Couponing for Charity

As I posted a bit ago, I have gotten more involved with couponing.  In the last year or so I had heard about places you could get coupons from but in the last six months I found a group on Facebook and got involved.  I am to the point where I have actually written a few articles over at Hubpages about couponing.  It’s not that I am an expert, but I want to help others.  Especially Canadians who are trying to coupon as it is different here than in the States.

But I have to say, one of my favourite things about couponing is getting things for very cheap or free that I can then donate.  Donating to charities does not always have to be about money, it can be about providing your time or a service.  But, by proper couponing, you can get things for very little money.

For instance, one of the best deals here is dove.  With the right coupons, you can get any dove product for a penny (plus tax).  So I have started a donation bin and I have shampoo, conditioner and deodorant in there to give away.  I have not figured out the charity – it may be for a family I hear of in need, it may go to the YWCA or maybe through a charity drive at work.  Another great deal is pads being on sale for $1.97 and I have a coupon for $2 off.   Every time I go to the store, I buy one or two packages.

I think one of the best things you can do as a couponer is to be responsible and respectful.  To me, this means not clearing the shelf of the entire product but only buying a few.  For instance, the pads above – that price is half price.  I can guarantee you that there are women out there who will gladly pay the $2 that they are listed for.  And this is likely why the shelf is quite bare when I am at the store.

A Neglected Blog

Wow.. my poor neglected blog!

A quick update on my life:

Still crafting – have donated quite a few items to various places.. But still have a lot of yarn left!

My cats – They are still crazy and enjoying destroying my couch :(

Blogging – I have several blogs going.. Some are neglected and others are current.  But I guess when you run a blog like a business and try to make an income from it, it makes it a bit different.

Writing – Still doing writing work and attempting to finish an e-book.  It is definitely a long process!

Saving Money – I have gotten into couponing more in the last few months.  I have had a few people ask me if I am an extreme couponer.  The answer is, not even close but I am working on it!

I am going to try and post here more often.  Likely my posts will be about my crafting and my couponing.  But I likely will post some pictures and stories from my trips that I have taken and whatever hits my fancy at the moment. 

Scarves for Special Olympians

If anyone is interested, the Special Olympics is looking for donations of scarves for all the Olympians. There is no set pattern - knit or crochet, with a blue and white colour theme with a bit of red.

There is a ravelry group here
http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/special-olympic-scarf-cana...

And you can find more information here:
http://www.stalbert2012.ca/news/fullstory/view/63

I am willing to collect these. I am hoping there will be a pickup location in Saskatoon though, but if not, I can collect and mail out (a few dollars donated to the cost of mail would be greatly appreciated but not required)

Fall is Coming

With fall coming, many of us get back to the routines that were abandoned earlier.  I find it rather interesting how the lives of so many revolve around school even if we do not have children.  

However, with that said, my fall this year does have some bearing on school as I am returning to night classes this fall.  I decided back in the spring that it was time to return to school and am working on my business certificate/diploma/I am not 100% sure.  The school I go to has a variety of different programs which are all connected which is why I am not exactly sure where I will end up.

I will be taking two classes this fall – one of which is a night class and the other is an online class. I do not expect either one to be too difficult as they are introductory classes.   Most of the difficult classes have been completed as part of my accounting certificate but I know I have one or two math classes to take.

Fall also means a return to my craft group which I am looking forward to.  While I have been crafting this summer with some different groups, it will be nice to return to this group as well.  This will bring my crafting time to two times a week and possible a bit more if my twitter group gets together and I am able to attend.

Another thing that I appreciate about fall is the cooler temperatures, although, I am not a fan of the cold temperatures that will come later.  But for now, I will continue to ignore them and not think about them.

My Kindle Review

I purchased the $114 Kindle from Amazon – it has Wi-Fi and some ads to help justify the lower price.

This Kindle is said to hold approx 3,500 books.  While I was downloading a lot of books before it arrived, I have nowhere near that amount to put on it.  You can sync the kindle to your online Amazon account which is also what you use to organize your books, as they can be hard to find on the Kindle, but I have not been able to play with this yet as I have had issues getting it to connect to my Wi-Fi.

Reading with the Kindle is very easy.  It is approximately the same size as a paperback book but much thinner.  The buttons to turn the pages forward and back are in a comfortable location and you barely even notice it happening when you are reading.  The screen is dull which helps with keeping your eyes from getting so tired like they would with a computer screen.   I thought that the screen was backlit for reading in the dark, but I read wrong and it is not.

The Kindle comes with a good battery life.  They say you can go a month without charging it even when it is left on.  I don’t tend to leave it on though unless I know I will be coming back to it shortly so I tend to shut it off completely.  As of the time of writing, I’ve had it almost a month and there is lots of battery left.

As with any technology, they are constantly upgrading.  I have heard rumors that there is going to be a colour Kindle coming out later this year.  I don’t foresee me having much need for that as I am just reading standard books although if I were to load a craft book, that may be handy to have colour for.

Likes:
*  The ability to carry multiple books with you and it does not take up a lot of space

*  I can borrow books from my local library and put them on the Kindle.
*  The ability to get books for free from Amazon and other sites for the Kindle. *  Long battery life
*  Ads – The ads on my Kindle are not at all intrusive.  They are more like a non-moving screen saver as they come up when you have set the book aside for a while.  I saved $25 over the same version with no ads.

Dislikes: 
*  Lack of light – That was just me not reading the listing properly and I found a book light cheap at a local store
*  Without having the Wi-Fi working, organizing the books is difficult
*  The functions are not as intuitive as I would like, but I’m sure as I play more, I will get better.

Note:  As of the time of writing, I have read 3 Kindle books and probably 4 paper books.

My Name is Sharon and I have a Yarn Addiction

One of my co-workers, who is a crafter, is cleaning house. She asked me if I would be interested in some
wool. I don’t use wool, yet, but I said I was sure I could find a home for it between my various crafting
groups. I expected a grocery bag or two of yarn.

Come in to work, and my chair was covered with two sweater bags full of yarn! I was shocked to say the
very least! And looking at it, it appears it is all acrylic, which is perfect for the various charity projects
that I am working on. I hauled it home on the bus and set it aside to sort it out somehow.

Then, I ended up at Walmart to get litter for the cats, and my cart seemed to drift over to the craft area.
Seeing as I have been reading on Ravelry that some Walmarts are getting rid of their yarn, I thought I
would see if there were any good deals. I ended up getting 4 balls of yarn at half off (2 of them are eco-
yarn from Red Heart that I was curious about; the other 2 I liked the colour). I also ended up with 3 bags
of mill ends – but these have 4 to 5 balls in them for 7 bucks, so that’s still less than 2 bucks a ball, which
is still cheaper than buying them separate. I do plan to use these in combination with the donated yarn
for my charity crafting. 

But as you can see, I have a problem. At least it isn’t anything dangerous or illegal, but it is still a
problem. Now I must get crocheting!

PS - Did I mention the yarn I got half price last week? Yah, I have a problem.

Looking for: Yarn!

I am looking for yarn to use for Charity projects.  It can be gaudy, it can be half a ball, and it can be whatever you can and are willing to donate.  Acrylic is lovely and wonderful!

I am currently working on blankets to donate to the animal shelters.  I know SCAT accepts donations and I will likely look into the SPCA as well.  I have made 2 blankets so far and would like to make a whole lot more.  For those yarns that I have less of, I am hoping to make cat toys that the shelters can also sell.  

And when the yarn gets to be too little for that, there is a lady in my craft guild who donates the itty bitty bits to a church who uses them to make dolls for packing dental supplies for a third world countries.  So many places will benefit!  Last time, I had a grocery bag worth of little scraps just from my own projects, and I already have a quarter of a grocery bag!

I ordered a Kindle!

Whee!  I can't wait for it to get here, but it is going to be taking a bit of a long route due to the extra fees that Amaon.ca charges.  That said, I have already ordered a case and screen protectors for it and I am looking at a skin to make it look pretty. :)

This one does have ads on it, but I hear they are unobtrusive and easy to ignore.  There are also some other freebies that come with it but I cannot recall what all at the moment.

I have a tonne of books already downloaded for it, free from Amazon, and my library has a program where you can borrow books to read on it.  :)

One of my favourite features is the backlit screen for reading in bed.  It is designed to be a low light unlike my blackberry which is bright.

Saskatoon Craft Guild Tea - April 13 & 14

The Saskatoon Craft Guild is proud to present our 70^th Annual Display and Tea on Wednesday, April 13 and Thursday, April 14, 2011 from 1:00 pm to 9 pm.  The Tea will be held at the Masonic Temple located at 1021 Saskatchewan Crescent (formerly Herman Avenue).

Admission is $3 and includes entry to the Display, the Tea Room and door prize draws.  Feature crafts include:  Quilting, Smocking, Crochet, Knitting, Needlepoint, Creative Stitchery, Hardanger and Rug Making.

Please come out, have some tea and dainties, and check out all the wonderful work that our members have done and enter the door prize.  You may win some of these wonderful homemade crafts!

If you are not into crafts, but you know someone who is, please forward this to them!

You can see some of the gorgeous items from last year here.

http://allaboutme-sharon.blogspot.com/2010/06/saskatoon-craft-guild-tea-april-2010_13.html

http://allaboutme-sharon.blogspot.com/2010/06/saskatoon-craft-guild-tea-april-2010_17.html

http://allaboutme-sharon.blogspot.com/2010/06/saskatoon-craft-guild-tea-april-2010_19.html

I won! I won! A crochet book!

Recently I started reading the blog at "Canadian Living"  (http://www.canadianliving.com/blogs/crafts/)  Since I started reading, she has given away several books.  All you need to do is post a comment on whatever topic she asks about and wait. 

Today, I got an emailing telling me I won the most recent giveaway!  What a great start to a monday!  I should be receiving this book soon! 

Crafting with Cat Hair Continued

Did you want to order the book about crafting with your cat's hair?  It is now available for pre-order on Amazon!

Making Crochet Hooks more Comfortable

When I get crocheting for more than an hour or so, I find that my wrists start to get sore.  This is likely due to tendonitis.  While it is not flared up right now, after about two hours my wrists get sore and I have to quit.  As a result, I decided to do a search on Ravelry for some ideas about finding something more comfortable. 

I found several ideas, and this one is pretty cool, easy to re-use and economical.  May not be the prettiest, but that isn't always important.

Making a Hook Friendly

Making Crafts with Cat Hair?

I know my cats loose quite a bit of hair, I just need to look at my comforter for confirmation of that!  But I'm not sure about using that hair to make crafts.  But if you want to try, you may want to purchase this book from Etsy.

How to Make Crafts with Cat Hair

You will also need to be able to speak Japanese.

An interesting concept, but do we really need to be that frugal?

Time for New Projects!

So I managed to finish off my knitting projects, and its time to start some new ones.  I did attempt to start some socks the other night but didn't get too far, I just ripped it out several times.  I will try again another day.

I also have started a new crochet project - a granny square blanket.  I am using blue and pink together and will be donating it to the Crisis Nursery along with all the scarves I have made.  I did notice night that I have a scarf that I haven't finished in crochet, but I think I only have a row or two left (long rows) so I can finish it without too much effort.

I will have pictures in a few days.  :)

The Forever Afghan is done!

My goal was actually to finish this in 2010, so I figure the 16th of January isn't that bad.

I finished the actual blanket sometime last year, but had to cut the thread off and tuck in the ends, which I was dreading.  But tonight I was feeling restless so felt this would be a good task.  I got about 20 rows done and was surprised to find I had done most of the ends previously so I was done!

And the blanket

And a closeup.  Its a very simple pattern, I could pick it up after a year and have no issues.

Looking Forward to 2011

Many people like to use this time to evaluate the past year, but 2010 was not the greatest year for me, so I prefer to look forward and talk about what I hope to accomplish this year.

Day job – This is one of those bad things, so I hope 2011 sees me in a happy place, seeing as a person spends many hours at their job.

Candles – My Gold Canyon business picked up as the year went on, and I hope to see it continue and grow.  No complaints here.

Online Work – I was hoping to hit 2k, and I made just over 2,100.  I hope to increase this to at least 3k this year and maybe even 4k.  I plan to expand where I have been working and what I have been doing.

Blogging – I plan to continue my Candle blog (http://www.thescentsationals.com/), I have started a new blog which I will post here when I am ready to start promoting it, and I will continue this blog.  I need to decide if my WAH blog is going to survive, as it has been greatly neglected.

Crafting – I want to get more adventurous and try new things.  I already have a few things in my queue on Ravelry that I want to try.  I am still in the craft guilt, in the knitting area, but have decided crochet is where I prefer to be.  I still want to tackle a knitted sock too.

Cats – Continue loving on them and harassing them.  As much as some days I want to adopt a new one, I know that is not a good decision for a variety of reasons.  I may look into doing some volunteer work with the cat shelters in town.

Travel – I am hoping to go on a holiday in 2012, so continue to plan for this and save the funds up to go.

My Pretties!

I made myself a scarf with Pomp-a-doodle yarn.  The colour is called African Violet.  I used 2 balls to make it the length I wanted.

Some of the yarn I picked up on Boxing Day at Michaels. 

Boxing Day Shopping Made Easy

I am not a Boxing Day shopper; I am not a shopper at the best of times.  But, I received my flyers and went through them to see if there was anything worth my time and money.  And I did find one thing.

Michaels Flyer

As you may know, I recently learnt how to knit, and I have picked up my crochet needles again.  And while I have not gotten through much of my stash, a girl can never have too much yarn stash, can she?  (I think some of the threads on Ravelry are getting to me!).   

Michael’s was kind enough to have several different types of yarn on sales, and generously included a coupon that was good for 25% off everything you purchased, including those items that were already on sale!  This coupon cinched the deal for me, and I headed out at 11:30 this morning to go shopping.

I got some great deals; at least, I think they were, as much of the yarn I bought was 50% off, and then another 25% off.  I ultimately spent 100 bucks; although, I did buy a hook for 10 dollars, a photo box for 2 bucks and probably about 10 dollars worth of scrap booking materials.  The great thing is, I already have projects in mind for some of the yarn, and as a result, I had to buy 4 or 5 skeins of most yarns to make sure if I changed which yarn I was going to use, I would still have enough.  :)

PC Kindle Program

Now you can read free kindle books on your PC!

Download here

Different Storage Option

Well, i decided that the cedar chest just is not going to work for me.  But, in the meantime, I have received a dresser which I am now able to use to store my clothing in my bedroom, instead of in the spare room.  Therefore, the yarn can now live in the dresser and I can sort it in some sort of method.  Now, I have to decide on a good method to store it.   Now I can use the cedar cabinet for its proper purpose, to store quilts and blankets.  :)