Thrifty Decorating

January 25, 2012

My Memories Giveaway....

Are you a scrapbooker? If so...are you familiar with digital scrapbooking software?? One of the readers of Thrifty Decorating has the opportunity to win one copy of my memories suite!!

My scrapbooking skills consist of cropping a picture, gluing it to the page and

slapping down a couple of borders.....so, I was a little worried about how

easy it would be to use this software.

Let me tell you....it's EASY to use!!

Here are a few layouts that I created in just minutes!

I made this template completely on my own....meaning I started with a white page!!

You can do a lot more than making scrapbook pages, too....check out this video!

Would you like to win your own FREE copy??

{You MUST be a follower of Thrifty Decorating to enter.}

To enter.....visit www.MyMemories.com and leave me a comment telling me which digital paper pack or layout is your favorite.

For additional entries.....

--Follow My Memories Blog and leave me a comment telling me that you did.
--Follow My Memories on Facebook and leave me a comment telling me that you did.
--Follow My Memories on Twitter and leave me a comment telling me that you did.
--Tweet about this giveaway or post it on your FB page and tell me that you did!

My memories suite is also offering Thrifty Decorating readers a special offer of $10 off your purchase by entering the discount code of STMMMS54334.
That brings the price down to $29.97 for Thrifty Decorating readers!

Good Luck! I'll announce a winner Friday night....January 27th!

January 23, 2012

DIY Buffalo Chicken Strips....

I love Buffalo Chicken Strips.....the only problem is that you pay $8-10 for a bag of them and you might get 8-10 pieces in that bag! My boys can inhale the bag in 30 seconds and then will say, "Now, what's for dinner?"

As I was planning fun snack ideas for the end of football season, I started to think.....it can't be that hard to make the buffalo strips homemade.....but will they taste as good??

As I was walking through the grocery store, I had a brainstorm and it involved my Healthy Chicken finger recipe....

and this....

What if I combined them???

The result was amazing.....definitely a new family favorite!

Just in time for a Superbowl appetizer!!

Winners of Beauty and the Beast Within....

Oh my....I'm late in announcing the winners...so sorry!

I've just been incredibly sick and still don't feel terrific....I'm trying to get an appointment

with the Doctor, but he's booked up with other sick people this evening!

UGH! What I would give for an antibiotic right now....

Here are the winners of Dee's book, Beauty and the Beast Within...

#6 Cheri who said, "I was just sitting here kicking myself for only losing 1 lb on weigh-in day yesterday when I stumbled across your blog. Isn't it amazing when God puts WHAT you need WHERE you need WHEN you need it? Thanks for the encouragement!"

#8 Virginia who said, "Oh do I ever need this book ......I have 3 weddings to go to this year and refuse to go with this body !!!!!!"

#10 Amy in Iowa who said, "I would love to read this, as it's a struggle every day."

Please contact me via email and I'll tell you how to get your free download!

For those of you who are interested, you can still use the discount code

tamethebeast to get 50% off purchase of the book!

January 22, 2012

DIY Baker's Twine.....

Baker's twine is showing up everywhere! Check out some of these amazing ideas using baker's twine!

Martha Stewart used it to wrap Christmas gifts.....

Whipperberry embellished adorable crayon hearts with it.....

Jen's Ink Spot made these beautiful flowers to embellish a handmade card.....

Whisker Graphics shared these oh-so-cute cupcakes.....

The problem is that baker's twine is expensive.....a sample pack of 6 colors at 15 yards each at The Twinery costs $11.00! That's a lot of money for string!

So when I saw this tutorial at {nifty thrifty things} I knew that it was too good and I had to share with you all!

Vanessa came up with a way to DIY your own baker's twine!!!

For the complete TUTORIAL, head over to {nifty thrifty things}!

Thanks, Vanessa, for giving us an affordable alternative!!

January 21, 2012

Family Game Night. . . .

Winter is creeping upon us for real now.....the excitement of Christmas is over and the temperatures in the Northeast are finally cold enough to support snow instead of rain....

What that really means is that evenings can get very L-O-N-G.....and siblings

can start to argue.....wrestle.....annoy....and drive their parents CRAZY!!

I never like our default family activity to be watching t.v. or a movie, so I

thought that I'd share some of our favorite things to do on a cold night....

We love to grab some popcorn, hot chocolate and play games....here are some unique games that we have that go beyond Uno and Go-Fish!

Sleeping Queens

This game was designed by a 6 year old but even my almost teen-aged son loves it. The goal is to "awaken" the 12 queens who are worth a certain

amount of points...along the journey there are opportunities to steal queens and put them to sleep....a great game that lasts about 20 minutes and encompasses ALL ages!

Rat-A-Tat-Cat

This has been a family favorite for almost 7 years! Our dear friends in Wisconsin sent it to us and this game now goes on every family vacation with us! The goal is to get the lowest amount of points....the challenge is that you can't keep looking at the cards! Yep...for the mom of the family who answers a million questions during the game, it's a killer on your memory, but I figure that somehow it's strengthening my brain!

You can finish one round of this game in about 10 minutes.

Bananagrams

We purchased this game at Christmas and LOVE it! (except for the fact that my

husband kills us all because of his extensive vocabulary!)

Let me preface this with I HATE the game of Scrabble...there is something tedious and OCD about that game for me.....crooked letter tiles drive me crazy?!

In Bananagrams, each person builds their own board and you are racing against

all of the other players.....the game goes SO much faster than Scrabble!

All ages can play this one....you'll just have to supervise whether your new reader is actually making real words!

Here are some other games that we are in the process of learning.....

Ratuki

This game resembles Dutch Blitz.

Carcassonne

A little bit like Settler's of Catan

Dominion

Yeah..if you know how to play this, let us know...we're still deciphering the instruction manual!

I added the Amazon widget to my side bar that includes all these games...obviously, if you purchase from the widget I earn a percentage.

But truly, these are just games that were recommended to our family and have provided hours of laughing....some arguing....and a great basis for family time!

Happy gaming!

January 20, 2012

Guest Post. . . .Beauty and the Beast Within

Do you struggle with your weight or how your feel about your weight?

In college, I put on the "freshmen 15" plus a little more.....my weight was constantly a yo-yo-ing struggle during that time period

.....it probably had something to do with the unlimited ice cream and dessert bar every night!

I lost the weight after college, but really began to worry again with my first pregnancy....how would I deal with

watching the pounds pack on again? Would it be difficult to lose them?

Even now....being only 8 pounds off of my high school weight, I still wage a mental battle when I eat

desserts or indulge....I'm almost 40...will there be any point at which weight and the "are my jeans tight or did they just come out of the drier?" mentality factor into whether it's a good or bad day??

My good friend, Dee, has addressed these issues in her new book.....

Here's a little excerpt from Dee.....and keep reading.....she's giving some of her books away!!!

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I saw this photo today and it struck me…this is why I wrote the book. Because as far back as I
can remember the scale and my body image have been my enemy.

It’s time to take back what the Enemy has stolen from us. Our true identity is in Christ. We don’t need to be obsessed with being a certain size or give into being overweight and unhealthy.

Believe it or not there is a healthy, peaceful, spacious place we can live in.

I will be glad and rejoice in your love, for you saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul. You have not handed me over to the enemy but have set my feet in a spacious place. ~Psalm 31:7-8

Too many of us have given up on that. We feel like we have been handed over to the enemy of food, overindulgence, lack of exercise and that there is nothing that can be done about it. We forget that He sees our affliction and He has set our feet in a spacious place. The battle has already been won for us if we would just believe it and start living it.

I hope today you feel some empowerment. It doesn’t need to be that same crazy cycle you have been riding for years. It is time to take back the victory over food, weight, and body image that is already yours. .

This book is not going to be your typical 21 days to a better body or the 21 day diet. This book is going to be a book about balance. Some of you may turn the last page and be on the path to a healthier thinner you but for some of you, you will turn the last page and go sit down and have a piece of cake.

See, beauty and the struggle with it goes far deeper than the outside appearance. So some days are going to have us look deep within ourselves and some days are going to be about healthy changes that will affect our health and body size.

This journey will not be about achieving perfection but finding peace. You see perfection is impossible to attain and even if we found some semblance of it before we even got to enjoy it, it would be gone. Peace on the other hand can be lasting. At the turn of the last page I hope that beast within is tamed. That you know your true worth and value and that beauty is about far more than outward appearance.

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Dee would like to give away 3 copies of her book Beauty and the Beast Within

to Thrifty Decorating readers......

Just leave me a comment for a chance to WIN!

If you would like to purchase the ebook, Dee is offer a discount of

50% off with the code tamethebeast.

The giveaway will end Sunday evening!

Thanks, Dee, for sharing your heart and your wisdom!

January 18, 2012

Thrifty Thursday #43

There were amazing projects linked up this week on Thrifty Thursday ,
but this play kitchen from Remodelaholic has got to be one of my
favorites.....and my daughter's as she sits beside me saying "Make me one!"