Friday, April 29, 2011

Beautiful Bonnets from Lecia

Ok ok... I'm sorry I kept you waiting on this for so long to... But here it is!

I finally decided that I like bonnets. I was iffy on them for a long time then I bought that crock bench at Gathered Treasures and I had a vision for the bedroom!

And all the sudden I HAD to have some bonnets!!

So I asked our wonderful Lecia at Farmhouse Prims to buy 3 bonnets or partial swap and she said sure! So here are my bonnets!

I am so happy with the rack but the bench needs tweaked again. For now here is what it looks like.

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So beautiful! I love it. One blue, one mustard and one tan.

I picked up the Rack at the Simple Goods Show for $40.00.


It was $20.00 but I had just made a MAJOR purchase from the same person (You will see that tomorrow!) so she let me talk her down.

The basket and red flowers are of course GW finds. And I dried the oranges myself.

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A side view...

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Looking down my hall.

Like the screen door? LOL.

That is how I keep the Primcats from using OUR bed during the day, when we are not there, as their bed. They used to be aloud in there all the time but now it's only when we go to bed because I got tired of all the cat hair in my bed! They have plenty of other places they can spend their 18 hours a day sleeping... but it isn't in our bed!

Why a screen door you ask and not just a regular door? Because of air flow. It would either be super hot or super cold in the bedroom depending on the seasons with the normal door shut so I decided to make a door that would allow maximum airflow. I bought a regular door took the screen out and replaced it with chicken wire then painted it black. Tada!

Look at Chennifer staring at the new bonnets from the hallway. LOL! She was mesmerized!

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A night view.

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So I'm very happy with this wall right now.

Thanks to Lecia for the wonderful bonnets. I love them. So much!

Come back tomorrow to see my big Simple Goods buy!

Until next time...

Carmen and the Primcats

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Thrifty Thursday

Thrifty Thursday is here again. I forgot it was here already so I'll be posting about the stuff I mentioned yesterday tomorrow. So sorry for the delay... but I promise it's worth the wait! :)

Not to much going on at the Goodwills as of late. This is THREE WEEKS worth of going everyday. Donations are WAY down. Nothing much is new on the shelves and nothing is selling because they are pricing things so high. "The Stager" they hired is still at it. That woman is such an uppity up. Wish they never would have hired her. So frustrating!

Until this week I was going everyday but with my new obsession of couponing I barely went this week. It's just not worth the drive to see the same over priced things over and over. I can spend my lunch hours better preparing my coupons for my shopping trips and saving there instead. :)

So here it is...  3 weeks worth.
As you can see... not much for the Queen of Thrift.


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Cute little basket.

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Mini shoofly!

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A delish blueberry candle! YUM!

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A cute little primcat!

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A beautiful swan!!!!!!!!!! Best of the week!

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An a lazy susan which I will take apart and use as 2 crock lids. One big one small.

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Thats all for my thrift finds!

Come back tomorrow to see what treasures I have from Lecia!

Until next time...

Carmen and the Primcats

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

A RAK from Michelle...

Happy Wenesday! Half way to the weekend! Yay! It's suposed to be nice this weekend and I can not wait. We are planning a day on the bike so that makes my week!

I have another treasure to share. Another sweet blogger friend sent me a package this week.


From Michelle at Sugar House Creations.


It was a RAK and I can't say how nice it was of her to think of me. We had been corrosponding about the cats and also Cinch for a while so she just wanted to say thanks. How sweet is that? She made me a wonderful bowl full of ornies!


I just love them!


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And of course I'm into the bees right now so what better than beeskeeps, flowers and bees!


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Hello little blue flowers and bees!


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Just darling!


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Thank you Michelle! I ♥ them all!!!!
And you are so talented! They are works of art!!!
And they go so well with my summer theme!
Thanks Friend!


If you can believe it I still have one more swap/purchase from our fellow blogger Lecia at farmhouse prims to share with you tomorrow and you will get to see one of my Simple Goods purchases.

Until next time...
Carmen and the Primcats

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

So much to post about!



Hello prim friends! Happy Tuesday to ya!
So much new around Primcats house don’t even know where to start. I know you all want to know about the Simple Goods show but I’m going to kind of save that for later because I’ve gotten quite a few new treasures from my wonderful friends here in blog land and I want to share those first. ♥


Michelle from Grannies Pantry sent me a swap package and spoiled me rotten! Just look what she made me for Summer!




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Look at that detailed watermelon! So cute!


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And you see this Crow on a pear...


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She made it based off this one I have! So cute right?


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Hung it over the back of the chair to take a pic of another one she sent and now I really like it there! So cute.


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And if that first one wasn't enough... just look a this one!!!

BEESKEEP!!!!!!!!


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Isn't it the best! I love it!!! And it's really big so two kitties can sleep on it. *wink*


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Details! Amazing!


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And lastly but certainly not least... she made me this cute bee to go with my collection!


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Doesn't he look adorable!!!!


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And in honor of the bee stuff she sent I decided to finally hang up the arrow hubby got me for Christmas with my new beeskeep hanger thing. Hey... I'm a little slow! LOL! But doesn't it look cute!


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Here its all is... had to turn the pic so it all fit!

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Lots of Bee stuff going on! Love it!

Michelle... I really hope you know how much I appreciate you and our swaps! They are so much fun! I love surprises! I hope you love yours as much as I love mine! Should be there tomorrow I hope!

Until next time...

Carmen and the Primcats

Monday, April 25, 2011

My Easter lily…

Hi Everyone!

Just wanted to share this beautiful Easter Lily I received from my Dad and step mom for Easter. They almost always being me one.

It’s so pretty and it smells so good.

Here… have a sniff!

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So pretty right!

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It is tucked away from the kitties safely in the dining room where they can’t get to it. Lillie's are poisonous to kitties so we wouldn’t want anyone accidently getting to it.

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I’ll be back very soon with lots and lots to share! Swaps and purchases and RAK’s and my Simple Goods show buys! So much!

Until next time…

Carmen and the Primcats

Friday, April 22, 2011

Couponing... do you?

With the new show on TLC Extreme Couponing now airing , the coupon nuts have been exposed!


I am one of them!
*Mauahahahaha = evil laugh*


Ok, I'm not as bad and "into it" as they are but I am a coupon clipping maniac. I usually save 20% to 30 % off our weekly bill with couponing and that is with little effort. I just clip my Sunday coupons while watching Desperate Housewives on Sunday nights.


With this show, Extreme Couponing, coming out I realized I could really step it up and make a HUGE difference by looking up coupons online too. I printed a mound of coupons for THINGS WE USE already and today off I went to the store with my matchups.

Here's what happened at Meijer...

I filled this cart with $263.00 worth of groceries.



I had prepared VERY well for this trip. I didn't add up for my end price because I really wanted it to be a surprise but I knew I was gonna mop the floor with them.

My secret? Buy only things that were on SALE that I also had a coupon for.

Each item was already on sale in store AND I had a coupon.

There were 2 exceptions. Easter dinner necessities. Ham and wine. Neither were on sale but both were necessary purchases this week.

So when the cart was full I headed to the check out.

And this is what I spent...

Total ring before coupons but after in store sales $262.78

Total I paid  $100.71

Woo Hoo! Saved 62%

BUT... you have to take into account my two major purchases were the ham and wine and neither were on sale.

Remove them from the equation and I saved 70% !!!
(Wish I would have rung them separately anyway since they weren't on sale.)

That's right, I bought all this (minus ham and wine) for $77.00 dollars!!!!




You can see I got an amazing amount of food for $77.00! I'm pretty proud of this weeks trip. :) 70% off is nothing to scoff at! I gave a very minimal effort that saved me $160.00.

So do you coupon? How do you save at the store?

And you ask what I'm going to do with my $160 savings? Well I'm headed to the Simple Goods Show tomorrow with Mom! Hope to see you there!

 
Until next time...


Carmen and the Primcats

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Gathered Treasures ~ Mansfield, Ohio

I’m happy to say that we made it to the Gathered Treasures show last Saturday! We didn’t arrive until 2pm but we did make it!
The moment I walked in the door I knew I was done for! Everything was prim perfect from wall to wall! So pretty!
I didn’t take pictures because time was short and I didn’t want to waste what little time we had taking photos. If you want to see what this show is all about head on over to http://blackcatprimitivesgatheredtreasures.blogspot.com/ . There is a slide show from last year under the header and lots of links to this years vendors on the left side.

So first lets look at my purchases and then we will look at Jamie's. I think a lot of you must think I buy more than I do because whenever I show what my shopping buddy bought it always seems to be referred to as mine. LOL. It’s not. i.e.…. yesterdays pictures were mostly all Jamie's purchases, not mine. I do like to keep the economy going but I don’t buy it all!
So here are MY purchases. :)
It seemed to be all about the one thing I can not do for me Saturday.
Stitching, Sewing and what not.
I have SEVERE tendonitis in my right arm, from the first knuckles to my shoulder,  making it painful to try to hand sew anything. Which really bums me out because I used to LOVE to crochet and that has been taken from me. I bought a sewing machine a few year but I haven’t even opened it because I really have no interest in it. I want to hand stitch things and I can not./. :(
I bought this sampler. Isn’t it so pretty!
I thought it was hand stitched when I fell in love with it, only to find out it was made on a sewing machine.
Oh well. I like it anyway. :)
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I got this cute little bees keep to go with my collection.
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Another hand stitched item. How cute is this?
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Look how little! 
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I also fell in love with this little guy. Obviously we like the mice at Primcats house. ;)
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Is this not the cutest thing you have ever seen!?!
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Got a bag of cranberry smell good that I promptly poured into a bowl in the kitchen! Smells so good in there!
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So here is where a few things ended up…
Mousie in the kitchen! Millie and tuck are not doing their jobs!
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My pin keep landed in my “spot” in the living room. This is where I sit when ever I’m sitting and since she makes me smile so I figured she belonged there. Now every time I look at her I smile!
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My last purchase was this… and it was the deal of the day! I paid $40.00 for this great crock bench which landed in the bedroom, my least decorated room of the house. Sorry the pic is so bad… but it gives you an idea.
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Last thing of mine that I FINALLY remembered to take a pic of was this bunny and carrot I got 2 Saturdays ago! I keep talking about him but kept forgetting to take a pic.
Here he is in the strainer. Hippity hoppity!
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If you look down below him you will see the gathering basket I bought a few weeks ago. I filled it with dried orange slices and a primcat. :)  
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I’m going to need a bigger Zoo shelf! Where oh where am I going to put all these bunnies when Spring is over? LOL!
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Ok… now… Jamie’s purchases!
These are not mine! These are hers! :D
A great little box. A candle to put in it. And some smell goods to put around it! Yum!
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An adorable little candle box.
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And this little garden mouse! Love him!
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That’s it for the Gathered Treasures show in Mansfield, Ohio.
Have a wonderful Tuesday!
Until next time…
Carmen and the Primcats