Bowtique Critique Black Friday Online Craft Show

Join Bowtique Critique for the 2nd annual Black Friday Online Craft Show!


With over 30 vendors, we're bigger than last year, and have hundreds of awesome items available this year! New to the show this year is the Bargain Corner- where all items are just $1.00- and most of what is available is Hand Crafted With Love!


And don't forget to check out the great FREE giveaways available through out the entire show!


The show is from 8pm Wed November 23rd to 6pm Sat November 26th.


Stop by Bowtique Critique Fan Page on Facebook to get ready for the auction!

Saving at CVS

Oh, how I wish I had coupons with me today! I had to stop at CVS this morning to grab bottle cap images (I use these for bows and flower clips, and have them printed up there), and decided to bypass the Valentine's Day clearance, and see what they had in their small end cap clearance section.

I am SO glad I did. They've been doing inventory in makeup over the past week, and clearing out a lot of fun stuff. Raegan's birthday is in April, and so is Easter, so I decided to stock up, as most of the make up marked down was 75% off.

I wound up getting:

4 Chrome Nail Pens- these are the Sally Hansen nail polish "Paint & Go" type pens, in a metallic chrome finish. $9.99 each, marked down to $2.49 each

1 Gold Metallic Nail Art Pen- these go hand in hand with the paint & go pens, but are skinnier so you can draw designs on your fingers. $8.99, marked down to $2.25.

Rimmel Sapphire Blue Eyeshadow- $4.39, marked down to $1.07

Sally Hanson Hard As Nails Pink Nail Polish- $2.99, marked down to $.75

Sally Hanson Quick Clear Coat Nail Polish- $10.49, marked down to $2.62

2 Sally Hanson Eyeshadow Trios- $8.79 each, marked down to $2.12 each

Sally Hanson Quik-Dry Red Nail Polish- $5.49, marked down to $1.37

Wet & Wild Black H2O Mascara- $2.99, marked down to $.74

Wet & Wild Purple Metallic Eyeshadow Pen- $1.99, marked down to $.49

Pedicure Brush (pumice stone on one side, bristles on the other)- $6.99, marked down to $1.74

3 Magic Reveal motion photo frames (think that plastic ridged stuff that makes stickers look like they're in motion)- $3.99 each, marked down to $.25 each

King Size Reeses Mini's (have you tried these? OMG SO GOOD!)- $1.69 minus a $2.00 coupon, -$.31

27 digital prints (bottle cap images) $5.13 (no discount sadly)

Total Spent:

$32.67 ($1.87 was tax)
Total on the discount items:
$25.36

Amount saved in-store today:

$95.85

WOOT!

Now, had I used coupons, that would have been better, but for spur-of-the-moment makeup shopping, I think I did pretty good.

Good Afternoon!

Happy Sunday to all!

I promise, I have not fallen off the face of the blogging world. I've been spending most the weekend in bed, since I have not had to be up through out the day for the kids. I am hoping that in being lazy all weekend (that's what it feels like), that I am allowing my body to heal faster.

I had Nick dig out our ancient laptop, so I can use it in the bedroom, so I have had access to the interwebs. Friday night, Nick and I were conversing online (yes, I am aware of how geeky that is, when we were only 2 rooms apart), when his cpu went nuts. He's been letting the kidlets use his computer from time to time, and one of them picked up a nasty worm. It's first function was to target and break all security programs- ad-aware, spybot, hijack-this, McAffee, etc. Each of the programs died as soon as we tried to use them.

Luckily, Mr. Nick is a techno Wizard, and knew how to handle it, so we were able to run programs needed to isolate and destroy the worm. So, fast forward to Saturday, and I'm laying in bed using the laptop, and poof- it goes nuts as well.

The laptop has not seen regular use in over a year. It was used briefly as a DVD player when I took the kids camping in June. It was used 2-3 times over the summer to stream music when I was laying out in the sun. It hasn't been turned on since August, but somehow, I had the worm. That was bad news, right there, because it meant it had hit our network.

The kids computer hadn't shown any signs of a worm, nor had my desktop, but Nick set to work getting them all scanned and fixed up. It took this laptop over 7 hours to run the program, that's how slow this machine is. It took less than an hour on my desktop (0 infected files), and about 2 hours on the kids machine (over 100 infected files, but we knew they would have some because there was a non-destructive worm we couldn't delete about a month ago, before we knew about the program we used yesterday). At the time, we were able to isolate it, just not destroy it, so it's probably certain that those 100+ files were from that worm. Could have been both, though.

The laptop had over 30 form the worm, plus close to another 40 instances of adware on it. It's running super now, though- the adware had been slowing it down tremendously. ;)

Today, we made a run to Lansing. It's a 20 minute drive, roughly, and I wasn't sure how I'd do, but I wanted to get to Michaels. I've been crafting in bed a lot- lots of felt work. I just have to sew my banner on the machine tonight or tomorrow, and that's done. Back a few days before the injury, I stopped in to Dollar Tree and got 4 red satin placemats for $.25 each on clearance. I wish I had grabbed 5, since there are 5 of us, but I was thinking in even dollar amounts, and only grabbed 4. Yesterday, I spent the day appliquing felt hearts to each of them.

Before we went to Lansing, I had Nick stop at DT for me, and I picked up a few things- including 5 placemats. They are the same, but kind of an off white satin. I'm debating whether to make 5 new Valentine placemats, or make them into Easter ones. If I can go back to DT, I'll grab 2 more white ones, and make 2 Valentine ones, and 5 Easter ones.

My way of thinking- we'll have 3 red and 2 white placemats for Valentine's Day, and I can turn 1 of the red placemats into a center mat, with more hearts on it.

At Michaels, I picked up lots of ribbon- thin satin ribbon was on sale 3/$1, so I picked up 4 of those (yeah, I know, but I thought I had 6). There was some thin organza ribbon on clearance for $.50, so I picked up 2 of those. Then, I found 3 rolls of grosgrain ribbon on clearance for $.19 each, so I got all 3 of those. They were from Christmas, but are not Christmas patterns or colors. I also picked up 1 roll of rick rack ribbon for $1 and 1 roll of lavendar flower die-cut ribbon for $1. I think both will look good for Easter.

Open stock scrapping paper was 5/$1, so I picked 5 new sheets up. Some for Valentines Day, some for the heck of it. I am going to try to Mod Podge from bed this week. ;)

I wanted dark pink felt, but they didn't have any. Instead, I picked up lavender, light blue, and light green, for Spring colors.

I also grabbed a flower stamp, and a lavender stamp pad. In the Christmas clearance, I sorted through the picks, and picked up anything red or pink and sparkly. I can use them in my Valentine's Day hurricane candle holder. Rather, my regular, clear glass hurricane candle holder I plan to use with red and pink sparkly things to make it a Valentine's Day holder.

I do not have any photos on this CPU, nor do I have a way to upload my camera to this one, so this post is photo-free.

I just wanted to give everyone an update. Didn't mean for it to get so lengthy! Tomorrow, I promise a craft post, complete with photos. Invalid's honor! I just haven't decided if it will be place mats or a LOVE banner. Guess you'll see tomorrow!

To Drive or Not To Drive

I have been cooped up in the house since Thursday when we got back from the ER, and frankly, I was going out of my mind. The pain has cut back a bit, and I've found ways to sit that don't hurt as much. However, when I am sitting up, part of it is that I lean forward to keep the weight off my tailbone, and it strains my back.
Many of you already know from my posts in the past that I have back problems, so it was like trading 1 ache for another, but I'd rather have a sort back than pain when I sit.

Today, I was antsy. I decided that since I wasn't having much pain, and had gone the entire day without having to take a pain killer, that I would go to the store for a short shopping trip. I wanted to stop at Dollar Tree and pick up something small for crafts that I can do while laying in bed. Sitting at the craft table is out of the question, as the chair is a hard seated dining room chair. My computer chair doesn't fit at the desk.

Well, I first stopped at CVS, then when I got over to DT, I saw signs in the Fashion Bug windows announcing the store was going out of business, and everything was 50-60% off. I walked through there, but they didn't have any pants in my size, and I couldn't justify spending money on shirts I didn't need.

By the time I started to walk through DT, my body ached. My back, my rear, everything just ached. The more I walked, the more yucky I felt, so I cut the trip really short, and came home to lay in bed. I took my pain killers, and tossed in a movie.

Ugh. It's safe to say, though, that my body is REALLY not ready to drive, even for a short drive. I know we need groceries, so tomorrow, I'll see if Nick will go with me. If he drives, at least I can sit in a way that won't hurt as much.

Oh- CVS went to 90% off today for their Christmas stuff, and DT was 75% off. I picked up 9 medium gift bags, 3 packs of mini bows, 3 small gift bags, 3 bags of Hershey's Kisses, 2 really soft Reindeer stuffed animals, and a few other items at CVS. I only spent $7, and had 2 bags full of booty.

The Hershey's Kisses I am going to sort and put into 2 candy jars. 1 will have red & silver for Valentine's Day, and the other will have green & silver for St. Patrick's day. Oh! They also had a set of jelly clings in hearts, and a foam pink & red thing that says LOVE on it- both rang up for just $.09 on clearance, despite being Valentine's Day items. I grabbed those to use for Valentine's Day.

I am hoping to do something craft-like tomorrow from bed, after the kids go to school. I also need to talk to the bus driver tomorrow morning and see if Raegan can pick Gilly up at the bus stop this week, to limit how often I have to walk down there, or stand in the cold waiting. Driving her to school is NOT an option, to painful.

75% off is Dangerous

Today, Walmart started it's 75% off Christmas sale. It's a dangerous time, because people are so conditioned that when they shop clearance, they believe they NEED all these cool things. I'm no different.

I drooled, I packed my cart, I begged hubby for something we didn't need. It wasn't pretty. I even went up and down the aisles talking to myself. Out loud.

In the end, I did get some items, but I put a LOT of stuff back. I got wrapping paper- 4 roll packs totaling 135 square feet for just $1.25. I picked up 2 packs, so 8 rolls, and all 8 are coordinating colors. I picked up 4 sparkly glitter covered ornaments for our tree next year for just $.25 each. I found 2 Merry Madagascar fleece blankets for $2 each. I picked up 2 packs of Chocolate Covered Cherries for Nick for $.31 each (cheaper than a candy bar, and it lasts longer!). I found some S'mores type snack mix for $1.25, which comes in a very nice reusable tin without any packaging info printed on it.

I got the girls each a pair of Christmas socks for next year for $.75 each. I bought 2 packs of satin ribbon. Both packs had 3 feet each of 5 different patterns, for 15 feet in each pack. Both packs are different, but coordinating. I got Chris a set of 3 body sprays for his upcoming birthday for $1.25. I found PJ bottoms for Rae next year for $2.50. The kids always get new PJ's for Christmas, and this year, the cheapest I found for Rae were $4.99 on Black Friday, so this was cheaper, and will work as a nice gift for her.

What all did I put back? Outdoor light up candy canes, outdoor snowmen stakes, an indoor light up Santa, a 7 foot Christmas tree ($22!), and a dart board for Chris's upcoming birthday (soft tipped, but still... flying darts in his hands?), and a lot more.

All in all, I caution you to be practical in what you pick up. 75% off is enticing, but it's still hard earned money. Keep in mind a few simple things when shopping:

1. Did I want this when it was full price?
2. Do I have a use immediatly in mind for this?
3. Do I have room to store it?
4. Will this purchase cut into any other budgets?
5. Is this REALLY the best use of my money?

If you shop, limit yourself. Don't go nuts buying things you kind of like just because it's cheap. Practice restraint. Your wallet will thank you.

If all else fails, walk around the store in a different area for an hour, then re-evaluate what is in your cart. Still really have to have it? If not, set it aside.

I made sure that I had a use for everything I picked up- whether it was wrapping paper (I have now picked up 10 rolls of paper on clearance, which is double what I used this year, so in theory, I should be set for 2 years. Especially when you look at what I had left over this year, too), or gifts for Chris for his birthday in January, or gifts for Christmas next year, or snacks the kids can eat now.

The few items I liked that were just for the heck of it were the first ones I put back- a pretty red stocking with candy appliques on the front, outdoor decorations which just cost more in electricity later, the tree that I really don't need and would only be a secondary tree next year.

So, just keep in mind this year when clearance shopping that a good price doesn't always make it a good deal!