Guess Post by MJ from My Lucky 7 Desigh

I have a special guess for you guys today. her name is Melanie or MJ and have an awesome post for you today...Go get to know her and check out her awesome stuff out, you won't regret it :) 

We meet on Circle of Mom and found out that we have two look-alike princesses, she is a very sweet lady and my inspiration to be more creative and supportive of other crafters 

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Well let me tell you who I am and what Im doing here.    My name is Melanie (a.k.a. MJ) and Im the creative force behind LUCKY 7 DESIGN BLOG.   

Im the mother of 5 and Im happily married to my knight is shining armor! My children are my pride and joy and I have a 2nd blog dedicated to them and how I keep my family stylish on a budget.  I also share product review information and anything fun regarding fashion, art, parenting, motherhood, housewives and children. You can find me over at MAMA J AND HER FASHIONISTAS BLOG.    I'm also the parent to a child diagnosed with Autism so I share sometimes the challenges that it brings.

Currently Im a stay-at-home, work-at-home mom.  Im a former visual merchandiser for retail store like New York & Co, The Children's Place, Gap.  I still have that passion and so now I use it in home styling.   Im always redesigning the rooms in my home, but I also do redesigns for family, friends.  You can check out one of them HERE or HERE

I have a love for history and for vintage....Im the person who holds on to buttons, broken pins, letters with cool stamps, napkins.   I know that somehow I will use it for something.......and I DO!  I also go out with friends or my daughter on what I call Junkin Drive-bys.   On my blog I share all the things that I do with my treasures and how you dont need to have a million dollars to create a home you love and are proud to show.

Here are some of my treasures

I have 2 Etsy shops....

LUCKY 7 DESIGN is where you will find my handmade line of home accessories made from vintage linens and recycled materials.   I also collect and sell lots of vintage items and you will find some treasures in my shop too.   I believe there is something for everyone and I keep my pricing fair because I also support handmade and my fellow Etsians ( basically saying I shop a lot on Etsy too).

My Robins Egg Blue collection

Handmade Pillow Pins

Antique saw

Handmade jute stenciled napkin rings

 

Handmade Book Page Wreath

Vintage Tin Molds from Sweden

Handmade fabric napkin ring set

Redesigned vintage chalkboard

Handmade wood shutter star/vintage pie tins

Purposed frame no mirror matted

 MAMA J JEWELS is where you will find my handmade jewelry.   I have what I called jewelry boxes that hold different style collections.  Recently Ive gone back to my roots and created a line of jewelry created from junk.   Junkin Jersey Mama is the collection and Ive gotten a great response....take a look.

Garden Goddess Pendant/Ring Set

Te Amo necklace set

Golden Butterfly cuff

The Teary Traveler necklace

The Seamstress necklace

My dream is to one day own my own shop in a downtown area Main Street (my town actually has one...lol) where I can sell my creations.  Until then I will continue to work hard and create until my dream comes true!

I want to give a big hug to Suze for inviting me over today to meet with you all.   She is a talented mama and a sweetheart of a friend! 

-MJ

Thanks MJ for stopping by and hanging out with us...Now, go see her and say Hi :)

Guess Post by Nicole

I'm Nicole from Nicole's Random Things. My blog started out as a place where I wrote about various articles I came across online and TV shows I watch. But since I started my blog about 9 months ago, I've started writing about things going on in my life. And I've also started to write reviews and host giveaways. I'm just a girl who wants to share my opinions with the world. So come join me on my journey of finishing up college, becoming a bride, and becoming a teacher!

Today though, Suze has let me do a guest post on my blog so I'm going to give you my advice on couponing!!
Couponing...where do I even begin on this subject. Most of us are familiar with the show Extreme Couponing on TLC. And then most of us, like me, get inspired to do the same thing so they can save money at the grocery store. Personally, I think the way it is done on the show is totally unrealistic so here are my tips on how you can coupon without spending hours and hours a week.

• Newspapers and coupons: The people on the show buy about 5 or more papers every Sunday!! I think that's a bit too much so I'm just sticking with 2. And, I get mine at the Dollar Tree where they are only a dollar each and they aren't taxed, so I spend $2 a week for my coupons.
  
• Clipping: I find that it only takes me about an hour to go through both of my papers and clip the coupons that I think I'll use. I don't clip every single one, just the ones for things that I might buy.
  
• Organize: Now you wouldn't have to do exactly what I've done to organize my coupons, but I got a binder and baseball card holders to put my coupons in. At first I had them just paper clipped together with a piece of paper that had the name of the category on it, but I found this too confusing. Check out my post here to find out how I put together my binder.
  
• Using your coupons: The best piece of advice I can give anyone about couponing is to pair your coupons with the sales at the store. I found that when I organized my coupons, as I was putting them into the different categories, I subconsciously memorized what coupons I had. So now whenever I look through the ads, I know what items I have coupons for. But if this method doesn't work for you, here's what you can do: say you're looking through the ads and you find something that you want to buy, look through your coupons to see if you have a coupon for that item. This shouldn't take you that long if you have your coupons organized by category.

Couponing doesn't have to take up hours and hours of your time every week. It can take you as little as 3 hours a week to go through the weekly ads and your coupons. That's about how much time I spend a week on my couponing. What I love the most about couponing is the sense of accomplishment I get when I get that receipt and see how much I saved. Who cares if I don't get thousands of dollars of groceries for next to nothing. I don't have that kind of room or that much time to be able to get that much stuff. I'm fine with saving 5, 10, $15 every time I go to the store. That's 5, 10, or $15 that I can spend somewhere else. I hope I've inspired at least one person to give couponing a try!! Good luck everyone!!! I leave you with pictures from my first shopping trip as an extreme couponer along with how much I spent and saved.

Spent: $15.49

Saved: $14.37

Spent: $57.89

Saved: $39.33

So come check out my blog to check out more of my savings!!

Thanks Nicole for stopping by...Don't forget to go and visit her :)

Guess Post by Six Sister's Stuff ~ Chocolate Dipped Strawberry

For those of you who love dessert , especially a chocolate dipped strawberry, Well I got a special treat for you coming from Six Sister's Stuff
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Who doesn't love a chocolate dipped strawberry?!  We use to make these for special occasions, but they are so easy we whip em' up all the time! 

Yes, please! I could eat these all day!

1 pkg. milk chocolate chips

4 Tbl. vegetable oil

1 pkg. strawberries

1 pkg. white chocolate chips (optional, only if you want some white chocolate on top!)

2 Tbl. vegetable oil (only if you are using white chocolate chips)

Aluminum Foil

Baking Sheet

Line baking sheet with foil and set aside.

It is strawberry season!  All of our grocery stores are selling a container for $1!  And store brand chocolate chips work just fine!

Wash and dry all of your strawberries.

Add whole bag of chocolate chips & 4 Tbl. of oil to a saucepan over low heat.  You'll want the heat to be as low as possible!

Whisk chocolate and oil together constantly as it melts.

Hold each strawberry by the leaves and dip into chocolate.  Make sure to not get the leaves!

Gently set each dipped strawberry on foil lined baking sheet.  After all of the strawberries are dipped, place baking sheet in the fridge for 30 minutes.

 If you want white chocolate on top:

Melt 1/2 bag of white chocolate chips and 2 Tbl. of vegetable oil on Low heat.  Constantly mix with whisk until completely melted.

Use a spoon to drizzle white chocolate on top of each strawberry.  It will look like a disaster!

Place baking sheet bake in the fridge until ready to eat!

Remove from sheet and serve!

Now, go make some and let me know how it turned out and don't forget to go visit them ...They have tons and tons of mouth watery recipes.

Guess Post by Maggie

Please say hello to my guess of honor today. Her name is Maggie and will all the thing  she does, you would not even know she is a TEENAGER...I know right!!! She is awesome and here with a great SEWING tutorial.

Now meet Maggie and after you are done, go give her some LOVE AND SUPPORT :)
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I'm Maggie from Chica es Artistica. I'm a teenager who loves sewing, sawing, photography, and all things crafty. I'm so excited to be here today!  When Suze posted that she needed guest posters, within about 5 minutes I already had an email sent to her.

This is me:

Today, I'm going to share with you my take on the Shirt Dresses from MADE.

It's definitely not one of those tutorials where you exit out because it's too complicated. I sat and drooled over all the details. I tend to do that a lot. I seriously think every child needs one of these shirt dresses. 

Anyway, 

I want to tell you that making a pattern is A LOT easier than you think. It's a snap if you have a piece of the child's clothing to go off of, but I didn't. I freehanded one dress and just expanded the pattern for another. And guess what? The dresses miraculously fit! Not me of course...

I just used a roll of paper to make mine. I seriously don't think it was anything fancy...

I found this Women's XL shirt at a garage sale and knew it was perfect for a dress!

 It took more than one attempt to make my pattern. I suggest if you're going to make a pattern, draw half of the pattern, cut it out except for the center of it. You can fold it over, trace it, and then cut it all out. SO much easier.

 Here's my sleeve. It looks a little odd but the sleeves are supposed to be poofy. Go to MADE to get the pattern. She just gives you a picture with measurements so you'll have to draw your own out.

When tracing your pattern, make sure the bottom of the dress lines up to the hem of the skirt and the center lines up with the buttons.

Here's my front and back pieces. Yes they do come up to a point but they're supposed to.

 My sleeves had to be traced out of the awkward scraps of armpit/side fabric

All this from one shirt? I only spent a dollar on the shirt! I was so proud of myself for getting all the pieces nicely cut out... that's probably a first.

 Seriously VERY easy to assemble. I made a whole second dress without looking at the directions.

And here's my second dress made from an old jean shirt of my dad's. It really needed new life.

The other shirt I used had a few imperfections like so

There was some awkward marks from where I took off the pockets. It adds character right?

I pinned on some rosettes made from the original fabric and I think it was a great touch.

So cute!

And now for the final reveal....

I seriously think I'm going to go raid a thrift store and take all their men's dress shirts so I can make these dresses for random little girls.

Total cost of BOTH dresses? Less than 3 dollars.

Striped Shirt- $1

Jean Shirt- Had

Waist Bands- Left over from another project

Elastic- Less than $2 for 3 yards and I didn't even use it all.

The first dress took me about 3 hours but I was procrastinating on doing something else. The second dress only took me about 1 1/2 hours. It seriously gets easier as you go. I tend to start a project, leave it, and then come back and get another chunk done. I don't have the patience to get it done in one sitting!

Thanks for sitting through all my extensive ramblings! Head on over to Chica es Artistica and check me out.

Thanks for having me Suze! 

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Thanks for visiting with us Maggie and good luck with everything that you do:)