Wishing you All the Joys that Winter Holds

Happy super late Sunday night!!  My mojo decided to take a quick trip to no man's land, but lo & behold...it has come back in the wee hours.  Since I wasn't tired, I decided to go ahead and get a card made.  When the mojo feels the need to flow again...it is important to feed it.  Tee hee!

I did this card for the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge #42 (getting it in at the very last minute) and also used Twisted Sketch #42.  Here is what I created!

"Joys that Winter Holds" supplies: 

Cardstock: Bazzill Basics (KI White)

Paper: Doodlebug Designs (Happy Holidays: Doodle Cuts & Ladybug Boutique: swiss dots)

Stamps/Button: Papertrey Ink (On Ice set) 

Ink: Clearsnap (Pigment: cranberry) 

Ribbon: Renaissance by Design

Twine: Darice Inc. & Lawn Fawn Trimmings

Jewels: Kaiser Craft

Puff Balls: Darice Inc. 

Glitter: DecoArt

Border Punch: Fiskars

Steel Die: For JustRite Stampers by Spellbinders (Nested Frame Custom Dies)

Diecut Machines: Cuttlebug & Cricut Expression by Provo Craft

Diecut Cartridge: Winter Woodland (ice skate) by Provo Craft 

Instructions: Fold white cardstock in half to make card base.  Punch a border to a red dotted paper strip, and adhere to the right side of a snowflake paper block.  Adhere the entire block to the front of the card.  Tie ribbon to the top of the card, and add a button the the bow using twine.  Cut & emboss the tag, and then stamp the sentiment to it.  Adhere to the front of the card and accent with three jewels.  Cut the ice skate layers at 2" using the Winter Woodland cartridge.  Glitter the white layer, and then adhere them together.  Adhere them to the front of the card, and accent with silver puff balls.  Tie twine around the button and then tie in a bow on the skates to make it look like they are hanging from it.  Accent the lower right corner with three jewels to finish.

So, I have decided to try my hand at shopping the weekly ads and couponing.  I am by no means going to become an extreme couponer...buying things that I don't need just because I can get them for next to nothing.  For one...I don't have the storage space.  For two...that just isn't how I roll.  But, I do want to make a conscious effort to save on the things that we use often in our household.  I figure that it might be more fun, and I might make a harder effort at it if I share with my readers what I saved on...and let you know how I did it.  These are the items that I got today, that we use all the time in our house, and I got a great deal on them!

Dove deodorant costs us anywhere from $2.99-3.99 per stick.  Walgreen's had a coupon in their Sunday ad dropping the price to $1.99 per stick, and I could buy a quantity of 4.  Then Dove's website had a coupon that gave me $1.50 off of 2 sticks, and I could print it out twice.  After the store & mfgr. coupons...I paid $1.24 per stick.  I think that is pretty darn good for a brand that I am loyal to.

The Nyquil & Dayquil was also at Walgreens.  They had it on sale for $5 per bottle, but if you purchased $20 of it...you got a $10 register rewards coupon after finishing your transaction.  Register rewards can be used pretty much anywhere, but I plan on using them at Walgreens on my next purchase.  I also had (4) $1.50 off coupons for Day & Nyquil that were in the Sunday paper.  When all is said and done, and I get my $10 of free product on my next purchase...they will end up being $1.00 per bottle.  Pretty awesome!

I then headed over to Target for the Febreze items.  The Sunday paper coupons had a buy 1 Febreze fabric refresher get 1 air effects for free.  Target had the fabric refresher on sale for $2.99 (normally around $5.99).  So, I purchased two bottles and spend $5.98, and got two bottles of Air Effects for free with (2) coupons.  When you calculate it out...they ended up being $1.50 each.  {Air Effects are normally $3.29 here.}

The Febreze candles are normally $5.99 at my Target.  They had the cranberry frost ones from this past holiday season on clearance for $2.74.  I had (4) $1.00 off coupons from the Sunday paper, making them $1.74 ea.  If you pull the candles out of their Febreze packaging, they are just pretty candles in a glass jar and they smell fabulous.  They would make a lovely small gift, or a great addition to a larger gift.

I also used some birthday money on these fabulous flats for 75% off, making them a whole $4.98!! Tee hee!

  The funny thing about it, is they are still full price on the Target Website!  Go figure. 

Thanks for heading on over and checking out my blog! I hope you enjoyed me taking you on my savings trip today.  I promise I am not going to become a crazy coupon lady who has every room in her house filled with stuff I will never possibly use in a lifetime.  But everything I purchased above are items that we use on a daily basis in this house, or when we happen to catch colds.  {The medicine items don't expire until next year...so I know we will use the 4 bottles up by then.}  It was a fun experience...saving all that money!

Well, better get going for now.  I will post the winner of the Color Inspiration issue tomorrow at some point! ♥♥♥ 

Until later,

~Lea L.