Listia, & Cameras!

Listia is a web-auction site, similar to eBay with a few notable differences.

First- there are NO FEES to post items on Listia.

Second- it isn't a cash system. You use credits- which means no profits, but, it means you can find some neat stuff for free, too.

The site starts you off with 200 points, which isn't really much in value (though, Listia the site will value 200 points at $20, the users value it at more like $1-5 in value). But, it's enough to pick up some fun things free right off the bat.

Some users charge shipping, others don't. Either way, my reason for bringing this up, is because I've been auctioning off hair clips on the site. Today, I listed 2 new ones:

Pumpkin Hair Clippie- currently "selling" for 0 credits!

Caterpiller Hair Clippie- Currently "selling" for 0 credits!

I also have a third clip set up, but it's for 2 or more pairs of clippies. It's a 'tiered' auction. On Listia, you can set your own limits on the auction, and many people do 'tiered' auctions- the site limits you to a starting value of 0-100, so to get around that, many people will list an auction where the more the auction sells for, the more you get.

For instance, in MY tiered auction, you get to pick 2 pairs of clippies (4 clippies total) from a set of 18 pairs if the bidding ends at 0-149 points. From 150-299 points, you get to pick 3 pairs. From 300-449, you get to pick 4 pairs, and so on, up to 6 pairs total.

Below are the pictures of the sets I show on the auction to choose from:

I've been enjoying Listia. So far, I've only won 2 auctions, but both were worth it! The fist was a set of 3 DS styluses, which are easy to lose, and cost $8 for 3 in the store. I got them for 90 credits, and $2 shipping.

The other one I won... well, I -love- it! It's a Canon DSLR camera bag. Now, for those of you who have SLR's, you'll know that the bags made for them can cost anywhere from $50 on up, and that's for the cheap ones that don't hold much.

I won the bag for 32 credits, and paid $4.85 to have it shipped. Now, my other fantastic news? My bag arrived on Friday. And so did my SLR camera! I have a camera I'm testing out, and if I like it, I can buy it for $400. It's an Olympus E-330 with a 14-45mm lens, and a 40-150mm lens. I love it! The same camera goes for $550 on eBay with 1 lens. The second lens goes for close to $100 on eBay, so over all, I saved $250 on what I got, plus another $50 on the bag!

Here are a few photos I took with my new SLR.

Hair Clips & A Giveaway

As many of you know, I'm a frugal crafter. If I can buy it on sale, discount, or with a coupon, I love it. If it's free, I love it even more. So, what better way to feed my craft bug than with a FREE giveaway on the original Frugal blogger's website- Dollar Store Crafts?

Heather (great name!) over at DSC is giving away an X-Acto Silhouette Machine! Head on over to her site to sign up to win a $300 prize pack!

Next up- more hair clips. I kind of wish my girls were young enough for these, but my almost 9 year old assures me that wearing hair clips, bows, and flowers to school is SO EMBARRASSING, MOM! -sigh- In the mean time, I continue to make them.

Why? Well, first and foremost, they're quick, easy, fun craft projects I can do in 20 minutes without having to plan out a project, and right now, my time is sparse with photo editing, photo taking, and summer. Next up, they can be toted along to photo shoots and used if the client wants to use them. Third, I have nieces who are still young enough to love them, so anything that I don't sell, I give away.

Of course, to feed the addiction of making them, I do hope to sell some along the way. Anyway, lately I've been making the little ribbon lined clippies- great for every day use, and no where near as large & extravagant looking as huge bows and flowers. They're also great for younger kids who don't have much hair.

I've been listing my clippies at $2 for a matching pair, $1.50 for individual ones, and 3 pairs for $5. Below are some of my more recent ones. They are listed for sale on my Facebook page for My Frugal Family!

Korker Bows- A How To Tutorial

Well, between it being summer, and starting a photography business, I have very little time on my hands. One of the things I've been doing, though, is making bows. I tote them alone with me to photo shoots, so that they can be used in the shoots, and in some instances, sold.

I've known HOW to make Korker bows for a while, however, it's only been recently that I took the time to actually put the theory to test. While I'm sure most people who play around with bows know how to do these, I figured I would show the rest of the crew how to make them.

What You'll Need:

• 12-16" Dowels, roughly the diameter of a Pencil, give or take a bit. You can use extremely narrow dowels for thin ribbon- these make for cute, TINY little korkers. I've use thick and thin dowels, but pencil width makes the nicest korker size for 3/8" ribbon, IMHO.
• 3/8" ribbon. Anywhere from 1-4 different ribbons look best. When using patterned ribbon, I would recommend using no more than 2 patterns, and adding in at least 1, if not 2-3 solid coordinating ribbons.
• An oven
• Clothing pins
• Elastic Thread
• Alligator Clip, Hair Band tie, or Headband- your choice!
• Felt- This isn't required, but I prefer using it.

All right, so... here's the really "hard" instructions. This first part is just the instructions on how to turn plain ribbon into Korker ribbon.

1. Preheat your oven to 275 Degrees F. 
2. Take a dowel, and your first ribbon. You are going to wind it in a spiral around the dowel. Once you have it started, use a clothing pin to "pin" the ribbon in place. Once you have it started, it's super easy & fast to wind down the dowel. 
3. When the ribbon reaches the end, wind it around, cut it, then pin it in place using the clothing pin again. 
4. Repeat steps 2 & 3 to fill as many dowels as you have. To put it into perspective, each full Korker bow is going to use between 4-8 dowels worth of ribbon. The more full you want it, obviously, the more ribbon you'll want to use.
5. Once you have all the dowels you want, place them either on a cookie sheet, or in a casserole dish or cake pan, and stuff them into the oven. Bake them for 25 minutes. You can leave them in longer, if you'd like, but 25 minutes will work good.
6. Remove them from the oven, and let the rods cool for 10 minutes or so, since the wood does get very hot to handle.
7. Once they are cool, you can unspiral them from the dowels. If you twist the ribbon to loosen it, you can slide it right off the dowel, though it may snag on the wood from time to time.

 Part 2- How to turn Korker ribbon into Korker Hair Clips.

1. First up, you want to cut your ribbon into smaller, more managable sections. You can lay it out, measure it, and cut it, but I find that just holding the ends, and stretching the middle tight with my scissors, then cutting it in half works well. I repeat this with each of the two left over strands, so that I get 4 3" korkers out of each dowel's worth of ribbon. You can also cut them smaller, and create "layers" of longer & shorter length.
2. Once you have all your ribbons cut, lay them out flat on the table on top of elastic thread. Pull tight, and tie it. This can sometimes leave your korkers uneven, though. My other meathod is to layer them onto a straight pin, then tie it while it is still on the pin, before removing the pin. You'll find all sorts of meathods on the web, and will find what works bvest for you after a few tries.
3. Once it's tied together, fluff it, and decide what will be the "bottom" of the hair tie. From here, take the felt, and cut a small circle to glue to the bottom. This gives it more surface space to glue to the item you want it on.
4. Take the item you are attaching it to, and add glue to the felt, before attaching it to the item. For skinny, elastic headbands, I add a circle of felt to the bottom, to seal it on with more surface space. With alligator clips and hard plastic headbands, just add the glue in the strip where the item will be.

Ta Da!

Variations- try experimenting with different types of ribbon. I've used Satin & Grosgrain with great results. I also tried Rick Rack, and it left it with a tiny bit of curl, but not a korker effect. You can also try out different widths of ribbon. I used both 1/4" and 1/8" today, and LOVED the teeny tiny Korkers as an addition, though the 1/8" size on a TEENY TINY dowel was hard to secure in place with a clothing pin.

Free Flower Clip Giveaway

Lately, one of the things I've been doing in a crafty capacity, is making hairbows, flower clips, and headbands.

Well, once I get started, I just keep churning them out. So, to get rid of some of my excess, I'm hosting a contest through my Facebook page- refer 10 people, and get a free hair clip. Limit of 2 free clips per person. The clips are all hand done- I don't order premade clips, then sell them at a markup. I find flowers, take them apart, layer them, add buttons or gems to the center, line the alligator clip, and put them all together.

To sign up, simply refer people to the My Frugal Family facebook page, here.

To have your referral qualify, they must:

1. Be a NEW member to the Facebook group, not an existing member!
2. Post to my page WHO referred them- with your FACEBOOK name! You must also be a member of my facebook page!

The referral contest will run through Friday,  July 23rd. At the end, I'll count up every referral post, and ANYONE who has referred 10 people will earn a FREE Flower clip of their choice from my page. If you refer 20, you'll earn 2 free clips.

Shipping is free in the continental US.

Cheap Gaming for the Boys

I live with a geek. I admit it. He's a techno geek to the core, raised on computers and video games. And, as frugal as I am, when it comes to games, there are very few ways to remain frugal.

Thankfully, my husband, Nick, is in line with my way of thinking, and he does every little bit he can to keep the costs down for his video game splurges, as well.

He also runs a blog on games- he reviews systems & games, and he has recently done a post on frugal gaming!

So, if you have game geeks in the house, or little boys, (or heck, girls!), take a moment to check over his blog, Chalgyr's Game Room