Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Tadpole Tuesday: Valentine Cards (Teri)
While we were “watching” the Superbowl on Sunday we pulled out stuff we had at home to make some Valentine cards to send to our out of town family (that would be all of our family). We used everything we had on hand with the exception of buying a package of cards to decorate. This whole project to make 20 cards for my son’s class, 10 for my daughter’s friends, and 15 to send away cost us less than $3 because we had everything else on hand.
This is one made by my son, he wanted a picture of a ship from the old reading book I was using. He’s still little, but he loves to be creative.
This one was made by my daughter, she was very much into making unique cards this year (and about using her paper trimmer). My daughter had a good eye for different ways to put things together. She had a lot of fun slicing up the paper for the front of this card.
I wanted to include more of my kids cards, but I wasn’t up to editing their names out of the pictures (and of course I didn't think to take a picture BEFORE they signed their cards). Trust me though, they were darling!
Here are my three favorite cards that I made using an old reading book and some aged sheet music.
No this picture isn’t sideways, I put a piece of the pronunciation guide from the back of the reading book on sideways on purpose. (I keep telling myself it’s okay to tear this already falling apart book up to use creatively, but I’m telling you it goes against every fiber of my being. I am a true book lover, and it feels like murder to tear and cut pieces of a book). I love the way that the “onion skin copy paper” curls up around the edges of the book page.
It’s a toss up between this one and the next one which is my favorite. I thought that the title of this song was perfect! I loved that I was able to turn the card so that the lines go diagonal down it, I covered the front and back of this card.
I loved the picture on this card. I also loved the texture I was able to add with the ric rack and the fabric patch letters. It was also fun to use the juxtaposition of the misspelled letters on top of the page from the reading book! I know, it’s silly, but I am easily entertained.Monday, February 8, 2010
Mystery Monday: Coupon Organization (Teri)
If any of you visited us clear back in October, you may remember this post, where I talked about saving money on groceries. If not, go back and read it, see if any of the tips would work for you, or if you have any more for us. Today I’m going to share with you how I organize my coupons.
In this post I shared with you that I use a website called Pinching Your Pennies to help find the “deals”. There are many sites out there to help you know where to find the best deal on things you buy, but I like this one the best for a couple of reasons, first off, it’s FREE and who doesn’t like that price. Secondly, they have teamed with Grocery Smarts to make a customizable printable grocery list of deals. With this system I also get multiple Sunday papers, thus getting multiple sets of ads (I get 3). This requires that I organize them so that I can find them. Thus my coupon crate.
I know you are wondering why you would need an entire crate to organize your coupons. The reason being is because I don’t clip them, at least not until I’m ready to use them. The way the PYP website works is that it tells you what is on sale, how good of a deal it is, and where to find the coupon you need for this item. I save my coupons for 5 months (If you count, you’ll know I don’t have 5 months worth, my dh threw about 3 weeks worth away because they were causing clutter….I could have throttled him), then I toss them, by this point they will all be expired. As you can see I have multiple categories.
Everything behind the Smart Source tab is that type of insert, ditto for Red Plum, General Mills and Proctor and Gamble, these are your “brands” of inserts. I also use printed coupons, and I print the ones I will use when I see them, and them I save them for when I need them. If you want a good tutorial about how to use your coupons, how to read the website, etc, go to the Utah Forum on PYP and they have some great tutorials (not sure if the other states do or not, but the same general principles that apply in Utah will apply elsewhere as well). It’s great for beginners (and seasoned couponers as well). Each week of coupons is put in it’s own sheet protector to make it easy to pull out all 3 inserts together.
I write the date the insert came in sharpie on the upper right hand corner of each insert so that I easily spot what weeks coupons I’m looking at.
After I have made up my shopping list and printed it out, I clip/print the coupons I need and fold them inside the list and put them in an envelope to take with me. It may not be a perfect solution, but it works for me (I pretty much copied my friends organization, so it’s not even an original idea……THANKS SUNNIE!!!) If you want more tips on saving on your groceries, click here to take you to my post from October.
I also have folders for restaurants, stores and services (things in here range from Children’s Place % off coupons to ones for oil changes), and one for clipped coupons which doesn’t have anything in it right now.
So I guess today’s mystery is:
Do you have a coupon organization system that works for you?
Sunday, February 7, 2010
100th Post Giveaway
We have had so much fun writing this blog and interacting with all you out there in bloggy land, that we decided to have our very first giveaway. It’s to celebrate our 100th post. Now, it’s not something big or exciting, but it is from us, made with love. You have your choice of the following cupcake tiers:
Your fourth option is something custom with a color of your choice, but this may take a while, as I will have to find the dishes in that color. Glasses are difficult to find in colors for a reasonable price, so it will still probably have to be clear glasses.
Here’s how the giveaway works. Requirement #1 you have to be a follower of our blog, #2 you have to leave a comment on this post telling us which tier you would like (so tell us in your one comment that you are a follower and which tier you would like). Pretty simple. We will leave this open until next Sunday (Valentine’s Day) and then we will use an uberscientific method to choose who wins (we’ll have our mom pick a number). There you go! Thanks for taking the time to stop by our blog, it’s awesome to hear from you.
Sharing the Bloggy Love
As we promised, we are passing along the award we received from the Misty at Six Divided by Two. This award was given to blogs who “think outside the box and cherish individuality”. We believe the following blogs do, so without further delay, here is who we have decided to pass the love to.
Amanda at Serenity Now….A Mommy’s Solution to Staying Sane for always making us laugh and for blogging in her unique style because it’s her “serenity/sanity” not because she’s here to impress us (although she does).
Teri at Mama Thompson for finding new and different twists on some of the “trendy” decor trends out there. And for not being afraid to talk about who she is and what she believes (and because she has a great name that is spelled the RIGHT way). (also, look for a guest post from her soon)
Lastly (but not leastly) to Sara at Cupcake Muffin for having such unique recipes and new twists on old favorites. Take a gander to see what we’re talking about.
We hope you visit these lovely ladies and see what we’re talking about. Don’t be afraid to tell ‘em we sent ya, because we want them to know we love what they’re doing!
Amanda, Teri and Sara, feel free to pass the love along. Let others know how much you appreciate them putting themselves out there.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Tales of a Shared Womb: Honored Guests!
It certainly is an exciting week here at 2sisters! We have gotten an award (incidentally we received it from the two lovely ladies you are about to meet), posted our 100th post, and now we are having our second guest blogger (okay really second and third)!
We are beyond excited to welcome our guest bloggers today, we will let them introduce themselves. We love to read both their blogs, and hope you will enjoy them as well!
Hello and Howdy !!!
Let us begin by saying that is a complete honor to be guest bloggers!!
We are Angelique and Misty and we are identical twin sisters.
Angelique is the proud blogger of Six in One Hand
and
Misty is the bloggy diva of Six Divided By Two
known together as the Six Sisters.
Angelique: " Why do I just get to be a proud blogger and you the diva? No mam.."
Misty : I said PROUD blogger....
This is us all the time..
We love being twins . Would not change it for anything but we know the downside and (always) funny side of being a twin. So we thought it would be funny to share with you what we call,
"The Six Perils of Being a Twin"
1.Your children do not know who is who.
Angelique: " A common phrase in our family is, " I am not your mother.."
Misty: " So true. Once when my oldest was small she came up to me at church and said, " Hi Angelique!"
Angelique: " Do you remember when our kids were small? We would press our faces together and they would cry because they could not tell who was who..!"
2. Jilted Boyfriends!!
Misty: (laughing so hard she is in tears) Oh yes.. I almost forgot! The guy I never called back..
Angelique: I will never forget it!! He came up to me in the grocery store ranting about why you never called.
I told him I was your twin and he got mad. " Don't give me the old I have a twin routine!"
After I showed him my driver's license he apologized.
Misty: Never did call him back lol!!!
3. The infamous affairs
Misty: Whoa Baby!! I thought I was going to have to get a divorce behind that one!! My husband and I go out to dinner one night. He had been out of town for a few days. The waiter comes over and is telling me how busy of a woman I must be. He tells my husband that I was there last night with another man! OK I am pissed! I swear up and down it's not true - because it was NOT!!
Angelique: I had to explain to my brother in law that I had been on a date at that restaurant the night before!!
Misty: I wanted to kill that waiter. I had no idea what he was talking about!! We laughed about it later but I was not amused.
Angelique: That is why we always told each other where the other was going to be or had been. lol
4. Girlfriends you know nothing about
Misty: How many times has this happened? But the best one was your friend screaming,"Angelique !!" from the third level of the mall. Mind you I am on the first level. That would have been okay but even after I told her I was your sister she was screaming her conversation and phone number from the third level
Angelique: Yes, I know. I have mastered the art of playing you and never saying the person's name!!
5. Being accused of abandoning your newborn at the hospital!!
Angelique: I still can't believe that one!! The nurses thought you were me when Alex was born.
Misty: They personally escorted me to your room... I was waiting to see the looks on their faces!! All I wanted was a soda.
6. The Questions
Misty: What is the question that you get asked the most?
Angelique: "Where is your sister?"
Misty: "Who is the good twin and who is the bad twin?" or mean vs. nice-
Angelique: " How many minutes are you apart?
Misty: That's my fav. Do you always rank strangers this on a regular basis? I'm just wondering....
Angelique: "If I hit you will your sister feel it?"
Misty: No, but you will if you hit my sister. Once again, back to that rank strangers thing.
But there are sooo many things that we love about being twins..
The bond that we share is uncanny. Being a twin, to be so close to a person, is truly a gift from God. A friendship/sisterhood that could never be broken or explained.
Thank you so much girls, we can totally relate to so many of those things. We have gotten good at either playing each other, in fact we answer to each others names more often than to our own. It makes it hazardous when you work with someone with your sister's name. We long ago decided though, that Micki IS the evil twin (she even has a shirt that says "I am the evil twin". It's all good.
Being a twin is truly a gift from God. We don't know how we would ever survive without each other. One cannot truly understand the bond that you share as a twin unless you are one, it's just impossible.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Guest Day Thursday: Fabulous Jane
Hey guys, Jane here from Finding Fabulous! That's me above with kid 1 & 2 who are just the very center of my universe! Okay, I'm pretty fond of the white furry guy too! I'm so excited to be guest hosting over at 2 Sisters 2Gether, they are so fun...I just love all their fabulous crafty projects and yummy recipes too!
Well my blog Finding Fabulous pretty much describes itself. I'm all about finding fabulous design...on a budget, for less, without breakin' the bank! Yup, no need to spend a ton of money if your looking to spruce up your home. Here's a peek at some of my projects:
Here's my Wrought Iron moulding project above our bed! For this project I framed out the wrought iron wall hanging with simple trim moulding. And talk about thrifty...the iron piece was just $25 and the moulding under $10. And for under $40, I've got a big focal point with some much needed heighth and drama to an otherwise simple bed!
Did you know you can buy Wine Crates at Total Wine for about $5 each? Yup, just 5 bucks! I gave my crates an aged appearance by staining them. Super easy, super fun and aren't they fabulous for above hutches and armoires?
Here are a pair of antique chairs that have been in my husband's family for at least 100 years. They used to be covered in leather and were in bad shape. I recovered them in this fun fabric I found at Garden Ridge for just $5.99 for two yards.
Okay, I have a confession...I'm not real Crafty, but more of a roll up your sleeves Diy kinda gal. But every now and then I pull it off. Here's my twine wrapped wine bottle. I got this idea from the Thrifty Decor Chic, but used a large wine bottle as the base. This project was super easy, super fun and you can't get any thriftier than making home accessories with items from your recycling bin!
And finally here's my thrifty home office! Instead of going with a bulky, overpriced executive desk (those babies go for 2 thousand dollars or more!). I chose to use a dining room table instead from World Market! The price was right, I loved the clean lines, and the desktop work space was HUGE! Oh and those fabulous botanical prints were FREE! Yup, free from an on-line website called Vintage Printables!
Oh and be sure to check out my day Frugalicious Friday! This day's all about sharing your fabulous, thriftiest, most frugalicious home decor finds and design projects! And give us the scoop on how you $ave!

















