And the winners are . . .

Thanks to all of you who commented on my recent Christmas Card post!

And I'm happy to announce that the three fortunate winners of 25 free cards from Shutterfly are:

Suzanne Dobbertin
Kelly Glupker
Tracy Hall

My kids chose these names randomly out of a bowl.  Really high-tech, I know.  :)

(I'll message each of you on Facebook with your unique promo code to use at Shutterfly.com for 25 free cards.  Email me at aliciamhorn (at) gmail (dot) com if you'd rather I email the code to you.)

And remember if you're a blogger, you can still register yourself with Shutterfly to get 25 free cards.   Register here: http://goo.gl/DDw7Q

Happy card-making!

Christmas cards already?

I don't usually start thinking about Christmas cards until mid-November at the earliest.  But this year, Shutterfly is getting me started earlier than normal.  Last week they emailed me offering me FIFTY FREE CARDS if I blog about their holiday card selection.  That's a no-brainer for this cheapskate!  

And the coolest part of the promo is that I get to offer YOU some free cards too!  Three fortunate commenters to this post will be chosen at random to receive a promo code for 25 free cards of their choice from Shutterfly's expansive holiday card collection.

To prepare for this review I spent much time browsing and exploring Shutterfly's holiday card site.  And man was that fun!  Since I want to send out Christmas cards with a strong religious message I spent most of my time searching through the religious section. I wasn't too disappointed.  Shutterfly's religious card section has 68 choices and many include Bible verses.  I'm quite choosy when it comes to religious cards.  I want my card to have a clear, strong and Biblical message.  My favorites were as follows:

Seal of Christ.  Love the red and brown combined with black and white photos.  Sepia photos would look great with this design too.  Also like the cool square shape and impacting cross-centered verse chosen for this card.

Mighty God. This is my favorite one because of the verse choice and light blue paired with traditional red and green.  Now to snap a picture of all three kiddos smiling simultaneously.  That's going to take a miracle.

Open your hearts.  I really dig the personal call-to-action of this card's message.  And I LOVE the rainbow colorful-ness on the black background.

Rejoice.  Brown and light blue is such a classy color combo.  And the verse is a powerful statement for Christmas. 

There are MYRIADS of unusual and vibrant designs at the Shutterfly website.  I'm especially drawn to the colorful and non-traditional color choices of their cards.  There's an entire "Merry and Bright" category of cards that is just that!  Super fun rainbow colors are usually paired with black and white photos to make for playful and festive cards.

And they have some unique twists of format on the traditional Christmas letter.  If you're into writing Christmas letters or family highlights from your year, Shutterfly has some cool options like top 10 lists and story bubbles to position around photos.

I also appreciate how many different ways there are to navigate the options for photo cards at Shutterfly.  You can narrow your choices by clicking checkboxes for 1, 2, 3 or 4+ photos per card design.  You can narrow the choices further by color or collection style.  And if you're indecisive like I am, you can use their "compare cards" feature to select favorites and check them out side-by-side.

To enter my giveaway for 25 free cards from Shutterfly, just answer the following question in your comment: What do you do with the Christmas cards you receive post-holiday?

[I'll pick 3 winners at random by Friday, October 28.  And by the way, Shutterfly did NOT pay me for this review -- unless you count the 50 free cards that is.  These are all my own thoughts and opinions.]

Are you a blogger? Want a chance at 25 free cards this holiday season? Register here: http://goo.gl/DDw7Q

We have a winner!

Jenny Muth is the fortunate commenter who wins the new Shaun Groves cd, Third World Symphony!

Kind of bummed more of you didn't enter my bloggy giveaway.  But that's just testimony to the fact that I need to BLOG MORE to keep you guys reading and commenting.  I'll work on that.  Still wish there was an app which connected my brain directly to blogger.  That would save me so much time and effort.  :) 

Congrats go out to Jenny too on the safe arrival of new baby Cadence!  I've got some other fun goodies to throw into the winning package too.  (Doesn't that make you wish you had entered now?) 

Happy listening!

Shaun Groves Giveaway!

No, I'm not giving away the musician Shaun Groves.

But I AM giving away Shaun Groves' newly released and fantastically crafted cd, Third World Symphony.

I know I've blogged about this before but Matt and I have a very short-list of Christian artists that really move us. There's a power in these guys that comes from their expert blending of truth, poetry, heart-felt sincerity and musicality that is incomparable with other more mainstream Christian artists. 

I won't walk too far down the rabbit trail here but scores of Christian musicians are facing mounting pressure from Christian radio stations which will only play *lighter* music.  The radio stations want songs with softer lyrics which fit a particular soft-rock pop song style.  BLECH.  Thankfully, many Christian artists are still generating music that is weighty, unique, powerful and relevant.  They're just doing so independent of record labels and going "underground" so to speak.  (Read more here and listen to more gourmet Christian music here at Under the Radar.)

Shaun Groves has always been on our short-list.  (Along with Shane & Shane; the Gettys; Andrew Peterson; Seeds Family Worship and Sons of Korah.)  I can't explain why exactly we like his tunes so much.  His heart sings through his words palpably.  You can hear his earnestness and it's urgent and pleading.  It's as though he's just singing to God and could care less about any other audience.  But you happen to be at the door listening in; overhearing the overflow of his heart and blessed because it's also the overflow of your own.

But it's not just his honesty that compels us to listen to his music repeatedly.  His poetry is inspired.  I don't know what else to say about it.  His lyrics are effortless, poetic and infused at every turn with grace.

And the music itself is GREAT.  The fast rolling riffs of "Enough" and the surprising twangy banjo of "No Better" are toe-tapping and enjoyable without distracting from the song messages.

I could say much much more about this cd.  Many of the phrases keep stabbing at my soul and haunting me (in a good way) with the encouragement of God's truth.  Words like this . . .

"When you throw your stone, aim it at the heart . . . where every crime comes from, where every stumble starts and save the next for me . . . We've all got hell to pay and grace pays all we owe.  Lay me down with the liars, brawlers thieves and backbiters.  Lay me down with the others 'cause I'm no better."

"In this brawl between the empires of our good Lord and the liar will you stand?  Please stand with me.  'Cause right now my faith can take it but oh, when they come to break it, will you pray?  Please pray with me.  So we'll stand and pray 'til the dark gives way and we will sing, sing, sing."

"Thank you for daily bread.  Through us fill the empty.  Thank you for bodies whole.  Through us mend the breaking.  All is grace, All is grace, All is grace and grace enough for all."

 
Have I convinced you to buy his album yet?  :)  (Buy it on itunes, amazon or on Shaun's website)

Take a listen below and become convinced!

I'll give away a copy of Shaun Groves' new cd to one randomly chosen commenter.  To enter the cd giveaway just tell me who your favorite moves-you-deeply artist is and you're in!


Third World Symphony by shaungroves

A Fall photocard

Shutterfly has been rocking my bloggy world this season with their fun freebies!

In yet another blogger-aimed promotion, they are offering a $25 credit to bloggers who post about their photocard projects.  And since I'm NOT on the ball creating my Christmas photocards this year, I thought I'd share a project I did this past fall with a design aptly named "Fall leaves fall".  Creative title, Shutterfly.  :)

I did this project for my in-laws who live far far away in southern Texas.  They never get to experience the glorious colors of autumn.  And I like to keep them happy with new pictures of the grandkids.  This card was the perfect mix! 

I especially like that I am able to type a message AND pay for postage AND mail cards all electronically through Shutterfly's website.  That saves me loads of time and guarantees that the card will actually be mailed. If it sits on my desk's to-do pile there's not much hope it will ever make it to the mailbox.

Check out Shutterfly's WIDE selection of photocard designs.  And if you're a blogger, grab yourself some free money for Christmas-y photo gifts!

Fall Leaves Fall

Unique party invitations and greeting cards by Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Don't forget about free museum day tomorrow!

Get into a museum free tomorrow only! Check out the details here.

The Smithsonian Institute sponsors this free admit day every fall in museums all over the country. Being the lover-of-all-things-free, I've always wanted to participate in the event but never have.

This year we are ambitiously planning to visit the Cleveland Museum of Natural History tomorrow with our free admissions. Should be fun! Presuming Clive is restrained in a stroller that is. I can just imagine him wandering right up to the dinosaur bones and trying to knock them down. :)

Hope you too can take advantage of this great event!

Scavengers, we

Ever since my mom shared the thrill of thrifting and clearance shopping with me as a girl, I've had the insatiable desire to seek out cheap items and to reconfigure old items for new purposes. There is a beauty and an inherent problem-solving nature in repurposing. Like a calculus problem with complicated variables and imposed limits.

During these warm summer months, I've found that I'm not just a cheap-skate. I'm also a scavenger. And my extended family is just as vulture-like as I am!

Since my in-laws and tia have been here visiting we've scored a table, an attachable child bike seat, and a plastic toy lawn mower all for free! Someone's trash has become our treasure. :) Our best find was a few years back when we scored a little tykes desk for free. And then this summer we sold it for $7. Score!

Of course, it's awesome to get stuff gratis but there are a few drawbacks to our scavenging tendencies.

For one, it's hard for me to say no to "free". My mom-in-law and tia have the repurposing vision and see a use for EVERY piece of junk lying on the roadside. I'm a bit more discriminating and I have a difficult time turning them down. They grew up in poverty in Mexico so I feel like a spoiled gringa when I say no to their finds.

Alas, there is the problem of space. We have a small old home and storage space is extremely limited. I really dislike clutter but I find it super hard to pass up good/free deals so we keep accumulating. Argh!

Do you scavenge? If so, what was your best snag?

The lengths I will go to for free food

Oh yes, I will most definitely dress myself and my children up like cows in order to get free food.

To show appreciation to their loyal customers, on Friday Chick Fil-A offered free meals to patrons dressed like their cow mascot. I hastily cut up an old white sheet Thursday night, glued on black fabric spots, affixed makeshift cowtails with safety pins, cut out construction paper cow ears and voila! The kids looked adorable and had an absolute ball dressing up like bovines.

Did I mention we got free food? Score!

We dragged some friends into this year's festivities. They were great sports and jumped right into the craziness. :) Chloe and her friend Grace kept saying, "Happy chicken nugget day!" My darling calf Clive mooed cutely for the onlookers.

Did any of you participate in Chick Fil-A's annual dress-like-a-cow event on Friday? Or am I the only crazy one?

Addicted to bloggy giveaways

Have you all been participating in this fall's Bloggy Giveaways Carnival? I've noticed it before but never seriously entered to win. Until last night that is!

As I was killing time online (waiting for things to upload or checking audio lectures for my online job responsibilities) I began entering the giveaways listed on Money Saving Mom.

And today I found the motherload of giveaways at the Bloggy Giveaways Carnival! Over 1,000 bloggers out there in the blogosphere have posted links to their blogs where they are giving something away. Free stuff? I'm so there!

Of course I certainly don't have hours to spend online entering my name and comments at all these blogs. So I'll have to be selective in my entering. But the prospect of winning free goodies is so alluring! As I work this afternoon I have a Bloggy Giveaways tab open at all times so I can keep peeking at what's up for grabs.

Besides the huge thrill of getting free stuff I would LOVE to win so I can score some unique Christmas gifts. Did I mention this stuff is FREE? Free!!! My heart dances to the sound of that lovely word!

That said, let me encourage you to enter and waste some time with me. :) Let me know if you're participating and if you win something!

My new favorite freebie

In the past year I've become a freebie junkie. I L-O-V-E getting free stuff in the mail! Free samples, magazine subscriptions, coupons, rebates. I've never tried so many different kinds of shampoo (what's with those horribly slippery sample shampoo packets?!? Don't the shampoo companies know I don't keep a scissors in my shower? ). It gives me such a thrill to know I'm saving a few cents by using something free.

My newest freebie discovery is regarding music. We rarely buy new cds because they're so stinking expensive. And it's difficult to choose a cd that we absolutely love enough to shell out the money for.

Enter Sovereign Grace Music. I just discovered that Sovereign Grace offers free downloads of their songs; usually one per album. Woo-hoo! This particular free-to-download song has been a huge encouragement to me: All I really need is Your grace. To find the free songs, click on each album cover listed here and then click the download link below the music player.

I found another free music player on the Sovereign Grace Ministries homepage. Sovereign Grace radio! Just click the link and a new window opens up and plays through a playlist of various Sovereign Grace music.

I am on the computer A LOT so having some good music to play in the background is essential for my sanity. :) Sadly all our cd players are cheapies so the computer is the best music player in the house!

Do you listen to music on your computer? What internet radio do you use?

Free membership in Freepeats this week only!

Be sure to take advantage of FREE lifetime membership this week only at freepeats.org. Freepeats is an organization started by the author of the amazingly helpful babycheapskate blog. Freepeats is similar to freecycle; members swap kid, baby, and maternity items by posting via a local forum. So far freepeats is available in 25 major cities. Check here to see if there's a freepeats near you. And read all about the free membership details here.

Hurry and take advantage of this free membership by Wednesday, August 20.

I'm curious to know how many of you are involved in freepeats. I've been e-watching it for awhile now but never could break down to pay the membership fee. I'm rejoicing (loudly) that I can join free. As Wayne and Garth would say, "Score!" Let me know what great items you receive through this wonderful organization!

Anyone need baby announcements?

Now that Clive is 7 months old (where did the time go?!?) I should finally admitting that I will not get baby announcements sent out. Ah well.

So can anyone take these announcements off my hands? I have 18 blue and white polka dot cards, 20 blue envelopes, and 19 "It's a boy" stickers. Some of the stickers aren't so sticky anymore thanks to my dear Chloe.

I'd happily mail these out if you can use them. First one to comment gets 'em!

Did you send out announcements to proclaim your children's births?

The lengths I go to for free food . . .

Today was a flurry of getting our house ready and organized for my in-laws arrival tomorrow. They'll be arriving tomorrow and so we've been hurriedly getting the study guest-ready.

Chloe was not in a napping mood this afternoon though she stayed in her bed for an hour and a half. By the time Matt came home from an afternoon meeting I was drained and not feeling too motivated to cook dinner.

I remembered reading on a few blogs that Chick-fil-A was giving away free food if you dress like a cow. Voila! The answer to my dinner dilemma! The moo-velous part was that Chloe actually WAS a cow for Halloween so she had a fuss-free cow outfit raring to go. I printed out some cow masks, spots, and a Chick-fil-A sign and we were ready!

Chloe was SO EXCITED to wear her cow costume! We mooed happily in the car when suddenly a thought struck my brain. What day is today? It's Friday, right? NO. Ooops, the free-food-when-you-dress-like-a-cow-day is TOMORROW not today.

[My mommy brain has been malfunctioning like this often in recent days. Like how I've been using conditioner instead of shampoo for the last two days and wondering my hair seemed so greasy. Long story, don't ask. ]

So, now I'm stuck with Chloe in a cow costume and trying to explain to her how mommy goofed and we couldn't get our free dinners at Chick-fil-A. She wasn't getting it. And going back tomorrow would be out since the in-laws are arriving and we'll be hustling to do last minute cleaning and cooking.

The staff at Chick-fil-A have always been really kind and personable. I decided to take a chance and try to get our free food a day early since we were already decked out as bovines. I pulled up to the drive-thru and explained our plight to the gregarious cashier. The manager was consulted and he happily agreed to give us free meals a day early! When we walked into the restaurant, all the workers were eagerly awaiting our moo-ving entrance. They oohed and aahed over Chloe and all the other restaurant patrons (not many of them, thankfully) stared and smiled.

If you're as big a fan as I am (even bigger after today's adventure!) be sure to participate in their Cow Appreciation Day tomorrow. Get all the details, including fun costume tips, here. If you're dressed in a total costume you get a free combo meal. Just partial cow-ness earns a free sandwich. Besides the delicious chicken sandwiches, I'm incredibly impressed with Chick-fil-A's healthy choices and books in the kids meals instead of toys. Who needs another dumb cheap plastic happy meal toy? Not us!

Money Saving Mom will be hosting a fun post in honor of Cow Appreciation Day. Hope you can join in the fun and free chicken!

Grosgrain: Roosters-n-Rickrack pinafore giveaway

Is this not the cutest little pinafore ever?!?

If you have a little girly girl, click the linked title above to find out more about this dress giveaway. I hope Chloe wins!

Some good deals for your Friday

Happy Friday to you all! It's going to be a gorgeous warm day here; a perfect summer Friday.

Now that I subscribe to Freebies 4 Mom and Money Saving Mom, I'm always alerted to the deals, free samples, and coupons that are out there. Today, I came across two fabulous specials I just had to let you know about.

• Click here to print off a $10 off a purchase of $30 at Walgreens. Good today only! If you do the free-after-rebate items, this would be a great way to purchase the items for May or June. Even though it isn't officially June, the new EasySaver catalog is available as of today. Or if you're willing to invest a bit more time planning your purchase, check out these ideas for purchases at Money Saving Mom. There are some overlapping May and June coupons that would make for some free or almost free purchases.
  
• The competition for online photo processing must be huge. Sites like snapfish, winkflash, and shutterfly are constantly offering free prints to new customers. Snapfish has a terrific promo going right now for new customers. 50 free prints and a free flipbook! To be a new customer you simply need to register a new email address. Between Matt and I we have 4 email accounts so I used one of Matt's to take advantage of this great promo.

Free Iced Coffee tomorrow from Dunkin Donuts!

Tomorrow Dunkin' Donuts is giving away free iced coffees!!!! Stop in anytime between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. for a free 16 oz. iced coffee. Hope you can avail yourself of this free offer!

Have you noticed that Dunkin' Donuts has made a serious comeback this year? Two new locations just opened in my area recently. Gone are the days of the short plump brown-mustached DD worker who wore an orange hat and trudged around saying, "Time to make the donuts . . . " Remember that guy?

Something turned DD around lately. They've got a sharp looking website and aggressive marketing campaign going complete with funny google video commercials (with catchy music by They Might be Giants!). I posted a particularly cute commercial below. I feel this way every time I order at Starbucks. Enjoy!

A plug for Revolution Money Exchange

If you haven't yet signed up on Jenny's blog for Revolution Money Exchange, let me encourage you to sign up before May 15th. Right now Revolution Money Exchange is giving away $25 in online cash to people signing up for new accounts. And the offer is ending soon!

Revolution Money Exchange (RME) is a new competitor of the ever-popular Paypal. Unlike Paypal, RME has no transaction fees whatsoever.

I originally wasn't going to sign up; this seemed like just another thing that I wasn't going to use so why bother going through the process.

But I really hadn't thought it through. This is $25 free dollars we're talking about and applicable to use at hundreds of online stores. So I invested 2 minutes and signed myself up! I need some new black flip-flops and there's a pair at Urban Outfitters that's going to be mine using this free 25 bucks. Or maybe a pair from Kohl's where my free cash can go farther . . . The possibilities are delightful!

So sign up! Use this link or the button at right and I'll even get a bonus $10 for referring you. (And you'll be happy to know that I'll be donating any referral money to a dear friend who is switching to cloth diapers.)

Woo-hoo for happy free money! What do you plan to spend your free $25 on?

Clarification: I just tried to use my RME money online and it didn't work the way I expected. Turns out you have to link your RME money to your checking account, pass the money to your checking account, and then you can use it. (There are a few small business websites you can use the RME cash with directly - you just have to search them out.) Or you can request the money in the form of a check. Sorry, I didn't mean to mislead you! Have any of you used this RME stuff? If so, do you have any tips for us newbies?

Free donut today only!

Thanks to the money saving mom blog for alerting me to this free donut offer.

In honor of tax day, Dunkin' Donuts is giving away one free donut with every cup of coffee purchased.

Dunkin' Donuts serves such smooth delicious coffee; it's become my new errand-running treat. (A healthy improvement from my past car-driving snack - a $1 double cheeseburger from McD's.) I love coffee but I don't enjoy a strong cup of fashionable Starbucks or Arabica coffee. It's just too bitter and eye-popping for my liking. I'll take a cup of Dunkin' or Panera coffee over Starbucks every time. What's your favorite source for a cuppa joe?

Hope you have a nearby Dunkin' so you can savor a free donut today!

Starting my own free box

My gramma always had (and still has) a free box in her closet. It's simply a box of things she's gotten for free from Walgreens' mail-in rebates. When we were in college, my sis and I loved rummaging through gramma's free box and snatching up new deodorants and toothpaste tubes.

I'm trying to be frugal in every area of life and I've always kept the free box idea in the back of my brain as something to do when I had more free time. Ha! When will that ever happen? When Jenny Muth sent me a link to money saving mom, I caught the coupon/rebate fire!

The author of the money saving mom blog does all the leg work. She finds the sales and links you to the appropriate online coupons which make most purchases free or just a few cents. She covers big chain drug stores like Walgreens, CVS, and Wal-Mart. She also gives tips and how-to instructions for newbies like me.

I can't tell you how THRILLING it is to get something new for free! I'm totally hooked. Check out the loot I got in the picture above. I spent a grand total of $1.47 for all of those products. And I have a $2 mail-in rebate for the toothpaste so really I earned 53 cents in the transactions.

There seem to be two disadvantages in the process. 1) Traveling to different stores to garner the deals. This week we already had a planned family trip to Wal-Mart and then during my grocery shopping run I hit two other stores to get the pictured freebies. If I'm going to keep this up I'll have to be extremely organized with my coupons and shopping excursions. 2) Do we really need this stuff? I'll need to be selective in what I acquire.

Do any of you partake in these free offers? If so, what tips do you have for me?

Lucky me!

I won something again! It pays to leave comments on these giveaway sites, I tell you. Probability says you're bound to actually win once in a while.

So, what did I win? The enviable book of Peeps crafts and recipes pictured at left! Chloe is going to be thrilled as she's recently discovered the marshmallowy goodness of brightly colored Peeps.

I know, a strange thing to win. I don't care, I'm excited anyways. Matt says I should apply my luck at winning online giveaways for something useful like a $500 gift card for gasoline. :) How practical of him. How could he not see the value in a full length publication devoted to recipes and crafts to make with marshmallow candy?!? C'mon, tell me who wouldn't coo over a Peeps painted bag? (I know one bunny-loving gramma who would!) And apparently the Washington Post sponsors a big Peeps diorama contest each year devoted to artfully displaying Peeps in creative ways. Let's show a little vision, Matt! :)

Personally I don't like Peeps - too sweet for me. My fave Easter treat is the traditional cadbury cream eggs. What candy treats do you savor at Easter time?