A free treat from treat cards!

Y'all know I love me some free.99 and I love to share it even more. This is how I was given the nickname coupon queen at work. I was also given the nickname el cheapo, but I digress.  

When I posted the winner of the tiny prints giveaway, my only regret was that I wasn't able to give something to everyone who entered. Fortunately tiny prints contacted me a few days ago with an offer from an affiliate brand www.treat.com for all of my readers to enjoy a free greeting card.  The offer is good only today Monday 11/19 & Tuesday 11/20 using code TREATBLOGR at checkout.

In honor of my upcoming 30th birthday!

If you are a close friend of mine, you are probably surprised (or you should consider the event extra special) when you receive a store bought non generic card from me.  The majority of the time, when I give a card with a gift it is a box card or a cheapo .50 cent or $1 card.  There are several reasons for this.  First I hate spending money on a card, when I could spend it on a gift.  Hello, $5 Starbucks card or $5 birthday card.  Easy choice, enough said.  Secondly and more surprising is I can never choose a card when I actually find the free time to go to the store to choose one and I hate standing there aganozing over which one to pick. So needless to say, a free card just in time for the holidays is right up my alley.  I can have the computer narrow down my selection from the comfort of my own home and it's free!

Winning!

Have a safe and happy thanksgiving everyone!  I know each of us has much to be thankful for.

Once I get my lazy butt moving I'll get around to posting about Sammy's first birthday party. 

xo
Mimi

Drumroll please....!!

Congratulations to #11, Shauntel!  She is going to have a great time selecting a Christmas card for her adorable son's very first Christmas!  So happy to be able to provide you with a $50 Tiny Prints Gift Certificate.  

Yes, I had to google how to do a screen shot on a mac (apple key + Shift + 3) if anyone is interested!

Thanks for everyone who played along.  I wish I had a prize for each of you.  If you have a blog of your own, write Tiny Prints, they are always really happy to help spread their name through social media giveaways.  There are a ton of coupons right now and if you follow them on facebook they giveaway a lot of cards fairly often.

I loved all the responses to the tiny prints giveaway.  I'm glad you guys decided to play along!  It was neat to see all of your choices for cards.  It was awesome reminiscing about the things I also loved so much about Christmas.  Siblings, smells, food, music, grandparents, presents (esp when we were little).  It's exciting now that as a parent I get to help and watch Sammy as he builds these memories.

Hopefully you don't judge me, but here is the response that made me laugh the most (I mean, I laughed A LOT, I even caught myself laughing to myself when I was nursing Sam in the darkness of his room before he went to bed for the night).

Yes, I  know I have no shame and I have a serious problem.   You see, I love people falling (as long as no one is hurt).  I used to tivo America's funniest home videos so I could go back and watch the falls.  There would be tears by the time I was done watching.

Here is Katy's hilarious Christmas time Fail:

• Katy said "My Christmasfail was when I was about 12 years old - we had just opened all our presents when I realized we hadn't yet seen the stockings. So I yelled STOCKINGS and got up to run to see them, and promptly slipped and fell on my face on the linoleum floor. And yes, the moment was captured on video!" 

Hope this helped get everyone started to a fun Christmas season. 

Stay Dry, Humble and Win Some Free Tiny Prints!

Today is the last day to enter the tiny prints giveaway.  Even if you don't send out Christmas cards, you could use the gift certificate for birthday cards, thank you cards, or other fun stuff on the tiny prints website.  Plus since only 4 people have entered, odds are really good!

I hope everyone is safe and dry today on the east coast.  We are all hunkered down enjoying the stillness of the storm.  I'm so thankful all our lines are buried and we live across the street from Wegmans.

This really puts things into perspective.  Not just for the servicemen who are cold and wet and in danger, but for the sacrifice of those who have served and given so much that there would be members of our armed services whose duty it is to watch over their grave 24/7 365 even when it puts their own lives in danger.  So incredibly thankful that our problems have always been microscopic in comparison.

Here's what we are up to today!

Good luck to everybody.  Stay dry and safe!

Christmas Card Time, A Tiny Prints Giveaway!

What an exciting time of year.  The leaves are starting to blaze away with their fiery reds and radiant oranges.  The day skies are crystal clear and blue, the sun is perfectly warm and the nights are giving way to brilliant stars and a crisp cool air whispering that winter and Christmas is coming! I adore this time of year.  I love the stillness that you know will disappear too soon, replaced by the storm of travelers and shoppers and kids needing to go see Santa.

I realize this is a bit early to be talking about Christmas cards, but if you are indecisive with pictures and cards like me, it helps to get a head start.  

I'm excited to be able to help you get in the mood for fall and the 2012 Christmas season by giving one lucky follower a tiny prints gift certificate worth $50.  It can go towards anything except shipping, and cannot be combined with any other promos.

The winner of the Tiny Prints giveaway will be chosen on October 29, 2012 using http://www.random.org/

To be eligible you will need to:

• Follow my blog
• Comment on this post with your favorite Christmas memory
• For extra entries:
• Leave a comment telling me your favorite thing about this time of year.
• Link your favorite tiny prints 2012 Christmas card
• Leave a comment telling me your biggest Christmastime fail (did you fall into the fountain when trying to run from Santa?!)

Last year was my first year using tiny prints.  I splurged after seeing on someone's blog the perfect first Christmas card for us as brand new parents.  I knew exactly the picture I was going to use from Sammy's newborn shoot.  Had he been due a few weeks later, I would have probably made these are birth announcements too.  The extra money spent was well worth it.  I absolutely love tiny prints.  They have the best quality and excellent customer service and they proof all your cards for free (totally awesome considering my abnormal ability to have brain farts).

They also have a really great selection that includes Christmas cards with pictures, pet Christmas cards (you know we are the type to have chosen those pre Sammy), Christmas card birth announcements, even cards with space to write about your family's year.
 
Here are a few of my favorites from the Tiny Prints 2012 collection.  If you follow them on facebook, you will also be the first to get freebies and specials.  Last year I was able to get a personalized valentine's day card for free!  If you aren't on facebook, tiny prints has a special offers page.  Very cool!  They also have great pinterest boards with lots of party and crafting ideas.

* I have been compensated by Tiny Prints to review their 2012 Christmas Cards, however my opinion on their products is solely my own.

Nursery Reveal and Dali Decal Winner

So, the winner of my first ever giveaway to one of my new favorite companies Dali Decals is Stephanie!!!  Congratulations!  I entered everyone's name into a spreadsheet and then came out with 13 entries.  11 out of 13 aka Stephanie was the winner.  Let us know which decal you end up going with and for everyone else, I hope you will use the coupon code frugal5off and sign up for dali decals backlot so you can get $5 off and 5% off your order.  A shameless plug, but if you sign up for backlot, please put me down my blog as a reference, we both get an extra entry for their big iPad 2 giveaway! 

Of course, you guys clearly were waiting to see the nursery not if you won the giveaway so without further ado, a partial view of Sammy's nursery only because pregnancy brain kicked in this morning and I forgot to take the rest of the pictures!!

Paul built this closet for Sammy.  We got everything from homedepot (made by closetmaid) for under $180.  Originally, all we had was one bar straight across.  There was a lot of damage to the walls so we had to spackle, sand and repaint.  We didn't have any paint left from the room which I had painted blue before trying to get pregnant so Paul came up with a great frugalicious idea.  When we were at Home Depot we went to the oops section, found the closest full can to white and asked them to tint it with some blue.  The color is perfect and the gallon was $5.  Also, considering this a DIY and we are still married without needing counseling (metric of choice) this closet maid system gets my seal of approval for ease of installation.

Last year I bought this oar (not a paddle like our friend Sean insinuated) from the christmas tree shops for $7 to go above the closet doors.

Got this cute "Bailey Puppy" print from target for $15 to hang above the light switch

I'll edit this post tonight and post the rest of the pics.  I wanted to let everyone know the winner of the giveaway.

Dali Decal Review and Giveaway!

This is super exciting times for Frugalicious livin!  Not only do I get to lead up to the nursery debut with a preview of the amazing decal I had custom designed, but I get to do so with my first ever giveaway for a product I wish I could put up all over my house.  In case you want to order, they also gave me a coupon code good thru Oct 1, 2011: frugal5off

Here is what the decal looks like in the nursery:

The winner of the giveaway will be chosen on Monday August 15th using http://www.random.org/

To be eligible you will need to:

• Follow my blog
• Comment on this post, tell me where you want to put new decal
• For an extra chance to win, like Dali Decals on facebook
• Just an FYI, but right now if you register for their backlot you get 1000 pts worth $5 that can be used in combination with a coupon code and if you are the lucky winner your Gift Certificate too

Here are some of my favorite decals from their website:

First, I want to start off with my Dali Decal Review:
From the very beginning Dali Decals was awesome to work with.  I had searched everywhere (seriously everywhere) for something that fit with the Bailey and Beach theme I was going for.  I didn't think it would be so hard finding a decal of a cute chocolate lab or a little boy playing in the sand.  Fortunately during one of many google searches I found the Dali Decal website and gave them a call.  Within a few minutes, I knew who to contact and about how much my decal would cost.

You can do a regular order, choose what you want pay and in a few days it is at your doorstep (anything over $50 is free shipping too) or a custom order (what I did).  The whole process is really easy.  With a custom order you just have to be a bit creative, figure out what you want, tell them the dimensions, colors, fonts etc. and then within a few hours (they have up to 24, but it never took that long) they send you back a sample and you go from there.  I made a few simple changes to my original sample but for the most part Karen, the woman I worked with was right on my vision for what I wanted in the nursery.

Once I placed my order it took about a week to have made and then a few days to get to my doorstep (maybe 10 days start to finish).  The detail and quality of the decal is awesome.  Hanging the decal did not cause any marital dissatisfaction which is HUGE.  I mean definitly no less than 20 stars from me since our marriage survives best when hiring a handy man to hang things like curtains (more on that later).  Within about 20 minutes Paul had the decal hung above the crib.  I can't comment on removing it, but that doesn't seem like it would be hard at all.

Steps for installation include:

• Read directions (they come in the shipping box) or you can go to the dali decal webiste, or their installation videos on you tube. 
• If you have a large decal like mine it comes in one sheet that you have to cut out the pieces from.
• I cut out the boy, the puppy, the name and the starfish
• Using painters tape, put the decal up on the wall and figure out where you want it, if it is level etc.
• The thin piece of paper faces you, the hard piece against the wall. 
• You start by peeling back the thin piece cutting off the hard piece in sections
• Then press the thin piece to the wall which applies the decal to the wall
• Take out any air bubbles and then go to the next section and repeat.
• Step back and enjoy!   

So, I hope everyone found the review helpful and goes to take a peek at their awesome website to see what they want to get when they win!  Good Luck and thanks for participating.