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Wednesday, June 29, 2011

New House Pictures!

Okay, so you should know this about me, I have a one track mind!  Literally, when I get something on my mind I can't get it off.  I've taken four of my friends by to see the spec house I'm in love with in the last week.  I myself have gone by and seen it twice alone!  Yesterday I brought the camera, and let me apologize now for the picture overload and for the fact that my skills have not improved in taking them!

I'm also researching everything like a crazy woman.  Researching what?  The prices of everything that could be a possible upgrade.  Trying to figure out what to upgrade.  What we should pay them to upgrade, and what we should upgrade ourselves down the road.  I'm making a list for the design center, and I have my numbers crunched so we shall see.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Anything Goes Party #23

Nothing much going on here, driving myself crazy over the new house!  I'm pricing out EVERYTHING and I fear it will be this way until we go under contract!  So no big new here, friday I will more fun stuff to share.

Don't for get to check my GIVE AWAY out, I have a link on the sidebar! 

On to the party.  NO RULES!!

1.  I would love it if you became a FRIEND of my blog, it'll make it easier for you to find the party.

2.  If you would like, you can link back to the party, I have a button for this too, but don't sweat it if you don't. 
3.  Please link as much of anything you want, no limit.  Etsy shops and Give Aways too! 
Ready, Set, Go!!! 

I have my Facebook page up and running now too if you would like to pop over to my side bar and like me on Facebook that would be wonderful!!! 




 






Monday, June 27, 2011

Meet, I heart My Glue Gun, Week 9!!!

 Hi all you Type A readers!


I am SO excited to be over here at Type A today! Tammy has an awesome blog, and she's just as sweet as can be!

Thursday, June 23, 2011

GIVE AWAY!!!! D.Stevens Mannequin!!!!

It's GIVE AWAY time again!!!!  Type A just hit 500 FRIENDS!  I can't believe it!  Thank you so much!

So on to the fun stuff.  The Give Away is a D.Stevens Mannequin!!!!  If you know about D.Stevens then you know this is an AWESOME Give Away, and if you don't...get over there and check out their stuff, you won't be sorry.

The Mannequin's name is Miss Julia, how sweet.  She's 30 inches tall, has a sweet little bird for a head and the body is covered in a French Recipe with check ribbon and a wooden stand.  ($48 value.)

Now on to how to win this little beauty!

Rule #1, well the only rule, please be a current or new FRIEND of Type A!

Way to ENTER:
1.  Comment that you are a FRIEND of Type A.
2.  Like Type A on Facebook, leave a comment.
3.  Facebook about the Give Away, leave a comment.
4.  Blog about the Give Away, leave a comment with a link.
5.  Put a link to the Give Away on your blog, leave a comment with a link.

Bonus!!!!  If you do all 5 entries, I will count this as 10 TOTAL ENTRIES!!!  Yep, 10!

Here is the image you can use in your side bar, just link to this post.  If you have any questions how, just email me at tammy_rufo@yahoo.com and I will give you directions!

The WINNER will be announced on Thursday July 21st, 2011.  Four weeks from today!!!! 

 Please make sure your comments are not set up as 'no reply' or that you send me an email address, I will have to contact the winner and mail the PRIZE.  If I can't get a hold of the winner within one week of the announcement I will have to pick the second runner up. 

Good Luck!



Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Versatile Blogger Award!

Connie from The Crafterbug has been most generous, nominating me for The Versatile blogger award!  Love it, thank you so much Connie, you are too sweet!

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

NEW New House!

Yep, NEW New House, not just NEW to me, but really really NEW!!!! 
Exciting huh?  I have a preliminary meeting with the design center to go over the price of upgrades and to get an accurate idea of the BOTTOM line.  We aren't under contract yet, but fingers are crossed. 

On July 1st, I get an entire hour with a designer at their design center.  They must really like me, since I'm not even under contract.  That or the sales gal at the community is tired of seeing me and just wants to put me off on someone else!  It's all good. 

I've already brought two of my girlfriends over on separate occasions to walk them through the spec house, and have two more that are going with my on Thursday.  They don't have an actual model of this unit, but they do have a spec.  Wish we were already ready to buy, but oh well.  This way I get to pick EVERYTHING myself.

Yep, Beefcake is letting me pick everything out myself.  Apparently he likes what I've done with our current home and completely trusts me!  (that he could care less, and doesn't want to bother with it!)  I only see a win win, really.

Until I meet with the designer, I have no idea what all of the upgrades will be, but I do know a few.  I'm compromising I lot, but I think in long run I'll be gaining more.

I do know we are going with Elevation A, because it is included in the base price.  I want to save my upgrade money for the REALLY important stuff.  Like cabinets and counters.  The pretty stuff!  lol




When I go back on Thursday I'm going to bring the camera and take a ton of pics.  It's not 100% to my tastes, but it'll give you a pretty good idea of what it will look like.  Consider this the first of a zillion posts about the NEW HOUSE!

XX

Anything Goes Party #22

Hey my friends!  I've been in my own little world lately, my own funk really.  Trying to break out of it.  I get pretty sad when Hubby first goes back, but starting today I'm gonna turn my frown upside down!

We are waiting to hear more about Hubby's contract, fingers crossed.  Contract work is a little nerve wracking, you never know if a contract will be renewed.  Hubby promised to let me know as soon as it was, cause we are gonna buy a NEW HOUSE!  That is one very happy thought!

I've been hunting online looking for furniture for the new house I don't have, lol.  The fun part is that's it's a new build so I get to pick everything.  I asked Hubby if he had any opinions, and he said you do a great job decorating, and I know you love doing this sort of think, so you pick EVERYTHING!   Man am I lucky or what? 

I'm about to hit 500 FRIENDS!  Isn't that exciting?  I'm gonna have a huge give away, just now sure what it is yet.  I'm still working on it, anything you'd like to win?  Okay, I'll stop blabbing and let you go party!

Here's a pic of my and my favorite boy at the Magic Kingdom, Photo Pass disc arrived, so watch out for photo overload in the next few days!!!!


On to the party.  NO RULES!!

1.  I would love it if you became a FRIEND of my blog, it'll make it easier for you to find the party.

2.  If you would like, you can link back to the party, I have a button for this too, but don't sweat it if you don't. 
3.  Please link as much of anything you want, no limit.  Etsy shops and Give Aways too! 
Ready, Set, Go!!! 

I have my Facebook page up and running now too if you would like to pop over to my side bar and like me on Facebook that would be wonderful!!! 









Monday, June 20, 2011

Meet Sweet California Living, Week 8

This weeks guest post is from Nataly at Sweet California Living.



What does your summer looks like?

BBQ parties are happening, kids are out of school, and traveling is on everyone’s mind it must be summer time.  Everyone has a different interpretation of what makes a great summer vacation. It could be hanging out with the family at a nearby lake, camping and roasting smores over a campfire. Or, it can be as extravagant as taking a tropical vacation on a yacht to a secluded exotic island (one can dream). For the past few years I have been trying to figure out how I can make each summer different and make the most of the time I have off. To make this summer over the top my best friend and I decided it was time for a girl’s trip. Because, airfare is so low we are going on what I like to call the “US 10 day adventure,” which consists of two plane tickets to Puerto Rico, New York, and Chicago.  I want to know what your summer looks like.  Here are images of past summer adventures. Enjoy!  



Thanks for being a guest!  I hope your Summer vacation is an adventure to remember!

xx


Thursday, June 16, 2011

Just 'Hey!'

I know I haven't been a regular lately, just trying to get the kids back into the swing of our routine.  We had so much fun with Daddy/Beefcake this trip, and it when by in a blink, but now we have to get back to normal.  Well, our normal!  Kind of looks like this....lol

What the?

I need some help from you fabulous readers of mine!  I'm confused, go figure, and having a blogger issue., go figure!

I'm trying to leave comments on all the wonderful links at my party, and every time I try to post a comment blogger is asking me to log in?  Why, I'm already logged in?  It's never done this before.  It keeps referring to me as anonymous.  Very frustrating. 

Do any of you know what I can to and why this is happening? 


Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Anything Goes Party #21

Hubby leaves tomorrow, sorry I've been so behind!  I promise next week everything will be on time.  I've had some computer issues lately.  I'm just gonna blame Comcast!

Thanks for sticking with me and partying!!!! 

On to the party.  NO RULES!!

1.  I would love it if you became a FRIEND of my blog, it'll make it easier for you to find the party.

2.  If you would like, you can link back to the party, I have a button for this too, but don't sweat it if you don't. 
3.  Please link as much of anything you want, no limit.  Etsy shops and Give Aways too! 
Ready, Set, Go!!! 

I have my Facebook page up and running now too if you would like to pop over to my side bar and like me on Facebook that would be wonderful!!! 







Meet Chameleon Girls, Week 7

Sorry this is a day late posting, my Comcast Internet was down ALL day yesterday!

Hello All, We are the dynamic Mama & Daughter craft fighting team from Chameleon Girls.
We are so excited to be here with Tammy from Type A
 We are also happy for Tammy and her family to have their hubby and Daddy home!
Our mission today is to say THANK YOU to all of the men in our lives.
Happy Father's Day!

Thank You
Grazie
Merci
Danke
Mahalo
This one is for you CAT Daddy and Pops.
Personalized Beer/Root Beer Mugs
Yummy Root Beer Float:

Supplies you will need:
Beer mugs (Dollar Tree)
Leather Lace
Leather
LeatherCraft Cement
1/4" Alphabet Set made for leather
Scissors
Hammer/mallet
Rubber band
Beer or Root Beer
Hugs & Kisses

1.  Wash and dry mugs.  Take special care to remove all of the price stickers. 
2.  Cut a long piece of leather lace to wrap around mug handle.  Working in small sections glue lace to mug handle.  Let dry.
3.  Cut leather larger than what you will need for mug. 
4.  Dampen leather (not too wet).  Let leather sit until it turns back to it's natural color and is cool.  It is now ready to stamp.  Keep leather damp while stamping.
5.  Mark center of leather (we cut a small slit in the bottom of leather). 
Place letters side by side over the center mark.  Make sure the letters are facing the correct direction (learn from me- please).
6.  Remove all letter except the 1st one to be stamped.  Insert setter and firmly strike with hammer/mallet.  Repeat as necessary.
7.  Place 1st stamp back in its impression.  Position 2nd stamp next to 1st for correct spacing.  Take away 1st stamp.  Insert setter into 2nd stamp.  Hit with hammer/mallet.
8.  Repeat for each letter.
9.  Cut leather to size for mug.  Glue with leather cement and hold in place with rubber band.  Let dry.
 10.  Wrap with a 6 pack of beer/root beer. 
11.  Give to your Daddy with lots of hugs and kisses.
CAT Daddy does not like beer, so we use root beer.  We made him his special Root Beer float.  It was GONE before we could get a picture of him enjoying his treat.
He said YUMMM...
Check out this GREAT idea on how to wrap a 6 pack The Idea Room.
Is this just not the cutest idea - EVER?!?!
What will your mugs say?

Number
1
Dad
Greatest
Dad
Best
Dad
We went with the simple route - Last Name. 
Another version is to wrap the handle with wire.

The greatest gift I ever had
Came from God; I call him Dad!
~Author Unknown


Thanks Suzette, what a cool tutorial, can't wait to try this!  Again sorry for my Internet issues!


Saturday, June 11, 2011

Princess Lauren, and a couple Disney tips...

Disney was fun, but tiring.  Florida is so hot and humid, and at the lower altitude it just feels HEAVY.  The kids had their moments, I know it was more than they expected, it was more than I expected! 

I promise to give you all the vacation details, but I wanted to give you a tip or two first.  I'm not a Disney pro, but after our week there, I have a little insight I would like to share. 

If you are planning a vacation to Disney make sure you stay at one of their resorts.  We stayed at All Star Movies, which is what Disney considers 'low end'.  If I had it to do all over again, I would still stay there.  The rooms had two full beds, enough for a family of four, and a bathroom and tv.  Really do you need more?  You'll be at the parks or the pool, so really the room is just for sleeping and showering, why waste the money?  The real reason I say stay at their resorts, is because you can bundle your package and save even more money.

Trust me, you want to bundle, cause Disney is not cheap!  Eating a meal at a restaurant for a family of four can cost $140 per meal, a quick dine meal can run about $60 per meal.  When I say quick dine, think fast food, of course the food at Disney is outstanding.  They know how to do customer service.  We bought the meal plan, and you can only buy it if you are staying at the resort.  The meal plan cost us $36 per day for each adult and $5 per day for each kid, grand total $82 per day, not even the price of one meal!  What did we get with the meal plan?  Three meals and two snacks per day.  We actually left with 9 individual meals still not used.  I say individual because, we had a total of 84 meals and 56 snacks on the plan.

Another great bundle tip, is getting the park hopper passes.  You want this for sure.  It lets you go to as many parks per day as you want, not including the water parks.  We didn't do the water parks, we just used the pool for an hour or so every day, the kids where happy with this.  We went to two parks per day, most days.  Plus when you buy the park hoppers with the bundle you get a huge discount.  Plus if you set up reservations for meals at the parks, you have to have a ticket to get into eat, and you may eat at more than one park per day.

Most important tip, don't book your vacation online, call them directly.  I did this at it saved me $$$$.  When booking online it doesn't give you all the discounts, you need to talk to a live person for this.  I know it can be inconvenient, but really for the money who cares?  Trust me you will spend the money on STUFF!  Disney is a marketing genius, they have store at the end almost every ride, so you get off to 'I want this!' every thirty minutes!

When you book your vacation, try to do it at least 6 months out.  This way you can start booking your dining reservations.  I only booked 45 days out, so there where a few restaurants we couldn't eat at, they were all booked up.  Trust me if you are bringing kids you want to do as much of the character dining as possible, and 45 days out was just not enough time.

I promise more tips and vacation fun, with pics of course, sooner rather than later.  I will leave you with this picture of my daughter after her boutique experience!

Lauren as Sleeping Beauty! 

Love, XX


Thursday, June 9, 2011

I'm BACK!

Did you miss me?  I missed you guys, but now I need a vacation from my vacation.  lol  I promise as soon as we get settled I'll be up and posting.  Sorry for any technical issues while I was gone. 

I worked out my party issue, so if you want to link up you still have today to do it!  xx


Before the Paparazzi ~ Week 6 ~ Designer Garden

Hello Type A readers!  My name is Sommer and I’m here from my blog Designer Garden.  Thank you to Tammy for having enough confidence in me and my blog to ask me to speak on some of the in’s and out’s of blogging. 

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Anything Goes Party #20

Those of you I feature, please grab a button from my button page, if you want.  =)

On to the party.  NO RULES!!

1.  I would love it if you became a FRIEND of my blog, it'll make it easier for you to find the party.

2.  If you would like, you can link back to the party, I have a button for this too, but don't sweat it if you don't. 
3.  Please link as much of anything you want, no limit.  Etsy shops and Give Aways too! 
Ready, Set, Go!!! 

I have my Facebook page up and running now too if you would like to pop over to my side bar and like me on Facebook that would be wonderful!!! 







Monday, June 6, 2011

Meet The Painted Parlor, Week 6

Wow!  I'm completely flattered to be asked by Tammy at Type A to be a guest blogger today!  This is my first guest blogging invite, so I'm a little nervous, excited, and thrilled all at the same time.  So here it goes girls....

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Before the Paparazzi ~ Week 5 ~ Homemaker On a Dime

When is the right time to hold a link party?

So you want to hold your very own linky party. Congratulations for reaching this milestone! But before you proceed, here's a word of caution. Blog party is not for the faint of heart. It's both time-consuming and rewarding at the same time.

How do you know when you're ready? Definitely it's not when you reach a high number of followers, and definitely not when you have a lot of posts published already. You are ready when you're willing to work hard to make your blog party a success.

Ok, you're willing to work hard and put in the hours required to make your blog party a success. The next crucial step is to identify your goal as to why you're holding a link party. Is it because you want to meet other excellent bloggers? Or is it to increase your audience to showcase your creative projects? Or is it to increase your followers? Once you've identified your goal, you now have a way of measuring your party's success. So what are the next steps after identifying your goal? This brings us to the following:

3 Things You Need Before Hosting Your Link Party

1) Have your party button ready. You can either make it yourself using free graphics and personalizing it using picnik.com, or you can hire somebody to make one for you. Plan well on how your party button will look like because it is your link party's brand.

2) Choose your link party tool. If you want to know vital stats such as how many views each linking post gets, then Inlinkz is the way to go. Inlinkz also offers free text link ups. If you want details on the reasons why <a href="http://www.homemakeronadime.com/2011/04/inlinkz-as-link-party-tool-totally.html">Inlinkz as a link party tool totally rocks</a>, please check out the post.

3) Invite, invite, invite. Remember that participants in your link party won't just magically appear - they have to be informed that you've got this awesome party that they'll benefit from. I've seen a lot of blog parties that died a slow death simply because no one came (or because the host just got burned out). You might think it's a shameful self-promotion when you invite others to join your party but remember that if it's for the good of many, then go for it. How do you invite them? Definitely visit each blog one by one and tell them. If you apply the <a href="http://www.homemakeronadime.com/2011/03/etiquette-in-sending-invites-to-your.html">etiquette in sending invites to your linky party</a>, you'll have a high success rate of positive responses, and will eventually have higher number of party participants. You can also email the friends that you've made throughout your blogging career and 100% of the time, they'll support you.

Now that you've started your party, if you're just starting as a host, it's a good idea to respond to people asap and spend time visiting their linked project to thank them for joining your party. It's also important as a host to <a href="http://www.homemakeronadime.com/2011/02/is-your-blog-sociable.html">make your blog sociable</a>, meaning, make commenting on your blog easier by turning off your word verification and being not a "no-reply blogger."

The whole point of the party is to have fun so just enjoy, relax, and learn creative ideas from your party guests. Occasionally, you'll get some critical emails cloaked as "suggestions for improvement" but don't let these deter you from enjoying the party. I started my first blog party in January this year, and I've enjoyed it ever since. Hope you'll have fun, too!

Don't for get to stop by Hyphen Interiors, Kristy's guest poster this week is from.


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