Free | Prudent and Practical

April 12, 2010

Ultimate Blog Party 2010!

Filed under: General — Tags: free, giveaways, health — K @ 1:13 AM

I’m going to use this opportunity to say I’m back! For the past three months I’ve felt down in the dumps and unmotivated. One thing happened in January and it just kind of snowballed. I’m trying some amino acids from the health food store – I think it’s a combination of that and the beautiful weather that we’ve had lately here in southeast Iowa that’s helping. Things are looking up and I’m happy

If you’re a subscriber or frequent visitor, thank you for sticking around! I really appreciate it!

So to help with my “return,” I’m participating in 5 Minutes for Mom’s Ultimate Blog Party 2010! If you’re visiting from the UBP10, welcome! In short, I like to write about recipes, crafts, and home improvement and diy projects. Want to know more? Check out my about me page. If you’re interested in what I write about, subscribe via email or RSS feeder. Leave a comment and I’ll return the favor, I enjoy meeting new people and finding new blogs!

And to give some link love to the giveaway bloggers, these are the prizes I’m excited about!

It would be great to have a laptop that is quiet and that I can travel with, so I’d love 5 Minutes for Mom’s Toshiba laptop giveaway!
I enjoy essential oils and I’d like to try the Young Living Roll-On Stress Reliever from Oils for Wellness.
I buy a lot of books off of Amazon so, The Product Review Place’s $25 gift card would be helpful!
Other prizes I’m interested in include: US73, US74, US75, US87, US88, US112, USC8.

Anyway, go check out the blog party! Fun times!

Comments (6)

January 4, 2010

Christmas Gag Gift: Geico Money with Eyes

Filed under: crafts — Tags: crafts, free, holidays, random — K @ 1:45 AM

You know the commercial: “I always feel like somebody’s watchin’ me…” Whether you think “he” is cute or annoying, the money stack with eyeballs stalks you during current Geico commercials. Personally, I love the little guy. So does D, and his mom, and most definitely his sister. It’s become an inside joke now, so I came up with the perfect little gift for her.

I did a search on eBay for “the stack” but I didn’t want to pay $10 especially when I wanted to add a light activated music box (Which after shipping cost almost $10 itself – not frugal, I know. But it was either that or purchasing 1000 of them for $300 from China.) So I figured out how to make it for practically nothing, using materials you probably have at home already.

First off, you need fake money – “real” fake money actually costs a lot of money, so I suggest printing off scanned money. Note: You can get in trouble for scanning and printing money unless you alter it. I found a jpg online that has dollar bills already scanned, but at about half the size of real money. I think I used 5 or 6 pages.

While cutting them out, I made a stack of $5 and a stack of all other bills. This is only important if you’re looking to be more authentic, since the official stack is made of $5 bills.

I make 2 stacks using non-$5, but then put $5 on the top and bottom of each stack.

Now you need the band that goes around each stack of bills. I used some scrap paper and a blue marker.

Glue a band to each stack of bills.

Glue the bills together – it’s starting to look like the Geico stack now!

You need 2 googly eyeballs. I cut a couple pieces from a cardboard box to attach the eyes to the money stack.

Viola! You’re done and now you have a gag gift or a new buddy!

If you want to see the full effect check out my videos below… Hope you like it!

I got D’s sister’s permission to post the following video. She said…

Yeah go ahead, that’s a pretty great gift! People need to know he’s always watching

If you want to know what I’ve been up to this week, visit my front page!

I’m also participating in the following carnivals today! You can find many more great crafty ideas here:

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November 23, 2009

Dingy Desk to Dora the Explorer Escritoire

Filed under: DIY — Tags: bargains, crafts, DIY, free, projects — K @ 11:59 PM

One of the trending topics in the blogosphere is that of handmade items for Christmas. I never really thought anything of it – I like making stuff and I usually give one big project to a family member. This year, instead of one big item to one person, I’m planning on multiple smaller homemade items. I started off with a gift for my 2-1/2 year old niece.

My dad is really good at finding and picking up decent stuff that’s been thrown out. On a recent visit, he brought me a vintage wood and metal school desk. I loved and then dreaded the thought of another diy project when I already have a binder full of to-dos, so there it sat in the garage for a few months. While talking with him one night, he asked, “Well, why don’t you fix it up for Ella?” And during a conversation the following week with my mom, I found out that they were planning on fixing Ella up with a Dora the Explorer room – complete with a new big-girl bed. Ding! That was it – I’ll make Ella a big-girl Dora desk! She loves reading and learning and doing big-girl things so this will be perfect!

The Dora color template exists of vibrant colors:

Purple
Orange
Pink
And I threw in Lime Green, because it’s my fave color and it’s looks good with the above colors
Brown – you know, Dora’s big hair…

After stripping the wood…

and sanding it down…

My plan ended up being:

Outdoor Brown by Krylon – everywhere else (the metal parts of the desk)

Metallic Purple by Rustoleum – Desktop and seat (backrest)

Pink Berries by Rustoleum – Seat (buttrest)

(At this point it looks cartoon-girly, but not Dora, so….)

Dora “stickers – which I couldn’t find anywhere so I bought a $3 book at WM, cut pictures out and spray-adhered them to the desk. I didn’t trust my inkjet to print them out.

(Ok, it’s getting somewhere, but it needs something else…)

I printed off a “Dora” font that said “ELLA” and made my own stencil.

I then used lime green and hand painted the alphabet, 1-10, her middle name (which is mine too ), and a couple swirlies.

And there you have it, the one and only personalized Dora Desk created from a free vintage desk, a book, and some paint!

Thanks for visiting! If you’re interested in recipes you can check out my food and recipes pages. If you want to know what diy projects I’ve been up to this week, visit my front page!

This article is happy to be shared with the following carnivals:

DIY Day @ A Soft Place

(And giving credit where credit is due: Dora the Explorer and all her buddies belong to Nickelodian!)

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November 11, 2009

Martha Stewart’s Christmas Workshop

Filed under: General — Tags: crafts, DIY, entertainment, food, free, holidays, projects, random — K @ 11:30 PM

Hi all! I just got an email (newsletter) from Martha Stewart.com! The Martha crew is doing a 6-week workshop to help you prep for the holiday season.

The topics will include…

Martha’s best holiday tips
Handmade gifts, stockings, and ornaments
Treats, menus, and party ideas
Expert tree-trimming and wreath-making techniques
Hostess how-tos and a magnificent holiday menu
Time saving strategies
A gingerbread-house contest and photo contests
And many more ideas!

According to the email, more than 100,000 people have already joined, including me. I’m a fan of Martha Stewart and can’t wait to see what wonderful tips and projects she has in store for us all.

The fun begins November 16. Please visit the signup page to get in on the action!

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November 4, 2009

Early Christmas Shopping Deals

Filed under: saving money — Tags: bargains, Black Friday, discounts, free, holidays, online, sales, save money, saving money, shopping — K @ 11:59 PM

It’s that time of year again! The Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals are gradually getting posted as we eagerly wait to see how good or bad the discounts are this year. For those who may not know, Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving. It’s a day when many businesses make a profit and are in the black. It’s also a day when greed takes over many people and bad things can happen. Cyber Monday is the online version of Black Friday happening the Monday after Thanksgiving when people go back to work and apparently spend the day shopping online…

Going from personal experience, when the economy is good, there are a lot of freebies and awesome discounts. When the economy isn’t great, the deals aren’t great either. However, this year many businesses are taking part in online pre-Black Friday sales and not waiting until Thanksgiving weekend. I’ve looked through some of the deals and so far there isn’t anything that has sparked my interest. I’d love a new digital SLR camera, but the deals I’ve seen for both the pre-sales and Black Friday aren’t good enough to warrant a purchase. See the below links for posted Black Friday ads and the pre-Black Friday sales that are happening right now!

Do you have a favorite Black Friday site you go to? Mine is GottaDeal which shows bargains all year long on a forum, but also has a Black Friday site that lists the Black Friday ads as they come out. The following ads are currently listed:

“Become” also has a Black Friday deals area. One thing I like about their site is that you can click on a general item you’re interested in purchasing, such as digital cameras, and they’ll show you every store that has that item on Black Friday.

Many of the following stores have been in the news because of their early deals, so I’ll summarize what they’re offering for you here.

CVS and CVS Holiday

Offering weekly deals.

Kmart

Offering online layaway in addition to in-store layaway.

Kohls

Power Hour pricing on November 6 and 7 (this Friday and Saturday). There will be many deals and stores will be open until midnight.
Redeem Kohl’s Cash and Pick-Your-Day savings.
Save 20% on toys already marked 10-40% off.

Sears

Every Friday at 5pm through Saturday morning – “Black Friday Now” features weekly deals through Christmas.
Every Saturday 7am-12noon – doorbuster deals
Offering a credit for any November-release book you have purchased through Amazon.com, Target.com, or Walmart.com. Use the credit on a purchase over $45 at Sears.com.

Target

Toys for $10 each through the holiday season.
Daily deals on their site.

Toys ‘R Us

Plans to open 80 temporary stores across the country.
Offering layaway on big-ticket items.
The 2009 Toys ‘R Us Big Toy Book arrived on Nov. 1.
From November 1 through Thanksgiving Thursday, they are offering gift cards and freebies with purchases among other savings.

Vistaprint

50% off 2010 calendars, holiday Cards and many holiday products
Free shipping on orders over $50
Up to 50% off custom photo gifts

Walmart

100 toys for $10 each through the holiday season.
Popular books will be selling for $8.98.
2 for $30 specials on Nintendo Wii games.
Saturday (11/7/2009) – pre-Black Friday sale. Hot deals include a Sharp 42″ LCD HDTV for $498 and an Xbox 360 System with free $100 Gift Card for $199.
Walmart.com has also started a “Deal of the Day” where they will be selling one item each day at a Black Friday-level price. Today’s deal is a 32″ LCD HDTV for just $298 with free in-store pickup.

Do you participate in Black Friday? Why or why not? What’s the best deal you’ve found? Is there anything you have your eye on this year?

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