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Coupons, coupons, coupons

2011-05-06T11:26:00.000-07:00

My friend Cheryl and I have discovered the joy of couponing again.

I used to use coupons quite often when my 9 yr old was a baby. Then life got busy with the addition of two other kids and I gave it up for a while.

Even before the show Extreme Couponing on TLC came out, Cheryl and I have been scouring the coupon matching blogs , making our lists, cutting our coupons and meeting weekly to find some awesome deals.

Now, we really don't eat a ton of processed foods here. We try and cook from scratch as much as we can and eat lots of whole grains, fruits and veggies and less sugar.( We don't cut chips and stuff completely. Everything in moderation I say. But we typically do not buy pre made meals and things like that)

Plus we have a child who is lactose intolorant so we have to buy lactose free milk for her. ( which is not cheap and rarely has coupons. Aldi typically carries 1/2 gallons for about $2.79)

You might ask, well what can you buy with coupons then?

LOTS!

We get a lot of health and beauty items( dental floss, toothpaste, body wash, deodorant, lotion) either free or really cheap.

This week instead of spreading out my trips over multiple days. I tried to get to most of my stops in one day and stay around $50 total. This trip was a mix of grocery , cleaning and health and beauty items. A couple items I am planning on donating to the kids school but most is for our household.

All in all I got the following:

12 Fruit Natural cups

3 Bags of Rice Cakes

2 Boxes of Mom's Best Naturals Cereal

4 Boxes Of Clif Z bars for Kids

1 2 liter of Pepsi Max- FREE with coupon when you buy tostitos and salsa

1 Bag of Tostitos

1 Jar of salsa

2 Pkgs of Magic Erasers

1 Lysol Disinfectant Wipes

3 Mother's Day cards

1 Coffee Mate creamer- FREE with House Party coupon

10 Dannon yogurts

1 Secret Clinical Deodorant- FREE with coupon + 93 cent overage

1 BBQ sauce

2 Colgate MaxFresh Toothpaste

1 Bic Soliel Refillable Razor- FREE using Extra Care Bucks

1 box of Puffs

3 half gallons of Smart Ones Lactose Free Milk

4 Mentos Gum

4- 50oz bottles of Purex Laundry Soap

10 Lbs of Chicken thighs

4 pkgs of Jimmy Dean Sausage Crumbles- FREE with sale and coupons

I had to stop at 4 different stores and had a list with all my coupons ready to go. I spent $57.36 OOP( out of pocket) for everything plus I have a CVS Extra Care Buck worth $5.54 to spend on my next trip.

The cashier at Kroger goofed up my coupons on the Clif bars. Said two of them woulndn't scan. So i really should have saved an additional $2. I didn't have time to hash it out as I was running late to pick up my daughter. But I still got two boxes for 99 cents each and the other two for $1.99 each which still isn't too bad.

But had I got all my coupons and if you factor in my Extra Care bucks my total would be $49.82. When I shop though I like to use my out of pocket price as my guide though since that is what I end up paying when I shop.;-)

Now I still have to go pick up my weekly produce. I usually stop at Aldi for the basics as they are almost always the cheapest. If there is a special produce item I need, I try to hit Meijer first because they often give catalina/ mperks coupons for produce.

I have a few more smaller hauls to share with you later too.

A couple of my favorite coupons blogs to check out are BargainstoBounty.com and Totallytarget.com

Check them out and maybe you might find a love for couponing too once you find out much you can get for very little money!

Cupcakes!

2010-05-30T07:59:00.001-07:00

I love to bake , especially cupakes and brownies.

These little yummies turned out so good I had to take a pic and share. Does anyone have any great cupcake recipes to share?

Chair part 1

2010-02-21T04:43:00.001-08:00

I have started recovering the chair in the living room.

Chair before and after I took off the cushions:

The cushion on the back was attached and I wanted it to be a loose unattached cushion so that is why the back has foam showing.

And I got the cushions done. Here is the seat cushion:

Mieze Home Makeover Phase 1

2010-01-21T17:25:00.001-08:00

I have decided it is time to update some things around the house.

The kitchen chairs have been driving me crazy for ever so they were first on my list.

The kitchen table was an estate sale find by my darling hubby. It came with 5 chairs. He spent months upon months toiling away refinishing the table, chairs and a buffet. They turned out great.

Well, one of the chairs broke a while back so we replaced it with a random IKEA chair.

Then we added a sixth member to our family. We ended up getting two more different random IKEA chairs with white cushions. So, now we have 6 chairs- 3 from the estate sale that match the table and 3 from IKEA.

So, in order to create some sort of cohesiveness with the dining area. I decided to cover the cushions on the chairs in the same print.

The chairs that came with the table my hubby covered in a green leaf print when he finished the table.

I wanted to cover them in something darkish again as we have 4 kids and nothing white in this house ever stays white..

So, here is the before and after

Super Cutie Custom Goodies....

2009-11-05T06:50:00.000-08:00

By popular demand , the initial T's are ready to be custom made just for you.
You can get capital or lowercase letters. Maybe even a number for someone's birthday!
You can even order a pair of matching Josephine pants....hmmmm
T-shirts are $20 each
Check back in the next few days for a sample of the birthday T-shirt too!!

Eastern Market Artisan Village

2009-10-21T07:56:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday was my first ( of hopefully many more..) Saturdays as a vendor at the Detroit Eastern Market Artisan Village

The Artisan Village is located between shed 5 and the Market Offices . Off Russell Street and Wilkins.

http://www.detroiteasternmarket.com/page.php?p=1&s=50

We will be at this location in the market through Oct then we will be moving to Shed 4 through December.

In April we will open again behind Shed 5 near the offices..

It was a great , but cold, day. Met lots of great people. Traffic was fair and will hopefully increase as awareness of our presence increases.

Here are some pics of last Sat.

Stop and check out out!! Tell your friends!!

Ribbon Blossoms

2009-10-01T09:54:00.000-07:00

Detroit Eastern Market Artisan Village

2009-09-26T14:07:00.000-07:00

Exciting news! I just signed up to participate in the Eastern Market Artisan Village.
I am most likely going to start mid-Oct and be there once a month through the holidays- maybe more often come spring..
Look for exact dates coming soon!!
http://www.detroiteasternmarket.com/index.php

They are still looking for vendors so if you are interested, follow the link on the main page...

Craft Challenge- Day 25

2009-09-26T05:30:00.000-07:00

I have a few items to post from days 21-24.. but here is what I was working on yesterday!

A custom order messenger bag.

Craft Challenge Days 10-20

2009-09-22T16:23:00.001-07:00

Snack and lunch sacks

The SKIRT- Girly Twirly Skirts- Holiday prints- $20 each

Red/Green Disco Dot- size 2/3-SOLD

Black Damask- size 4/5-SOLD

The SKIRT- Pink/Brown Eiffel Tower size 2/3- $20

The SKIRT- Pink/White Damask - size 2/3- $20

Small Snack Sack- $5

Sadie's Messenger Bag - $40

The Everyday Tote- $30

The Everyday Tote-$30

Craft Challenge Update..

2009-09-22T05:21:00.000-07:00

I have soooo not been slacking in the craft challenge, I promise.;-)
I had a huge show this past weekend so I didn't have time to post all my goodies that I have been making.
I will be updating all my goods asap!

Craft Challenge Day 8 - Handbag

2009-09-09T13:52:00.000-07:00

I loved how this fabric looked on the snack bags so I had to whip up this cute little handbag too.
I had this great little Kate Spade bag that I LOVE- perfect size and shape- so I made up a pattern of my own version of the bag.

I think I am going to do a few more this week too. I just love how it turned out!

Craft Challenge Day 7 - 3/8 inch headbands

2009-09-09T13:50:00.001-07:00

I made about 6 or 8 of these for the challenge, but these were the best of the lot. They are a new size for me and I am still tweaking the ends. But these turned out ok enough to show.
Looks like my girls are going to get a few new ones.;-)

CraftChallenge Day 7- more headbands

2009-09-09T13:49:00.000-07:00

A few new colors and patterns of headbands

Craft Challenge Day 6- hair bows galore

2009-09-09T13:44:00.000-07:00

For Day 6 of the challenge, I finished up some hairbows for my upcoming show in two weeks....

Craft Challenge Day 5- another woven headband

2009-09-06T05:05:00.001-07:00

For Day 5 I whipped up one more headband similar to the last but with some light orchid ribbon instead of pink...

This is a woven 1" headband in brown, antique white, limejuice, and light orchid.

Headbands are $6 each or 2/$10.

Today we are driving across the state to spend the day with family, so I charged up my portable glue gun so I can make a bunch of new headbands- in 3/8" width. New size for me. I think I have the weave down so I will see how many I can do while my dear husband is driving..

Next week for the craft challenge I should have some fun bags and totes to show you!

I designed a new messenger bag pattern the weekend before the challenge started and I want to try and get a couple done next week!

Craft Challenge Day 4- skull hair bow

2009-09-06T04:59:00.000-07:00

For Day 4, I whipped up about 8 of these fun pinwheel bows -again for my upcoming show- with a brand new ribbon print! Love it!

Each bow is approx 3" across.

They are attached to lined double prong aligator clips.

All of my bows are $3 each or 8 for $20

Craft Challenge Day 3- woven headband

2009-09-06T04:52:00.000-07:00

For Day 3 of the challenge, I whipped up a headband for a show I have coming up.

I just love the color combination..

Craft Challenge Days 3 & 4

2009-09-05T04:12:00.000-07:00

I appologize for the delay in posting my Days 3 and 4 craft challenge items
We have been busy around here with a yard sale.
I do have two darling headbands that I made for these days and will post pics later today.
Check back soon!;-)

Craft Challenge Day 2- reusable snack sacks

2009-09-02T19:25:00.000-07:00

For Day 2 of the Craft Challenge, I whipped up a set of these reusable snack and sandwich sacks.
They have a cotton print on the outside and water resistant nylon on the inside.
I will soon have these in my Sadie's Room shop.
$5 for small, $6 for medium, and $7 for large.
$15 for all three....

Craft Challenge Day 1- Girly Essentials

2009-09-01T19:38:00.001-07:00

For Day 1 of my challenge, I fulfilled a custom order. Two darling appliqued bodysuits with matching headband and bow made for a set of twin girls.

One appliqued bodysuit is $12. Add a bow and headband for only $3.

These can also be personalized with the little girl's intial- as seen below.

I am up for the challenge..

2009-08-27T06:32:00.001-07:00

a craft challenge, that is.

Thanks to the Challenge put out by fellow MICETSY member, Ashley from

Ashley Amanda Designs and Peacocks and Dragonflies

I am going to make a new item every day for the month of Sept. and post the results here.

I had been thinking of doing this for a while. I thought it would be a good way to stay focused on my crafting and give me a reason to update my blog.( which I have been very bad about doing lately)

So, thanks to Ashley, for getting me in gear.

Look for some fun new things coming up soon!

It's a little like Christmas...

2009-08-26T10:40:00.001-07:00

One of my fabric suppliers sells off their short ends - usually for a great deal.
You never really know what you will get. You just know how many pieces you will recieve..
I always love opening these packages. It is just like Christmas. The anticipation of what new fabrics I may get leaves me feeling quite giddy.
Here is today's order...

I am not quite sure what I am making with all of it. But that is part of the fun!

Civic Duty and mice

2009-08-26T10:28:00.000-07:00

I got called for jury duty yesterday in downtown Detroit. I didn't get picked but I picked up some of these darling mice for the kids from Astoria Bakery in Greektown. mmmmmmmm

http://www.astoriapastryshop.com/

The Katherine Dress

2009-08-07T06:32:00.000-07:00

Sizes 12mo- 8. In cotton fabrics and corduroy.
Custom orders welcome.
Will be featured in the etsy shop soon!

The Fiona Peasant Dress

2009-08-07T06:22:00.001-07:00

Shirred at the neck, arms and bodice.
Can be worn as a dress or top.

Available in sizes 12 mo- 8
Intro Prices:
$30 for sizes 12 mo-3
$40 for sizes 4-8

Custom orders welcome!

Save Small Business from the CPSIA

2009-01-10T10:52:00.001-08:00

Vote To Ammend CPSIA at Change.org

2009-01-10T09:09:00.000-08:00

A great video from Rob Wilson at Challenge & Fun
Please vote!!

http://www.change.org/ideas/view/save_handmade_toys_from_the_cpsia

Help Save Handmade

2009-01-09T16:49:00.000-08:00

graphic copyright Goldtone Designs http://goldtonedesigns.etsy.com

The EtsyBaby and EtsyKids Teams have joined together with special promotions to bring awareness to the new Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act or CPSIA.

From the HandmadeToyAlliance website:

"The issue:In 2007, large toy manufacturers who outsource their production to China and other developing countries violated the public's trust. They were selling toys with dangerously high lead content, toys with unsafe small part, toys with improperly secured and easily swallowed small magnets, and toys made from chemicals that made kids sick. Almost every problem toy in 2007 was made in China.

The United States Congress rightly recognized that the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) lacked the authority and staffing to prevent dangerous toys from being imported into the US. So, they passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) in August, 2008.

Among other things, the CPSIA bans lead and phthalates in toys, mandates third-party testing and certification for all toys and requires toy makers to permanently label each toy with a date and batch number. All of these changes will be fairly easy for large, multinational toy manufacturers to comply with. Large manufacturers who make thousands of units of each toy have very little incremental cost to pay for testing and update their molds to include batch labels.

For small American, Canadian, and European toymakers and manufacturers of children's products, however, the costs of mandatory testing will likely drive them out of business.A toymaker, for example, who makes wooden cars in his garage in Maine to supplement his income cannot afford the $300 - $4,000 fee per toy that testing labs are charging to assure compliance with the CPSIA.

A work at home mom in Minnesota who makes cloth diapers to sell online must choose either to violate the law or cease operations.

A small toy retailer in Vermont who imports wooden toys from Europe, which has long had stringent toy safety standards, must now pay for testing on every toy they import.

And even the handful of larger toy makers who still employ workers in the United States face increased costs to comply with the CPSIA, even though American-made toys had nothing to do with the toy safety problems of 2007.

The CPSIA simply forgot to exclude the class of children's goods that have earned and kept the public's trust: Toys, clothes, and accessories made in the US, Canada, and Europe. The result, unless the law is modified, is that handmade children's products will no longer be legal in the US.

If this law had been applied to the food industry, every farmers market in the country would be forced to close while Kraft and Dole prospered.

How You can Help:

Please write to your United States Congress Person and Senator to request changes in the CPSIA to save handmade toys and children's products. Use our sample letter or write your own. You can find your Congress Person here and Senator here."

Please vote here http://www.change.org/ideas/view/save_handmade_toys_from_the_cpsia

Momma got a new toy!!

2008-05-10T04:04:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day came a little early over here!

Woo Hoo!

Now I just have to figure out how to use all the cool functions!

Watch out!!!

I may start monogramming all your stuff!!

Purchase a Traveling Tots Chalk Placemat and support the Michigan Breast Cancer 3-day

2008-04-21T15:54:00.000-07:00

Check out our new Traveling Tots chalk Placemats:
Reversible placemat sure to keep your little ones occupied.
One side is a funky placemat, the other is a chalk board.
Made from vinyl laminated cotton fabric and chalk board oil cloth.Finished with bias tape and tied with ribbon.
Your little ones can doodle away on the chalk board side and when dinner is ready flip the mat over and use as a placemat.
Each side is easily cleaned with a wet cloth.They roll up great for travelling and secure with a ribbon tieapprox 12" x 18"~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Special Introductory price of $15 through May 11, 2008

$2 from the purchase of each mat will also be donated to the

MotorCityMoms.com Michigan Breast Cancer 3-Day Team

http://08.the3day.org/site/TR/Walk/MichiganEvent?team_id=42709&pg=team&fr_id=1185
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Other patterns available , please contact me through my Request Custom Items link for special orders:

topknots.etsy.com

100 hearts-wow!

2008-02-18T06:44:00.000-08:00

I am feeling the love. Thanks to everyone who has "hearted" me on Etsy.

If you are my 100th heart on my etsy site.
www.topknots.etsy.com
you will win a free set of topknots bows.( shipping included!)

Hurry!!

If you are the 100th person to heart my shop, send me a convo and let me know in what size and colors you would like you bows

Snappety Snap- New Snappie clips

2008-01-22T11:11:00.000-08:00

upon the request of my friend Kristi, I have made up some new covered Snap Clips.

I just love this ribbon I found for the bows.

I don't know why I just keep getting drawn to combinations of brown/pink, brown/blue, brown/green.

I just love those color combos.

Anyway, here are the new clips

Forty-Two Roads DIY play kitchen

2007-11-12T11:17:00.000-08:00

I just saw the cutest thing...
A DIY play kitchen build out of corrugated cardboard.

Forty-Two Roads shows off her construction of the kitchen on her blog.

http://fortytworoads.blogspot.com/2007/10/toy-kitchen-is-finished.html

You can buy the instructions at her etsy site...

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=7832306

This would make a great holiday gift...

check it out..

Upcoming Holiday Show

2007-11-06T18:26:00.000-08:00

Topknots will be at the

HOLIDAY CRAFT EXTRAVAGANZA
hosted by MICE (Michigan Indie Crafters of Etsy.com)
Saturday, December 8th
11am - 6pm
Royal Oak, 214 East 4th Street
one block east of Main St @ the VFW Acorn Post

Topknots Ballerinas

2007-11-04T17:44:00.000-08:00

I spotted a couple Topknots Ballerinas all dressed up for Halloween.
Look how cute they are in their onesie, tutu and shoes....

Check out my Slide Show!

2007-09-27T11:29:00.001-07:00

Pretty Piggies

2007-09-23T14:10:00.000-07:00

I have been working and slaving getting these new shoes made...Here is my third prototype and it is really close to how I want it so I thought I would share....They are an infant/toddler soft shoe( not really made for walking outside) The bottoms do have the no slip grip on them though.I am going to whip some more up in the pink, red and a red brocade

The end of summer

2007-09-03T07:16:00.000-07:00

We have been so busy wrapping up the summer and preparing for school, I have been a huge slacker with my work...

My Dh is awesome and sent me on a girls weekend with a girlfriend in Vegas a couple weeks ago. That was great. I didn't quite know what to do with myself for 3 days and no responsibility.
I did make some lists though to help prioritize what I need to get done.

My Dh is a teacher and he has been back to work almost a week now. The kids go back tomorrow- one is starting Junior high , the other starting Kindergarten. Then there are still two at home.

This week, though , my butt is getting in gear. I have a show coming up in 8 weeks and I have to build up my stash...
I have some yummy new fabrics on their way and am going out to collect the rest of my supplies today. Then there are going to be some late nights coming up..
Hopefully I will have some more new goodies to share in a couple days.

Happy Birthday dresses

2007-07-17T17:33:00.000-07:00

Well things have been really busy over here.

My two youngest both had birthday's(1st and 3rd) in the last two weeks.

We had a huge family party last Saturday to celebrate their birthday's as well as my little niece's 1st birthday.

So, I thought it would be cute to make matching dresses and bows for my little girl and my niece.

Here they are.

They both looked so cute together.

It reminds me of when my sister and I were little and my grandmother used to make us matching dresses.

Of course , I didn't think it was so cute when I was 9 and wearing a matching dresses with my 5 year old sister.

Check out my new space

2007-06-30T13:38:00.000-07:00

I really love my husband.

I had been doing most of my sewing up in our bedroom on an old library table that belonged to my parents. It was really hard to get things done since the kids usually wanted to be down in the basement playing, the iron and washing machine were down there- two floors down.

When my husband asked if I would like my sewing space moved from our bedroom to the basement, I just thought he would move my table down and call it a day. We could make a little space for my table across from the washer and dryer in the laundry room.

Little did I know he was going to build me a new space with storage and a cutting table and everything....WOW

He got the tables completed a couple months ago. This week he put the finishing touches on by putting up my white board, pegboard and corkboard. I LOVE IT!!!

YAY Kevin!

I feel all official and everything.

Here come the shopping cart covers

2007-06-24T12:30:00.000-07:00

The very first thing I ever sold was a shopping cart cover. I knew a lady through my mom's group who wanted one , so I did some research and whipped one up for her.

After making that one, everyone kept asking me for one. I wasn't really pleased with the usability of the original one so I spent about 6 months trying to come up with the best pattern. One that would be easy to use, easy to carry , easy to clean.I know what it is like trying to shop with 3 preschool aged children so I wanted something that you could do with one hand.

I spent day after day driving up to Target, Costco, and Meijer measuring the carts, going back to measure the fabric, and back again with each cover I would come up with to see what worked the best.

After one or two prototypes I finally think I have found the right pattern and combination of features to make a nice but affordable shopping cart cover that works well on most carts including the warehouse shopping carts.

So far they are my most requested item.

Above are a couple pictures of some I completed in the last week.

Why Topknots??

2007-06-17T18:48:00.001-07:00

Some people have wondered about the origin of the name Topknots.

Well, here you go...

My littlest one has a whole bunch of hair on the top of her head. It would just hang in her eyes. So, up in a topknot it went.

But, it looks a little bare , don't you think?
So, I started making hair bows for girls to dress up my little one's topknot.

And that is how the Topknots name was born too.

Headbands

2007-06-17T18:11:00.001-07:00

I am working on some new headbands. These are some I whipped up this week.
I have a few more cut out I am going to play around with thise week. I might add some casing around the elastic but I might not. I haven't decided.
I wore around the black one the other day with a pony tail - I was very comfy. Forgot I had it on and it kept the whispies out of my face.

I made the pink and red polka dotted one for my daughter.
I am going to make both adult and girl size.
I should get some into the shop this week

I might try little girl( infant /toddler size) too.
I am going to try it out on my 11 month old and see how much she will tolerate it before I go ahead making more.