Shindig Saturday Weekly Linky Party #50

It's been a WONDERFUL, relaxing week of doing absolutely NOTHING but enjoying time with family.  I think I could definitly get used to doing this every week.  Too bad life comes back to reality and we are back in the grind today.

But it's okay.  I have lots to do around the house now that it's warm enough to actually want to move away from the fireplace.

And I want to start with my Family Room wall.  Right now, it's a big blank slate.  Since we're renters of a For Sale home, we could need to move out at any moment, so I can't do too much to spruce the place up.  But I decided I wanted to decorate the wall with favorite, popular Movie Quotes.

So for the past few weeks I've been collecting quotes that I like from my Facebook friends, family, and watching a lot of old movies at my parent's house.

I think I came up with some good ones.

Now I'm super excited to get on with the project.

After having been on break for the past week, this quote from Ferris Bueller is one of my favorites and I wanted to share it today.

xx

What did you do this week?

Show us your newest party or fun creations by sharing your favorite party themed craft, table scape, photo, favor, or whatever! I'm pretty flexible since just about everything can be used at a party...that's the great thing about us moms! We can see the potential in ANYTHING!

Linky Party Guidelines:

* Link up to your OWN project post, not just your blog, but your actual post. (We want to see it!) *Grab a Shindig Saturday button for your post or blog page. (Hey, it benefits us all!)

*Stay and enjoy the party by visiting and commenting on other's projects. (It's fun to mix and mingle!)

Easter Bunny and Chic Chocolate Covered Oreos

The Perfectionist had a Scout fundraiser last weekend to raise money so he and the rest of his troop could go to Scout camp this weekend.  They decided to have a pasta dinner and auction.  The moms were asked to make a dessert to donate.

Sweet Easter Shopping

Celebrate your Easter with a few sweet treats from the small businesses of Etsy.

Sweeten up your Easter party with some fun decorations, treats, and favors.

Shindig Saturday Weekly Linky Party #49

Wow, how time flies when you are having fun....or something like that.

Dear hubby has been working nights this week and all 4 of the kids are in after school activies, so I've been running my little shoes into the ground going from soccer field to soccer field to track meet to play practice to church activies to scout activities....you get the picture.

It's been crazy here. I'm really looking forward to Spring Break next week.  We're going home to visit my family and I'm super excited about just relaxing and visiting for a week.  We don't have to be anywhere or do anything.  (Except go see Hunger games, of course.)

But during all my free time this week, I finally made my first recipe from Pinterest.

I've told you before that Dare Devil wants to have a brownie shop when he grows up, so we've been pinning LOTS of yummy looking brownie recipes.  We decided we wanted to try one a week to see which ones where keepers and which ones weren't.

This week we made Cream Cheese Brownies from 5 Boys Baker.

Can I say, OH MY GOODNESS.

These brownies were so rich and yummy, Dear Hubby and I nearly inhaled the whole pan.  We weren't very nice about sharing them.

Definitely a keeper, and a very encouraging start for our Pinterest Brownie board. 

I made a Recipe card for my Family cookbook and wanted to share it with you so you can try it to if you like your brownies.

I hope you'll give it a try and then go tell 5 Boys Baker how wonderful they are.

And also that you'll share some fun things you've been doing this week!

Show us your newest party or fun creations by sharing your favorite party themed craft, table scape, photo, favor, or whatever! I'm pretty flexible since just about everything can be used at a party...that's the great thing about us moms! We can see the potential in ANYTHING!

Linky Party Guidelines:

* Link up to your OWN project post, not just your blog, but your actual post. (We want to see it!) *Grab a Shindig Saturday button for your post or blog page. (Hey, it benefits us all!)

*Stay and enjoy the party by visiting and commenting on other's projects. (It's fun to mix and mingle!)

Earn Money Online: Stayin' Home & Lovin' It

I'm finishing up this week of the Earn Money Online blog series with this post which really means alot to me.  I know it's long, but I hope you'll read and understand why I love it so.

After a short year of marriage, Dear Hubby and I found ourselves finishing up my last year of college, poor, pregnant, and living far away from family.  With only a month left to go before Drama Queen was born, I started having pains in my leg.  My doctor told me to go home and take some Tylenol.

A week later I ended up in the hospital.  

I had developed a blood clot in my left leg.  The ER doctors told me if I had waited any longer to come in, I'd probably be dead.  That scared Dear Hubby pretty bad, but for me, it left me almost unable to walk.  The clot had destroyed the large vein in my leg and the smaller vessels were now carrying all the blood.  This left me with alot of pain whenever I stood for a long time or tried to walk.  So I didn't do very much of either.

I lived that way for many years.

After Daredevil was born , I was working for the US Post office and they were getting ready to close down the center I was working at.  I wanted to be able to find a way to stay home and not have to leave my babies anymore, but didn't know how to do it.

I started looking at different work from home jobs.

I tried doing Medical Transcription, but quickly discovered I just didn't have the memory to learn all those crazy words.

I looked into stuffing envelopes and learned it's more about selling people information they didn't need.

I looked into those Make Crafts at home opportunities, but learned the companies are never satisified and you never really made money because they kept jerking you around.

I even tried Herbalife for a while, but found you had to spend a fortune to get a website or sell alot to make any money.

I didn't want to sell anything.  I didn't want to have to do parties.  I didn't want to sell to my family and friends.  I didn't want to leave my babies.  I didn't want to spend a lot of money.  (I was still broke from the Herbalife start up fee.)  Ideally, I wanted to work at home on my computer when I had the time and energy to work.

I thought I was out of luck.

Then I found a company and a team of women who seemed to have it all.

I could work from my home in my time.

I didn't have to sell anything.

I didn't spend any new money.

It only cost me $29.00 to join and that was completely refundable if I HATED it.

I thought that sounded like a good idea to me.

So I decided to give it a trial run.

11 years later, I'm still a member.

When I joined, I found an answer to my prayers.  I found a company that made great products for a decent price and by simply sharing the company, I could stay home with my babies.

But one of the products that this company had was one that helped circulation.  After a few weeks on this product, I was able to walk again!  I'm not sure what it did, but I didn't have pain anymore.  And as a side note, it also helped get rid of my daily headaches!  For that alone, I am a customer for life!

But they have many other products that are amazing.  These are products that you and I are already buying...toothpaste, soap, shampoo, deodorant, vitamins, dish soap, cleaners, and more.  These products simply replace the ones in your cupboards.  So you're getting better, healthier products.  They are all reasonably priced and ALL are completely refundable if you hate them.  Does Walmart say that?  And the great thing was, I didn't have to sell these products.  I simply bought what I needed each month--that's it.  Then I shared with others so they too could get great products and they bought what they needed...from the company...not from me.

So long story short (I know--too late!) , this is a great company with great products.  By simply sharing the company, you can make extra money.  (You already share movies, products, and services you love, don't you?)  You can make a little extra money, or a lot.  It all depends upon you.  So you can earn enough to shave some money off your product order or you can earn enough to pay for that big Shindig you are planning or you can earn enough to stay home with your babies.

You may wonder why I'm not giving the company's name or more info, but they want to avoid being one of "those" companies that get bad reputations, so they encourage you to talk to the people interested and tell them the TRUTH.  Not hyped up, give me all your money info, but the truth.

If you want to know more, feel free to drop me a email, text, or visit my website HERE.

Check out the other posts in this series HERE 

Earn Money Online: House Party

This isn't really a way to make money, but it is a way to enjoy a unique party idea and to get some of the party favors and activities for free.

Beyblade Party Favors

House Party is a site where advertisers pair with the site to have people conduct parties in their home featuring a specific product.  The advertisers offer you free product, coupons, printables, and party favors to go along with the party.  You invite friends and enjoy a party promoting their product.  Which if you think about it, pretty genius if you ask me.  People are having a good time, socializing, and enjoying the advertiser's stuff.  Aren't you more willing to go tell other's about it after such a great time?  (But I digress...)

Velveeta Chef Party Luncheon

To be able to host a party, you need to sign up on their site.  Then, you can peruse the Upcoming Parties link and apply to host the ones you like.  To apply, you simply fill out a form that asks you simple questions to see if you are a "good fit" for the advertiser and party.  Once you hit "submit", you receive a confirmation email and then you wait to see if you've been selected.  If you have, you get another email which you also need to click as soon as possible to be a hostess.

About a week before your party date, you'll receive a box full of fun stuff to help you throw a fun party.

Bicycle Card Party (pre-blog party)

I have been able to do parties for Beyblade, Bicycle Cards, Velveeta, and Hasbro games.  They were all super fun and a good reason to get together with friends for a fun time.  There are LOTS more great House Parties up for grabs right now including a Disney Rush X-box 360 Kinnect party, a Blue Bunny Sweet Freedom party, a Nicholas Sparks party, and LOTS more.

It's a definite WIN-WIN way to throw a party.  You should definitely go check them out HERE if you like to throw parties.

Check out the other posts in this series HERE

Earn Money Online: Swagbucks

I'm sure you've heard me mention Swagbucks before, but it's another of my FAVORITE ways to make a little extra money online.  And it's super simple too.

Swagbucks is a online search engine that gives you points for searching, trying special offers, using coupons, and doing surveys.  It's a lot like MyPoints in that way, but I like it alot better.

To earn, I log in and do a search about 3 times a day...in the morning, afternoon, and evening.  I find that's just easiest for me, but you search when you want.  I type my search string into the box and off I go.  Sometimes I'll get points on the first try, other times I search a few pages back or I need to type a different search string in a few times before I get points.  I usually search things I'm looking for anyway, such as a party theme, a product, or a clip art idea.

I also do a few other things if I remember (hey, I'm getting old and have kids too so I don't sit around the computer ALL day.)  I'll do the poll of the day or I'll have SwagbucksTV running on my computer while I work on projects.  I don't do very much.  Once again, I NEVER do the special offers or buy anything, just search.

Swagbucks also has special codes that come out on their blog, facebook page, or twitter stream for extra points.  I am WAY to busy to keep track of when these come out since they change every day, so I subscribe to an email list that sends out alerts on the codes.  You can find several of these out there and if you want to email me, I can let you know when they are out too!

I ALWAYS use my codes for a $5.00 Amazon gift certificate.  It's the cheapest reward and for me, the most useful.  I'm saving mine up for Christmas presents.  So far this year, I've earned about $20.00 and plan to earn plenty more before the holidays.

This month if you sign up you can play March Madness for even more points too!

March Swagness is all about you earning bonus Swag Bucks while doing all of the things you’re already doing on Swagbucks. Every day thy’ll give you an earning goal, which you’ll find on their homepage. As you earn Swag Bucks throughout the day, that meter will fill up and when it’s full, you’ll have earned your bonus for the day. The bonus will always be 10% of that day’s goal.

Be sure to check in everyday, as the earning goal for any given day could be higher or lower than the day before. Your total bonus amount will continue to accumulate each day, and your bonus amount will be applied at by April 5th – this special promotion runs through April 2nd. If you hit the earning goal every single day of March Swagness, your bonus amount will be doubled!

EVERYTHING you earn on Swagbucks counts towards March Swagness – including (but limited to) Search,Surveys, Tasks, Swag Codes, Special Offers, Referral Bucks, Winning TTPTP, Hashtag and Comment hookups – if you earn it from us, it counts towards the day it was earned!

It's SUPER easy like I said, and a great way to earn some FREE Christmas presents or party supplies.

You can check out Swagbucks HERE.

Check out the other posts in this series HERE

Earn Money Online: MyPoints

MyPoints has been around for a long time.  I've personally been a member for many years.  I started during my big couponing days when I was looking for every way to save and earn money. 

It's a pretty simple idea.  You get paid in points for doing different things online.  If you are a big online shopper, you can earn points pretty quickly by using MyPoints as a portal to your shopping site.  You can get "paid" in points for how much you spend at different stores.   Simply go to MyPoints, log in, and then click on the store you are looking to shop at.  My Points keeps track and does the rest.

I, personally, do not do a whole lot of shopping online.

The majority of the points I get from MyPoints is through their daily emails.  I can get 5 points for certain emails that I recieve and "read."  Which means, I click on the Points button at the bottom of the email and visit the website.  I get several emails a day from them, so it's simply a matter of clicking and visiting.  I rarely sign up or shop through the email, but there are more points available if that interests you.

Doing it this way takes a lot longer to get points than if you're a big shopper, but it doesn't cost me anything to do it since I'm usually clicking through email several times a day anyway.

If you are into doing surveys, you can earn points even faster with the Survey emails that MyPoints sends out.  I don't usually do these since the time isn't worth it to me, but if you enjoy doing surveys, it's a good way to help you get to your point totals faster. 

I like to redeem the points for Gift Certificates at Walmart so I can use them for Christmas, groceries, or party supplies, but there are ALOT of other stores available if you'd rather use it somewhere else.  I have always recieved my gift cards in a few weeks and have never had a problem redeeming them.

You can check out MyPoints HERE.

Check out the other posts in this series HERE 

Earn Money Online: Viggle

Even with all the DIY party projects and cheap ways I try to find to spice up the "BIG day", I still find that parties can be expensive sometimes.  Between the food, the games, the decorations, and the gifts- it can definitely add up.  I wanted to take this week and share a few ideas I have found to make money online to help support my crafting and party addiction.  Hopefully, the next week of ideas will help you too.

This is one of the newest ideas I found online....and I have to say, I LOVE it!

Viggle is an application that works on your iPod, iPad, or iPhone.  (I have heard they will be coming out with an Android app soon.) When you are watching TV you "check in" on the app.  This allows the application to "listen" to your tv and know what show you are watching.  By doing this, you earn points that can  be redeemed for gift certificates to places like Barnes and Noble, Starbucks, Fandango, and more.

It's SUPER easy to get points, and in the past month I have earned enough to get 3 free movie tickets.  Dear Hubby is saving for when they get some Amazon gift certificates in, but I'm looking forward to a free visit to District 12 in the Hunger Games at the end of the month!

I only watch the Today show in the morning and then some evening TV, so you don't have to watch alot to earn points.  You can also watch little ads in the app. and during the past awards season, they had surveys and questions during the awards shows where you could earn even more points.

I highly recommend using Viggle.  It's a good way to earn some extra money through Gift Cards, and it's not hard if you watch TV already!  You can find it in the iTunes app store HERE.

Check out the other posts in this series HERE

Shindig Saturday Weekly Linky Party #48

Happy St Patrick's Day friends!

I hope you're wearing your green and getting your "Irish" on today!

St Patty's day is a fun holiday that brings a smile to my face and a little green to my home.

Check out my fun St Patty's day table that I created for my family dinner tonight.

I can't wait to share it with them and have a little shamrock with my dinner.

You can check out the party details HERE.

While you're perusing, be sure to go get your free Leprechaun Poop printable for a sweet smile today.

Then come back and show me what you've been up to this week!

Show us your newest party or fun creations by sharing your favorite party themed craft, table scape, photo, favor, or whatever! I'm pretty flexible since just about everything can be used at a party...that's the great thing about us moms! We can see the potential in ANYTHING!

Linky Party Guidelines:

* Link up to your OWN project post, not just your blog, but your actual post. (We want to see it!)

*Grab a Shindig Saturday button for your post or blog page. (Hey, it benefits us all!)

*Stay and enjoy the party by visiting and commenting on other's projects. (It's fun to mix and mingle!)

St Patricks Day Table

I'm putting all my St Patrick's Day finishing touches on my dinner table today to get ready for tomorrow and thought I'd share with you a sneak peek.

I started with this fun shamrock table runner that I designed and sew from plastic canvas.  It spreads out over the center of the table and adds a fun touch of green to the base of the table design.

I added gold accents in with these Dollar Tree candle holders that I sparkled up with some glitter and Modge Podge.

I absolutely LOVE this flower centerpiece and it was VERY easy to do.  I bought a Leprechaun hat at Dollar Tree and placed a vase full of green and white flowers from my local grocery store.  They look so beautiful in the center of the table and smell really good too!

Each place setting got a gold charger, a St Patricks Day plate, and the fun beaded silverware that I made.

I also added a Dollar Tree mug to each place setting with the Leprechaun beard printable I shared for a fun touch.

Tomorrow before dinner, I'll finish the Pistachio pudding and fill it to each of these Leprechaun hat candy cups for dessert.

A super simple but dramatic St Patricks day Dinner table!

Leprechaun Hat Candy Dish

I was inspired by Hungry Happenings St Patricks Day cups to make these candy dishes for my St Patrick's Day table.  I tried to improvise and make my own cups, but it didn't work too well.  I think I should have tried using the inside of the cup, but it was a "pressed for time" day and I didn't have any cups the size that I needed.

So instead, I used the base of the soccer ball candy cup that I shared HERE.  I used green chocolate melted wafers from Jo-Anns.

For the hat rim, I used the lid from this snack container that I got from Walmart.  It was the perfect size and there weren't any dips or divets in the lid so it worked great.

Then I made some Modeling Chocolate using the directions at Hungry Happenings.  I free handed a  shamrock and a strip to wrap around the rim of the hat.

I think the next time I do this, I will make the rim strip a yellow color for some contrast, but I like how it turned out.  I plan to fill these with pudding for dinner tomorrow for a fun treat.

I was thinking how fun it would be to do this in black chocolate and fill with yellow pudding so it looked like a pot of gold.  Or how about filling it with Skittles candies so it looked like a rainbow?  So many possibilities.

Leprechaun for a Meal

I don't know if you've seen the fun trend of putting mustaches on staws yet or not, but it's a super cute way to liven up your dinner or party.

While I was pondering whether to try this or not for my St Patrick's day dinner, it dawned on me that it would be even more fun if I could figure out how to put a Leprechaun's beard on a straw.  Now my kids can become a Leprechaun for a meal!

It was super simple to do too. 

I found these cute green and white striped straws from PaperwhiteDesigns on Etsy.  They were very festive and just perfect for my St Patrick's Day table so I splurged and ordered them.  I've never bought straws from etsy before, so I was a little nervous that they wouldn't get here in time, but never fear PaperwhiteDesigns did an amazing job and they were in the mail the same day I ordered.

Next I designed up a Leprechaun's beard in my design program.  I made it 6 inches by 6 inches.

I did my beard two different ways.

  One is a red beard so you can use your color printer and just print and go.  The other is a "white" beard so you can print it on red cardstock if you'd like to save ink.  Either way works.

Next I cut it out and used my whole punch to put a hole in the middle of the top or the beard and the bottom of the beard.  This allows it to fit on the beard and still look like it's standing up.

Lastly, I strung the beard onto the straw and POOF! my kids are little leprechauns!

Here's the white beard if you'd rather have it.

St Patricks Day Festive Silverware

I shared with you last week how I made the fun St Patrick's Day plates and today I wanted to share how I made the festive silverware to go along with my tableware.

And hopefully I can do it in a way that you'll understand what I did.

I started with 3 little bead choices that I bought from Walmart in the craft aisle.  Since I was making St Patrick's day silverware, I went with different shapes and colors of green and a gold accent color.

I found it was easiest for me to put them in cleaned out, recycled jars and then dump a little at a time into the lids.  This way I wasn't fighting with the bead container or any small spaces.

I also bought some knives, forks, and spoons from Walmart and some 0.03 gauge wire.

I started by tieing a not around the fork.  This was probably the hardest part of the whole project.

I found it was easiest to tie the knot around the smaller part of the fork (up towards the top of the handle where it was narrowed) and then sliding the knot to the base of the handle.  This allowed my knot to be tight, although it was difficult to finesse the knot down there at times.

I then started using the different beads and creating a design.  I found I could put about 5 larger beads on the base and then would wrap the wire around the back of the fork and come back around for more beads.

I kept doing this until I got to the top of the handle.  Then I tied the wire in knots in the back and tucked the extra wire under the beads in the front.

I just let my imagination run while and beaded each fork differently.  Some of them I really like, others are not my favorite.  But each one is fun and unique.

It did take me about a half hour on each of the forks, but I just sat in front of the TV and enjoyed catching up on my favorite shows for a bit.  I did get faster and better as I went on and the knives and spoons didn't take me that long at all.

I had originally planned to do each of the silverware pieces differently, so it wouldn't matter where each of the silverware went.  They would be able to mix and match at the table, but I guess I'm not that creative, so I made them match.

Now I have a fun set of silverware to go with my plates for a unique St Patrick's Day table!