Have you been thinking about purchasing from Tropical Traditions? Now would be the perfect time to try them out since they've joined the Black Friday / Cyber Monday fun with a special deal of their own! :)
Now through midnight on Monday, November 28th, you can get $10 off any purchase of $16 or more! Just use the code fri251111 to receive your discount.
Their 8 ounce Moisturizing Lotions are on sale for $12.90 (40% off) through Sunday. These would be wonderful for the winter weather when the heat dries out your skin, or they would make wonderful gifts!
Their Organic Maple Syrup is also on sale 40% and their Brown Rice Syrup 35%. Many other items are also discounted! Don't miss out on saving an extra $10 on these high quality products from Tropical Traditions!
Disclaimer: My referral link is in this post. Thank you for your support!
With so many stores, shops, and businesses rolling out specials sales for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Lilla Rose wasn't going to be left behind!
From 12:00 AM PST tomorrow November 25th through midnight PST on Saturday November 26th, Lilla Rose customers will receive 15% off every item in their cart! PLUS some select items will be marked down 25% off!!
Take advantage of this weekend sale to purchase Christmas gifts or to stock up for yourself!
And now I would like to offer you a special sale from now through the 28th (covering Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday). The prices for my entire Artfire shop have been reduced by 10%. If you have a coupon code, you can pair that with the sale for an even bigger discount!
I had never seen or heard about them until a few months ago I started seeing them on blog after blog. They were so pretty, and I really wanted to try one, so I entered a few giveaways and guess what?! I actually won a beautiful Lilla Rose Flexi Clip to try out for myself! I was so excited to order my first clip and eagerly awaited it's arrival!
I wasn't the only one watching for that Lilla Rose package to arrive though. Through the sweet generosity of the consultant whose giveaway I won, my sister was also going to be receiving the Flexi Clip of her choice!
When the clips arrived we were NOT disappointed. Not only are they so pretty and feminine, they work! My sister has fine curly hair and the mini flexi works great for her usual hair styles. If she wants to put all of her hair up, she just has to reach for my extra small size. :)
For me, the extra small Flexi is perfect for doing a half up and I can use the small for a ponytail (at least when my mom isn't using the small for hers :)). If I were to put my hair all the way up, I'd need the large size.
My Mom, Sister, and I were so pleased with the first two Flexi Clips we were given, that I signed up right away to be a consultant so that I could share these Simply Feminine hair clips with all of my friends and blog readers. These would make wonderful Christmas gifts for any lady or girl, and guess what? Lilla Rose is having a Black Friday - Cyber Monday sale on ALL of their clips!! Be sure to check back in here Thursday night for the details! :)
This gorgeous Autumn Flexi was released on November 1st and sold out in just 24 hours!! Thankfully Lilla Rose was able to get more made and they are now available in a limited amount until the end of the month. Once they're gone, they're gone!
Congratulations to Ashley on winning the beautiful Rusty Star Basket from Joanna's Collections!
Thank you to everyone for entering! This giveaway ended up being my highest entry giveaway yet with over 200 entries!! I appreciate all of you who took time to stop by my blog and enter the giveaway!
Can you believe that Thanksgiving is only 8 days away?! The holiday season is upon us already, and with the holidays comes lots of baking! I love to bake all kinds of goodies, pies, cookies, breads, etc. Although I bake all year around, there's something special about baking lots of yummy goodies in the Fall and Winter - especially around Thanksgiving and Christmas!
This year thanks to the generosity of Tropical Traditions, I have a new product to use in my baking! Following the last review and giveaway I did for them, Tropical Traditions asked if I would like to review another one of their wonderful product. Of course I jumped at the chance and chose to try their Organic Palm Shortening.
"Palm shortening is derived from palm oil (read about Virgin Palm Oil here). In its natural state, palm oil is a mixture of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids, with most of the unsaturated fat being monounsaturated fat. Palm shortening is palm oil that has some of its unsaturated fats removed, giving it a very firm texture, and high melting point. The melting point of our Organic Palm Shortening is 97 degrees F., making it very shelf stable. It is NOT hydrogenised, and contains NO trans fats! It is great for deep-fat frying and baking, and is not prone to rancidity. Since it has been separated from some of the unsaturated portion of the oil, it is colorless and odorless, and will not affect the taste of foods like Virgin Palm Oil does."
My box from Tropical Traditions arrived at the perfect time! I was just getting ready to make an Upside Down Apple Pie for a pie contest at a Western Themed get-together that some friends host, and I was thrilled to be able to make my crust with this shortening! The shortening worked perfectly in the crust, and the pie turned out beautifully (and happened to win the blue ribbon :)).
I am definitely pleased with this product from Tropical Traditions, and will certainly be ordering more when I run out. Besides the apple pie I first made, I've also made Shoo-Fly Pie, Ginger Cookies and just last night I pulled my gallon bucket of shortening out to make the crust for Spicy Bean & Beef Pie (a family favorite!)
I'm excited to have a product I can use in my pie crusts and other baking that s NOT hydrogenised, and contains NO trans fats. If you're used to using Crisco, this Palm Shortening has a little bit different consistency and isn't as WHITE, but it works just as well and is so much better. :) I also love the fact that, "Tropical Traditions Organic Palm Shortening comes from small scale family farms in South America. These farmers are certified by ProForest, which ensures that they meet strict social, environmental and technical criteria."
Would you like to win your own gallon of Organic Palm Shortening to try in your own holiday baking? Tropical Traditions is very generously offering one of my readers the same size bucket of shortening that they sent me to review.
To enter the giveaway, just follow the instructions in the Rafflecopter form below. Please make sure you record your entries in the form itself or they will not be counted!
A few weeks ago I received a custom order for matching Christmas outfits for two sisters. They needed the dresses early for pictures, so I put aside my other projects to work on these outfits. This was my first Christmas order of the year, and I had so much fun making the dresses!
I sent photos to the Mom of different Christmas fabrics that were available in the area fabric stores, and she chose one she liked requesting that I add a coordinating fabric for accents if I thought it would look good. I was able to find just the perfect red to match, and here's what the finished product looked like.
Aren't they sweet! I had fun sewing with all that glitter. :) I think these will make such cute Christmas photos! :) Now I just have to decide what to make out of the extra fabric. :)
Happy Saturday to all of my blog readers! Thanks so much for stopping by! I have a quick giveaway for you this weekend!
Shutterfly is giving me the privilege of giving 10 friends 75 FREE 4x6 Photo Prints! I would love to share these with some of you! You could easily use design these as Christmas cards for family and friends or you could just use them to print your photos.
To enter the giveaway, just leave me a comment letting me know what you might use these for and be sure to leave your e-mail address! 10 winners will be randomly chosen Monday morning.
You will have until November 18th to use your free prints.
Note: You will be responsible for tax and shipping costs.
When I'm browsing through Etsy or Artfire shops and looking at the beautiful collections and treasuries that are made with the handmade items from these shops, one thing that always catches my eye are baskets! I just think baskets are so pretty, and handmade baskets are extra special! Some of the baskets I've seen are beautiful and so intricate! These baskets are definitely a work of art and are each handcrafted with love by the talented crafter! One such talented person is Joanna from Joanna's Collections, and I'd love to introduce you to her and her shop!
Here's what Joanna says:
"I have loved baskets ever since I received my first wooden-lidded picnic basket as a wedding shower gift 35 years ago. Our home has since been decorated with baskets.
We carried our babies' necessities in “diaper baskets”; I have hidden the Scotch, masking, and duct tapes in market baskets, (so it's there when needed); our kitchen is filled with bread baskets, muffin baskets, napkin and paper plate baskets, utensil baskets, and casserole baskets; the laundry is hauled in wash-day baskets; our books are held in magazine or carry-all baskets; library books are transported to and fro in leather handled tote baskets; etc., etc., etc., :-) In other words, I am never found without a basket in hand!
Although my love for baskets has covered the last three decades, I was not actually "hands on" involved until the summer of 1991 when I was introduced to basket weaving. At the time, our family lived and worked at a Christian camp in northern Wisconsin, and a lady from Milwaukee was attending a week-long family camp. She was an avid basket maker, and so she offered a class out on the deck of the dining hall. Being on a tight budget with a family of seven, I did not even have the $10 material fee needed to take the class. But a good friend paid my fee, and we spent a beautiful afternoon weaving our first baskets. I was immediately hooked! Up to that point in life, I had enjoyed many other types of crafts, but now, basket weaving quickly moved into first place.
Since that memorable summer afternoon 19+ years ago, I have woven over 4800 baskets, taught hundreds of classes, and designed a countless number of patterns. I am currently teaching basketry for adult community education in four different public school districts. It is always such a joy to share in a new student's delight with the completion of their first basket weaving project.
I create and weave all of our baskets in our own home shop. We have been blessed with a restored 1916 country farmhouse on a 20-acre hobby farm located in eastern Minnesota, and have had nine children, three of which are still at home. (The others keep coming back home with more!)
We have a large vegetable garden, a dozen apple trees, a long row of raspberries, and lots of flowers in the summer. We raise chickens and turkeys, keep honeybees, and have three horses, two dogs and a varying number of farm cats. There are bikes in the dirt driveway, a swing set and swimming pool in the back yard, and two small ponds out in the pasture. All in all, it is a great place to raise a family and — WEAVE BASKETS!"
Aren't they beautiful! So much variety and so well made! You can find these wonderful baskets on Etsy or their brand new website!
Not only would these American made, handwoven baskets be wonderful for using around your home, they would also make very special gifts!! And speaking of gifts, I am thrilled to announce that Joanna's Collections is offering one of my readers their choice of one of the two baskets below!
This is one time I wish I could enter the giveaways I list on my blog! :)
To enter for your chance to win one of these beautifully made baskets, fill out the Rafflecopter form below. Please be patient as it may take a minute to load. Remember to record your mandatory entry in the form or it will not be counted!
Well, if the 40 free photo prints Walgreens offered last weekend weren't enough for you, or if you were like me and missed the deal, you get another chance for free prints this weekend! :)
This time Walgreens is offering 25 free 4x6 photo prints through tomorrow (November 5, 2011). Just use the code FREE4X6 at checkout and be sure to choose in-store pick up to get your prints completely free!
UPDATE: Wow! Walgreens has issued another code for 25 Free prints!!! This time use the code FORU25 to receive your free photos.
You Can Make This has just released a new coupon code! Check out all their wonderful holiday patterns just in time for Thanksgiving and Christmas!
Just use the code MERRY12 at checkout to receive 12% off your entire purchase. The coupon is good through November 12th, so you have a little over a week to use it. Also if you spend $25 or more, you'll receive a free pattern too!
1 Gallon Organic Palm Shortening - 112 oz.
