Frugal Scrapping Tip, pt. 2

Finally got around to finishing the layout and scanning the photo. As you can see, the photos completely hide the white squares.

A Not Frugal Wedding

But what do I care, I didn't pay for it. My daughter did all the flowers for a local wedding, from the corsages to the bouquet. She even decorated the cake with roses! The woman was really nice and invited her to the wedding reception. My daughter's boyfriend had to work, so she asked if I could come. Nothing like being asked to attend a formal affair 2 hours before it happens. I'm glad I had at least one nice outfit to throw together. And I wore black sneakers. Screw being dressed up, with my bad back. If they're looking at my shoes, I've already lost all hope of impressing them.
Let's not even get into the fact that they wouldn't let her set out the floral arrangements for 20 tables until an hour before the reception. I didn't want to go to the wedding at all, but there was no way I was going to stick my daughter to do all this by herself. Okay, frugal: they bought their own candles for the centers of the floral arrangements; cheaper than having my daughter provide them. Not frugal: 3 tables of hot food and 1 of cold food for the cocktail hour, including a suckling pig, for heaven's sake. Not to mention roasts and paella and shrimp stir fry and calamari. Frugal: disc jockey instead of a band. Not frugal: a choice of rack of lamb, tilapia (which I had for dinner Friday night, btw!), filet mignon or shrimps scampi for dinner. Still, it was a nice evening out with my daughter, which is priceless! (We left early. I made it very clear I didn't want to stay for the whole thing. After all, we really didn't know these people.)

A frugal scrapping tip

Here is the page for an Easter layout I'm doing. The floral background is by Christy Heins of RAK Scraps. Everything else but the yellow mat are by Corrine Fragata, also of RAK scraps. These are elements and papers from the April Mega Kit, which is free to members. (It's free to join, too!)

My frugal tip: why waste ink on areas that are going to be hidden by photographs? This is why I have the white squares. When I add the photos, the white will be hidden. It saves me a little ink, and for all the scrapping pages I do, a little can add up to a lot.

I have a feeling you aren't really supposed to print out these, which is why the whole process is called "Digital Scrapping." But I, for one, don't trust computers. I like an actual page in an actual album.

Success

The extra pieces of the recipe card came out when I turned the sealer on. I laminated a small picture and it came out fine, so I guess I fixed the thing. I'm glad because I wouldn't pay full price for a new one and I'd miss this one.
James liked the enchiladas but said the sauce was very spicey. I subbed cayenne pepper for chili powder but cut back on it, but it was still hot. He liked it, though.
I'd better get some chili powder as I plan to have chili tomorrow night. We are having sausages and peppers tonight.

Fixing up and making do

Fixing up--alas, the laminator I bought a few years ago at Big Lots decided to jam. So I took it apart trying to free the laminated recipe card that decided to wrap around the rollers instead of sliding out. I'm not sure I had much luck--I had to use a utility knife to shred what I could get at because the heating element is inside something that doesn't come apart. I got most of it out, I hope. Right now I'm heating it up so I can try to laminate something else to see if that will push out the remaining recipe card. I only paid $12 for this and have gotten a lot of use out of it. I'm not sure I could find it again at Big Lots, or anywhere else.
Making do...I'm using up the last of last Thursday's turkey dinner, some leftover tortillas and cheese plus an enchilada sauce recipe from "Not Just Beans" to make lunch for my son. He loves enchiladas. The sauce is too spicy for me, but with my kids it's 'the hotter, the better.' I'm just glad to get rid of some leftovers. :)

Coupons=Free Magazine

There is a fairly new magazine out now called "All You." Cover price is about $1.97 and it works out to about $1.77 if you subscribe. But it is so full of coupons it actually comes out free--or even makes money for you if you want to look at it that way. For myself I found over $5 in coupons in just one issue that I will use.
And the magazine itself is fun to read!

PASCUA FELIZ!

I don't know, but those ears sorta look like a bunny, don't they?

Coloring Eggs

We always used to use those little pointed bottles of food coloring when we were kids to dye eggs. I don't recall my mother ever buying the boxed egg color kits. I've done it off and on. I like to use paste food coloring (left over from cake decorating). This year I bought a box of egg color from Big Lots for some nominal amount of money. I figured I was taking my chances because it seemed like last year's lot. Well, I'm amazed. The colors, especially the blue, are gorgeous! I'll have to be sure to buy end-of-the-season dyes for next year.
My youngest son and I colored eggs tonight. My daughter and her boyfriend will color some when they get home. She's off having a drink or two (yes, she's legal) after a long, hard day at work. She manages her floral department in a big grocery store. One girl quit on her. Two girls called in sick, although one girl did come in yesterday and try to help. She really was sick. So my daughter was running the show pretty much by herself today, the day before a big holiday. I think she's entitled to a little pick me up. If she's not up to coloring eggs, I'll finish them off.
I'm glad I bought the kit. For some reason, my paste food coloring is all dried out. I guess that eventually happens to it, and it is old. Since I don't do much cake decorating, I doubt I'll replace it.

A commercial plug

Get thee to either "Living on a Dime" at blogspot or www.notjustbeans.com. I just ordered and received (very quickly!) a book by Tawra Jean Kellam called "Not Just Beans." It's great! And she doesn't even like beans, LOL! The book is fun to read and full of great tips and recipes. And Tawra has a really cute family. I highly recommend the book!

My new Blog

I call this blog "Sorta Frugal" because I am. Sorta frugal. I don't eat beans. Wish I could--it's a stomach thing. My mother makes the most amazing baked beans and I used to love chili. I don't follow anyone else's ideas of frugal just because they say so--I have to find out for myself. Some ideas are great and some just don't work for me! I eat meat, even red meat. I just buy it on sale, LOL! Once or twice a year we have rib eye steak. I buy them when they are half price, and one steak feeds two people. $3 plus change for a meal per person is pretty reasonable for a special occasion dinner, IMHO. The way I am really frugal when it comes to groceries is that I combine coupons and sales and really stock up on stuff. A well-stocked pantry and freezer (and it takes a while to get there) is a frugal girl's best friend. I'm also frugal in my crafting. I'm an avid scrapbooker. Back in the day I had to have every bell, whistle and toy. Now I realize I don't need 98% of that stuff to make really nice scrapbook pages. You will see some of them posted here--assuming anyone actually even looks at this blog. My other blog is "Creative Thoughts" and no one ever goes there. There are so many great sites that offer free scrapbooking downloads that it isn't necessary to spend lots of money. Even the albums can be reasonable if you use coupons (like Michael's weekly 40% off one) or follow sales! Now an apology--for some reason this thing isn't letting me paragraph. I'm sorry if the continuous writing without break is hard to read!