New Layout!

FINALLY I have my layout finished! I had in my mind what I wanted to do for a layout, but I never found the time. I think that I now have this blog where I want it. All that is left to do is add more sidebar content and posts! I will try to update daily on my life, post photos of my creations, and post lots of other interesting and fun stuff!

My baby girl is turning 1!

It doesn't seem like a year has gone by, but it sure has! My baby girl, Reagan, turns one on Wednesday the 26th, but we had her party yesterday, which is funny because my actual due date to have her was the 23rd. She just wanted to stay in there! It was a hard time for myself and my family last year because my uncle passed away the week of Thanksgiving and I prayed that I wouldn't go into labor until after his funeral and everything because I wanted to be there to support my family. I ended up going into labor the night after his funeral and I had Reagan the next morning. She was a wonderful blessing to our whole family, after an incredibly hard week, she was there to put a smile on everyone's faces! She's been the highlight of my life this past year and I'm sure from here it only gets better! I couldn't have asked for a sweeter baby girl! I'm so thankful for her! Here are some photos from her first birthday party.
Reagan's princess cake
Reagan's personal mini cake
Dig in princess!

Yum Yum! Birthday Cake!
The aftermath
That's a lot of presents for a 1 year old!

Reagan & her cousins helping her open presents
Daddy showing her the toys

She was happy that the party was over! lol

Oops!

I feel like I've neglected my blog! Don't worry, I haven't! I've just been incredibly busy! Let me update on my life...

A few weeks ago I posted a blog about my husband being gone and my depression. That weekend, my husband came home and surprised me! I was waiting for him to call me on his lunch break and at that time, he showd up knocking on the door! It was the best surprise! He got to stay home and work around here for about 2 weeks, and just this past Sunday, he left again for his next job destination. The good thing is that he's only 4 hours away now, so hopefully he will come home on the weekends, or at least every other weekend.

Along the lines of my busy life, I have had computer troubles! Let me start by saying that I HATE Windows Vista!!! Apparently I let it install an update which had something to do with deleting spyware and stuff, well, that update caused me to not be able to run pretty much anything on my computer besides Internet Explorer, how convenient! So this week I went ahead and backed up everything and did a clean sweep on my computer. So I'm still working on putting everything back onto my computer.... it's a long process!

As for my internet life, I'm working on some cool stuff! First, I'm working on a new layout for this blog. I want to design something that describes me. I got some digital elements and I've been working on something, so stay tuned for that! Also, I'm working on a blog for couponing and deals! I have found so many useful resources and also have found such great deals and I love to share them! So if you're a fan of finding deals (especially this time of year!), make sure you stay tuned for Creative Couponing 101! Hopefully it will be up soon!

For now, check out these sweet pictures of my little Reagan. We took her for Halloween and Birthday photos and here are a few of them, I think they turned out great!

Tinkerbell

I have been wondering for quite a while what the big thing was with Tinkerbell. I mean, she's super cute and I love everything that is being made with her on it... but she was just the little fairy on Peter Pan, right? Not anymore! She now has her own movie! Now I usually don't buy movies since I have a netflix membership, but I splurged and bought it for Reagan this week since it came out Tuesday and was on sale. I figured it might get watched more than 2 or 3 times (and it has already). I must say, it's a very cute movie! It's a must own for those of you who have a young daughter! I even liked it! The colors are beautiful in the movie, and that is something I am always looking for when I get movies because Reagan isn't quite old enough to understand the concept, but she loves the vivid colors! The storyline to the movie is pretty good as well, so for those of you on the fence about this one, go ahead and splurge a little!

Blog Candy!

House Party!

If you haven't heard of houseparty already, head on over to houseparty.com and check it out!!! I had the chance to host a Gerber house party this past summer and it was awesome! I got a package full of Gerber organic baby food to share with friends and family. This stuff isn't cheap! They also sent a ton of coupons to share as well! It's a great way to try new products, and also a good reason to have a fun little get together! Give it a try!

While you're at it, CLICK HERE to enter and win a free arm & hammer house party gift pack!

Birthday Invitations

Ok, so a few weeks ago I posted a few samples of invitations for Reagan's 1st birthday. I wanted to thank everyone for the input, here is the final product! I can't believe my little princess will be 1 in a month!!!

What better to do on a Sunday evening?

I've been sitting here pretty much all evening... just sitting here in front of my computer... cutting... cutting coupons! I'm pretty much addicted! A few months ago I saw an interview on my local news channel with a lady who would go to the store and buy a whole cart full of stuff for under $20. I decided that I needed to be more like this woman. With our econemy the way it is, why not? So I went to her website () and it opened up a whole new door to me! I began reading her blogs, clicking away on the links, and then I was hooked! I immediately signed up for The Grogery Game () and decided to try my hand at couponing. At first, I thought I was doing pretty good, only spending $50-$80 per trip which normally would cost me over $100. Now that I look back, that wasn't the best I could do. The trick to the grocery game is to get a stockpile going. If something is on sale, stock up. Combine sales with coupons for the best deals. I began buing 4 Sunday papers every week. Coupon clipping became a job to me. After a few months, I got my stockpile built up pretty good. Now I am only buing 2 papers every Sunday, unless there are some must have coupons, then I will buy 4-6 papers.

So where am I going with this? Well, after several months of the grocery game, last month I decided to live off of my stockpile and not grocery shop at all except for the must have items like milk, eggs, cheese, etc. So I've just started grocery shopping again and getting in the hang of couponing again. I decided that since I already have so much stuff in my stockpile, I don't need to buy much unless it's an absolute can't pass up deal, or if it's free. Today, I've been sitting here looking at deals, clipping coupons, and matching sales with coupons. Now, I'm ready to go shopping!

Here are some of the deals that I have found this week:
Sally Hansen Nail Polish - FREE
Scotch Brite Nail Saver Sponges - FREE
Nesquik Flavored Milk - FREE
Excedrine - FREE
Celestial Seasonings Tea - FREE
Cottonelle Toilet Paper - FREE
Brut Deodorant - FREE
Pantene Styling Product - FREE
Pantene Shampoo - $.65
Green Giant Frozen Vegetables - $.50
Yoplait Kids Yogurt Multi-pack - $.89
Snack Pack Pudding - $.50
Pampers Swipers Baby Wipes - $.99
Gilette Shampoo - $.25

And lots more deals!

It's so simple to find these deals! It just takes a little time. While getting a little r&r on a Sunday evening, sit down with the paper and look through the ads and coupons. I find it relaxing. It's actually addicting to me now! I have to see what all I can collect for free each week! If it's something I don't use, I usually give it to my mom, my sister, or my grandparents, one of them will usually use anything I can get for free! Since starting the grocery game in August, I have enough shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, and face wash to last me probably 2 years! And I only bought it because it was a deal that I couldn't pass up!

I urge everyone to give it a try! The Grocery Game has a month long trial membership for $1! If you decide to give it a try, please put me as a reference (email: emfine99@aol.com) I would appreciate it!

Shop away! :-)

Halloween Frenzy

Ok, so I have been searching ebay for the past couple of weeks for a Halloween costume for Reagan. It's her 1st Halloween so I wanted something cute for her. Gymboree has some incredibly cute costumes, but they are kind of expensive. Last month I saw one that i liked on their website, it was a bumble bee and it had a tutu and stuff and was just really girly and adorable. A few days later I went back to their site, and it was gone! UH OH!!! They are completely sold out of that costume! So I searched ebay and saw a few going for around $50.... too much! I have been searching ebay almost daily for this costume, and used ones that were going for $25 last week are now going for close to $40! So I decided.... maybe a ladybug from Gymboree.... I had one in my watch list that was buy it now for $20, of course, it sold really fast.


With Halloween in a few weeks, I decided to get on the ball because prices of these sold out costumes are only going to be going up each week! So I decided to google it, not too much luck.... however I did stumble across a craigslist posting... BINGO!!! This woman not only had the Bumble Bee, but she had the lady bug as well for $20 each! One is 12-18 months, the other is 18-24 months, so I'm not quite sure which will fit her best, but I decided to be safe and get them both! They are so cute! If the larger one doesn't fit, there's always next year! I think I might just have to take her to JC Penney and get some pics done in her costumes as well :-)

1st Birthday Invitations

Ok, so I need some help. Reagan's 1st birthday is November 26, I am having her party on the 23. I booked the building for it (I don't want to have to worry about cleaning my house after, plus my house is too small). Now I'm ready for the invitations. I have decided to go with Disney Princess since she is just a little princess! :-) I was going ot make the invitations myself, but that takes too long, and it's too much money really to put in for a 1st birthday. I have a few options that I have found on ebay..... I need suggestions if anyone has found anything else!

Here are the choices I have found so far:

This one is just a file that I can buy on ebay and she will put a picture in it for me. I have to take these to a photo develepor (Walmart, CVS, Walgreens, etc) and have them printed, but I can do as many as I want. I thought these were cute. This is $10, plus the cost of prints.

This one is $5 for 10 invitations plus shipping ($5.50).

I also thought of getting the cards that they have at walmart that you can order. They have disney princess photo card invitations for .33 cents each, but I can't fit all of the words that I want on them.

Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated!

New Name & Link!

I have decided to change my blog. I want to make it about myself, life in general, AND my art. It was just about my art, but Paper Creations by Emily is now Create Serendipity! I have always loved the word Serendipity and it's meaning, so finally I have incorporated it into my blog. Please update your links! The new link is http://createserendipity.blogspot.com

New Kids are BACK!

I haven't posted anything lately, I appologize! I've been quite busy! Let's see if I can recap....

This weekend, my best friend and I went to see the New Kids on the block in Cleveland, Ohio. It was... AMAZING! We had been waiting to see them for over 15 years! Our moms wouldn't take us when we were younger, so finally we go tthe chance! It was worth every penny and it was a really fun trip!

Here are a few pics from the show, we had 7th row seats

Also, for those of you wanting to take a trip and don't want to spend a lot on a nice hotel, try priceline.com! I booked a very nice room for $45!!! And it was right downtown! I looked on other sites where they were chargins $140 for the exact same room!

Here is me outside of the hotel, it was right by the lake!

My studio, my getaway

Whenever I need to just get away and be creative, I go to my scraproom. I finally got it the way (I THINK) that I want it. It's nice and colorful and fun. Sometimes I just go upstairs and sit there and spin around in my chair and look at all of my photos that I have on my walls and on my desks. Whenever I moved into this house, I wasn't sure exactly what to do with it since it's an older house, but I was able to use my creative ability to make rooms that are enjoyable to be in. My scrapbook room is the perfect place for me to go to just get away from it all!

Here is a little tour of my studio.... and just a little sidenote.... I ♥ IKEA!!! :-)

This is my new desk from Ikea. It's a glass tabletop and I LOOOVE it!

I tried to take a close up of the desk, on the glass it says the word "Love" in different languages.

This is the other part of my scrapbook room where my other desk is. The gate looking section is where my stairs come up.

This is the quiet side of my room where I take my daughter to rock her and sometimes where I go just to relax.

Here is a closer look at some of my ribbon storage. I got the paint cans at a yard sale for $1 each!

This is a clase up of my border. It's cute and girly!

I just love these candle holders!