Still Have That Rue La La Credit?

Don't forget to spend your $20 credit at Rue La La if you signed up during their promotion!  It'd be a great way to score some very nice gifts for next to nothing.  Shipping is $9.95, so anything priced at $10 or under will be free!

Today (and for the next 2 days), one of the boutiques is selling Tea Forte gift sets for $15 - this means it will only be $4.95 after shipping.  Not a bad price for a nice gift!

I've now purchased two items from Rue La La - both were shipped quickly (in cute packaging, too), and I had no issues whatsoever.

 

Cheap Sunglasses

 A couple weeks ago, I found out about a sweet deal - 9 pairs of women's sunglasses for only $9.99, with free shipping.  With how often I break or lose mine, I thought this sounded like a pretty sweet deal!  So I went ahead and ordered.  I just received my sunglasses in the mail and I was quite pleased!  They send you a grab bag, so you don't get to choose the exact sunglasses, but they are all very cute, with the exception of one pair I'm not a big fan of (aviators anyone?).  All of the price tags were at least $10, many were more!

They're offering up the deal again, so if you're interested, here's the deal (thanks hip2save!):

Go to GraveyardMall.com and check out their Women’s Sunglasses priced at $9.99. You should also receive free shipping!  You’ll end up paying only $1.11 per pair shipped.  Apparently the sunglasses sell out quickly, so hurry if you're interested!

Christmas Decorations

Although we don't have our tree quite yet, we're getting in the Christmas spirit at our house!  I've made it through all of my holiday decorations and have added some winter-y Christmas decor around the house.  I don't go too in depth, but I thought you might enjoy seeing some pictures of our dining room table centerpiece.


I made a trip to Goodwill and found two white vases - both for $1.99!  The first is top right in the pictures above, the second is below.  I filled the first one with some foam, then stuck in fake holly berries and real holly leaves, along with some Spanish moss.

For the tray, I used a silver piece I found at a garage sale (didn't even bother shining it up!), layered with a hankie with red trim, and the bottom of an old tin of my grandmother's.  I layered two doilies inside, one red and one white, and topped it with a candle.  I also used some vintage bulbs and fresh cuts from the pine trees in our back yard!


For the vase above, I just tied some vintage lacey edging around it, keeping it in place with double sided tape.

For the table runner, I used some sheer curtain fabric I had lying around.  To hide the rough edge I just tied a knot!

 So total I spent $3.98 at Goodwill, and $0.00 by shopping around the house for this centerpiece!

Easy Christmas Cards

Every year I toy with whether I should make my own Christmas cards or just buy some premade photo cards!  I've ordered from Shutterfly in the past, and am seriously tempted to do so again.  Here is my idea for this year's card.  What do you think?

Retro Snowflake Bursts Christmas

Make a statement with Shutterfly Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

Engagement Photo Shoot

Recently, I've been able to do a couple "photo shoots" for friends - this was my first engagement shoot!  I really enjoyed it - we had a chilly but beautiful day, and Scott and Kate were such a photogenic couple!  They certainly made my job easy.  Here are a few of my favorites so far.

Swagbucks for Couponing

I am quite excited this morning - two of my favorite ways to save money, Swagbucks and Coupons.com, have collided! 

Swagbucks is a website where you can earn points, and trade those points in for gift cards.  So far, I have traded in my points for $25 worth of Amazon gift cards!  And it's completely free to do.  Usually I earn points for just searching the web through their toolbar.  You can earn at least 10 swagbucks a day doing this, so after 45 days you'll be able to earn a $5 Amazon gift card.  Sure, it takes a while, but it's free money!

But on to the reason for this post.

Today I found out that you can now print coupons through Swagbucks (the same coupons that are available on coupons.com) and earn 10 swagbucks for every coupon you use!!  How awesome - I'll earn even more swagbucks for doing something I already do!

Here's how you get started:

1. Sign up for Swagbucks.
2. Install the Swagbucks toolbar.
3. Click "Earn" and then select "Coupons"
4. Sort through the coupons, selecting which you'd like, and print them
5. Redeem the coupons at your local grocery store
6. Earn swagbucks!!!
7. Redeem for Amazon gift cards!!!

New Photo Assignment

Pioneer Woman's new photography assignment is all about animals!  I couldn't love it more!  I've been busy snapping away pictures of our kitty, and thought I'd share one of my favorites.

Don't Forget

Don't forget to check out RueLaLa today for the daily new deals!  Today I noticed they have Cuisinart and Reebok "boutiques" - some of the Reebok shoes were down to $19.99 - if you signed up with the $20 credit this would make them only the price of shipping!  Yippee!

(This particular style is $29.99 - making them $10 + shipping if you still have your credit!)

Eversave

Similar to Groupon, Eversave offers local (or online) daily deals at 50 to 90% off the original retail price.  For instance, you may pay $12 for the Eversave deal, and receive a $26 voucher for a retail location.  They send out a daily email with the daily deal.


When you sign up, you'll also earn a $5 credit good toward the purchase of your Eversave deal.


The reason I joined was for the All You magazine.  I found out from hip2save that it would only cost $7 for a year's subscription!  Sounded excellent to me!  I am a huge coupon fan, and typically get most of my deals from MoneySavingMom or hip2save.  A lot of great deals go by that use coupons from the All You magazine.  So I figured at $7 for a year's subscription, I'd easily make that money back in savings.


Here's how the deal works:

1. Join Eversave
2. Purchase the "$12 for $26 worth of magazine subscriptions from Blue Dolphin" deal
3. Receive your $5 credit, so you will owe only $7
4. Wait 2 days (the hardest part!).  The Eversave deal doesn't start until 2 days after you purchase.
5. Head to Blue Dolphin and purchase the All You magazine using $19.99 of your $26 credit.  You'll even have $6 leftover to spend on another magazine (Good Housekeeping is only $8!).

 
The deal is only good until Friday night at 10pm, and can be applied to any magazine on the Blue Dolphin site, so be sure to browse there and make sure there's a magazine you want, but they do seem to have most of the major magazines.

If you have any questions feel free to ask!

Shopping Sites Galore

All of these shopping sites are popping up out of nowhere!  And they all seem to be offering great deals.  So I feel obligated to share with you :-)  Feel free to ignore and move on if you're not in the market for anything - this is definitely not intended to make you spend your hard earned money frivolously!

The new shopping site for today is called Modnique.  It's another site similar to Rue La La, which I posted about earlier this week.  This time, when you sign up, you get a $5 credit.  Doesn't sound quite as good... but... there is also a $10 off promo code - just use the code "star" at checkout!

Doing this, I scored a gray cami for $2.95 shipped.  The cami's started out $9.99, and the "star" code took off the entire price of the cami.  Shipping was $7.95, which I applied my $5 credit to!  The "star" code cannot be applied to shipping, but the $5 credit can - so anything under $10 on the website will be yours for $2.95.

(Ok... now... I just checked the website again and they've upped the cami price to $17.00!!!  Not nice!)

If you're in the market for kids stuff there is also a very cute section of items $14 and under - things like rain boots and lady bug scarves!

Rue La La Free Cosmetics

 If you signed up for Rue-La-La earlier this week and received your $20 credit, this Laura Geller lip shiner set would be a great way to spend that credit!  After shipping, you'll only owe $1... this would make a great Christmas gift - but hurry, they're selling out fast!

Thanks to hip2save.com for the heads up!

Beautiful Fall Leaves

I snapped this picture right outside the front of our house this week :-)  Certainly don't have to wander far to find beautiful leaves!

Have you found any unexpected beauty this week?

New Laptop Bag

I got my laptop at the beginning of the summer... and have been carrying it around all by itself without any protection since then!  Obviously not the best idea.

So when my aunt, two cousins, and I decided to take a tote bag sewing class locally, I thought it would be the perfect chance to make myself a new laptop bag!  It turned out better than I had hoped for.

I used a random assortment of fabrics I already had - some Heather Bailey, some Erin McMorris, and some Amy Butler.  It took a total of 36 charm squares (more if you add pockets), which I cut myself by simply cutting six 5-inch squares from each of 7 fabrics (I had a few left over, which I could have used for pockets but chose not to).

Each side of the bag is 4 blocks wide and 3 blocks tall.  I used 1/4" seams, and once they were pieced together, I used fusible fleece on the backside.  I then did some free motion quilting on each side.

To make the handles, I pieced 10 squares together, backed with fusible fleece, then folded the long raw edges into the middle, and folded the entire piece in half.  I sewed 1/4" from each side, and a line down the middle.  Then I just chopped the long strip right in half to make two handles.  These handles will definitely be easy on my shoulders!

For the interior I used some super soft Minky fabric.  I used fusible lightweight interfacing to give it some structure and reduce the stretch - it sews much better that way!

I also made a little flap to keep my laptop secure inside by using two charm squares, one lined with fusible fleece.  I attached the snap, then did some free motion quilting on top.

I then put the bag together, making sure to install the other half of my snap, and box the corners to give it some depth.  I used a box stitch over the strap handles to make sure they could hold the weight of my laptop.  And voila!  A lovely new laptop bag that took only a few hours.

Rue La La

I hadn't heard of Rue La La before today, but it seems to be a nice site for getting boutique items at a discount.  I heard about it through Money Saving Mom, because right now if you sign up, you'll get a $20 credit within 48 hours! 

I would think there's something for sale for right around $20, meaning you could get yourself something nice or score an almost-free Christmas gift!

Just click here to join - it's invite only, but free to join!

Kitties Love Boxes

What is it about a box that kitties just love?

Want to make a quick collage of your own?  If you have Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, it's easy with a free action from mcpactions!  I just found these today, and love 'em.  Just click "actions" - choose your version - then browse around.  Some actions will have the price "$0.00".  What a steal!
(I am not being paid to link up to mcpactions - just loving her stuff!)

Weekly Deals

I typically do my grocery shopping on Mondays, and spend a good couple of hours planning my trip and doing the shopping. I'll try to share some of my best deals here!

Rite Aid Deals

At Rite Aid this week, they have many "freebates" - including Bioguard tablets, Cold Buster Warming Syrup, Bee M.D. Cough Drops, and Thermacare Back Patches. If you buy these items, you then head to Rite Aid's Single Check Rebate Site and enter your receipts.  You can search for the rebates you'd like to claim, then at the end of the month, you can claim your rebate checks (make sure to only do this once per month!).  You will be send a check in the mail a few weeks later, and you will receive the entire purchase price for the items above (plus a few others - check the back page of the ad)!

Target Deals

At Target this week, there is also a great deal on Curel Ultra Healing Lotion.  If you buy two 6oz. bottles on sale for $3.79 each, you will receive a $5 Target gift card.  There are also Curel coupons in the SmartSource this week - my Target let me use both the $2/1 and $1/1 coupons.  Target also has a printable $1 off 1 bottle coupon, which you can print twice.  So if you add this up, I paid a total of $2.58 out of pocket, and got a $5 gift card back!  Thanks, Target, for paying me to take some lotion off of your hands :)

It looks like there is also a $1/1 coupon on Curel's website - in case you don't get the Sunday paper!

Earn Money for Surveys

Who doesn't want to earn money easily???  I've been skeptical due to the many scams out there, but this one is tested and true (by me and many friends).  I've tried a few different survey companies before, but the best by far is PineCone Research.  For each survey you fill out, you receive $3.00.  There are occasionally some household surveys that you won't get paid for, but for every "real" survey you fill out you will get paid.

Sometimes I'll get a survey twice a week, sometimes more, sometimes less.  They pay very promptly (no threshold amount to reach) by either check or PayPal, your choice.  The surveys take about 15 minutes.  Occasionally, they will also send you a free product to test!  This has happened to me at least 3 times now.

Overall, I've been extremely impressed with PineCone research, and have told many friends and family about it.  Right now they're recruiting females, ages 18-24, but even if you don't fall in this category, you should definitely apply!  It's worth the shot.

If you'd like to register to join the PineCone Panel, just click here.

Fall Photo Shoot

This weekend I got the chance to take some fall pictures of our friends from church.  It was a gorgeous day!

I hope you're out enjoying these lovely fall days as well :)

Grove City Homecoming

Last weekend was homecoming at Grove City College - both my husband and my alma mater.

We started off the day with a parade, complete with fire trucks...

...and a niece who graciously shared all of her candy with us :-) We decided that having a niece who is adorable, but who can't eat candy yet, was quite profitable at a parade!

After the parade, we found more family and friends, and enjoyed spending a lovely fall day with them.

It turned out to be a great day, and it was wonderful to catch up with people we hadn't seen in a while!  See you next year, Grove City!