parenting all the time. Look for tons of ridiculous crafting, frugal finds, and preschool stuff starting next week!

Apple Orchard Visit

We were so lucky this weekend to visit Apple Country Orchards in Idalou. The boys were able to take a pit stop, run around, and pick up tasty snacks for the road. Even B, who has major food aversions, sampled our tasty prizes. I wish we had an orchard close by. I just realized this didnt publish. Boo. Have to post it for the pics

Dollar Tree Love

I have been trying not to overdo the decorations, but still make some cute and cheap things. I have been dragging C and D to local Dollar Trees to scope out the goods. I picked up some tall glass vases, a bag of spanish moss, skeleton garland and some bugs. I told my sister-in-law thay I wanted bones and she told me to just take some apart, so I did. These were cheap and I am filling them with other things for Thanksgiving.

Stress=Crafting

Today has been a rough one so I needed to take some time to craft. While the little ones rested I painted some leftover canvases I found on clearance a few weeks ago. When the boys got home, they wrote their names with a paint pen and stamped their hands. I ended up hot gluing the canvases because they were a pain to hang.

Shopping List 10/2

I am ashamed to say that I did not pick up my 2 or 3 papers this morning for coupons and ads. I have been so busy with the family that I totally forgot. I also am totally lost in an awesome craft site that I found. It is all about cheap and cute crafts and my addictive personality cannot stop searching once I start. This is the site if anyone is interested : http://craftomaniac.blogspot.com/

Also because I did not get my ads or coupons, I will be ordering my coupons from http://www.thecouponmaster.com/ . I have a paypal account that I receive money in for taking occassional surveys and it covers this clipping service when I forget to get a paper.

Chore Chart Update

I bought a new pocket chart for the boys' chore chart. I love it! Check out www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com to make your own.

Halloween 2011

I have been MIA on  blogging this week for two reasons. #1 I am addicted to Pinterest and have to make everything I see. #2 I am decorating for Halloween which involves the first reason. Here is some of my progress:

This is my candy corn wreath. Everything I used to make it, I got from the Dollar Tree. 2 rolls of black ribbon, 1 foam wreath and 2 bags of candy corn.

I just wanted to show the cute little mice I put on top of the chair rail. They are all over the Dining Room/Family Room, but they just made a cool shot at this angle. I got these from Michael's from the Martha Stewart section for about $3 and some change.

We made about 3 of these ghosts with $1 white paper lanterns from Michaels and a sharpie. I haven't decided where to put these yet so they are hanging on the curtain rod until I get some fish line.

Here is a ribbon wreath that took up all of my free time in the evenings. I used 25 rolls of ribbon @ $1.39 a piece so this is not a craft for the frugal! The signs I put on it were only $1 at Hobby Lobby though.

Well there you have it, I know that my 3 readers are missing me!