Payless Coupon

I bought Brit two cute pairs of boots today and thought I would pass on the savings! Click HERE for a 15% off coupon to Payless!

Ebates!!!

I had placed an order the other day for Swiss Colony and then decided to place another for BBB's great grandparents. I thought I would pass along the savings/great deals they are having plus a way to earn some cash back.

Swiss Colony is running some great specials that include shipping in the price! These products are marked under the Postpaid label. The price that is listed is the price you PAY!! Then to make it even SWEETER if you use one of the following codes your recipient can get an additional gift for FREE!!!! Whats sweeter than FREE?

If you use the code AG1344 you can get 24 FREE Petit Fours

If you use code AG1316 you can get 36 FREE Chocolate Truffles

If you use code AC1365 you can get FREE Chocolate Covered Macadamia Nuts.

Now before you head on over to Swiss Coloney, here is another way to save and earn money on your purchase. Sign up under Ebates! Swiss Colony is listed as giving 4% back on your purchase. Ebates is currently offering a $10 Target gift card bonus when you sign up for a free Ebates account and make a qualifying purchase within the first 30 days of your membership. It gets better..... Sign up with Ebates today and we'll each get a $5 bonus when you make your first purchase!

If Swiss Colony isn't your thing they have over a 1000 different stores including Old Navy (they are doing 10% cash back), Barnes & Nobles (8% back), Sephora (8% back), Target (5% back), among many many many other stores!!!

Thanks for letting me pass on the deals!!! Here's to earning cash while shopping!!!!!

Suz has a giveway!!

Suz is having a FABULOUS giveaway from a $200 LOFT giftcard!!!!!!

Go HERE to leave a comment for a chance to win!!!

The Three Bee's Custom Orders!

Nursing Pads! Made to be extra soft and absorbent! Also, made with a layer of PUL material to keep leakage at bay! Lots of different fabric choices to choose from. I can email fabric samples!

$5.00 per pair plus $4.95 priority shipping!

Burp Clothes!

$5.00 per burp cloth which is a 3 ply cotton diaper, fabric down the center and a monogram.

Lots of fabric choices and I can email you fabric samples to choose from!

***** Items come from a smoke free/pet free home!!*******

She Speaks!

This summer I was watching a random talk show which is not something I normally do. I couldn't even tell you who the host was. The show had speakers telling about how to get free things. So I went to the website they recommended and decided to join SHE SPEAKS

Recently, SHE SPEAKS asked me to be a tester for the brand Bliss Best of Skintentions.

Since my daily blog is private I am going to discuss this and future testings here. Anyway, SHE SPEAKS sent me an email asking if I would try the product and answer a survey. In return they would send me a full size bottle to try. I answered their email and agreed to test their product and within four weeks a 1.7 oz of the product was delivered to my house. At first glance I loved the look of the product and I recognized it from a recent shopping trip to Sephora (my favorite beauty store!!!). Now the important part.....the smell. If it smelled bad that would kill it for me right there as I am very picky about scents. So I unscrewed the lid and took a whiff. Hmmmm, light and with a tinge of orange. Oh this is a great start!!! Later when I washed my face I applied the product to a small area of my skin. The product was very smooth, non greasy, soaked in fast and didn't leave a rash. So for the next 30 days I used the product morning and night. I have to honestly say the product is good stuff! It didn't break my skin out either and I was happy with the sunscreen protection it offers (SPF 15). On a recent girls trip I let one of my friends borrow some of it and she agreed that it smelled nice and went on the skin nicely too. I will very likely buy another bottle of it when I run out of it. It really does smell nice which is an added bonus!

The offer sweetens...... if you would like to try Bliss Best of Skintentions you can simply by going to http://www.blissworld.com/ and use the online offer code: SSPEAKS at checkout and receive $5.00 off!!!!

Cricut Specials

At Oh My Crafts they have Cricut Expressions with TWO cartridges and TOOLS (you have a choice of Tools, extra Cartridge or (2) 12x12 mats) for $269!!!! Now shipping is $37.35 BUT if you use the code FB10 it will give you a discount of $26.90!! My total came out to $279.45!!! That is the cheapest I have seen them to date. At Walmart they have them for $289 but it only comes with one font cartridge and with Texas tax it would have been about $312. That was a great savings!!! I am sooooooo excited to get this thing! I have wanted one for a while now and I can't wait to pull it out the next time Britney has a school project due!

Making Powdered Laundry Detergent

I have wanted to try my hand at making homemade laundry detergent since seeing it on an episode of the Duggars last summer. They make the liquid form though and I prefer powder. I would have made it sooner but I had a dickens of a time finding Washing Soda, not to be confused with Baking Soda, it's a totally different compound. I finally found the Washing Soda at Krogers and it's made by Arm and Hammer. If you can't find it in your area call this phone number 1-800-524-1328 and have the UPC code 33200-03020. The service will ask for your zip code and then tell you places in your area that sell the item. Some sites say you can use Ivory and other body bar soaps such as Pure and Natural. After reading several different sites online I decided to stick with the actual bar soap on the laundry aisle because I felt like it would cut grease and dirt better. In this particular batch I decided to use both Fels Naptha and Zote. My MIL said that Fels Naptha removed grease better than Zote but that Zote smelled better/not so strong. I have to agree. Fels Naptha is very strong smelling. Not bad just strong. So the combination of the two smelled good and for a lack of a better word, "clean." Fels Naptha is a very hard soap which when grated looks like Parmesan cheese. The Zote is a softer buttery soap and grates much easier. I cut the soap into small cubes and then food processed it until fine. Also, the Fels Naptha is a 5 oz bar where as the Zote was 14.5 oz's. I used equivalent to four bars of soap. Now lets get down to the nitty gritty...how to make laundry detergent.

You can read more about Zote here
You can read more about Fels Naptha here


Things you will need:
Large Plastic Container
Mixing Spoon
Grater / Food Processor
Measuring Cup

Ingredients
1 Bar of Zote (14 oz)
1 Bar of Fels Naptha (5 oz)
4 Cups Borax
4 Cups Washing Soda

*** You will use three tablespoons per load (large load) which is approx 55 loads per recipe. Money wise it works out to be 7.33 cents a load!!!! The cost of the ingredients was $4.08.

I chose this container because it reminded me of a laundry box. It's just a $4.00 plastic file box I picked up at Walmart. It has a good tight lid on it.


Again, both bars is equivalent to four bars of soap

You will have enough left over Borax/Washing Soda to make another batch at another time.

First you want to grate your soap. I used a regular grater for it. This was probably the hardest part as the soap is a little hard. Since the soap was hard I hated to put it in my food processor but I might try that next time.

Then grate your Zote. It has a nice buttery texture and is very soft. It grates similar to coconut so I decided to put it in the food processor.

After the food processor.

Once you have both of your soaps grated, pour and mix together in your plastic container.

Then add your Borax/Washing Soda and mix. Becareful to not breathe in the powder.

After mixing well, you have your first box of laundry soap. Hard to believe this "little" amount will wash 55 loads.

I decided to try it out to show you that it will not soap up like regular detergents. This is what the water looks like under all the normal soap bubbles. I felt the water and it feels soapy to touch. I didn't add my normal fabric softner because I wanted to see how the clothes smelled after washing. I have to honestly say they smelled so fresh and clean. I am pretty pleased with the product and for saving .35cents a load it was worth the time (approx 30 mins) to make!

If you make your own soap, I would love to hear how you liked it. Please send me a comment!

Welcome!!!

Welcome!! I have been blogging for years and wanted to start a new blog to help others with crafts, recipes, and other homemaking ideas! It will also be a site to display some new items that will be in my store. As soon as I get finished sewing those projects, they will be listed! Thank you for reading!

If you want to read my story check out my adoption blog at http://adoptingthreebees.blogspot.com/

-Kriss :)