Stamp n Scrap Saturday

No project to share today, just some links to my favorite places to get digital stamps. I love my rubber & clear stamps, but having digital stamps...they're just so versatile! In the right photo editing program you can change their outline color, color them in, change their size to suit your needs. Heck, you can even design a repeating pattern to make your own custom background paper to coordinate with your main image.

And storing them? No boxes, no binders, no shelves...the only space they take is on your hard drive & if you burn them to a CD or DVD, then you've got YEARS of enjoyment from your digital stamps!

The following list is a mixture of freebies and vendors that you can purchase digital images from. I have made friends with a lot of these amazing artists over the last few years & can't wait to share their talent with you.

Bugaboo Stamps - stamps to purchase & a new freebie every Friday for you to play with.

Squigglefly - always adding new artwork AND new artists...be sure to check out their freebies tab!

Sugar Nellies - not only can you buy rubber from these wonderful folks, they have an AMAZING collection of digital artwork to purchase by artists like the talented Diane Duda.

Leanne Ellis - a very sweet & talented lady from Swansea, South Wales. I've been fortunate enough for her to allow me to use some of her artwork here on the blog before (I have a section dedicated just to her in my LABELS at the bottom of the page).

Mo's Digital Pencil - Maurie "Mo" Manning has some whimsical lovelies for you to purchase & play with

Stretch n Bubbles - one of my first dalliances into the world of digi stamps...something for everyone

Phindys Place - darling digital stamps

Sassy Cheryl's Digis - whimsical artwork by Cheryl Alger

Cheryl Seslar Designs - features colored AND black/white artwork for your enjoyment

Softpencil Studios - I'm giving you the link to her new shop, scheduled to open 7August2011

Beccy's Place - cute freebies

Digital Two for Tuesday - freebies every week, mostly vintage artwork

Free Digital Stamps - a DAILY listing of freebies found all over the WWW

If you snag any of the free images, PLEASE leave the artist that gave you the gift some love. A simple "thank you" really can go a long way. These folks give their time and talent away, so it's nice for them to know that their hard work is appreciated.

Also, be sure to read each artist's TOU (terms of use) for their artwork - most will specify if the art is for personal use or if you can resell. These pieces ARE bound by international copyright & we all need to respect that!

Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!

Frugal Friday

Today's Frugal tip: how to save yourself about $60+ per year. Do you use Febreeze? I used to. I don't know of anyone that doesn't really. Dog odors, their car, smelly bathrooms, teenager rooms...you know what I'm talking about. That stuff is EXPENSIVE! Don't you get tired of paying nearly $6 per bottle? I sure did.

About 5 months ago I started scouring the internet for DIY Febreeze & boy oh boy did I find some interesting recipes, under names like "ghetto Febreeze" (that one makes me laugh every time & pretty much what we call ours here!). Here are some of the recipes I wrangled & bookmarked, so you can choose:

1) From Instructables - trigger bottle, 1/2 cup rubbing alcohol or vodka, essential oil of your choice, water - fill bottle with ingredients...the website calls for 30 drops of oil adding up as your sniffer prefers. I've used this one, but only about 1/2 the oil (a mix of lemongrass & lavender) & rubbing alcohol instead of vodka. It's good & it works. The alcohol smell IS a bit strong at first but quickly dissipates in the air.

2) From EcoMOMicalme - spray bottle, funnel, 1 cup baking soda, essential oil of your choice, water - using the funnel add baking soda to bottle, mix in warm water to fill the bottle, & add 10-12 drops of essential oil. Shake to use. The baking soda is your odor destroyer & the oil will give you the pleasant smell that you're craving. She offers a "not so green version" on this link as well.

3) From Curbly - spray bottle, 1 1/2 cups of water, 1 tablespoon baking soda, 1-2 teaspoons fabric softener.

4) From TipNut (I love this place!) - they offer four recipes here to choose from & I'm currently using recipe # 2

5) From HomemadeMamas - 2 cups warm water, 1/2 liquid fabric softener, 1 teaspoon baking soda

6) From Sarbear's Journey - 32oz spray bottle, 2 cups fabric softener, 3 tablespoons alcohol, water to fill

7) From Keeper of the Home - 2 recipes to choose from; one green using vinegar, water & essential oil, the second "semi green" using an eco-friendly fabric softener from your local health food grocery store & water.

Several options & I hope you find one that you like using. With the two that I use (#2 from TipNut & recipe #1 from Instructables) I have figured that my cost per month is LESS than 30¢ with either recipe so I only spend around $3 a year to de-stinkify my house...and with 4 males here it needs a LOT of it {shudder}. A little research, a need to save money, & willingness to try something new can yield some very pleasant results!

Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!

Thursday Thrifting

I won't get to go out every week, but I thought Thursdays would be a good day to share what I found at the local thrift stores earlier in the week. Yesterday, I managed to make it to the DI in Harrisville for the first time in a couple months. Wasn't looking for anything big (I still have some furniture projects to get on before it gets cold in October), but I found a few smaller goodies...

4 patterns, never cut apart, from the 1980s (my kids call that "vintage" *LOL*)...$1 (jumper/petticoat) & 50¢ each for the rest. I'll be spending some of the weekend tracing patterns onto freezer paper (a project I'll share on Monday) to keep from cutting them apart. I know, I'm a nut! It's okay, I'm comfortable in my skin!

There were some iron-on embroidery transfers (mixed manufacturers) lying loose on the shelf & since no one could find the packet they came out of, I got all of them for 25¢.

The little wooden tote box ($1) is PERFECT for holding my collection of essential oils, the measuring spoons are for the potions that I'll be sharing soon (like TOMORROW!), the 1c Pyrex measuring cup is for the smaller batches of goodies I'm whipping up, and all that milk glass? Well, I'm a sucker for milk glass. Seriously, cannot stay away from it, though I was proud of myself for putting down 3 vases. The 3 shallow bowls with handles ($1 ea) will bring my ice cream set up to 4 (2 have broken since the last ones I found back in March), the little dessert cup (50¢) has me up to a set of 8, and the 2 smaller cups & drinking glass (50¢ ea) went into my china hutch in the she-cave to hold rayon ribbon pins & spoons...

Total for the day - $10.25...not my best, but still a good haul for 3 sacks full of goodies that I can use!

I want to get better about posting & sharing with y'all, so I've set myself up a bit of a schedule. Here's how I've got it laid out for now: Keep It Simple Sunday (yep! it's back!), Miscellaneous Monday, Tennant Tuesday (none of you that know me are shocked by this, right? *LOL*), Wordless Wednesday, Thursday Thrifting, Frugal Friday, & Stamp n Scrap Saturday. I hope you like the schedule & if you have any projects/recipes/ideas that you'd like me to check out, please feel free to share! Thanks for stopping by and have a great rest of your day!!

Wordless Wednesday

Homemade Cologne Spray

I found this recipe in my bookmarks & had to try it. It's AH-mazing!

(this can work for men, too!)

4oz pump spray bottle

1/2 tsp witch hazel

essential oils of your choice (no more than 2-3)*

water

Remove the pump from the bottle. Pour in the witch hazel. Add 3-6 drops of each oil that you've chosen. Fill bottle with water & put pump back in. Lightly shake to mix oils, then spray & enjoy your CHEMICAL FREE cologne.

Keep at room temp or cooler - if you want to make a nice summer spritz to keep in the fridge for hot days, try wintergreen oil or some fresh crushed spearmint leaves in your bottle.

* For the batch I just made I used 3 drops of rose oil, 4 drops of lilac oil, & 3 drops of sandalwood oil - smells light, flowery & almost honey-like...LOVE IT! It almost reminds me of a perfume I used to wear called Ombre Rose.

I have more natural, inexpensive recipes to share with you, but I want to put them to the test before I put my stamp of approval on them. What do you think of me starting a Frugal Friday series for y'all?

Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!

Memories

Today I washed up a 2lb bag of white seedless grapes and stuck them in the freezer. As a kid, these were our favorite treats when my sister and I went to Gary & Paula's to play with their boys. Aunt Paula would stick some grapes in the freezer while we chased chickens, ran in the field throwing dirt clods at each other, rode bikes up and down between the two hills, and swam in the pool. When we were too hot to do much more, she'd fill up some huge Tupperware glasses of those grapes and we'd sit on the deck, eating them, recharging for the next round of adventures. My sister always poured water over hers and used them like ice cubes till they thawed and didn't hurt her teeth so much. *LOL*

Ah....memories! What fun, summery treats did you enjoy as a child?

Discontinued Items & The Last Fall Supplement

A list of items that are being discontinued from The Angel Company can be found HERE.

We're downsizing to ONE catalog every year (current one comes out this week). So, until I can figure out a way to embed these pdf forms onto my TAC Info page, you can find the final fall supplement catalog:

Pages 1 through 22 HERE

Pages 23 through 44 HERE

Still taking a bit of downtime to mourn the lost time with my grandmother, and dealing with my very strong anger issues about the lies told to keep us apart for nearly 12 years, but I'll be back soon. Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!