Long Weekend Special at Delmar Creations

May long weekend sale at www.delmarcreations.etsy.com

Receive 25% OFF your purchase (excluding shipping) when you enter the coupon code 25MAYLONGWEEKEND at checkout. This is the perfect time to get yourself a "Delmar Creation". Coupon is valid until midnight on Monday, May 20th.

Handmade Coupon Organizer...An Early Bday Present!

I had coffee with my good friend Sylvia of Delmar Creations the other day. It was not only great to catch up and talk crafty but she surprised me with an early birthday present...a handmade coupon organizer! Isn't it cute!!! I was excited to come home and get it organized and last night I had to go and test it out (details to follow in another post). THE BEST BDAY PRESENT EVER!!!!

Coupon Fun Update

What a busy couple of weeks! I can hardly believe that our new addition turns one month old today. Despite being crazy busy with two little ones I have managed to try and scout the flyers for sales and use as many coupon as I can. Here are the sales/savings for the past few shopping trips:

• 2 bags of Cavendish fries- Regular price $3.49- FREE with coupons
• Old El Paso Taco Kit- Regular Price $4.49- $1 off with coupon AND theres a free salsa coupon in the box (with the purchase of another taco kit)
• $2 off diapers
• Nature Valley Granola Bars-Available at Walmart for $2- $1off coupon
• Oasis Junior Juice Boxes- Regular price at Walmart $1.33- $1 off coupon
• Glade Sense and Spray Holder- Regular Price $6.00- FREE with coupon
• Minigo Yogurt-  On sale at Food Basics for $1.99 plus 50 cents off coupon
• Apple Juice- 50 cents off coupon
• Other items I got on sale: cheese, ketchup, coffee, chicken, chocolate milk, bread, pizza, orange juice, strawberries

Total Savings this week: approx.$18.98

Total Savings to date: approx $73.07

On a non-couponing note (well sort of) I have applied to Heartsy.me which is sort of like a Wagjag or Groupon for the handmade world of Etsy. I could really use your vote to be considered for a deal so if you have a chance click on this code  https://secure.heartsy.me/deals/2789/like and then "Yes, definately". I'm only 16 votes away to get to the next step!!! Hurry...voting ends in 27 hours.

Coupon Fun Update

Despite life being a little hectic over the past couple of weeks I have still been trying to use coupons and chase sales. Overall I think I've done pretty well. Before I went shopping I made sure to organize my coupons and match them with sales. Canadian Coupons is a great site to help out with this (scroll about half way down to find the grocery match ups). My poor hubby had to take me to the grocery store last Saturday since I didn't feel up to doing it myself and after checkout he even commented that he thought the cashier had missed something since the bill was lower than he thought. I said it was just the power of coupons and sales!!! Here are some of the coupons and sales from the past couple of weeks that have helped me save!

• Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks- Reg price $3.99 On sale for $2.99 + $1 off coupon
• Big Box Diapers- Reg price $19.99 and up On sale for $16.93 + $2 off coupon
• Pillsbury Crescent Rolls- On sale 4/$3 + $1off coupon (and yes you could buy just one making this my fav. deal at just 34 cents!!!)
• Special K Cereal- Regular price $5.99 On sale for $4.49 + $1.50 off coupon AND there's a coupon in the box for free coffee
• FREE YOGURT COUPON from cereal box $4.29 value
• Green Giant Frozen Veggies- Reg price $2.99 On sale for $1.99 +1.00 off coupon
• Apple juice- 50 cents off coupon (yay for hubby for using this one all on his own!)
• Cheese- Regular price $5.99 and up Early bird special $4.44
• Sirloin Roast (with Sunday being a holiday alot of meat was on 1/2 price!)                                     Regular price $7.77 - 50%off
• Chicken Breast Reg price $9.51- 50% off
• Diapers (again...geesh) On sale for $14.99+$2.00 off coupon

Total saving this week: approx. $30

Total savings to date: approx. $54.09

This Week's Coupon Update

Once again I had a blast with coupons this week. Who knew how addicting they would become?! My girlfriends also turned me to a couple more Canadian coupon sites, flyerland.ca (totally awesome if your Michael's coupon didn't come in the paper) and websaver.ca in addition to last week's coupon sites. Some of those coupons have already arrived and paired with grocery flyers in hand I scoured the deals and was pleasantly pleased with the outcome. Here were some of my savings this week:

Goldfish Crackers: Reg. price $2.49-$2.99 depending on the store, on sale at Food Basics last week for $1.99+ 50 cent coupon
Michaels Coupon: saved 60 cents on the bird house I got for my little guy to paint
Old El Paso Taco Kit: Reg price $4.29ish depending on the store, on sale at Food Basics THIS WEEK for $2.99 +$1 off coupon
FREE YOGURT coupon that came in one of the cereal boxes last week: approx value $3.49
Plus I shopped the sales and saved on toilet paper (saved approx. $6.50) and the jumbo containers of coffee (saved approx. $4.50) both of which I HATE paying full price for!

Total Saving This Week: approx. $18.59

Total Saving To Date: $24.09

This will be my last coupon entry until after our new addition arrives but if you have any tips/tricks or coupon delights to share I would love to hear about them! I will do my best to keep track in the next couple of weeks and update you as soon as we are settled in!

Addicted to Coupons!

I have always been fond of saving a dollar or two, I mean who isn't?! Now that I am on maternity leave and baby #2 is only 2 weeks away each and every dollar counts even more. A couple of girlfriends have been teaching me the ins and outs of couponing and I have become ADDICTED!

I knew that coupons were big in the United States but I wasn't aware of how many great sites/deals are out there for Canadians too. Two online coupon sites that the girls swear by are http://save.ca/ and http://brandsaver.ca/. I have ordered my coupons and can't wait for them to arrive, especially the diaper ones. I've begun to pay much closer attention to the coupons available for pick up right in the grocery store and now proudly store them in an envelope in my purse awaiting a chance to use them.

The girls and I did a coupon exchange last week, swaping and sharing coupons that we no longer needed or had extras of. With the coupons this week I saved $3 off my little guys haircut, $1.50 off of pullups and I caved to McD's craving and used the One Can Dine coupon for $4.89 (I love the nuggets which I think the combo regularly is a little over $6). I also signed up for the rewards program at Pampers.ca and have my eye on a couple of gifts for my toddler who's birthday is coming up and a Bounce Dryer Bar (I've always wanted to try one). It's not much but it's a start and by golly there is alot to learn! I would love to hear more tips, trick and advise from other coupon mammas out there.

This week I saved approx: $5.50

If I saved that every week that is $286 in savings/year

♥Featured Artist~ Paperiffic Crafts♥

When I saw the yummy creations from Lisa of Paperiffic Crafts scrolled across my screen the other day I couldn't resist these calorie free treats! Lisa kindly agreed to share a bit more about her shop and her story although I don't know where she found the time amongst her busy schedule. Read on and enjoy!

What would you like people to know about you as a person?

I am a SAHM with two girls and I have a wonderful, loving husband that tolerates the messes I make with my crafts.  I have been involved in making crafts of all sorts since I was a child. I’ve always had a fascination with paper and still do! Scrapbooking, card making, gifts and home décor have been my main interest with miniatures, jewelry and gardening a close second. I built a 1:12 dollhouse quite a few years ago, and to fill it, I learned to make miniature food, furniture, plants, curtains, bedding – you name it – I taught myself to make it.

Tell me a bit about your art and your products?

I decided I needed to focus on only a few items, hoping that I might be able to make some pocket change by opening a Handmade store. I chose to make Polymer Clay charms, bracelets and possibly some other misc. miniatures. I sort of fell into Chain Maille weaves to make bracelets and I can’t seem to stop – I love it! Adding charms to some of these bracelets make them even more fun to wear! The charms are predominately food items such as cupcakes, ice cream cones, cakes, pies, etc.

What inspires you?

My children inspire me to make such whimsical charms – they bring the child out in me. They are also girlie-girls who love jewelry so anything I make goes through their inspection first. It passes if the eyes go saucer-like and the word “pretty” is stated J. My dad inspired my lemon meringue pie charms as it is his favourite pie. I guess this means I will have to make some miniature strawberry shortcake too….pumpkin pie….oh see, inspiration never stops!

How do you share your creations?

I have a blog for all my “crafty” things. There is even a post on my Fairy Garden there: http://paperiffic.blogspot.com/

Where can we find you?

I have a shop on Zibbet. http://zibbet.com/PaperifficCrafts and I also attend a few craft fairs in Calgary.

What is your most important lesson since starting your craft/ business?

Don’t get your hopes up to make a lot of money doing this unless you have a very unique and sought after product. There is a lot of competition and a large variety of products out there. As I said, my goal is to try to make some pocket change so that I can fund making more to sell

Some fun tidbits:

Coffee, tea or hot chocolate? – Coffee – coffee – coffee – coffee!!

Your favourite candy? – Jelly Belly Gourmet Jelly Beans – all flavours except cinnamon

Your favourite colour? – Green

Your favourite movie? – Lately – the Twilight series.

If I were to catch you grooving it would be to this song…. The Proclaimers “I’m Gonna Be (500 miles)”