Farmers Market Finds

How much do you love fall? There is nothing better than a lovely crisp fall day with the sun shining and a trip down to the local farmers market.

Obviously being a hockey fan, there are certain things you have to appreciate. One of those things, is a good snack with your beer while watching the game. Sadly for us, we didn't get to enjoy a game with our snack, but while walking around the market, we picked up some delicious local vegetables and put together an amazing snack.

We bought some locally grown produce, including onions, red and green peppers, garlic and tomatoes.

First, I pre-heated my oven to about 350 degrees. 

We used the restaurant-style Tostitos, because they're the biggest surface area.

I sliced up:
- some white onion
- few cloves of garlic
- one green pepper
- one red pepper
- one jalapeno pepper
- two tomatoes 

I grabbed some cheese (I almost always have Kraft Tex Mex low-fat shredded blend in my fridge) and threw it in the oven. I baked for a few minutes (can't remember exactly how long, I checked on it a lot of times) just until the cheese was melted and the nachos were toasty looking.

This is what came out ....

 Served this with some leftover homemade chili I had and made for a delicious lunch!

Hope you lovelies are all enjoying your fall!

Don't forget to follow me on twitter @hockey_foxx

Making memories last: easy brag books

This summer, I have had time to work on some projects that I've been meaning to get to but was too busy over the hockey season.

In February, I made my first "brag-book" scrapbook for my boyfriend for Valentine's Day, to put in some photos of us. (We're both photographers ... we take a LOT of photos.) I had so much fun working on it, that I decided to whip up a couple more.

I have recently been experimenting with different techniques and colour palattes I probably wouldn't work with for my own projects, and I'm hoping to have a  few put together for a craft sale my mom and her friends put on every November for Christmas.

It's super easy, basically all you do is get a cardboard book (They're $1.50 at Michael's and come in different shapes. I have been using rectangle with scalloped edges, but they have other shapes depending on the season, I have a few that I haven't used yet that are star, and one is Christmas tree.) ... once you have your book, you cover the pages with a background paper, and put on whatever embellishments you like, put the little metal ring in the hole, and tie ribbon around it and voila, a little album.

Here are some that I have been working on:

This is the photo book I made for my boyfriend.

The music note is a pocket, and inside are a heart, a ticket and a square with music-note paper on it that can be used for either attaching photos or writing little notes on. I have also seen people tuck little items in there, like movie theatre ticket stubs or stuff like that.

I made this for my girlfriend for her birthday to put photos of her cat, whom she had to leave behind with her family when she moved away for a summer job.



Most of the book I did in orange, neutrals and pale blue, but I had this hot pink paper and those cute little medallions I just had to do one crazy page.

This is the first one I made that wasn't for a specific person or occasion -- I just made it randomly because I had coordinating embellishments and wanted to try a new colour scheme.

Pages said things like "family" and "Happy Birthday" (Pictured here) The red circle is a pocket with tags inside of it as well.

This is my latest, a spring-theme album with a page kit I got at Michael's. I wasn't a huge fan of the colours, nor do I use the "distressed" look in my personal projects, but it is always fun to work with new colours and techniques. You will see here, I have coloured in the edges of the book, it's a process done with an ink pad. After reading up online, I decided the best way was to use a makeup applicator sponge to soak up some ink and then run it around the edges of my book.

Eep look at my toes! The pocket came with the kit and has tags to write on. I had a couple of items I wanted to use from other projects, such as the "together" glitter title, which matched well with the colours here.

It honestly isn't as daunting as you may think, and a really great way to bundle up some photos you've been meaning to do something with.  If you have any tips or tricks to share, please share them with us!

Bargain hunting!

Greetings, all!

As I continue my journey through the world of bargain hunting, I keep learning new things, picking up tricks and finding myself strangely looking forward to the Saturdays I know the coupon flyers are coming with the papers. (Red Plum is coming next Saturday! Woohoo!)

Upon the recommendation of my friend Sam, I have been checking some websites called Red Flag Deals, Smart Canucks and Bargain Moose. These sites syndicate information about deals, freebies, coupons and contests, which make it easy to access information about things to get for free or cheap.

I actually got a couple items for FREE in the last month, pictured here.

So, here is a mini bottle of body mist I got from Bath and Body Works, which I found a free coupon for, via their website. You just printed it out and brought it into the store, no questions asked, just straight up free! The lip gloss is from Body Shop, which was a coupon I got from my cell phone provider. Again, same thing, just print it out and bring it in. I must say, I feel like Body Shop has drastically dropped their prices of late, although I don't tend to shop there much, since I buy most of my products at Lush, which is handmade and organic, instead of just regular dollar-store stuff with a fancy smell like Body Shop makes. But, I figured for free, I would try a lip gloss. I have about a billion of them, so why not, right?

I actually ended up going back there last weekend, as I had a coupon for 40% off that I printed from Bargain Moose. I got a giant bottle of Strawberry body wash, which is value priced at 15$ regularly. (The "value" bottle is three times the size of the smaller bottles, but less than twice the price, as the small bottles run for $8. With my coupon, I got it for just over 10 bucks. It's a giant bottle with a pump -- I plan to bring it to my boyfriend's new apartment so I don't need to bring one with me when I go.) My cell phone provider likes to hook up with Body Shop also, as you saw from my free lip gloss, and I just checked now, there is a coupon for 30% off also. Might go pick up a

Another item I was very happy with was men's Gillette shaving gel ... which runs for more than $5 at Wal-Mart. I had my first "ad match" experience, being THAT person. I brought a P&G brand flyer that was compatible at any Loblaws/No Frills/Superstore etc. which had the shaving cream on for $3.99. I also had two coupons for $2 off, so used those to get both of them for $4 total.

I found some $10 hairspray at Shoppers drugmart on clearance for $3, and used a $2 off coupon, so got it for a dollar. I had two coupons and there were two bottles of spray. Worked out quite nicely. I kept one, and gave the other to my mom. (That Shoppers is small, but always has great stuff on clearance. Figured I'd go try to use my coupons there, though I wasn't sure if I would be allowed on clearance. I didn't have any trouble, though.) That day, including my $5 lotto ticket, I bought the two hairsprays and a one dollar item. (A value pack of two bottles of hand sanitizer in a great fruity smell. 50 cents is a great price for a small bottle like that, which I keep EVERYWHERE ... purse, car, you name it) My bill was 8.91 with tax after savings and the coupon. At the bottom of your bill at Shoppers, it now tells you how much you have saved. It says I saved 16.47$ ... and that is not including the $4 I saved with the coupons. so $18.47 in savings and I spent a whopping three dollars.

Later on, I was at Wal-Mart and saw a "tear-pad" which are coupons placed next to items at the store. It was for $3 off when you buy any two Aveeno products. When I was in third year, my roommate was in Co-op at university and worked at Johnson Johnson, so we were always getting great beauty booty for dirt cheap. I mean DIRT cheap. Once a month, Tiff was allowed to make a purchase from the warehouse, and we would get lotions that cost 14$ for 3$ and stuff like that. Aveeno is awesome for people like me who are allergic randomly to products, especially ones with perfume. However ... it's not exactly inexpensive. So I didn't know if I would be able to use the coupon or not. I didn't want to be greedy (the people on the bargain websites complain that the tear-pads are always empty when they arrive at the store) ... I took one for myself and one for my friend Sam. As I was in another aisle, looking for another product, I saw a bunch of clearance items. Lo and behold they had this Aveeno hair product, regularly priced at $8 on clearance for $2. Two products at two bucks each is $4. Minus the coupon and that's a dollar. For two bottles. Again. Didn't want to be greedy, so I grabbed four bottles, took the two coupons and checked out without issue. I gave one bottle to my sister, threw another in the shower for myself and saved the other two for later. A few days later I was picking up another item in the mall and decided to go back to see if they had any more a) coupons and b) bottles of hair stuff. They had both, but this time, the girl at the cash wouldn't let me buy clearance items with the coupons. Definitely not something I had encountered before, but I said I understand, and kept my coupon to use again another day. Maybe at another Wal-Mart?

I had a few coupons as well for Physicians formula makeup, a product I like, but typically buy at Winners, because I don't want to spend massive amounts of cash on drugstore makeup. I have had bronzer and blush in the past from PF, so I was really excited when I saw it was on sale for 40% off at Shoppers Drugmart. I had three coupons and used them all -- not on the same day, and not all at the same location. Some locations had a better selection of items than others, and I had my eye on the Shimmer Strips eyeshadows, because I love the colours of them. My first go-round, I bought the second one down in that photo, Smoky, which is a great collection of neutral greys and silvers, which are colours I love and wear all the time. I am finding that it is a little difficult to work with, since each colour is so small, but definitely getting the hang of it. I love all the silvers, and the colours all blend really well together.
I also picked up a "Happy Booster" bronzer/blush combo compact. It is apparently supposed to boost your mood with some vitamin complex in it and it has a pleasant scent. I just liked that it was in a cute package, and regularly priced around 19$ was on sale for about $13. And I had my three dollar off coupon. So it was $10. Oh. And did I mention it had a rebate sticker for 9 dollars off? Yes. I got a $19 compact that is hot pink, has a mirror inside and a little brush for just over a dollar. Well, a little more, counting the price of the stamp. I'm just waiting for my rebate cheque to arrive -- which I will put into savings. I had one more coupon, so I went back to another Shoppers location later that week and picked up another eye shadow which I'm massively in love with, the third one down in that photo, you see the purple and green one. It is gorgeous and I loveeee it. Haven't worn the green yet, but maybe one of these days!

There weren't really many coupons for me in the latest insert which we got on the long weekend, so most of them I will be mailing to Sam for her coupon trading and coupon trains, but there were some buy-one-get-one-free coupons for Windex, Tilex and Lysol toilet bowl cleaner, all of which are good until the fall. So I have hung on to those ones for now. Hoping I'll be able to find a good price on those items once boyfriend is all settled in his new place.

I also sent away for a sample pack from Neutrogena, so I'm anxiously awaiting for that to arrive. I also found a mail-in rebate for the full purchase price of Febreeze Noticeables air freshener, so once I get paid I'm going to go pick up one of those. I may not be quite as crazy as the people on these websites who are either REALLY poor or completely obsessed with saving money, but it's definitely cool to get products for free or cheap, especially things you wouldn't otherwise buy. Like that makeup compact, I wouldn't have room in my budget to spend $19 on something like that very often, but make it more accessible, with the sale, plus coupon, plus rebate, and I was willing to make a purchase.

I found out recently another friend of mine, Kim, is also big into living frugal, so I'm hoping to have a chat with her about the methods to her maddness as well.

Until next time!

Budget buys

It certainly has been a while, hasn't it!

This post was inspired by two awesome girls I know who always have great tips for living on a budget and share them with their friends and followers online. My friend Julie, who runs this blog, cheapchicbyjulie.blogspot.com/  and my friend Sam, who is into coupons, have both inspired me to take a look at my spending, and see what I can do to help keep my budget in check.

Recently, my friend Sam moved back to rural Alberta from suburban BC, to be closer to her family while she and fiancé, Andrew, give birth to their second daughter next month. While Sam had access to a lot of coupons in BC, because her location is a little more remote now, she relies on the groups she belongs to online to help collect and trade coupons.

My family gets three newspapers every Saturday, so I spent a few minutes clipping out the coupons from these little "Saver" flyers, and stuck them in an envelope to mail west to Sam, which included many for cleaning products, laundry items and personal hygiene products like toothpaste and grooming items. Sam keeps coupons for diapers and baby items, and trades them to other people for ones they need, and mails them in exchange for the coupons she can use.

While I was clipping and collecting, I decided to try this fad out for myself, and kept a couple coupons to use while I did some shopping this week.

I had two copies of the same flyer, so I ended up with two coupons that were the same. They were a manufacturer coupon for Pantene Shampoo/Conditioner, which were a buy-one-get-one-free deal, and definitely the best deal I saw in all the flyers. I combed through the weekly sales flyers and found three stores that had Pantene on all for the same price. One of the stores was Shoppers Drug Mart, and since they give points for their products, and the other two stores (No Frills and Walmart) do not have any customer incentive, I elected to go to Shoppers, since I was planning to pay the same price as the other stores, may as well get the points for it. The regular price for the Pantene Shampoos and Conditioners at Shoppers was $7.99, so they were on for half the normal price.

You will see from the price tags, I already got the items for half their normal price, and was planning to get two of them for free as well. Then, to my surprise, some of the bottles had these $2 off coupons attached to them (sorry the photo quality isn't that good) -- and one of the bottles was a 25% bonus size bottle, with extra product in it at no extra charge. So, now I was paying 3.99$ each for two bottles, getting two free, and then using my 4$ off.

The total for these four bottles you see pictured above, regular price would've been nearly $28 at Shoppers. My grand total was about $4. I did have to pay tax on the two free bottles, so I ended up paying $6.05 all in, but I was pretty excited with my purchase as I was watching the cashier ring everything in.

I have watched the coupon shows on TV, but because we can't use duplicate coupons on the same item in Canada like they can in the States, I thought it wasn't that big of an excitement. Sam told me something I didn't know, however, which is that different coupons can be combined, which is how I got the extra savings at Shoppers. I had combined the manufacturers' coupon for the BOGO offer, and the $2 off coupons that came from Shoppers, plus the sale offer, which got me the lowest possible price. And hey, now I don't have to buy shampoo again for a while!

When I started looking at the coupons I had, and watching the flyers this week, I realized there are definitely plenty of savings to be had. The brand of hair dye I use is regular price $12.99 at Shoppers. (Their regular, non-sale prices are highway robbery. Do not pay full-price for anything there, it all goes on sale regularly!) The dye was on sale last week at Walmart for $5.97 per box. I had also clipped a coupon for $5 off when you buy two.

So now, instead of paying the completely insane $12.99 at shoppers, I have two boxes stocked up and only paid a grand total of about eight bucks including taxes for both these at Wal-Mart. One thing I learned, however, was that Wal-Mart doesn't always have items in stock you may want. I had to visit three different Wal-Marts on a total of four trips (I visited the one near my house twice) in order to find my shade, which had previously been sold out the other three times I had gone. However, it was worth it, since I was already at the mall anyway, didn't hurt to go look, and now when I want to do my hair, I have a couple boxes, and saved a few dollars doing it.

I also had been anxiously awaiting Thursday, as that is the night we get the flyers for the coming week's sales. I was waiting to find somewhere that would have Irish Spring bodywash on sale for $2.99, which is regular price around $5 at Wal-Mart, No Frills etc and around $7 at Shoppers. I have four coupons for $2 off, so I was hoping somewhere would have them on for $3 so I could get them for 99 cents. My dad and brother both use this type, and since both my brother's birthday and fathers day are coming up, I figured these would be good items I could put into their gifts.

I was a little disappointed we didn't get a Shoppers flyer yesterday, and Wal-Mart didn't have the bodywash on sale. However, as I was flipping through the Lowblaws flyer, I noticed they have it on sale! In addition, they have shaving cream, (regular price at walmart $3.16) on for $2.49 ... I have a coupon for a dollar off, so now I can pick it up for $1.50, which is less than half price at the cheapest store.

Not sure if I'll be this crazy about it forever. It sure is a lot of work trying to remember what coupons I have, what's on sale where, and how much things cost at all the other stores. Maybe if I wrote them down in a little book or something? It's also tough to remember to bring all the coupons with me to the store. I saw a deal at Shoppers or Wal-Mart the other day and thought, "Argh! I have a coupon for that at home ... I wish I had it with me!"

For now, however, it's definitely cool to be saving a few bucks on items I know I'll be using. For everything else, all the coupons I didn't need, I put them in an envelope and mailed them to Sam, where she will sort and divide them and trade them to others who are looking to save a few dollars on their bills.

For anyone who is interested in getting involved with Sam's coupon project, willing to trade or perhaps even share (instead of recycling your flyers, for the price of a couple stamps, Sam will know what to do with them!) please do get in touch with me, tweet or e-mail me and I can get you in touch with her!

Merry Christmas, fellow foxes

It was certainly a busy month for me here at home, work and the rink, getting everything ready for the holidays.

One of the things I wanted to talk about today was my love of paper and paper-crafting. I am absolutely addicted to buying a few things ... one is makeup and bath/body products, and the other is paper and embellishments. This year was no different. I hand-made all my gift tags and cards this year, and co-ordinated all my beautiful wrapping to match. I also made my brother a gift for Christmas with photos I shot of him and his girlfriend out at a local conservation area this fall. (I fibbed and told them the photo shoot was a collection I needed of some portraits for a portfolio gig I was applying to.)

First things first, since I made them first, I will talk a little about the cards I made. These I actually did the majority of the work on during the summer. I knew I wouldn't have a lot of time in the fall/winter because I'm so busy with hockey, so during my summer evenings after taking Fido out for his walk, a lot of nights I would come home and do a little cutting and gluing. I had amassed a gorgeous collection of Christmas items over the years, many of which I plan to include in my World Juniors scrapbooks, since the tournaments take place over the holidays. I usually hit up Michael's after Christmas and pick up some goodies on clearance, and this year was no different, as I added a beautiful paper stack (regular price 29.99, which I got for 8.99 less 25% on a coupon I had for 25% off your entire purchase) and some ribbon.

The cards I made were on card-stock with maching envelopes I picked up at Dollarama which were 6 for a dollar in red and silver. I used a variety of embellishments, everything from hand-made paper to felt shapes and buttons. I also tried using rub-on transfers for the first time, and found them a lot easier to work with than I had originally thought. It was great to experiment with some techniques I hadn't had a lot of experience with. The other thing I liked was that I could use more layering of items I wouldn't be as apt to do with a scrapbook just because I would worry about making the page too thick.

The bear was a little bit of a recycled idea from last year, I was dating a boy who I had nicknamed Bear Paws, so I made his gift tag a bear, and I liked it so much, I sketched another one (I'm not the world's best artist, but I thought he looked pretty good!). The one with the "country" look is the one with the stacked felt. I got these pieces from an embellishment kit I picked up at Dollarama for 1.25$ I got one that was all red and green, and another that was silver and white. I didn't really have any concepts for any of these before I started working on them, just picked through my items and messed around until I found a design I liked.

Once I had used up all my cards, I decided I would make some gift tags for my presents, and came up with a few that were quite cute.

I bought my wrapping paper super early this year, at Dollarama and the candy-cane stripe on at Walmart. I usually like to do a theme, and this year was no different. I picked up these red and white photo-real poinsettias and another photo-real print of decorated sugar cookies, which were primarily red and white with a little bit of green and brown accent. I had purchased gifts this year that would like nice stacked or packed in small boxes so I had a nice little stack for everybody and red and white ribbon on top. The gift above is one for my mom that contained a couple of books, a box with a hand-made scarf from a local artisan and some silver jewelry. The little one on top was a Christmas ornament, hand-made by a local potter that is an Oak leaf, something of special importance to our family, as our cottage is surrounded by monstrous Oak trees.

This is page one of three that I did for my brother's gift. The photos were taken at a local conservation area, where we saw a hawk eating a frog, and the toad my brother has in his hand in the centre photo. I purchased a whole slew of goodies at a sale Michael's was having with 40% off all "fall" items, and then used a 20% off your entire purchase coupon to get some good deals on different embellishments with leaves and acorns on them. I also had some dark brown swirl/squiggle chipboard glitter embellishments I got in a grab-bag pack that I had no idea what I was going to do with that worked really nicely for these pages. I bought three 12x12 frames at Dollarama for $2 (Michael's charges $16 for these) in a beautiful mahogany colour. He liked them so much he put them up on his wall Christmas morning.
I also framed an 8x10 of them for his girlfriend who hugged me about three times and thanked me at least eight times.

And as for the rest of my unreal wrapping job, which I said on a Facebook status looked like Martha Stewart wrapped them ...