Quilling Project Finished!

It's DONE!!!  I am so glad to have one of my Cultural Arts entries finished:o) Remember the other day when  I gave you a sneak peek and asked you to guess what I was making? One of you smarty-pants, and I'm not naming names;o) said it was a Smurf....well I would have to agree that it is the same color scheme as the Smurfs.....but, um, NO..it's not a Smurf:o)

Would you have ever guessed that this Smurf-looking thing,

would have been this?

Definitely NOT Smurfette;o) On the way home from Orlando I decided that S.R. needed a quilled Cinderella...don't ask why:o)

 Anywhoodles, I used this picture of Cinderella as my guide.

Me likey:o) And so does S.R.!!

Now I need to get it framed so that it doesn't come apart. Poor S.R. won't see this again until Christmas morning.

Participating in:

This has been featured at:

Travel Pillow

I hope you all had a great weekend. Things around here are slightly less than crazy but truly bordering insanity;o) I have been busy with projects and being a homemaker:o) My best bud from high school sent me some pics the other day of a quick travel pillow idea she whipped up for her son. They had a long road trip ahead of them, so she needed something to keep her little man busy. 

She hot glued a clipboard to a travel pillow.

Super simple!

 I love that it opens up. Perfect for storing writing utensils and extra paper.

 Nift-o nifty, eh?

She really needs to start her own crafty blog! She always has clever ideas...maybe we can talk her into it;o)

I hope to share a Batman Cape table runner with you guys within the next day or two. I just need to take the time to make pictures:o)

Happy Tuesday...what's left of it;o)

What I am Working on...

Can you tell what this is?

 Or what it will be?

I am trying my hand at quilling. I have been working on my entries for the Homemakers' Cultural Arts Fair scheduled for the end of September. Qulling is one of the categories. 

On our way back from FL, I decided I would make S.R. a picture using the art of quilling. It is very time consuming, but it makes beautiful art....let's hope that my first attempt looks like what I want it to;o)

Have a great weekend!!!

Free-To-Me Crafts: Basket Weave Hair Bow Holder

The other day I saw the cutest tutorial on how to make a hair bow holder using ribbon and a picture frame. I thought that I had bookmarked it, but apparently not. I can't seem to find it anywhere. It was so cute!!

So I definitely cannot take credit for this idea...if any of you know who created it, let me know so I can do a link back, please!

Anyway, we were having an issue with S.R.'s hair bow holder. We were running out of room.

Here is what I made for her to fix the problem.

This project was of no cost to me. I had all of the materials on hand. A friend of mine gave me this picture frame a few months back. I am slowly becoming the person who everyone wants to give their junk to, and I secretly LOVE it!!! Hubs...not so much;o)

Any-whoodles, she was a sad little frame:o( 

She needed some love, so I painted her with Krylon's Premium Silver Foil Metallic Spray Paint. It was the only full bottle of spray paint I had:o) I have a ton of ribbon my mother gave me, so I used coordinating ribbons and created a basket weave pattern and hot glued the ends just inside the lip of the frame where the glass usually rests.

This project took me 30 minutes to complete after painting, and was FREE! You really can't beat that:o)

Now we have more room for new hair bows!!

Participating in:

Mommy Chore Chart

I have some new things to share with you all this week, but no pictures yet, so stay tuned to see what I have going on.

I have a presentation for Homemaker's Club on Tuesday...25 Ways to be a Cheaper Housekeeper. Sounds exciting, huh?  Anyway, I like to have a little something to give to everyone to take home. I decided that I would make chore charts as hand outs for the girls. Most of them are grandmothers at this point, but I knew that a lot of you guys were still just mommies, so I made two different versions.

This is just a little way to break up the everyday cleaning that we do as keepers of our home. I know that I usually try to do everything in one day, and then I become crabby from pure exhaustion.

This is a tool to make things a little easier on us all.....who doesn't want that:o)

If you will notice, I gave you "The Lord's Day" off;o)

Click on the links below, to download your chore chart.

Mommy Chore Chart

Chore Chart 2

Hopefully this can ease the frustration of cleaning house! 

Better control in Google Sites with page-level permissions

Today we’re introducing page-level permissions, a new feature that will allow you to control who can view and edit your Google Site on a page by page basis.



Using page-level permissions, you can make some pages private for certain users while keeping other pages public for everyone to see. For instance, let’s say you have a Google Site that you’ve shared with your team and your manager. You can allow your team to see one set of pages, let your manager edit another set of pages, and keep yet another set of pages private for only you.



Only site owners have the ability to enable this feature, which is turned off by default for new and existing sites. To turn on page-level permissions, go to More Actions > Sharing and Permissions.





From there, click Enable page-level permissions. Then, in the dialog box, click Turn on page-level permissions.





Once page-level permissions is enabled, you’ll have three options to choose from:

• allow a page to inherit all of your site-level permissions
• elect to include future site-level changes to a page
• prevent a page from inheriting any future changes made at the site-level

Using page-level permissions should give you greater control over who can edit and access your Google site. To learn more about setting page-level permissions, take a look at our getting started guide. Let us know what you think in our support forums.



Posted by: Eric Zhang, Software Engineer

Introducing Learn with Google

(Cross-posted on the Inside AdWords Blog)

School is back in session and here at Google, we’ve been looking for ways to help you learn how to grow your business online. Many of you have been looking for one central place to go in order to get smart about online tools and strategies, and we hear you. That’s why we’re pleased to introduce Learn with Google, a new educational site designed to be a one-stop shop for businesses to learn about Google products and services like AdWords, Google Apps, Places, Analytics, and more. Whether you’re looking to grow your business or just be more productive, we hope that this collection of short videos, handouts, and resources will arm you with best practices and tips that you can use right away.

On the site, you’ll learn about:

• Starting Your Business Online: Learn why having an online presence is critical for growing your business and how to create an online marketing plan. Discover how local marketing tactics can help you reach and attract customers near you.
• Marketing Your Business Online: Master the basics of online marketing and AdWords to get more for your money. Learn how to choose the right keywords and write compelling ads, as well as how to optimize your advertising spend.
• Running Your Business Online: Learn how the Google Apps suite of online communications and productivity tools, like Gmail and Google Docs, can make your team more collaborative and your business more efficient.

To get started, check out the videos, worksheets, and checklists at Learn with Google. From there, we’ll recommend other tips and how-to’s that will help you grow your business online. We’ll be adding more content and improving the site over time, so be sure to check back often.

Posted by Barbara Yang, Product Marketing Manager, Small Business Team

Coupon Deals at Publix

I headed out to Publix this morning after dropping my sweets off at school to score some deals.

I have been couponing for about 6 months now, and it has cut my grocery bill in half. It is so much work, but it has really helped out

These are my items I purchased:

2 packs of Chinet Napkins

2 Boxes of Uncle Ben's Rice

2 packs of Knorr Pasta Sides

4 packs of Seattle's Best coffee....this is the hubs favorite!!

1 Box of cake mix...for E's b-day party coming up in 4 weeks!

1 tub of icing

3 containers of Resolve Spray and Wash

 And this was my total:

I was pretty stoked:o) I am not an extreme couponer, or the total would have been 63 cents:o) Those people have a sickness!!

Anyway, I attend church with a girl who has her own coupon website. It's called 

She is always posting great deals, whether it be grocery stores or online sites. You should definitely swing by her way and check out what deals are going on. You can also sign up for emails which is a great way to stay up to date on sales. If you are a facebooker, show her some love & LIKE The Coupon Centsation Fan Page.

Have a great Wednesday...I am headed to the bonus room to de-clutter and take a bunch of toys to the local thrift store.

Guest Post- Back Pack Buddies

Today we have guest poster, Deanna, from Just Deanna.

She is a mother of 4, and is always up to something crafty. Deanna is sharing with us how to make some cute backpack buddies.

Take it away Deanna!

Hello!  I am Deanna of Just Deanna.

A little blog with sewing and crafting tutorials and lots of other miscellany. 

Glad to be here visiting Crystal's great blog.  :)

This summer I hosted a little craft club for my kids and their friends. 

At our last one, for a fun back to school project, we made these fun backpack buddies with shrinky dink paper.

They are super simple to make and the kids seem to really love them. 

You can use them as a key chain as well.

Supplies we used:
frosted shrinky dink paper,
colored pencils,
scissors,
and a hole punch.

For this project I printed up a bunch of fun characters and other shapes for them to use. 

They traced around the picture and colored in with colored pencils.

You should color on the rough side of the paper.

You'll want the picture to be about the size of half a sheet of shrinky dink paper.

  If little ones struggle with the paper shifting over their picture, just tape it down on the sides.

White pencil will show up once they are baked.

Next, cut around the picture leaving room around the picture.

 If you cut around skinny parts, they break off easily. 

Finally before baking punch a hole in the top.

Bake according to the directions in the package.

.

Once cooled, we used large jump rings to attach to the hole and then to a key ring. 

Then we attached them to a zipper on their backpack.

Thanks for letting me guest on your blog, Crystal!  :)

Thanks Deanna, for sharing such a fun back to school craft!

Make sure to show Deanna some love, and check out her great ideas!!

Vacay Pics....

We have been M.I.A. for a week because we were vacationing in sunny Florida. We decided on a whim that we would drive down at night. That was the QUIETEST trip we have ever taken:o) We arrived around 10 a.m. and hit the beach. The hubs and I were completely zonked, but knew the kids wouldn't be able to wait to see the beach. This was the view from our balcony:

 Not too bad, ehh?

Here are my sweets getting their piggies wet.

 After 3 days on the beach, we headed to Orlando. We did a character dinner with Cinderella and Prince Charming.

Here is S.R. with one of her favorite princesses.

 E was actually very excited about meeting Prince Charming.

 S.R.....not so much:o)

 Step sister #1

 Step Sister #2

 There were kids all around us who had these great looking cupcakes. We found out that they were for birthdays....they felt sorry for our little ones and let them have one to share....E's birthday is in a few weeks, so that's how they justified it:o)

 We spent a day at Universal Studios. Here are the kids sporting their shirts that I made them. We had several ask if they were twins.

This is after lunch all tuckered out. It was soooooo hot that day. The hubs and I haven't sweat that much since we were college athletes:o) Did you spot the fans that I wrapped around the stroller bars? Dollar Tree....they were great for the kids, and the blades were made of foam.

 Now this is funny.....E begged for a magic wand from Harry Potter land. Here he is showing off his new Dumbledore wand.

 Here he is asking if it's okay to wave his new magic wand.

 Here is the look of utter disappointment when he realizes that magic wands aren't real.

 Here is the discussion of how magic is make-believe. 

Thankfully he was completely okay after realizing magic is pretend. He loves his wand and has been "zapping" everything in sight. S.R. got a fluffy unicorn and takes it everywhere she goes.

We had a fantastic trip, but I am glad to be home....the kids start preschool tomorrow. 

What am I going to do with myself?!?!?

Possibly lay in the fetal position in a corner and cry??? I am sure that I will get over it;o)

Any-whoodles, be on the look out for another guest post.

Have a great Monday!!!