Valentine craft roundup!

It's time to start crafting for Valentine's Day....but some of us haven't started yet. So here's some inspiration to get you in the mood for pink, red, hearts and chocolate!

Paint your nails with hearts like Jasmine did

Get your home ready with ideas for some Valentine's Decor

Jaime's

Brooke's

Need a treat for your Valentine? Why not try Hazelnut Creme Puffs or Marble Chocolate Cheesecake

 

Here's a Valentine that will last forever: Clay Conversation Hearts

 

Is your Valentine a little young? Maybe very young? A Valentine's Day Onsie could be perfect!

Hope you found some inspiration! Happy Valentine's Day!

Inexpensive Ways to Feel More Fabulous

As a stay-at-home mom some (most) days I end up getting dressed late in the day and sometimes not at all. I end up just feeling like Mommy and not my own person. I think we should all be proud of how we look. It's not vanity it's all a part of confidence and knowing you're putting your best foot forward.

Recently I have been trying to feel more fabulous and these are some ways that I have found make me feel more fabulous!

1. Paint your nails. You could go get this done or do it yourself. For Christmas I asked for nail polish and my awesome family got me some cute kits. One is Ombre purple, one is "caviar beads", I got a couple sparkly ones, and a matte finish one. Having my nails done makes me feel fabulous. I do two coats and a clear top coat to make it look professional. 
   
2. Get your eyebrows waxed. It's not expensive- I don't like to pay more than $10 (plus tip of course). Trust me- an esthetician can make your eyebrows fabulous and for $10 every 6 weeks it's not a huge chunk of the budget.
3. Wear animal print. I got these new shoes on sale at Target recently and they are fabulous!
   
4. Buy nice comfy clothes. I'm going to admit a little secret to you- on days when I don't have plans to leave the house I excitedly tell my husband they are "leggings days!" If you're wearing plaid flannel pjs you probably won't feel fabulous so just get some comfy clothes that are a little cuter. Some examples:

   

   here, here, and here

5. Buy a trendy item. I try to find trendy items on the cheap. Try stores like Forever 21 or H&M where you can get an item that is on trend but inexpensive. Fabulous for cheap is awesome! 

   

   here, here, and here

6. Try a new beauty tutorial. I will be sharing a few of my favorites next week. 
7. Whiten your teeth at home. Kandee Johnson does a great tutorial for this product here and it's less than $10!
   

What are some ways you feel fabulous?

Will you be my valentine? Cute DIY valentine ideas!

Looking for some cute ideas for Valentine's day? Check out these adorable Valentines:

Woven paper heart Valentines

Cute Dollar Store Valentines

Name tag valentine with free Silhouette download!

Chapstick valentine

And of course, you can always use our most popular craft of all time as a valentine: stacker books!

Good news! And good reads!

Hey, guys! I don't talk a whole lot about my books here, but in addition to all the crafty goodness I share here, I write novels.

This weekend, I got some very good news . . . both of my novels released last year were among the five finalists for the 2013 Whitney Awards!
 

The Spy Another Day series

(so far)

I, Spy Book One	Spy for a Spy Book Two
To save her secrets and her country, CIA operative Talia Reynolds must sacrifice the man she loves.	Talia's new boss is her ex-boyfriend. And that's the just beginning of her problems.

BOTH. Out of five finalists in the Mystery/Suspense category. This was a BIG surprise, and in a lot of ways, it still hasn't sunk in yet.

But I have even more of a reason to celebrate, because today I'm also releasing a prequel novella to those books!

We're celebrating the launch of Spy Noon, a prequel novella to I, Spy! You can also find Spy Noon at the special 99¢ launch discount through Singles Awareness Day (Feb 14) on Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble and JordanMcCollum.com!

About the Book

Canada's the last place you'd expect to find an American spy, but CIA operative Talia Reynolds has problems piling up higher than a Canadian snowbank. When Elliott Monteith, her ridiculously handsome new coworker, shows up (and shows her up), Talia decides it's game on. She'll be the first to track down a dangerous counter-spy, and she'll give Elliott an unforgettable souvenir of his time in Ottawa: some humble pie.

Her plans don't work as well as she expects, though. Elliott's over-the-top flirting dredges up too many painful memories for Talia and undermines the confidence she's worked hard to regain. To do her job and keep her integrity intact, she'll have to keep her personal feelings at bay. Now Talia must find a way to work alongside Elliott—and maybe even trust him—to outsmart the enemy.

More about Spy Noon | Add Spy Noon to Goodreads! 

Praise for the series

A fast-paced, crisply written story with entertaining plot twists, told in a first person, wryly self-deprecating narrative voice. . . . I, Spy is a well-crafted romantic suspense with humor, heart, and a uniquely engaging heroine.

— Vanessa Kelly, Love Rocks column, BarnesAndNobleReview.com

I knew by the first page that I was going to love [I, Spy]. I absolutely loved Talia's inner voice. . . . The plot is enjoyable and I loved the action! I really could not guess what was going to happen next. There were so many surprises at the turn of each page, especially during the climax, it didn't matter what time it was, I had to finish.

— Mindy Holt, LDS Women's Book Review

 One of her top reads of 2013

The series has this great combination of sarcasm and wit in the MC, great chemistry and dialogue between her and her love interest, and then a whole slue of spying, deception, intrigue, and danger. Especially of that last one. . . . I thoroughly enjoyed [Spy for a Spy]! I would definitely read it again and I am highly anticipating the next book that Jordan McCollum writes! If you enjoy action-adventure, suspense, or books about characters who are spies and some romance, then I would definitely recommend this.

— Tressa, Tressa's Wishful Endings

 

About the author

An award-winning author, Jordan McCollum can’t resist a story where good defeats evil and true love conquers all. In her day job, she coerces people to do things they don’t want to, elicits information and generally manipulates the people she loves most—she’s a mom.

Jordan holds a degree in American Studies and Linguistics from Brigham Young University. When she catches a spare minute, her hobbies include reading, knitting and music. She lives with her husband and four children in Utah.

Website/Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Email newsletter 

Chopped!

So after having KZ I started to feel a little restless with my hair. When I put my diaper bag on my shoulder my hair would get caught under the strap. Everyday I would just throw it up and later get a headache from how heavy it was. So I decided to chop it. I chopped my long hair off almost 6 years ago when I first got married and hated it. This time has been completely different.

Having shorter hair feels natural and so much better. It takes half the time to fix (even if it still takes 20 minutes, my hair is thick, okay!) and it gets fixed everyday. I don't have the stress headaches from my hair.

The only disadvantages are it's not quite as versatile but I'm finding new hairstyles to enjoy.

Here is the picture I brought into the stylist. 

Have you done anything courageous lately?

Red velvet gooey butter cake bars

Last year, I discovered ooey gooey butter cake bars. Um, yes. I knew immediately I wanted to experiment with these babies, and I finally got the chance when I needed to bring a dessert to an activity a few weeks later. After I made them, I realized these red velvet ooey gooey butter cake bars are perfect for Valentine's day!

That's love.

Red Velvet Ooey Gooey Butter Cake Bars
(Wayward Method)

Crust layer:
1 red velvet cake mix
1 stick of butter, melted
1 egg


Filling layer:
8 oz cream cheese
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 lb powdered sugar (~3 3/4 c) (or eyeball half a 2 lb bag....)


Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 9x13 baking dish with parchment paper. Mix the melted butter, cake mix and egg to form a dough. Press

into prepared baking dish.

Beat the cream cheese. Add eggs, vanilla and powdered sugar. Pour over cake layer in pan.

Bake for 45 minutes or until set. The top layer will look crispy crackly, a bit like a brownie's (though it's thicker in practice).

Allow to cool before cutting. (If you don't, the ooey gooey part really will come true, with the filling flowing into the pan. Still tasty ;)

Straight from the oven

The verdict? I actually liked my original, thicker ooey gooey cake bars a little better, but these were still a great treat! (You know it's good when someone asks you for the recipe!)

You can use cookie cutters or a knife and a steady hand to cut them into cute shapes.

Enjoy!

What are your Valentine's baking plans?

How Do You Save Money?

We've talked a lot about how to save money on groceries but I want to hear some feed back from our readers!

Here are some of the sources I look to for saving money:

Blogs:
Totally Target- I think I may be slightly addicted to Target
My Litter- she has general information about saving around the web. Sometimes it's a bit too much info though. I really like her coupon database
Southern Savers- this has a lot of deals on it but not as much extra stuff as MyLitter
Baby Cheapskate- I love that they frequently post the current deals for diapers (even cloth!), wipes, kids clothes, etc

Websites:
The Grocery Game: I subscribe to two stores (Kroger and Harris Teeter) so it is $15 every 6 weeks. I love that the price has never gone up and they have a super convenient format and it is easy to use.
Target.com- for Target store coupons

Apps:
Target Cartwheel- Can you tell I really like Target? Seriously though, we get their diapers and frequently I will have a coupon and a cartwheel. So even though their diapers begin being cheaper than name brand diapers, they get even cheaper with coupons! At Target you can you one Manufacturer's, one Target, and one Cartwheel coupon per item. That is three coupons on one item. I just love it! To use the Cartwheel app (or you can use it on the computer) you load deals on your cartwheel and at checkout the cashier scans one barcode, either on your phone or from a printout.
Ibotta: I've never used this one but I've heard good things about it - Have any of you used it?
Checkout 51: Again I've never used this one. I just read a post on Southern Savers about is. What do y'all think?

Stores:
Kroger: So I used to do 90% of my grocery shopping at Kroger but they changed their customer loyalty program and took away their doubling coupons all within 5 months. They said they were replacing them with lower prices. Not only have I found their prices have increased but also the deals obviously aren't as numerous. I have cut back my shopping at Kroger to about 30%
Aldi: I have to drive almost 20 minutes to Aldi but I make the trek once a month to get their great deals. They are building one less than 10 minutes away though :)
Harris Teeter: I love their double coupon policy (under a dollar doubles). Super doubles and triples are awesome as well!

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