Photo LIght Box Inspection

I thought I'd take a moment to share a picture of Inky the cat inspecting my homemade photo light box.

I'm not sure what attracts her to it but without fail when I turn my back she's in it!

Maybe the temptation to have black fur in a clean white box is just too much for her...   

It's a beautiful last day of March here in Arizona, blue sky and bright sunshine.  The high temperature today is supposed to be 91 degrees, summer is on it's way.  

Have a blessed weekend!

Cuddly Buddly Little 'Tweetheart

I have a fun card that I C.A.S.E.d from Pinterest today, I really like the clean and simple design of the original artist.  

The digital image is from Cuddly Buddly and colored with Copic markers, I used an old Stampin' Up! background stamp on the bottom panel and embossed the top with a Cuttlebug embossing folder.  The image is cut out with a Spellbinders circle and matted with a Spellbinders scalloped circle, a little ribbon and my card is ready to go.

Thanks for visiting my blog today - 

Challenges: 

Digital Delights by Louby Loo Cuddle Bunny

I have a Digital Delights by Louby Loo design team card to share today!

I used the digital stamp Cuddle Bunny, sentiment set Easter Sentiments & digital paper pack "Sweetheart".

I have a supply list for you below so I won't get all "wordy" on you but I did want to mention that I changed the color of the heart digital paper.  It comes in the Digital Delights by Louby Loo Sweetheart digital paper pack as pink.  I needed something more the color of the bunny so I changed it to match in my Publisher program.   Just wanted you to know in case you went to buy the paper pack and didn't find the neutral heart paper.  

Supply List:

ALL DDSTAMPS USED:  Cuddle Bunny, Easter Sentiment Set, Sweetheart digital paper pack

CS AND PAPERS:  Via Vellum Basic Black, Copic X Press It, Mohawk color copy Bright White, Sweetheart digital paper pack
INK:  HP OfficeJet 6000, HP LaserJet
MARKERS (if any):  E44, E43, E42, E41, R83, R81
ACCESS. AND EMBELLISHMENTS:
COLORING MEDIUM (if any):  Copic markers
SPECIAL TECHNIQUES:  changing the color of your digital papers

 Be sure to stop by our Digital Delights by Louby Loo blog to see all our fabulous design team inspiration!

 

Thanks for visiting my blog today -

Challenges:

Josephine Puppy Hambo Stamps

I have a fun CAS card to share with you today, the image is by Hambo Stamps for Operation Write Home.

Our Midweek Throwdown challenge starts today at Operation Write Home Stars & Stamps and the theme is "Cute Characters".  

There's a Hambo blog hop showing their fun new releases going on today, you can find that here.

Asela Hopkins has designed some sweet images and ALL proceeds from the sale of these images will go directly to benefit Operation Write Home!

Isn't that COOL?

My card is colored with Copic markersB66, B63, B60, YR21, YR24, Y21, BG11, BG13, BG23, YG01, YG03, YG23, YG25, R46, R35, B41, E000, E00, E01, E40, E41, E42, E43, E44.

I hope you'll have time to hop along with Hambo and play in our Midweek Throwdown challenge!

Thanks for visiting my blog today -

Challenges:

Operation Write Home Stars & Stamps - Cute Characters
Hambo Hoedown - Your Favorite Coloring Medium using Asela's New OWH Images

Peddler's Pack Lemons Background

I've been coloring background stamps again...  

This is another background stamp by Peddler's Pack that I couldn't resist coloring with Copic markers.

Here are the color numbers I used:  Y15, Y13, Y11, C00, BG10, BG11.  I used Operation Write Home Stars & Stamps sketch #99 with Create With TLC digital sentiment.  My paper colors are Via Vellum Basic Black, Copic X Press It, Astro Brights Solar Yellow and I'm not sure about the blue.  

If you like these as much as I do I've had pretty good luck finding them on E Bay or you can find them here and here.  "Google" what you're looking for and add "best price" and see what happens (: 

Thanks for visiting my blog today -

Challenges:
The Cheerful Stamp Pad - Anything Goes
Craft Your Passion - Monochromatic
Lollipop Crafts - Anything Goes
Make It Monday - Anything Goes
The Crazy Challenge - Add A Sentiment

Free Coloring Pages Tulips Copic Coloring

I have a Mother's Day card to share with you today.  I know it's a little early but I've been working on Mother's Day cards for Operation Write Home, the deadline has come and gone, my package has been shipped & I still have cards to show. 

I saw a tutorial on the Copic blog by Debbie Olsen for coloring tulips with some of the new 2012 Copic markers that I wanted to try.   Wow, it was really fun to color this image with Debbie's color combination.  I've had a really hard time using the red violet, violet and blue violet color families and feel more confident now that I can master them with practice.  

The Copic markers used are:  RV52, RV55, RV00, V22, BV34, G46, G43, G40, RV10, RV11, YR30, YR31, BG90, BG93.  Papers are Via Vellum Basic Black & Leaf Green, Paper Mill Lavender, Astro Brights Galaxy Gold, Copic X Press It.  Spellbinders circle dies, Darice embossing folder, Black half pearls.  The Mother's Day sentiment was made on my computer using the "Pristina" font and the tulips are from a free coloring page site I found by "googling" tulip coloring pages.  

Thanks for visiting my blog today -

Challenges:
Polka Doodles - Mother's Day
Stampin' For The Weekend - Anything Goes
Sweet & Sassy Challenge - Celebrate Spring
Inspire Me Friday's - Anything Goes

Pinterest - Mother's Day - Scraps

I wasn't sure what to title my blog post today, I used a Mother's Day stamp and some punches and dies to make my cards.  I've been browsing Pinterest a lot lately, each time someone repins one of my pins I get an e mail so I go visit their boards and do some more pinning.  Sounds kind of addicting doesn't it?!

I've been so busy the past few months with design team assignments that I hadn't given myself much freedom to create just for the sake of creating.  I haven't had any spare time for that but I do now so I've been having fun browsing Pinterest and C.A.S.E.ing some of the fabulous cards I've pinned.  Today's cards are C.A.S.E.d from Pinterest using scraps from that ever growing pile beside my paper trimmer.  

I also learned on Pinterest how to make the banners using a square punch, after seeing the picture I thought - "ohh duhhh"...

(photo courtesy of Pintrest)

...so that's what that old Stampin' Up! punch I have is for, cool!

I'm not a fan of paper punches, I'm a die collector.  They last longer for me and take up less space.

My second card I used Papertrey Ink's double ended banner die.  

My cards are for my Operation Write Home box, the deadline to have our Mother's Day cards to our shippers was a couple of days ago on the 20th.  My box of cards is already gone.

Thanks for visiting my blog today -

Challenges:
Alphabet Challenge - D is For Dry Embossing
The Poodles Parlour - Anything Goes

Digital Delights by Louby Loo Military Mike & Molly

I have two design team cards to share with you today for Digital Delights by Louby Loo, they are both pre-colored images with camo papers to match.  I thought they'd make nice "Any Hero" cards for Operation Write Home and couldn't decide on which cute image so I asked for them both.  

I used Sweet Sunday sketch challenge #154  for my first layout, but changed the shape of the focal point to an oval from a square.  I have a supply list below:

ALL DDSTAMPS USED:  MilitaryMike

CS AND PAPERS:  Camo Papers, Nut Brown, Mohawk Bright White, Neenah Sand, Stampin’ Up! Green Galore
INK:  HP OfficeJet 6000
MARKERS (if any): pre-colored digital image
ACCESS. AND EMBELLISHMENTS:  Spellbinders Oval dies

My second card uses Military Molly with a slightly different layout.

Supply List:

ALL DDSTAMPS USED:  MilitaryMolly

CS AND PAPERS:  Camo Papers, Nut Brown, Mohawk Bright White, Neenah Sand
INK:  HP OfficeJet 6000
MARKERS (if any): pre-colored digital image
ACCESS. AND EMBELLISHMENTS:  Spellbinders Mega Oval & Scalloped Mega Oval, tags die & star punch

 

Be sure to stop by Digital Delights by Louby Loo today to see all our fabulous design team creations!

 

Thanks for visiting my blog today -

 

Challenges:

Cuddly Buddly Happy Birdie

We have a new Midweek Throwdown color challenge starting today at Operation Write Home Stars & Stamps, Cora Jean is our sample card maker and I had her choose the colors - she chose yellow and green.  I just had to add one more color to go along with my sketch so I added turquoise.

I used this sketch last week, I'm afraid it's one of those that's simple, quick & fun for me so you might be seeing it a few more times...   The cute birdie is a digital image from Cuddly Buddly colored with Copic markers Y11, Y13, Y15, BG15, BG45, YG01, YG03, YG05, YG13, YG17.  The yellow polka dotted paper is digital, I printed the poka dots onto a sheet of yellow cardstock.  Tweetie is also computer generated, I needed something to go on my double ended banner.  

I hope you'll have time this week to play in our Midweek Throwdown color challenge at Operation Write Home Stars & Stamps.  Thanks for visiting my blog today!

Challenges:

Operation Write Home Stars & Stamps - Yellow & Green color challenge

Peddler's Pack Apple Background

I'm not sure if you've noticed but I'm not on as many design teams right now, we weren't sure how much time and traveling we will have to do for my husbands prostate cancer treatments so I didn't renew my design team commitments.  I didn't want to disappoint anyone by not meeting design team deadlines.  We've had an out of town appointment almost every week for several weeks now and they will continue until at least the end of April when he has the Brachetherapy.  There will be follow up appointments in the future too.  I do have good news about his prostate cancer though, we've been told it's in the beginning stages and curable.  

Praise God!  My Dad died of prostate cancer March 14, 2008 so initially this diagnosis was devastating for me.  

On to happier things...

Not being on as many design teams has given me more time to color and play with stamps and images that have been waiting for me.  I've been enjoying coloring very much, practicing shading and trying out new color combinations.

Have you ever had to color the same stamp or image several times in different colors?

Ahhh, me to...

This is a background stamp and takes quite a bit of ink to color, the larger the image the more difficult it is for me to get the shading and blending smooth.  My R27 went dry and  I had to wait for a refill to finish.  I've found a couple of places to buy these stamps, the first is Peddler's Pack and then E Bay.  I really like the way the artist has shaded these apples using black dots, I don't have to decide where my light source is coming from.  I've been working on making my coloring of objects more realistic.  

Do you think they look good enough to eat?!

Thanks for visiting my blog today -

Challenges:
Love To Create - Anything Goes
Make It Monday - Anything Goes
The Crazy Challenge - Go Green (:
Use Your Stuff - Anything Goes

My Grafico Super Hero Girls

We have a new sketch that starts today at our Seems A Little Sketchy challenge blog, our fabulous sponsor is My Grafico!  Our design team was given their Super Hero Girls digital stamp set for our challenge sample cards and it was very hard to pick just one (:  this is really a darling set. 

We are on sketch #9 for this challenge, I adapted my card to a rectangular format instead of the square that's shown in the sketch.  This was a really fun card and sketch for me.  The little girl was fun to color with Copic markers, I used YR24, YR21, Y21, N5, N3, N1, B12, B14, B24, G40, G43, R81, E41, E01.  

My papers are Via Vellum Basic Black & Cyan, Neenah Pewter, Copic X Press It & Stampin' Up! Certainly Celery.  I also used the Stampin' Up! set Riveting, a couple of circle punches, a star punch a star embossing folder and a ric rak die from Papertrey Ink. 

Very fun!  I hope you'll stop by our Seems A Little Sketchy challenge blog to see all the wonderful design team inspiration and play in our sketch challenge.

Thanks for visiting my blog today - 

Challenges:

2012 Mini Calendar - July

We finished our 2012 mini calendars Thursday afternoon, yea!

Debby, Shirlie and I have been working on a 2012 mini calendar project for several weeks now and I'm very happy to say the project is complete!  July was our last layout to do and I had a really hard time coming up with something.  Debby and I are from the USA and our friend Shirlie is from Canada was a small part of the problem, the rest was me - I think my calendar mojo was on vacation. 

We had a sketch to work with and "googled" 4th of July and Canada Day coloring pages to find digital images.  I'd been through all my folders and didn't find anything suitable.  

Here's a photo of Debby and Shirlie working on binding their calendars with the Bind It All.  I'd collected Cheez-It's boxes for our covers.  Debby and Shirlie covered theirs with patterned papers and  I left mine uncovered - just a naked Cheez-It box, lol. 

We've been getting crafty every Monday morning we can since November when they returned to Arizona and now it's time to say goodbye again till next season.  Thanks for the great time Debby and Shirlie I'll be counting the weeks till we can play again!

Thanks for visiting my blog today -

Peddler's Pack Violin Background

Have you seen these fabulous background stamps by Peddler's Pack?

I've found them a few different places online like here and here and here.

I colored the stamped image with Copic markers E29, E25, E99, E53, C1, C00, T1, BG01, BG000.  Papers are Via Vellum Basic Black, Copic X Press It and I'm not sure what the aqua blue is.

Have a good weekend and thanks for visiting my blog today!

Challenges:

Digital Delights by Louby Loo Lonely Pups

I have a couple of fun design team cards using several new digital stamps from Digital Delights by Louby Loo.  For both cards I used Lonely Pups, Lonely Pups Accessories, Pampered Paws digital paper pack & Missing You sentiment set.

Do you ever feel like just coloring?  I do sometimes, coloring gives me peace and takes me away from all the stuff that sometimes goes on in our ordinary everyday lives.  I've felt like coloring a lot lately!  

Both of my cards today go in my Operation Write Home box and will be entered in our OWH Midweek Throwdown challenge, the theme is "Miss You".  I don't usually make square cards so I made this one 4.25 X 4.25 so it will fit in an A2 envelope.  I thought Wendy's pups would be perfect for the challenge!

I have supply lists today:

ALL DDSTAMPS USED:  Lonely Pups, Lonely Pups Accents, Missing You sentiment set

CS AND PAPERS:  Copic X Press It, Via Vellum Basic Black
INK:  HP LaserJet
MARKERS (if any):  Copic T0, T1, T2, T3, T5, T7, T9, C00, B000, E29, E99, E25, E53, E33, E31, E30, YG63, YG23, YG21
ACCESS. AND EMBELLISHMENTS:  None
SPECIAL TECHNIQUES (if any):  Sky/cloud background w/ copic markers

I watched a Copic coloring video the other morning on how to color fur so I gave it a try for this cute Schnauzer pup of Wendy's.  My parents had Schnauzers when I was growing up so this image was fun to color for me.  The layout is a sketch I had to try from Merry Monday #9 and the papers I used are in my supply list below:

ALL DDSTAMPS USED:  Lonely Pups, Pampered Paws digital papers, Missing You sentiment set

CS AND PAPERS:  Pampered Paws digital paper pack, Via Vellum Basic Black, Bayou, Copic X Press It
INK:  HP LaserJet, HP OfficeJet
MARKERS (if any):  Copic BG0000, BG45, BG49, W0, W1, T2, W3, W5, W7, Y26, Y21, R11
ACCESS. AND EMBELLISHMENTS:  Spellbinders dies, Papertrey Ink dies
SPECIAL TECHNIQUES (if any):  Sketch challenge – Merry Monday #9

Thanks for visiting my blog today -

Challenges:

Operation Write Home Stars & Stamps - Miss You

Can You Digi It Do You Care For Tea?

Are you ready for an "Over the Rainbow" challenge starting today at the Can You Digi It challenge blog?

My card today uses the digital image Do You Care For Tea? from Can You Digi It? and is colored using Copic markers R24, R22, R20, Y15, Y13, Y11, W1, W0, N5, N3, N1, B23, B14, B12, R85, R83, R81, G43, G40, BG23, BG13, V17, V15, V12.  I've had my eye on this stack of tea cups for quite some time now and I have to say they were really fun to color!  

I have a copy of the inspiration photo for this challenge below:

I hope you'll stop by the Can You Digi It? challenge blog to see all the wonderful design team inspiration and play along too - 

Thanks for visiting my blog today-

Challenges: 
Paper Sundaes - Feminine Flair
The Craft Place - Anything Goes

MelonHeadz Bunny

 Congratulations to Kathy V. who won my Celebrating 100,000 Visitors Blog Candy!

I've been missing from my blog for a couple of days - our kids are out of school on spring break.  

It's day 10 and we've been doing pretty well keeping busy, they love playing games on my computer so that's part of why my blog has been quiet the last few days.  There have been sleep overs and extra people around as well as trips to Havasu for oncologist appointments for my husband.

I am happy to say I've had some time to color though!

My card today uses a MelonHeadz digital image.  When I saw this cute bunny of Nikki's I knew I had to color it, how fun!  My layout is a Splitcoast Stampers sketch from a few months ago.  The papers are Mohawk Bright White, Copic X Press It, Via Vellum Leaf Green & Basic Black, Stampin' Up! Ballet Blue and I made the patterned paper using wide Copic markers a Stampin' Up! background stamp and Copic blending solution.  

Copic markers used are:  E41, R81, B21, B23, YG01, YG05, YG63, YG67, E44, E43, E42, E41, YR09, YR07, YR04.  For the bunnies belly, ears and nose I experimented with E41 & R81 blended together and like the look.  My cloud background is a little darker than usual too with B21, it seemed a little dark so I went back over it with my blender marker. 

Thanks for visiting my blog today -

Challenges:
Make It Monday's - Anything Goes

2 Sisters Challenge - Spring Colors
Crazy 4 Challenges - C4c127 Spring
Card Makin' Mama's - Let's See Some Green & must be "colored"
Glitter Geeks - Spring Is In The Air
Paper Makeup Stamps - Digi Makeover Challenge - Critters
Simon Says Stamp & Show - Anything Goes 
ABC DT Challenge - Springtime

Celebrating 100,000 Visitors

It's time to celebrate my blog reaching 100,000 visitors!!!

I wanted to do something special to say THANKS FOR VISITING MY BLOG, I have a small flat rate Priority Mail box with goodies for one lucky winner!  There are a couple La La Land Crafts Marci & Luka stamps, Woodware USA clear stamp sets, Stampin' Up! metal edge tags and other crafty goodies.

Please add your blog link to the InLinkz widget below to enter for the candy.  

Inlinkz will close at 12:00 PM MST, Saturday March 10, 2012 and draw a winner at that time.

Digital Delights by Louby Loo Mother's Day Luvvy Bear

I have a fun Mother's Day card to share today, I thought Luvvy Bear would go great with this Mother's Day circular sentiment for my card.  You can find both Luvvy Bear and the Mother's Day sentiment at Digital Delights by Louby Loo.

I've had the idea of how I wanted my card for days and days but I really struggled coloring my image, first I tried coloring on Neenah Solar White with Copic earth tones and it just wasn't working for me.  Sometimes I have a hard time with the earth tones family of Copic markers getting a good blend.  After tossing a couple Luvvy Bears in the trash I printed him/her again on the last scrap of Copic X Press It I had and started over with different E Copics and was more successful I'm happy to say.

I wanted Luvvy Bear cut out to go over the circular sentiment, while cutting I lopped off my rose, oh man... 

lol, I'm not used to having "off days" crafting (:  but I know we all do!

All in all I'm very happy with Luvvy Bear the Mother's Day card.  It's going in my Operation Write Home box and will get shipped out soon as the Mother's Day card deadline is coming up pretty quick.

I have a supply list for you today below:

Stamps:DDLL Luvvy Bear, Mother’s Day circular sentiment
CS & Papers: Neenah Red Pepper Linen, Mohawk Bright White, Copic X Press It, Papertrey Ink Berry Sorbet, Astro Brights Jupiter Java
Ink: HP OfficeJet, HP LaserJet

Copic markers:  E11, E13, E23, E25, R29, R27, R24, R22, YG05, YG63
Accessories, and embellishments: Spellbinders circles, Sizzix embossing folder, Die-namics heart border die

I hope you'll stop by the Digital Delights by Louby Loo blog to see all the creative inspiration from our design team today too.

Thanks for visiting my blog -

Challenges:

Operation Write Home Stars & Stamps - Mother's Day

Marianne Walker Pink Flamingo

 

I have a fun card and a fun flamingo story to share with you today -

First the card... 

I have several blogs on my homepage that I like to visit regularly, one of them is I Like Markers by Marianne Walker.  I got to meet her in person at a Copic certification class in Phoenix a couple of years ago and think she is a very gifted and talented lady.  Marianne's blog is a great place to go to  learn a lot about Copic markers and coloring so I try to visit often.  Every once in awhile she has an image she's drawn for us to practice on.  She drew and used this flamingo for a recent coloring tutorial and I wanted to give it a try.  The best part is I have one more color combination that I LOVE, she used YG05 & YG63 for the greenery and I think the contrast is fabulous.  I would have never come up with this combination on my own either.  

After coloring the flamingo I had to make it into a card, I tried to keep it simple and won't tell you of the troubles I had (:  My husband said "that's unusual" about my card, lol - I guess so...  I was thinking maybe it might work for a Mother's Day card for Operation Write Home?  I could stamp "Mom" in the white space by the flamingo, we'll see.  Our Midweek Throwdown challenge starts today and the theme is Mother's Day.  

How about a fun pink flamingo story?

Several years ago our youth ministry at church bought about a half dozen pink flamingos for a fund raiser, we had a great time "flamingoing" all of our friends to raise money for our youth group.  

Here's how it worked:

Rent one pink flamingo for $5.00 and have it delivered to the person of your choices yard.

When the person found the flamingo in their yard there was a note attached with a phone # to call to have it removed, cost of removal $5.00.  

If you'd like to find out who sent you the flamingo that would cost you extra and if you wanted to send the pink flamingo on to someone else or return to sender that would cost you an additional $5.00.  

I think there were 6 flamingos available, several of us pitched in and "rented" them all to be put in a friends business yard - wish I still had the pictures, it was funny!  He was very good natured about our prank, paid up and sent one on to each of us, lol.  Parker is one square mile so driving the kids to school or going to the store you'd see a pink flamingo here and there and have to giggle.  

Thanks for visiting my blog today -

Challenges:

Operation Write Home Stars & Stamps - Mother's Day

Bugaboo Stamps Poppi Penguin

I have another mini calendar page to share with you today!

My mini calendar is making slow progress but it's getting closer to being finished with each layout.

I saw this Sweet Sketch Sunday sketch #151 on Pinterest, I've wanted to try it out and thought maybe it would work for my calendar layout.  I've added it below so you can see if you recognize the sketch -

After coloring Bugaboo Stamps Poppi Penguin and assembling all the layers and pieces I had to rearrange the layout to make it all fit.  I used Copic markers to color the image B0000, B12, B14, B16, YG25, YG23, YG01, N7, BV25, M3, V15, V12, Y17, Y15, YR09, YR07, YR04.  The papers are Via Vellum Basic Black, Neenah Solar White, Via Vellum Violet & Cyan.  I punched the holes in the top with a Bind It All, I almost forgot to mention that the calendar is from Clear Dollar Stamps, the set is called Year Round Calendar.

Thanks for visiting my blog today -

Challenges:

Bugaboo Stamps - Anything Goes

Sew Many Cards Harley In The Spring

My card today is for our Seems A Little Sketchy challenge that starts today!

Our sponsor is Sew Many Cards and I picked Harley In The Spring as my image to play with.

Harley is colored with Copic markers W7, W5, W3, W1, W0, R85, R83, R81, R11, B0000, B00, B02, YG25, YG23, YG21.  The cloudy sky background is colored with B0000.  My papers are Via Vellum Basic Black, Leaf Green & Cyan, Stampin' Up! Pixie Pink, Copic Xpress It & a left over scrap of digital paper from Digital Delights by Louby Loo.  The sentiment I added is by Create With TLC.

I hope you'll stop by our Seems A Little Sketchy challenge blog to play along and see all the wonderful design team inspiration too!

Thanks for visiting my blog today -

Challenges:

Seems A Little Sketchy - Sketch #8

Extreme Couponing at Safeway - Parker, Az

Hi blog friends!  I have a Safeway shopping trip to share with you today from this last Friday.  As you know from reading my blog I'm a paper crafter so what you see pictured above are printed online coupons from Smart Source, Coupons.com and Red Plum mixed in with my card making/paper crafting stuff.  That guillotine paper trimmer sure comes in handy for all the manufacturers coupons I've been collecting lately!  

After looking over the local grocery ads Wednesday evening & sorting through my coupons I planned a shopping trip to Safeway for Friday.  Safeway has $5.00 Friday deals as well as weekend sales and there is a notice in this weeks grocery ad that if you spend $75.00 in one transaction they'll give you a $10.00 coupon to use on a future purchase.  You know I'm all in for that  (:    This shopping trip took a little time to plan because I don't usually spend $75.00 in one trip to the store, most trips they're lucky to get 20 bucks out of me all at once.  

My husband Rick and I took off for Safeway after getting the kids off to school.  I find it best to shop before 10:00 A.M. to be able to find everything on the shelves I need.  The $5.00 Friday items go pretty quickly.  

The photo above is everything we bought at Safeway for $103.31.  We broke our shopping trip into four transactions to take advantage of some of the coupons that you could only use one coupon per transaction.  Our first basket was filled with the $75.00 or more transaction and Rick's smaller transaction to take advantage of a Hormel coupon for the $5.00 Friday special Hormel Pork tenderloin.

We were at Safeway early enough that there was only one checker so their assistant manager Pete had to check us out.   I've known him for years, Pete started working at our Parker Safeway in 1983 at the same time I did.  He was doing great until he saw all my coupons and looked at me and said, "really"???  I just laughed and handed them over.  Some of the coupons beeped telling him I hadn't purchased the items he told me, I just smiled and asked him if he'd like me to get into the bags and show him the items - his answer was no.  

So that's why some of the clerks look at you like you're trying to pull a fast one on them...  I find that kind of frustrating, I put a lot of work into finding, printing, clipping and organizing coupons as well as looking over weekly grocery ads and planning shopping trips.  I also take the time to read the fine print so I can do the transaction correctly and not hold up the line.   I think it's time to fill out their online survey and let them know-

The big transaction was $94.70 and gave us Catalina coupons for $10.00 off any purchase, $2.00 off any purchase, $5.00 off frozen food and 2 free gallons of milk.  We took our groceries out and put them in the trunk of the car and came back in and headed for the meat department to pick up two more Hormel pork tenderloins, etc.

The items you see pictured above totaled $1.82.  Here's how I used that $10.00 off any purchase coupon along with coupons for each of the items shown.  I had a $5 off 5 Kelloggs cereals coupon making the Frosted Flakes 99 cents each, I had a Safeway store coupon that I could stack with a manufacturer coupon for the Hunts tomatoes, a $1 coupon for the Hormel pork tenderloin, $1 off the Land O Lakes butter making it 79 cents & four 29 cent coupons on the yogurts that doubled to make them free.  

You can get free stuff, I love free stuff!  

My husbands' transaction was $3.67 for the fourth pork tenderloin & three cans of tomatoes.

You already know our out of pocket cost, our total savings with coupons and the Safeway club card was $159.06 for an overall savings value of 60.6% 

I've really enjoyed learning how to save so much of our $$$ on the things we use and need & I know my husband appreciates it too. 

Thanks for visiting my blog, have a blessed day!

Adventures In Extreme Couponing

Rediscovering CVS Pharmacy -

I've lived in Parker 30 years now and remember when we had one small grocery store in town and one up river.   The Safeway was being built when I moved to town and Revco was the drug store going in next to it.  In 1983 the new shopping center opened with Safeway and Revco Drug.  The shopping center has changed over the years, Safeway is still there but Revco has changed names a few times and is now CVS.  

Until I started coupon shopping I'd ignored CVS, I'd bought into the idea that Walmart had the overall lowest prices...  my mistake!   I've been having fun getting to know CVS, they have wonderful sales and a great coupon policy.  I love their Extra Care Bucks too, they'll give you coupons for $$$ off your next purchase for buying certain items.  If they are items I'd normally buy and have a coupon it's like shopping the next time on them!   Many of their employees have worked there for years, they are well trained, polite, and helpful.

I also like that we can look at their ads online as well as preview their next ad before it comes out here.

So far thanks to sales at CVS and coupons our family has at least a two year supply of deodorant/antiperspirant for 25 cents or less each, living in Arizona that's a good thing!

Thanks for visiting my blog today -

Wax Fruit Company Pail Bunny

Do you ever need craft therapy?  I know I do!

I've been wanting to color lately, try different color combinations, shading, effects, color what ever I'd like, no pressure, no deadlines...

Today's card is one just for me.  I saw this cute bunny digital image at Wax Fruit Company and tried to use sheer will power not have to make it mine...

The bunny in the pail stole my heart and I had to have it.  I could imagine myself coloring it and wanted to try my hand at making that bucket look real as well as those yummy carrots! 

I looked at Splitcoast Stampers sketch #374 Wednesday and it just all came together in my mind so I went to work on it.  The Copic markers I used are YR09, YR07, YR04, C00, C1, C2, T0, E000, YG63, YG23, YG01, BG0000.  Papers are Via Vellum Basic Black, Mohawk Bright White, Copic X Press It & Stampin' Up! Only Orange.  I also used Spellbinders Ovals, Papertrey Ink. double ended banner die and the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder.  The sentiment is from Marit at Scrap-a-licious Times.

Thanks for visiting today!  

My blog is getting close to reaching 100,000 visitors soon and you're one of them :)

Challenges:

ATC's & Cards With Attitude - Anything Goes
Crafts 4 Eternity - Digital Delights
Inspire Me Friday's - Anything Goes
Our Craft Lounge - Black & White with a POP of color
The Stamp Man - The Colors of Spring/Easter
Operation Write Home Stars & Stamps Our Daily Bread Challenge -
Tic Tac Toe, Digi Stamp, Layers, Embossing

Digital Delights by Louby Loo Cindy Bunny

It's new release day at Digital Delights by Louby Loo!

I was given Cindy Bunny to play with and I added Wendy's Easter Sentiments set and Spring Has Sprung digital paper pack,  I colored Cindy with Copic markers and have a supply list below.  I printed two of the digital papers and went to work!  

My layout is simple to show off the fun digital papers and Cindy Bunny.  I love Wendy's digital sentiment sets, I was able to shrink the sentiment to fit into my smallest Spellbinders Tags Trio die.  After cutting it out I used a Copic multiliner to outline my sentiment.  I've seen some of the other card makers doing this with their Spellbinders dies and I really like the look.  

I hope you'll stop by our Digital Delights by Louby Loo blog to see all the wonderful new release creations from our design team!

ALL DDSTAMPS USED:  Cindy Bunny, Easter Sentiment Set, Spring Has Sprung digital paper set

CS AND PAPERS:  Via Vellum Basic Black, Copic X Press It, Mohawk Bright White & 2 digital papers from the Spring Has Sprung digital paper pack
INK:  HP OfficeJet & HP LaserJet
MARKERS (if any):  Copic YR07, V01, V17, BG01, R20, FY1, YG13, YG21, YG23, R81, R83, R85, B0000, E50, E53, E55
ACCESS. AND EMBELLISHMENTS:  Spellbinders Ovals, Scalloped Ovals, Tags Trio, Corner Chomper 1/8^th “

Thanks for visiting my blog today -

Challenges:
Cooking It Up With Katie - 3 of your favorite things - Spellbinders, Digital Papers, Copics
Sisterhood of Crafters - Gettin' Digi With It
The Perfect Sentiment - Anything Goes With A Die Cut
Party Time Tuesdays - Anything Goes