Disposable Window Shades for Crafting

I save all kinds of stuff that just might be a useful crafting

supply for me and my grands. I had several short ends that

I had cut from the lightweight disposable window shades that you

can purchase from the home improvement stores.

When I had my grandsons just before Father's Day and they

wanted to do a craft project I finally came up with a fun use

for those shady pieces of scraps!

The boys each wrote long messages to their dads 

by writing one letter per pleat with blanks between the words.

Once they were done we hot glued the two ends

to some hand cut outs.

We tied them up with a bow.

And, their daddy was treated to three

very long and very loving handmade

Father' Day messages!

The outside pieces could be any design for any occasion.

Watch yard sales and the thrift stores for

used disposable blinds. You can score a ton

of your own durable accordion crafting supplies for next to nothing.

You can cut them to the length and width of your choice.

Just think of the possibilities! 

The Almighty Dollar

Being a retired grandma and Papa certainly has its perks. We are able to attend the day time school functions with our grands, have lunch with them on occasion, help with the carpool if we so choose, and enjoy their school breaks with them without having to negotiate the time off.

Along with some wonderful retirement perks there are always a few nagging questions. Did we prepare well enough? Will our nest egg be enough? Should we be sitting on our nest egg or investing it? Do we know enough to make good financial decisions?

With today's technology there is information to help make informed financial decisions right at our fingertips. Do I want to tackle the financial market? Is Online Trading for me? How about an 

Online Broker? What about Stock Trading? Are my investments protected?  What is the difference between tax free and tax deferred? It can all be so confusing. 

My husband has always managed the finances in our marriage so much of the financial world is foreign to me. I recently came across an investment glossary online. I think the glossary is a good place for me to start. If I ever find myself in foreign financial waters alone for one reason or another it would be a real lifesaver to speak the language!

While peace of mind comes with having plenty of the almighty dollars saved and invested for retirement it is those we love, those we love spending our retirement years with, those who call us mom and dad, and grandma and papa that we deem our most prized investments and our priceless eternal  treasures!

Inspiration on the Clearance Rack

My annual Back to School Party is many months away but my party planning mind is always on high alert. I love gleaning the back to school clearance sections for inspiration for the next years Grandkids' Back to School Bash.  I will have nine school age grands attending next Fall.

I recently found my inspiration for our 2012 party on the clearance racks at Target. I can't share exactly what I found yet because I keep the theme of this event a big surprise for my grandchildren. What I can tell you is that the inspiration came for just .62 cents from classroom decorating supplies that are meant for teachers.

This clearance priced treasure is what got my creative event planning juices flowing. Since the event is months away I have created a notebook to gather my ideas and resources for activities, hand outs, online links, games, crafts, and more that I come across.

As a grandma, I very often use teacher and classroom supplies for the projects and activities that I do with my grandchildren. I have three little granddaughters that love playing school so teacher and classroom supplies are very often considered as gifts for playing pretend too.

Some of my favorite places to look for useful teacher supplies as a grandma and as gifts are online sites, Target's dollar section, and Dollar Tree. I couldn't be any more excited about the inspiration that came to me from a back-to-school clearance rack. But, I am going to have to keep it all in and you are going to have to wait to hear all about it next Fall!

Up-Cycled to Something I Love

Most of you have seen my tired old coupon box. It has been toted in and out of stores for years and years saving my family thousands of dollars in coupon redemptions. Being the sentimental person I am it was hard to make the choice to perk up the old coupon box. All of my children had learned the mechanics and the blessings of coupons using it's contents and the system I had created many years ago.

Well, the day to make the change came recently. It was at my husbands urging since he now very often helps me with the task of and savings from the use of coupons.  He first searched the stores and online for a better system, a better container, but none met my standards.

During the days that I found myself homebound caring for my recovering daughter the idea came to create a new coupon system out of saved resources that I already had on hand. I was going to do something current and hip, good for the earth, and something creative. I so needed to do something creative. I was going to Up-Cycle!

I had a ton of saved used envelopes from weekly grocery ads that my local grocery stores have been mailing me for the last few years. They had all been sealed with a sticker and were like new other than a small mailing address, paid postage, and return address stamped on them. I knew I was going to find a good use for them one day! I didn't think to take pics of my up-cycle until I had already begun the project by prepping 37 of the yellow envelopes.

I (as in my husband and I) first trimmed the label and any loose paper from the back of the envelope. I  then sealed each enveloped closed.

I cut each envelope in half.

I needed a total of 90 envelopes.

Each of my up-cycled envelopes would make two 

new heavy duty coupon envelopes.

I made a fold on the open end of the envelope 

to the height of a legal size envelope.

I snipped the sides up to the fold line.

I glued the front fold down to make a nice

and sturdy top edge to the envelope.

The back flap was folded in half to the back

of the envelope and glued into place.

This makes the back of the envelope stand up

about 1/2" taller than the front of the envelope.

Once I had 90 envelopes made it was time to make

the box dividers.

Old notebook dividers were up-cycled to become

coupon box dividers.

I cut the divider to match the width of the envelopes.

The height was measured to be

the same as the back side of the envelopes.

I folded the bottom of the divider up to add durability 

and glued it into place.

The up-cycled tab at the top added the 

height needed for easy access.

Once the twelve dividers were 

done it was time to add labels.

My old box had computer printed words backed with

index cards and taped in place with clear packing tape.

I was inclined to do the same thing again to stay 

true to doing this project on the cheap but my husband 

insisted on using my label maker.  He helped me 

realize that the cost of the label tape was 

WORTHY of the project.

What do you think?

BEFORE

AND

AFTER

We also made envelopes for each store I coupon

at to store the coupons for that weeks shopping trip.

Once it was time to make the coupons move it actually tugged at

my heart a bit. I teased with my daughters by asking if

they had any sentimental attachment to my old system

before throwing it away. I didn't want any broken hearts!

Everyone was happy to see it go and I  LOVE my

new up-cycled system. 

I love the crisp new look, the width and the durability of

the new envelopes, and I am so happy 

I went with the label maker.

I am now proud to say

Hey, that's my coupon box!

Operation: Return to Virtue

Well, it is that time of year again. A year ago I catered a huge Royal Gathering that was part of a week long church camp that my oldest daughter is the director of. Last year's camp theme was everything royal with the theme being Daughter of a King.

This year the theme is Operation: Return to Virtue. The entire week long camp is centered on a military theme. My daughter is currently in the active trenches as one of the Generals. She and her staff headed up yesterday to set up base camp. Today 160 Troops will be arriving to participate in the week long Operation: Return to Virtue.

I'm running my own little camp here with her three little boys while she is away serving with her troops. My daughter has worked long and hard for months to prepare for what is going to be a very memorable week in the lives of 160 teenage girls.

There will be dog tags issued, adorable silk screen shirts worn as the official uniform, and all kinds of fun drills and special missions to fill their week.

On one of the days there is going to be an activity of "Endurance Training".  The endurance training will include repelling, water balloon grenades, obstacle courses, relays, and even target practice. The girls will be blowing away the bulls eye of some of the non-virtuous things and behaviors of the world.

Upon completion of the endurance training there will be a celebration, refreshments, and small engraved metal tags that read "ENDURE ALL THINGS" will be awarded to each of the troops to add to their neck chains.

While I can't be at camp this year I pulled together and sent the linens for the refreshment tables and I shared my ideas for table decor for the awards ceremony. Last minute my daughter needed a poster for the refreshment tables.

I did one of my favorite things to help her out. I was able to pull together two posters with no need to run to the store and with no additional cost to the camp budget. Here is what I did.

I had saved the posters from last year's camp.

I was sure I could tweak them to go from 

Royal to Formal Military.

All I needed was some black and white

card stock, my computer printer,

a paper cutter, and a glue stick.

I even had the shiny gold emblems that

I added to the black strip. 

These perfect little bling, bling

 touches have been hangin' out

in my resources for years.

Re-use and Re-purpose

one of my favorite things!

Easy and Inexpensive Multipurpose Toy

This is a recent travel find that I couldn't pass up. I was in the train station gift shop killing some time before boarding our train ride from Skagway, Alaska to the Canadian border and back. I came across a marked down bin of magnetic animals amid all of the waaaaaaaay overpriced trinkets from the region. They were originally $3.99 each and they had been marked down to just .25 cents each. I purchased two of each kind thinking it would be a fun matching game to add to the things to do at grandma's house.

The kids love playing with the magnetic letters on the front of my fridge. This new game would open up an avenue for me to share the stories of the animals I had seen on my trip and what I had learned about the area in which they live.

Then I came across this idea that would make the new matching game so that it could be played anywhere.

This idea was created by a mom for backseat travel activities for her kids and I thought it would be great for grandma's house too. She shares the how to instructions and many ideas for adding magnets to the different supplies.

Check it out at  http://www.somewhatsimple.com/2011/05/road-trip-travel-trays.html.

You begin with a dollar store cookie sheet and some chalkboard paint.

It is a multipurpose toy!

coloring station

chalkboard station

race car track

magnetic letters and numbers

magnetic dolls

matching games (me)

eating tray

and more......

Other ideas I had....

So simple and inexpensive you could create a personalized stack of them for grandma's house. 

Make them up as a going away gift for your grandchild's next road trip.

Long distance grandma's could use them as a base gift to easily add to through the mail by creating magnetic games, puzzles, and activities for any holiday, season, or special occasion.

Small Thing, Big Boost

I have certainly had my doubts about the direction that good customer service has gone over the last few years. Getting a waiter who you don't mind tipping has become few and far between and the "customer is always right"policy seems to have been nearly forgotten. It has become frustrating to have to fight for what should be yours as a customer.

Well, I have to tell you that I have very recently gotten a much needed boost in my down in the dumps attitude on customer service.

The first came in a very small but very profound way. I  had gone to refill my five gallon drinking water bottle. The automated machine took my dollar and gave me no water. It would not spit my dollar back out. I don't know why we do it but I banged the machine thinking I could coax it into behaving. No such luck despite multiple bangs!

There was a toll free number on the machine to call to report any problems.  It was only a dollar but I took advantage of the customer service option. I reported my loss and reported that the machine was not working. The phones were automated so I was not sure what was going to happen next.

In  just a couple of days I received a letter in the mail.

Their slogan read

"Your satisfaction is our top priority"

They were not kidding.

This is a company whose product is just .25 a gallon.

They managed my complaint quickly, gave me a 150% 

return on my loss, offered an apology, and they paid .81 cents in 

postage to keep their customer satisfaction promise.

Way to go Watermill Express!

My second boost in customer service also exceeded my expectations. We recently booked a cruise. When calling the cruise line the sales person told me that we had credit from a past cruise. I later called back to book the cruise and apply the credit. Now the credit had somehow disappeared. I was told that the credit had expired. I ended up booking through a travel agent for a better deal. I later called the cruise line to ask about another issue when another sales person asked about the credit we had due to us. I was told that it did not expire until 2099. I asked to speak to customer service. I addressed the conflicting information on the credit. She then told me that the credit had indeed expired. GRRRR!

The customer service lady kept apologizing to each and every point I made saying that the credit had expired and there was nothing she could do to help me. The reason we had those credits was because of very poor customer service with the cruise line on a cruise we took seven years ago. I told her that after our previous experience we had no plans to ever return to them for our cruise business. I told her how disappointed I was to finally return to give them another shot and how I was now experiencing poor customer service all over again. That statement got her attention and she told me that she was going to go talk to her supervisor. Within moments the credit had been renewed. It was not only renewed but they added on an extra $80 bucks to ensure our customer satisfaction! YEA!!!!!

What is your opinion on today's customer service?

My Husband's Girlfriend!

My husband had a bid opening to attend in a nearby city. He invited me along and asked if I would like to extend the one day errand into a three day get away for some R & R. Before leaving we searched the internet for hotel deals but we had not made any hotel reservations before we left.

My husband always allows ample time to get to the bid openings. If you miss the deadline even by seconds it can make weeks of work all for nothing. On this trip we found exactly where we needed to be for the bid opening and then we went to a nearby McDonald's to take advantage of their free internet to do some more hotel searching. I had been pushing to do Priceline for an area in the foothills of Tucson, AZ. My husband had been dragging his feet on the idea due to a past experience with Priceline that he had found disappointing. I was confident that we would get a good deal at a great place because I had done my homework.  I chose an area where only resorts were available. I knew that the resorts all had good customer reviews and that they were high end places. ($300 plus per night) He finally went for it. We offered $100 a night and it was accepted. When the name of the unknown resort popped up we were very happy with our purchase.

Loews Ventana Canyon Resort

Tucson, Arizona

It was a very secluded property. The grounds were 

beautiful as was the view from our balcony.

The other side of our room opened up to 

acres and acres of undisturbed desert.

This was an interesting sign that was posted

 just beyond our room in the desert.

We both wondered if there had been some kind of incident.

The warning made this long and fairly dark 

walk to our room a tiny bit spooky. 

All that was between us and the nighttime 

desert critters was a short walkway rail.

Our king room was huge and beautifully decorated. 

The bathroom was my favorite.

I knew I would be heading to the store for some bubble bath so that I could enjoy some warm bubbly R & R while watching a favorite TV show.

The tub was at least 4 feet wide and very deep.

Awwwww, this last minute R &  R trip was a great idea!

We checked out every square inch of the resort during 

the three days that we were there. 

We could see and hear this water fall from our room. The resort had an easy walking path to the fall. Along the path we learned the names of all of the plant life and about all of those critters that we had been warned of. While the fall does not run all year long on its own the resort has put in a pump to keep the fall going year round. It fills the bridged streams and fish filled ponds throughout the resort.

Once we looked at the hotel restaurant menus we decided to eat elsewhere. They were way too pricey for our sensibilities! We also did not touch the $6 bottles of water or the $6 2 oz. boxes of cookies that were in our room. We checked out the local southwestern restaurants and we were not disappointed!

We only ate two meals a day. Since our time away was all about R & R.  We were late in getting out of bed and we took our time getting ready for the day. I have decided it is probably best that I don't have a TV in my bathroom at home!

Just before we left we checked out the golf course, the spa, the adults only relaxation pool, tennis courts, the really high end restaurant on the property (through the windows), basket ball courts, and the beautiful landscaping surrounding all of these facilities. 

During our stay my husband posted on Facebook where he was and that he was having a great time with his girlfriend! My daughter posted "that doesn't sound very good dad" and then my sister came to his defense by saying "he is just keeping the romance alive!" Our youngest daughter has always referred to us as one another's girlfriend and boyfriend. I love that this grandma has a boyfriend who thought of sharing this time with his girlfriend!

Birthday Countdown

A really fun find at a great price has led to a new birthday tradition for my grandchildren this year. When I found these on clearance for just $1 each I knew that they would be a great addition to my birthday celebration resources!

There were three available and by doing some quick birthday calculating of my ten grands I knew that three would do the job. They are made of very heavy vinyl and what child wouldn't love the brightly colored birthday graphics?

I have already used them twice and they were a complete hit. The other grands can't wait to get their turn. The 11 year old birthday girl and the 3 year old birthday boy who are siblings both loved the festive countdown to their birthdays. 

The turntable mats start counting down a full month ahead of time. I deliver the birthday countdown mat to the birthday child a month before their birthday. They understand that the birthday mats belong to grandma and that they will each get their turn.

I personal each one before the delivery by putting their name on the birthday cake.

Kids love countdowns and something like this could be easily made using heavy card stock, scrapbook supplies, stickers, and by placing a brad in the center to create the turn table. I would look in the dollar store birthday/teachers supply sections for inexpensive inspiration! You could make it yourself and present it to the birthday child or you could even create it WITH your very special loved one!

We love the birthday streeeeeetch in our family.

This is a very simple way to add an entire month of 

celebrating for the little ones you love!

Whopper of a Deal

I know this is two posts in a row about my hobby and love of saving cash but I just had to share this one.  Today's shopping trip netted a 101% savings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When I came home with my trunk full of groceries my husband was helping me unpack all of the bags and he asked me if I was going to take a picture of the pile of groceries. I didn't take a pic but I sure wish now that I would have so that you could see all of the great stuff I got.

Here is the breakdown. I saved $183.02 on the 72 items that I purchased. When the cash register was done doing its calculating I had to dig out .55 from the bottom of my purse to cover some remaining tax that was due. I got a huge basket of groceries for just two quarters and a nickel!

So how did I do it? I went armed with my box of organized coupons. All coupons were worth $1.  I had already pulled the coupons that I had for all of this weeks sale items that I wanted to purchase. I watched for in store specials that I could use and that I had coupons for. I also play the pharmacy game by transferring our prescriptions back a forth. This grocery store (Fry's)  has a pharmacy that offers $25 for every transferred prescription with a coupon that they run very often. One of my prescriptions is just $4 and the other is $10. I spend $14 that I have to spend anyway and they give me $50 on my Fry's shopper card. On this shopping trip I had $67.97 pharmacy dollars to put towards the groceries.

I have been shopping the ads and using coupons for a very long time but this is the first time ever that I saved 101%. Is that a whopper of a deal or what?

A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned

I've  earned several dollars this week from saving our hard earned pennies. This shopping trip was done at CVS. I took advantage of their weekly ad, cents off coupons, a partial balance that was left on a free gift card that I was given for transferring a prescription, and by using a few CVS extra bucks. All of which cost me nothing!

The above two items are a couple of my regular buys. If I were to pay full price for these two items it would cost me between ten and eleven dollars. By the way, if you haven't tried L'Oreal EverPure shampoo I highly recommend it. It runs around $6.99 a tube and it only takes a dab. This tube was on sale for $5.99 and with my coupon it was $4.99. It is still kind of a luxury item for me to pay that amount for 8.5 ounces of shampoo. But wait there's more. I got an extra two ounce travel bottle for free with my purchase! 

But wait, there's even more! These were just two items out of 18 that I purchased. My grand total out of pocket expense was right around the price that I would have paid for the above two items anyway. 

All of this for just $11.20 out of my pocket.

I love saving those pennies!

If I hadn't splurged on my shampoo

I would have gotten the 17 items for just for $6.00.

But hey, my new hair is so worth it!

Personalized Toy Car Mat

I really can't believe that I am

actually saying things like:

It's at least 30 years old.

I made it over 30 years ago, 

Back in the early 70's....

I guess Grandma's house is suppose to have old things and it has always been that grandma is able to tell her grandchildren about the old days.

It's just that I don't feel old enough to have 30 year old belongings and toys that my children once played with! And, when did the 70's become the old days?

This is an example of something that I made for my son some 30 years ago that the grands now love playing with.

It is a length of canvas fabric that I used crayons to create a personalized mat to play with little cars on.

This was long before the store bought kind or the lengths of cute printed fabric panels you can now purchase.

I had drawn in everything that a little town needs. To personalize it I drew in both of his Grandma's houses that were across town from one another. One even had the swimming pool that he loved to go swim in.

His daddy worked at the Post Office.

Little boys love emergency vehicles so it had

a hospital, fire station, and police department.

I also drew in a gas station and a school with a playground.

As you see I am not much of an artist but somehow it

has continued to capture the imaginations of the little

ones I love for that's right.....

over thirty some years now!

I remember finishing it up late Christmas Eve back in the late 70's. I wrapped it up with a collection of new shiny cars, emergency vehicles, airplanes, and helicopters.

The edges of the fabric didn't get hemmed that Christmas Eve. I'm bound to get to it one of these days!

If you have grandchildren who like to draw this just might be a fun project to create and play with together!

Recycle Those Resources When Decorating!

This past weekend marked the eleventh birthday of my oldest

 grandchild and the beginning of my twelfth year as a grandma. 

How can that be?

It was so much fun being a part of her surprise birthday celebration!

My daughter had reserved a room at a local mexican food restaurant for the occasion. She called to ask me about party ideas and decor to personalize the room. I told her that I would check my resources and let her know what I had.

After checking my resources I told her that we could go with a red, yellow, and green color scheme. 

I had fringed mats and paper flowers stored in my fiesta tubs. I had made the flowers for a large Christmas Fiesta that I had decorated for. The paper flowers had decorated Christmas trees at the fiesta. I now planned to use them to create table centerpieces.

The red and green baskets that had once held silverware on the fiesta serving tables became the base of three mexican floral arrangements. I also added some fun and festive tissue paper wrapped toilet paper rolls with curly ribbon that I had in my fiesta stash.

To personalize the cake table I pulled a frame out that I had used previously on a memory table that I  had done for our sweet baby Caden when he passed.

I used brightly colored card stock scraps in red, greens, and yellow to change the plain white frame into a festive and personalized decoration to frame the face of our beautiful birthday girl. (I used low tack tape to attach the card stock and photos so that the frame could be easily reused.)

We covered the cake table in a bright red linen that I use for Christmas, Valentines and any other event where primary colors work well.

My daughter added helium balloons in red, green, and yellow to the centerpieces. She also picked up a brightly colored pinata that matched our color scheme perfectly.

We hung a birthday banner at the end of the kids table. Within minutes this very adult looking room had been transformed into a space perfect for our very special celebration.

The kids table was directly in front of the doors where the birthday girl would be entering. On the kids table each place setting had a children's menu, crayons, and a fun party favor as a napkin ring.

We had pulled it off. 

The birthday girl was very surprised!

So were her two friends who thought they were just over for a sleepover.

After a very delicious dinner it was time for the 

confetti topped cupcakes, the gifts, and the pinata.

Yep, an indoor pinata.

This is nothing new to our family but I have to admit that we had never done it outside of our own homes before. We have done many indoor pinata's for our summer birthdays here in Arizona. We pushed the tables back, the room had a very high ceiling, and the adults kept the other children, the furniture, and the light fixtures all safe from the swinging stick.

My daughter and her husband had one

very happy birthday girl!

And me.... I was one very happy grandma

for being a part of this very special occasion.