An Oregon Vacation

Ok this is a challenge post for me lol. I have 10 minutes until I need to be getting dinner on the table but I am quickly going to try to sum up our Oregon Family Vacation. We drove 1800 miles in our now bug covered/snack and sand dirty van. This was quite challenging at times over the week and I often just wanted to be ALONE for a minute or two and not just when in the shower. I realized how much I thrive on my own quiet time. Still we had a fabulous time. We traveled to Lincoln City, Oregon where we met up with Clayne's family. Five out of the six siblings were able to be there as well as his parents. All together there were 14 grandchildren present - sometimes it felt more like 30 lol when we all gathered for family meals at dinner time. If you count Kami's twins then there were actually 16 grandchildren there. She is quite a trooper for attending a family vacation week when she has only 30 days more in her pregnancy. That poor girl is all belly! We spent lots of time on the beach which was right outside our back door of the condo unit. We were there in a little bay and there were seals right there on the opposite shore and they would swim in the bay to feed in the evening when the tide was high and then they would sun bathe all day on the beach. The kids were captivated with them as well as splashing in the water and playing in the sand. The only tourist sites we visited were the aquarium, the outlet mall, Mo's for some famous clam chowder and Tillamook cheese factory. Anyway that is where I was all of last week and why I didn't get any posting done for so long. I hope that you all have had a chance to enjoy a vacation and spend time with family this summer - even extended family. We made memories that we will always cherish. Oh and a side note: A special thanks to Jen Johnson and her family for letting us drop in on our way out to the coast. It was wonderful to see you and the food was delish! And a special thanks to my SIL, Courtney for letting us stay a night on our way home. Such wonderful hospitality! Ok dinner needs doin' here so that is all for now.

Inexpensive Digital Layout Printing

I am so excited about this new site I found called MyPicTales Starting July 26 you will be able to upload your already created scrapbook pages for printing of individual pages. I don't scrapbook chronologically so this is a great thing to me. Many places do bound books (and yes they do offer that service too) but since I don't work on my pages in order I am reluctant to make a book only to find that later I will create a page that belongs between the pages of an already bound book. Anyway here is the great news about this site.

5X7 - $0.50 per page

8X8 - $0.50 per page

8.5X11 - $0.50 per page

10X10 - $0.50 per page

12X12 - $0.75 per page

These are not introductory prices but will be their everyday prices. If you have priced printing at all, you will know that this is phenomenal! And this is not the end of the good news. There is a wonderful introductory offer. On the 26th, the new product will launch. At that time, you first need to make a purchase for $10 worth of layouts (excluding shipping). Immediately two coupons for 100 free layouts each will be sent to you. These coupons have different expiry dates which you will also be made aware of.

So I am planning to order 20 pages for printing when the site is ready which will cost me $10 plus shipping which I have researched and it will be right around $5. I then will get coupons to print an additional 200 free pages (any size)! I am so pumped. I plan to print my pages as 8x8 and have bought a cute album to slide them into. I bought my album at Roberts with a 40% off coupon and so will be able to have a 20 page book when I am done for less than $20 for the pages and the album! Plus I will be able to rearrange the pages as I fill in the spaces over time.

Anyway I just love to find a good deal and so was happy to share my find with you. Now I am off to create more pages so I can print them up at this fab deal! For more great ideas and tips visit Rocks In My Dryer.

Grocery Deals - Week of July 23

Wow 2 weeks since last posting! I have a lot of catching up to do but will try to do that later. Here is this weeks grocery deals.

Smith's

$2.99/lb Petite sirloin steak
$2.49/lb Pork loin boneless chops
99 cents/lb large yellow peaches or juicy nectarines
2/$3 Kroger 8 oz assorted cheese

10 item mega event (buy 10 participating items and get $5 off)
These are the final prices with the discount
$1.00 Kroger apple juice
$1.50 Betty C fruit snacks
$1.00 soft soap pumps
$1.00 assorted Kellogs cereals
$1.50 Keebler fudge shopee cookies
$2.50 Dreyers Grand ice cream
$1.00 Brawny Paper Towels
$1.50 Ball park franks
Yes there are even more but that is just a little glimpse so check it out.

Albertsons

General Mills sale
buy 10 participating items for $25 and get an instant rebate of $10 making the items $1.50 each
Chex mix traditional
Progresso traditional soup
Fiber one bars
General mills bugles
Pillsbury crescent rolls or cin. rolls
Select Gen. Mills cereal
Pop Secret popcorn
Betty C cookie pouches, muffin mixes, brownie mixes
GoGurt or Yoplait trix yogurt
And there is more but you'll have to check it out for yourself.

$1.98/lb Beef round rump roast
4/$12 Pepsi soft drink 12 packs

Works for me Wednesday

Cleaning your garbage disposal

This tip was one that I found on Get Organized Now Take a few minutes and chop ice in your garbage disposal to clean it out. You will appreciate the freshening that grinding the ice will provide.

Grocery Deals - Week of July 9

Albertsons

$1.88/lb beef chuck roast or max pak steaks
10/$10 2 ltr bottle Coca-Cola
10/$10 Albertsons sour cream
$1.49/lb strawberries sold in 4 lb container for $5.96 ea.
Buy one get one free Breyer's ice cream

Do you want to go to the new batman movie free?
When you buy any 10 participating general mills products in a single transaction using your preferred savings card between 7/9 and 7/15 you can! See ad or store for details.

The following are for thur, fri and sat only
$1.79/lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts or tenders
$1.86/lb extra lean ground beef
$2.88/lb pork loin chops
$1.69/lb bone in country style pork ribs

Smith's

$2.99/lb London broil or petite sirloin steak
$2.49/lb whole pork loin
$1.29/lb green seedless grapes
$2.96 for 4lb bag chicken drumsticks or thighs
4/$5 large doz. eggs
3/$5 frito lay dips or fritos

Works for me Wednesday and some Grocery Tips

This week the topic is recipes with 5 ingredients or less. There are already over 300 entries to scan over and pick up some new quick and easy recipes. Click here to go to that post. I am excited to take a look. I am going to share one that we like.

Slush
4 Cups sugar
3 Ounce Jell-o, flavor of your choice
2 Liter Sprite
11 Cups water
46 Ounce Pineapple Juice

Boil 4 cups of water with the sugar until dissolved. Then add Jell-o. Add pineapple juice. Add 7 more cups of water and mix. Freeze this mixture. Take out of freezer about one hour before you plan to serve it so that it will become slushy. mix with Spirte and serve.

I also wanted to share a few grocery tips that I found in the newest copy of LDS living. I don't know why it had never occurred to me to freeze these two items: Milk or Eggs! If there is a good sale on milk or if you are leaving town and it will spoil before you return, you can freeze it. Just be sure to remove about a cup from a full jug to allow for expansion. And eggs - you know when they come on sale for a great deal around Easter or occasionally just on sale for whatever reason, well you can break them open and store them in a Ziploc bag. I will let you know if I find other helpful tidbits in this article when I have time to finish reading it.

Grocery Deals - Week of July 2

Albertson's

The store in Ammon is celebrating a remodel grand opening and has a few deals that are today only.
$2.29 Gallon milk (limit 2)
$2.49/lb petite sirloin steak
$1.69/lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
$1.99 12 pack Pepsi or Coca-Cola products (limit 2)
6 cents off gallon gas
Sorry I can't remember what else is today only lol. Go fight the crowds if you want the deal.

The following deals are for today, Thurs and Fri only
25 cents each Fresh Sweet Corn (first 10)
$1.88/lb extra lean ground beef
$2.99/lb Pork loin baby back ribs
$4.48/lb arctic shored cooked and peeled shrimp
96 cents/lb grapes
$1.99 Albertsons ice cream
10/$10 Bush's baked beans
$1.25 12 pack Albertsons soda

The following deals I am pretty sure are for the whole week and are buy one get one free
Beef round rump roast or bottom round steaks
Beef cross rib steak or roast
Steakhouse choice premium angus beef eye of round roast or steak
Boneless pork shoulder country style ribs
Boneless pork sirloin chops
Hormel pork loin fillets
Contessa shrimp entrees
Arctic shores or Albertsons cooked shrimp ring
Albertsons fish sticks or breaded fillets

10/$10 Pepperidge farm goldfish snack crackers
$2.99 24 pack spring water
39 cents/lb cantaloupe
$2.99/lb Petite sirloin steak

Smith's

$1.69/lb Pork spareribs
$5.49/lb Rib eye steak
50% off beef hot dogs
$9.99/5 lb bag Tilamook Shredded Medium Cheddar
$1.77 Doritos or Cheetos
10/$10 Cottage cheese, sour cream or dip
10/$10 Smith's hot dog or hamb buns
10/$10 Cool classics novelties

Sketch This Layout and some Frames

Here is the most recent sketch this layout. I loved this sketch and how my page turned out. To see more of the layouts based on this layout visit the Sketch This blog.

(Credits: Summer Daze by Amy Sumrall and Ziggle Designs, Word art by Anna D designs, Stitching by Gunhild Storeide, Fonts are Wendy Sue and Artistamp Medium)

Do you like these frames? Well Mandy is celebrating her new shop and giving these as a freebie. Click on the image to go to her blog for the link.

Scrapbook Show and Tell

Here's the scoop on what the designers I create for are up to - and a layout share of some pages I have recently created.

Ziggle Designs has a fabulous new kit out to scrapbook 4th of July memories and until Thursday you can pick it up for just $2.32 (I had to ask her how she came up with this price - it is the number of years America has had independence lol.)



(Credits: Star Spangled by Ziggle Designs, Elegant WordArt by Bethany, A Little Edgy Template by Designs by Sine, Date Box by Jillybean Designs, Font - Time and Times Again)


I love the new Mega Collaboration kit for July by the Scrap Orchard designers. Right now until July 7th it is only $3.00. I'll tell you this much - The kit has a BBQ theme to it and it is sooooo cute. These 2 layouts will give you a peak at what is inside this kit. Click on the Mystery image to go to the shop and pick this great kit up.



(Credits: Mystery Mega July Scrap Orchard Collaboration , Vintage Snapshots Frames by Ziggle Designs, Fonts - CK Ali's Writing, Artistamp Medium)


(Credits: Mystery Mega July Scrap Orchard Collaboration, Font - Times New Roman, the template I used for this page is in the kit too!)


Mandy Mystiques has now opened her store at Elemental Scraps and everything in her store is currently 50% off to celebrate. You can click on the image below to go to her store. These are her newest product and I can't wait to play with them.

Since I don't have a page to show off these frames I'd like to show you this one using her kit Cotton Candy II. Additional credits: Word art by Leigh, Template by Sine, Font - Times New Roman.

Chrissy Williams is having a 50% off sale in her store right now too. Great deals on fabulous templates. Click on the image below to go to her store.


(Credits: And You Smell Like One Too by Ziggle Designs, {Still} Mixin It Up Template by Chrissy Williams, Stitching by Gunhild Storeide, Font - Fontmoochers)

Carina Gardner at Digi Nirvana has added 2 new designers to her store and they are fabulous. Yesterday I made a layout using Honey Bee by Megan Schoenherr.

(Credits: Honey Bee by Megan Schoenherr, Stitching No. 2 by Carina Gardner, Element Ary Rub-On Frames by Carina Gardner, Fonts - Apple Garamond & Bleeding Cowboys, Paper tear by Jen Caputo, Based on the layout "Tina" by flohbock)

This week's Sketch This has not been posted yet so I will be back later with that. Thanks for looking and happy shopping and scrapping!

Grocery Deals - Week of June 25

Smith's

$1.99/lb Extra Lean ground beef
$1.99/lb Pork loin rib or center chops
$1.29/lb red or green grapes
$1.77 cheetos or doritos
10/$10 cottage cheese, sour cream or dips
10/$10 cool classic novelties ice creams
10/$10 Dole classic iceberg salad bags
$6.96 Kroger frozen chicken assorted size bags and cuts

Albertsons

69cents/lb whole frying chickens
$5.96/4lb flat strawberries
buy one get 2 free ball park meat franks
buy one get one free tostitos chips
buy two get 3 free 12 pack Pepsi, Coca-Cola or 7-up products

the following are 10/$10:
8oz Pace Picante salsa
Nabisco Go-paks
Albertson croutons
Hunt's bbq sauce
McCormic seasoning packets
Betty Crocker brownie mix
and more

They also have a $5 instant rebate on several items making some items only 75 cents, others $1.87 each or others $2.50 so be sure to check the ad or store for details. Sorry it is just too much to list here. Have a great day!

OH MY GOODNESS

Hey blog readers I just was checking Mandy Mystiques Blog and guess what... That great kit I used to create my layout below.... is FREE at her blog. THE WHOLE KIT. It is a limited time only so hurry on over. http://mandymystiques.wordpress.com/

Show and Tell Scrapbooking

Oh my goodness the ladies that I am on Creative Teams for have been super busy lately and they all have fantastic new products that I have been having fun playing with. I hardly know where to start to show it all off. This may turn out kind of long but bear with me because I want to share a great deal with you at the end of the post. You know how much I love a great deal!

First let me tell you that Digi Nirvana is back! Their site, store, gallery, blog.... all of it is up and running and it is FABULOUS! Carina has added two new designers to her shop too - Alicia Oestreich and Megan Schoenherr. Every product in the store is wonderful and I want it all! This is a layout I made using Alica's kit Totally Teal and a great new template by Chrissy Williams. She will have her new set {Still} Mixin It Up in her store very soon so watch for it.

Ziggle Designs has a rad new kit out called SK8R that I can't wait to play with. You can click on the image to go to the shop where it is on sale for 20% off.

Ziggle Designs also recently released the cute kit Mel-icious that I used to create this fun page. And guess what? It is also on sale for 20% off.

Mandy Mystiques Designs has a very pretty new kit called Peachy Keen and I made a fun layout with it too. She currently is between stores so I will let you know when and where this kit is available. This page too was made with one of Chrissy's new templates - LOVE them!

And here is the latest page I did for Sketch This with a beautiful kit Happy to be Me I received from Silversword71 at Shabby Pickle.

And now before I leave you that great digi scrap deal I was telling you about.....
There is a great site http://www.scrapwithtemplates.com/ where you can find 4 free templates and then you can also go shopping in her store and use the coupon code NEW CUSTOMER to get $10 free. I just got 3 great products free. Gotta love it baby~

Grocery Deals - Week of June 18

Smith's

$2.99/lb Petite sirloin steak
$1.49/lb Pork spareribs or bone in country style ribs
2/$3 1 lb pkg. Strawberries
4/$5 Doz. large eggs or Kraft phil. cream cheese
10/$10 cool classics ice cream novelties
39 cents/lb seeded watermelon

Albertsons

99 cents/lb red, green or black seedless grapes
$1.69/lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts or tenders
$1.19 ea. box of General mills cereal when you buy 2 gallons of milk (up to 5 boxes at this price)
$1.88/lb beef round rump roast, beef chuck roast, pork spare ribs, thick sliced bacon, pork shoulder country style ribs - boneless

How did my second scrapbooking garage sale go?

Well I had my second garage sale this past Saturday and I made another grand. Yep $1000. So that was pretty cool that for each of my two sales I could make a grand on each one. I have been using the money to build up our food storage and then some of it will go towards our family reunion trip to the Oregon coast this summer. Better than just having a bunch of paper supplies that I don't use.

Belated Birthday

(Credits: Monkey Business by Mandy Mystiques Designs, Template - Fairytale Studios, Fonts - Iskoola Pota, Impact, CK Becky)

My Carson had his ninth birthday on June 2. I finally scrapped a page for his birthday and so here it is. What a wonderful son he is. He brings so much joy to my life. He makes me laugh everyday. His sense of humor is the best - even if it does cause even me to be a bit less reverent in church when he gets me laughing. Just last Sunday he had wadded up two pieces of paper and had placed them behind the his glasses (yep he has glasses now - got them the end of May and looks even more like his dad now) He was pulling a dorky face and bobbing his head around with the paper balls over his eyes and just looked so funny. I noticed even others on surrounding benches that saw him were grinning and holding in a laugh - all this while the sacrament was being passed. What a stinker! Yesterday at church I reached over and squeezed his thigh and noticed a line under his dress slacks. I asked him if he was wearing shorts under his pants and he smiled and pulled up his pant leg just enough to show me his bright green soccer socks (they are huge on him and go all the way up his thigh) Nice dress socks son! You just never know with this kid! Glad he is ours!

Albertsons

$1.99/lb fresh cherries
$1.97 Tombstone pizza, Lean Cuisine entrees or Stouffer's

$9.99/40 count Good Humor variety pack ice cream bars with in ad coupon
$2.99/lb pork top loin chops (th - sun only)

Smith's

$4.99/lb beef rib eye steak
$6.96 various size bags of Kroger frozen chicken
10lb/$10 red seedless grapes
10/$10 Oscar Mayer meat franks
3/$6 Lay's potato chips
4/$12 Pepsi 12 packs

Scrapbook Supply Sale

As you know my last sell went over very well. Still I had some supplies that I never got put out there for the sale because I ran out of time and then there were other supplies that were left over from the first sale - which are great products - and they will be marked down further from their previous cheap price. This is a sale that will not be repeated. Last chance to get great supplies from me at great prices.

HUGE SCRAPBOOK SUPPLY SALE
Deep Discounts on a Variety of Products
SATURDAY, JUNE 14

8:00 AM - 1:00 PM
at my house

See the newspaper for my address or call/email me for directions. Or you can just post a reply here and I will get back to you. Please tell anyone and everyone who you think would be interested. Many of the items I am selling could be useful in a school classroom setting, for church callings, or just to keep the kids busy this summer crafting. I hope I will see you on Saturday.

A change in lunch plans

From Shelly's blog to mine, "It's NOT supposed to be a very nice day tomorrow...scattered T-storms and a HIGH of 59. Too cold for a lunch at the park, so we are postponing EAT PLAY BLOG until NEXT week. Sorry to do this ladies, but who wants to stand around shivering? Not me! See you next week!"

Show and Tell Scrapbooking

I have been a bit neglectful in sharing my scrapbook layouts here on my blog lately. Creating a new layout often wins out over posting on my blog. I figured now would be as good of a time as any to share what I have been creating and the news of each of the ladies who's Creative Teams I am on.

If any of you have been trying to go to Digi Nirvana lately, you can't. They have been working on the site and unfortunately this has made it inaccessible. I will be sure to tell you when the new and improved site is up and running. I am sure there will be lots of great new products available from Carina then as well.

Chrissy Williams has moved her store over to Elemental Scraps where everything is currently 50% off. She also has a great freebie template up at the store too. Here is the fun layout I was able to make with it.

(Credits: Finally Summer Kit by Angie Kovacs, Freebie Template by Chrissy Williams, fonts - Segoe Script, Segoe)

Chrissy also has a new set of templates available. A set of 12 to make a CD album. You can click on the image to go to her shop. I decided to use one of these templates to create a 12x12 page and then added to the page to create a fun layout. See it below.


(Credits: Cotton Candy II by Mandy Mystiques Designs, CD Album Template by Chrissy Williams, Stitching by Carina Gardner of Digi Nirvana, Font - You've Got Mail)

Mandy Mystiques Designs now sells at the Scrap Orchard and she has two wonderful new kits that just went in the store this weekend. One is Cotton Candy II which I used in the above layout and the other is called Monkey Business. You can click on the kit images to go to her shop. Hurry while these great kits are on sale for 30% off and can be purchased for just $3.49 each.

And here is the layout I made with Monkey Business.

(Credits:Monkey Business by Mandy Mystiques Designs, Fonts - Artistamp Medium, Times New Roman, Paper tear - Jen Caputo)

Kami of Ziggle Designs has a beautiful new kit called French Quarter. She also has a beautiful bracket album kit that coordinates. Currently if you buy the kit you can get the album for free. I used both the kit and an album page on my layout below. Click on the product images to go to her store.

(Credits: French Quarter Kit by Ziggle Designs, French Quarter Bracket Album by Ziggle Designs, fonts - CK Becky, Teen)

While over at the Scrap Orchard be sure to check out the June collaboration kit. June Bugs for only $5.00.

And here is a page I made very quickly with this fun kit.

(Credits: June Bugs - Scrap Orchard June Mega Kit, Fonts - Arial and CK Becky)

It hasn't been much like summer around here yet, but I am hopeful that it will find us. I loved this picture of Carson from last summer.

(Credits: Fishy Splash Splish by Melissa Herzog Designs (who has now closed shop), Angie'licious2 Template by Chrissy Williams, Paper tears by Jen Caputo, Font - Smiley Monster) I leave this layout up simply to show off Chrissy's great template and this photo I love of Carson. I hope to get this layout reworked soon.

And last but not least, here are two layouts using Sketch This sketches by Janelle Richmond. Be sure to visit her blog to see the original sketches and the other examples made from the sketches. I always find it inspiring to see how one sketch can be used in many ways.


(Credits: Grandma's Lap by Pineapple Plantation Designs, Sketch This #52 by Janelle Richmond, Font - Garamond)

(Credits: Doldrums by Ziggle Designs, Sparkilicious Stitching by Ziggle Designs, Sketch This #53 by Janelle Richmond, Font - Segoe)

Grocery Deals - Week of June 4

Smith's

$1.79/lb extra lean ground beef
50% off Tyson fresh chicken packs
$1.99/lb new crop cherries
4/$5 sour cream, cottage cheese or dips
4/$5 doz large eggs

Albertsons

96 cents/lb new crop green seedless grapes (th, fr, sat only)
96 cents/lb split chicken breasts with ribs (th, fr, sat only)
There are lots of items that have a $3 rebate but I am lazy and not going to type them in so see the store or ad for these.
There is also a rebate offer on Kellogs items that you may want to check out
5/$10 on select General Mills cereals

Summer Library Reading Program

Mom I'm Bored Edition

Each summer I take my kids over to the local library and sign them up for the summer reading program. I require my kids to do some reading every day during the summer anyway so why not get them signed up where they can get some prizes along the way. This also provides us with new reading material as we frequent the library almost every week. The librarian tried to talk Savannah into doing the program where mom reads to the child for one more year but she was not going to have any of that. She just finished kindergarten but is my best reader at that age I have had yet. She is doing really well at reading some of the early reader books from the library and is quite pleased with herself. When the kids earn their prizes from the library it gives us even more opportunity for outings as we visit local businesses to collect free fries or cinnamon rolls, etc.

Want more ideas of how to keep your kids entertained this summer? Head on over to the Rocks In My Dryer site and check it out.

Lunch Date - sounds fun

My friend Shelly has this up on her blog and guess what.... if you live in the area too, you are invited. I plan to be there and hope to meet new friends.

Summer Garden Digi Kit - Free!

Ok so a few days ago I told you that I would post soon with a scrappy post. This is gonna be a short one but I want to hook you up to Mandy Mystiques blog for this fabulous 4 part kit. It is all free and is a gorgeous kit. I just love being on Mandy's CT and think she does such beautiful work and am amazed at her generosity. Click here to go to her blog.