Fantastic Friday, Featured Designer and a *FREEBIE*

Wow, today's blog title was almost an alliteration! LOL Just a quick post today to remind you about Scrappin' Serenity's Fantastic Friday's where she puts her kits on sale for $2.00 on Fridays through January!!! (flier is linked to her store)

And I also wanted to let you know that Scrappin' Serenity is next week's *Featured Designer* at Stuff to Scrap! Yay!!! That means there will be games, sales, all kinds of fun stuff...here's the scoop (flier linked to forum):

Remember, it all kicks off Sunday night (12/11) at 10 EST/9 CST/8 MST/7 PST!

AND, lastly, but not leastly, she has a FREEBIE on her blog !!!!

Like I said, short and sweet today. New releases coming next week so be sure to check back for all the details!!!

The Boy

Today I want to show you a kit from Scrappin' Serenity that I had the opportunity to work with recently. It's called "The Boy" (come back next week to see info on the companion kit, "The Girl"). It's obviously boy-themed, which works well in my family as I'm outnumbered 3-to-1. LOL Anyway, here's a preview:

I love the somewhat monochromatic color scheme with the bright pops of blue and green! The doodly elements and alpha all add to the fun feel of the kit. Here's a closer look at the papers:

I liked this kit so much, that I used it (with Scrappin' Serenity's permission) to create the new Reigning Chaos Creations logo:

I also did a couple of layouts with it:

You too can pick up this kit at Scrappin' Serenity's store (the main preview above is linked). And don't forget, if you stop by any Friday in December or January, everything in her store is only $2!!!!. There's also a quickpage set that goes with the kit:

Remember to click back here next week for some eye candy from "The Boy"'s companion kit, "The Girl"!

New Releases and *FREEBIES*

Whew! It's been a crazy few days here and I haven't been home much! So today I'm playing catch-up!

Let's start with a new release from Scrappy Cocoa! She just released the next set in her Templation template set, called Los Tres (if your Spanish is rusty, that means "The Threes"). Each template has space to feature 3 photos. And if you need to adjust, just rotate the template, or completely flip it! That's the beauty of templates...their flexibility!! They come in .psd, .tiff, and .png formats and as always, are CU-friendly! Here's a preview of the template set:

Here's a layout I did with one of the templates:

You can pick up the template set at The Studio , Gingerscraps , or NDISB .

I also want to let you know about a new release from Scrappin' Serenity!! You can find the details and eye candy here on her blog . You'll definitely want to check it out, because there is a great FREEBIE add-on there!! More freebies will be coming soon that coordinate with the kit as well! And don't forget the awesome deals that you can get at her store on Fridays for the next 2 months...here's the scoop:

Happy Scrapping!!!

Monthly Meal Plan *non-scrap*

So I recently completed a meal plan for 30 days and I've had a lot of friends ask me about it. I figured the easiest way to get the info out was via my blog, so I hope my scrap friends will excuse this non-scrap-related posting. LOL

Anyway...here is a copy of my meal plan:

As you can see, it's not gourmet, or 5-star, or anything like that. BUT it's mostly good-for-you-food that can be easily prepared. As for how I managed to get enough food for this plan for the 4 of us for under $300...that's a bit more difficult. I spent some time going through the weekly grocery ads, then spent several hours putting this plan together with the ads, my coupon stash and online comparing prices. I then put together a final list, broken down by store. It took the better part of Friday morning. We went to Tom Thumb, Kroger, Aldi, Target and Costco to get everything on the list. Costco and Target were the two trips with the largest total cost, but I got almost as much at Aldi as I did at Target for about half the price! Aldi is my new best friend!! LOL The grand total for everything was $279.66. I will have to get milk once or twice during the month and we already had some things in the freezer (a turkey, 2 pork butts and hot dogs, for example). But I should also have a good "base" left over for next month (I have tons of pasta, beans and rice).

That's pretty much it! Yes it takes some work to put together, yes I'll have to cook and clean up, but I figure we probably used to spend double (easily!) per month at the grocery store. Regarding going out to eat...we LOVE LOVE LOVE to eat out, but for the most part it's not very healthy (at least the places we go, LOL) and if I figure we spend ~$35 each time we eat out, that gets me a tick under 8 days of dinners for the same cost as groceries for 30 days of dinners! No brainer!

If anyone has any questions, please just let me know! I'll be more than happy to answer them if I can!

$2 Tuesday and a *FREEBIE*

I hope everyone survived Black Friday/Cyber Monday! If you missed out on any of the designers' sales, today is your chance to still find some great deals on some goodies!

Scrappin' Serenity has two super cute family-oriented kits in the bin this week, Newbie and This Wonderful Life. The coordinating quickpage packs are also on sale:

And she also has a cute freebie that coordinates with Newbie (click the preview to go to her blog)

This Little Missy still has Plum Perfect in the bin. Remember, this is a Rewind Kit and will only be available at the $2 price today and tomorrow, so grab it now!!!

That's it for today, but LOTS of new stuff coming this weekend, so be sure to come back by and check it all out!!!! Happy Scrapping!

You won't want to miss these sales!!! *and a FREEBIE*

So I've been looking over some of the designers' sale fliers for Black Friday/Cyber Monday and WOW!!! There's gonna be some fabulous deals, so let's get right to it!

Since she has a 10 hour drive ahead of her, Scrappin' Serenity has started her sale today! So from the time you read this, all the way through Nov. 29, you can get 50% OFF her kits!!!

And because she loves her customers so much, she also has some coupons for you to use to make a great deal even better!

Be sure to follow the directions/rules and no pushing or shoving! LOL Oh, and I also heard that she has a FREEBIE for you on HER BLOG , so go grab it!

Designs by Snowlady is sticking with more traditional Black Friday/Cyber Monday dates, and is giving you 60% OFF her kits!!!

And This Little Missy is giving you 50% OFF Nov 25-Nov 28!!!

Be sure to check the fliers for the effective dates, as not all designers are using the same dates. Some are also having "Door Buster" and Facebook deals as well! Here is a link to the STS store so you can check out all the designer's goodies!!! Happy shopping!!

$2 Tuesday *and a freebie*

Good morning everyone. Gonna keep it short and sweet today!

Designs by Snowlady has her Recipe Card templates, Sets 1 and 2 in the bin:

This Little Missy has Plum Perfect again as it is the November Rewind Kit...note that this will be the last few days to get the kit for $2...a new kit goes on Rewind on December 1!

And Scrappin' Serenity has Sweet November and a turkey day kit for you!

There's also a great coordinating freebie on her BLOG .

That's all for today, but you'll definitely want to stop by tomorrow for the scoop on Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales!!!!