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Nancy’s Bags Etc.

March 24, 2010 4 Comments
Want to make a fashion statement with your own one of a kind handbag? Then you’ll love my newest sponsor, a fabulous etsy shop called Nancy’s Bags Etc. Nancy offers gorgeous bags for all your various needs. You’ll find handmade purses, yoga tote bags, organizers, and medium size tote bags. These are very chic and stylish, and they come in a variety of colors and designs.Nancy has been sewing since childhood–everything from pillows and quilts to clothing. Her new love is making bags, and when you look through her stock it’s obvious that a lot of love and care goes into each bag. From the pattern design, to the fabric selection, and until the last stitch is sewed, her bags are uniquely designed with quality craftsmanship in mind.

Here are just a couple of Nancy’s creations. I love the detail work that goes into this spring purse with flower, and the cotton purse for spring with it’s bold, bright colors, just makes me want to go out for a walk in the sunshine!

Whatever your taste, you’re sure to find a bag for you. So head on over to Nancy’s Bags Etc. and pick out your favorite for spring time! Also, check out Nancy’s other shop Designs in Stained Glass for some cute additions to your home decor.

-Jerri

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Making the World Cuter Monday hosted by Making the World Cuter
I’m Lovin It Fridays is hosted by Tidy Mom
Show & Tell Wednesday is hosted by Blue Cricket Design
Finer Things Friday is hosted by Amy’s Finer Things
I’m Lovin It Fridays is hosted by Tidy Mom
It’s So Very Creative & It’s So Very Thrifty hosted by It’s So Very Cheri
Market Yourself Monday is hosted by Sumos Sweet Stuff
Marketing Mondays and Sharing Ideas Wednesday is hosted by The Trendy Treehouse

Filed Under: crafts, fashion, shopping, Sponsors

Survival Seed Review/Giveaway – Grow Your Garden!

March 22, 2010 121 Comments
Do you have an emergency food supply? Is your family prepared for a food shortage? In the event of a natural disaster, terrorist attack, and other catostophic events, it’s good to have the ease of mind in knowing that your family has plenty of food to eat.

Unfortunately most of us only stock enough food to sustain ourselves for a few weeks. For many of us, this is due to a lack of funds. If you live paycheck to paycheck, as many of us do, you buy what you can, which is generally a week or two weeks worth of groceries. But it’s also due to a sense or (as some would say) a false sense of security. As I stated in my previous post, we have the luxery of being able to go to the store anytime we want: today, tomorrow, next week, etc. And most us of never consider what it would be like if we did not have this opportunity. Most people have no idea what they would do in the event of a major disaster or even what they would do in the event of a personal emergency (job loss, accident, etc.)

One answer is to grow your own garden. Although maintaining a garden can be hardwork, it gives you the opportunity to be self reliant and continuously create a new food supply year after year. It also saves you a lot of money. Growing a garden is also a great project that you can work on with you family, and it can help you to teach your children about responsibility, self-reliance, and the value of hard work.


Today I’m giving away a survival seed pack from Hometown Seeds. The seed pack consists of Non-Hybrid Survival Seeds. This means that they are not genetically modified and they will produce true to variety seeds to replant for future harvests. The seeds have a 5 year shelf life (10 years, if frozen). And the package includes nearly a pound and a half of seed—enough seeds to plant 3/4 of an acre. Also, the seed pack sales for $35 and will yield about $600 worth of food a year!
The package also comes with a fabulous instruction booklet. This tells you everything you need to know to start growing your garden: when to plant, where to plant, crop spacings, germination periods, soil modification, etc.

Your Survival Seed Pack will include 16 varieties of seeds:

-Lincoln Peas (5 oz.)
-Detroit Dark Red Beets (10 grams)
-Kentucky wonder Brown Pole Bean (5 oz.)
-Champion Radish (10 grams)
-Lucullus Swiss Chard (10 grams)
-Black Beauty Zucchini (10 grams)
-Bloomsdale Longstanding Spinach (10 grams)
-Scarlet Nantes Carrots (10 grams)
-Long Green Improved Cucumber (10 grams)
-Golden Acre Cabbage (10 grams)
-Romaine Paris Island Cos Lettuce (5 grams)
-Golden Banterm Sweet Corn (5 oz.)
-Yolo Wonder Pepper (5 grams)
-Waltham Butternut Winter Squash (10 grams)
-Rutgers Tomato (5 grams)
-Yellow Sweet Spanish Onion (10 grams)

Win it! If you’d like to win your own survival seed pack (a $35 value) go to Hometown Seeds and tell us your favorite product OR tell me what crop you’d most like to have in your garden. Deadline: April 5

Extra Entries:
-One entry for following my blog publicly.
-Two entries for following me on twitter.

-One entry each time you link up at Friday Favorites during the giveaway period (3/19 edition through 4/2 edition).
-One entry for tweeting about this giveaway (limit one entry per day).
(Sample tweet: I want to win survival seeds for my garden http://bit.ly/assh9Y @SimplySweetHome.)
-One entry if you link up something for Sweet Thursday.
-Two entries if you display my button on your blog.
-One entry if you’re a fan on facebook.
-Three entries if you are subscribed to my Feedblitz mailing list.
-One entry if you follow Simply Sweet Creations.
-Five entries if you make a purchase from my etsy shop.

Rules/Restrictions: Giveaway is for US residents only. If you don’t have a blog or profile with a visible email address, please leave one with your comment so that I can contact you if you win.

-Jerri

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I’m posting a link to this post on the following sites:
Tempt My Tummy Tuesday is hosted by Blessed With Grace.
Homemaker Mondays is hosted by 11th Heaven’s Homemade Haven.
Tasty Tuesday is hosted by Balancing Beauty & Bedlam.
Works for Me Wednesday is hosted by We Are THAT Family
Tip Me Tuesday is hosted by Tip Junkie
Sharing Ideas Wednesday is hosted by The Trendy Treehouse
Friday Food is hosted by Mom Trends
Friday Foodie is hosted by Designs by Gollum
Finer Things Friday is hosted by Amy’s Finer Things
I’m Lovin It Fridays is hosted by Tidy Mom

It’s So Very Thrifty is hosted by It’s So Very Cheri
Show and Tell Friday is hosted by Romantic Home
Disclosure: I did not receive monetary compensation for this post. The opinions expressed here are my own. I received a seed pack in return for posting a text link and another package to give away to my readers.

MckLinky Blog Hop
Click here to see the entire Giveaway Blog Hop List….

Filed Under: Food Storage, Giveaways, Home/Garden, Sponsors

The Need For Food Storage: How Much Food Do You Have on Hand?

March 22, 2010 1 Comment
photo credit: The Daily Telegraph

Is your family prepared for emergencies? My husband and I spoke with a network marketer who said that 95% of people just make a living. Whether they work as a store clerk or mechanic, or whether they’re a business owner, doctor, or lawyer, they have to keep trading their time into that profession in order for the income stream to continue. And for most of us, if we stopped working for a few weeks (because we lost our job, got sick or had to take care of a sick loved one, etc) it would create a big financial burden in a hurry.

And this not only applies to our finances but to our personal food supply. The majority of people only have enough food to sustain their families for a couple of weeks. For some people it may be more, but for others on a tight budget, it may be less. We’ve grown accustomed to living our lives day to day, knowing that we can go to the grocery store and get everything we need today, tomorrow, next week, and the week after that. And we give very little thought to food storage for emergency preparedness.
Think of all the things that could affect your personal food supply and/or your ability to get more food. Here are just a few things: tornado, flood, terrorist attack, civil unrest, massive power outages, inflation and even on a personal level, the loss of a job or income stream or a family emergency that prevents you from working.
Last summer we actually had a massive power outage that lasted for 3 days. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to Alabama in the summer time, but trust me, you don’t want to be without power for 3 hours, much less 3 days! Anyway–we managed to get some ice and transfer some of our refrigerated goods over to coolers, but unfortunately we had to throw some things out. And during that time we had to spend some our money on fast food.
That same week, many households were without power for 5 days. I remember reading in the paper about a lady who was in desperate straits because she’d just bought groceries before the power outage and now all her food was spoiled, and she simply couldn’t afford to take her family out to eat again. And because she only got paid every two weeks, she was in a quandary over how she could get groceries for the following week.
But what if the situation had been more dire? What if it had been a longterm problem?  For us, going 3 days without power seemed to drive us mad, not just because of the lack of internet, tv, and other luxeries, but because there was no way to cook our food or keep it cold. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be in that situation for a week, a month, or longer.  Can you?

We often read articles about emergency preparedness: having smoke detectors, a weather radio, a home evacuation plan, etc. But often food and water, the most vital things to our survival don’t get a lot of  mention.  I’ve been looking in to this topic, and as I prepared for the survival seed giveaway that I’m doing this week, I got inspired to create some other posts on this topic, starting with this one–sort of a mini series.

If you’re interested in learning more about this topic, I’ll be doing more posts on the subject in the next few weeks.  Also, later on today I’ll be launching the survival seed giveaway, which you are welcome to enter.

-Jerri
Filed Under: Food Storage, Home/Garden

Friday Favorites – Week 4

March 18, 2010 8 Comments
Friday again! This month is going by so fast! This week I have something special for all you Friday Favorites participants: A Giveaway! Next week I’ll be launching a Survival Seed giveaway (worth $35), and I’m giving everyone who links up this week and/or next week extra entries in the giveaway!  My review post and complete giveaway details will be up early next week, but till then here’s a preview pic of the prize that’s up for grabs (angel planter not included):
 
That’s a lot of seeds! So if you’d like these for your garden, just link up below. Then come back next week for more chances to win!
We had so many great posts  linked up last week, I had a hard time deciding which ones to feature! But I finally managed to narrow it down.  Here are this week’s picks.  If you’re featured, please take the “Featured” button for your blog.
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Tracey at Girls To Grow wrote an excellent post: 8 Tips to Developing the Writer in Your Child.
You know I love pink & green! This lovely Spring Wreath was created by The Single Nester.
I love this Dollar Store Cake Stand made by The Little Brown House.  

So unique! This Designer Inspired Gift Bag came from In My Own Style
And for dessert….this Chocolate Pudding Cake with Truffle Frosting from The Misadventures of Mrs. B.
Now let’s see your favorite posts from this week! Link up below.  Please link to your actual post, not your blog.  And please include a button or a link to my blog so that others can come participate!
-Jerri

Filed Under: Friday Favorites

Friday Follow

March 18, 2010 11 Comments

The Trendy Treehouse

Hey everyone and welcome Friday Followers! While you’re here, please link up at my Friday Favorites party!  (Your post might get featured here next week if you do!) And check out my current giveaways! 
Simply Sweet Home has everything from recipes to organizing & housekeeping tips, as well as product reviews, craft projects, giveaways, and more!
We also have a monthly dessert carnival called Sweet Thursday. Our next event is Spring/Easter Sweets on April 1. (You can email your submissions to me and be featured in the Sweet Thursday post, or you can link up on the day of the party) 
And there’s always other surprises just around the corner! 
I hope you’ll take a look around and decide to become a follower! And please leave me a comment, so I can come over and follow you!  Also, if you’re tweeter, I’d love for you to follow me there.  I look forward to “meeting” you and seeing all your blogs!

Bea's Gift Baskets

 Friday Follow is hosted by One2Try,  Hearts Make Families, and Midday Escapades.  
Follow Me Friday is hosted by The Trendy Treehouse
-Jerri


MckLinky Blog Hop

Filed Under: Friday Follow

Thrifty Basket Decor

March 17, 2010 7 Comments
Here’s something cute and simple.  I got these baskets at the thrift store.  They were a whopping 50 cents each!  Oddly enough I found these on two separate occasions, and both are in good condition and both appear to be hand painted. 
And I just happened to have some plastic eggs here at home to put inside them.  I’m currently displaying these in the kitchen for Easter.
In the future, I may decoupage these eggs for fun, but till then, they are fine for me as is. 
So if you’d like to decorate for Easter, but you don’t want to spend a lot of money and/or you’re not that crafy, just get you some plastic eggs at the dollar store and stuff them in a basket.  It works!

-Jerri

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I’m posting a link to this post at:
It’s So Very Creative & It’s So Very Thrifty hosted by It’s So Very Cheri
Make it for Monday hosted by Cottage Instincts
Made it Mondays hosted by The Persimmon Perch
Making the World Cuter Monday hosted by Making the World Cuter
Make Your Monday hosted by Twice Remembered
Metamorphosis Monday hosted by Between Naps on the Porch
DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land
Market Yourself Monday is hosted by Sumos Sweet Stuff
Marketing Mondays and Sharing Ideas Wednesday is hosted by The Trendy Treehouse
What Your Working with Wednesday is hosted by Me and My Bucket
Show & Tell Wednesday is hosted by Blue Cricket Design
Tip Me Tuesday is hosted by Tip Junkie
Week End Review is hosted by Tator Tots & Jello
Star on Saturday is hosted by Craft-Werk
Penny Pinching Party is hosted by The Thrifty Home
Show & Tell Friday is hosted by Romantic Home

Filed Under: decorating, Easter, saving money

Buffalo Chicken Finger Salad

March 15, 2010 19 Comments
It’s no secret that we love buffalo chicken at our house! At least once a month we order a box of 20 buffalo chicken fingers from a little local place called Joe Rooster’s.  It costs us about $20 (which includes a pint of ranch….we LOVE their ranch).  And then I usually bake some fries to go with them. And this is usually enough to feed us for 2 1/2 to 3 meals.
Now sometimes we’ll eat a couple of meals, and we’ll have 2 or 3 chicken fingers left. Obviously that’s not enough to feed both of us, so we’ll either make the fingers a part of our leftover buffet meal, or I’ll chop them up and throw them into a salad.  Hubby likes a good salad, but when whenever he’s dieting, salads get old really quick!  This way we get to combine his favorite food with something healthy. And everyone is happy!
For this salad, I used about half of bag of salad mix.  Then I chopped up my chicken, and topped it with ranch dressing.  Hubby also likes bleu cheese dressing sometimes.  And if you want a little more kick you can pour additional buffalo sauce over the salad. (I recommend Franks.)  This is also great for plain chicken fingers.  I like to top them with ranch or honey mustard!
Do you have a favorite salad? Got any strategies to add excitement to your salads? I’d love to hear your ideas!

-Jerri

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I’m posting a link to this post on the following sites:
Tempt My Tummy Tuesday is hosted by Blessed With Grace.
Homemaker Mondays is hosted by 11th Heaven’s Homemade Haven.
Tasty Tuesday is hosted by Balancing Beauty & Bedlam.
Works for Me Wednesday is hosted by We Are THAT Family
Tip Me Tuesday is hosted by Tip Junkie
Tackle it Tuesday is hosted by 5 Minutes for Mom
Sharing Ideas Wednesday is hosted by The Trendy Treehouse
Friday Food is hosted by Mom Trends
Friday Foodie is hosted by Designs by Gollum
Finer Things Friday is hosted by Amy’s Finer Things
I’m Lovin It Fridays is hosted by Tidy Mom

Filed Under: casseroles and quick meals, Recipe of the Week

Custom Poster Giveaway

March 13, 2010 28 Comments
Looking for a place to go for digital photo enlargement?  Want to print your digital photos on posters?    Then Online Poster Printing is the place for you!
This month I have a chance to recieve a free 18×24 poster from Onlineposterprinting.com, and I also have the chance to offer one to a lucky reader!
What kind of photo would you like to make a poster of?  Your child’s sports picture? A family photo? A nature photo or landscape? A vacation photo?  Or perhaps a photo of the your pet? The possibly is endless!
More details on this prize:
18×24 Poster Print for One (1) Winner

Paper Stock: High Gloss or Semi Gloss

Specifications: 1 Business Day Turnaround Shipping: FREE UPS Ground Shipping

Eligibility: Limited to US Residents only
To win an 18×24 poster print, simply leave a comment on this post telling us what kind of photo you would have printed or what you’d do with this prize. 

Giveaway Closed. Thanks!

 

-Jerri

Disclosure: For hosting this giveaway, I’m recieving a free poster print from Online Poster Printing.  I have not been monetarily compensated.

Filed Under: Giveaways, Sponsors

Friday Favorites – Week 3

March 11, 2010 10 Comments
Happy Friday! And thank you for stopping by today to share your favorite posts!  I want to let you know that in the future I will start giving extra entries for select giveaways if you link up at Friday Favorites. So be sure to check back each week, because there may be a prize in store for you!
Now here are just a few of the lovely items that were linked up last week.  If you’re featured, please grab a button for your blog!
This lovely spring wreath was designed by Shannon at Living My Life On Purpose
Lois at Scrap Me With Style made these blankets for “Blankets of Hope” after her grandson was injured in Afghanistan.  If you’d like to help wounded veterans, go by her blog to learn more about this program.

This awesome totebag is from Mama Lusco Handmade.
And for dessert, this Pound Cake with Lemon Curd was baked up at The Newlyweds.
Okay! Now let’s see your posts from this week.  Link up below.  Don’t forget to mention Simply Sweet Home or post my button somewhere in your post so that others can come and join in the fun!  The linky will be open till Tuesday.

Filed Under: Friday Favorites

Friday Follow

March 11, 2010 15 Comments

The Trendy Treehouse

Time again for Friday Follow!  Thanks for stopping by Simply Sweet Home this week!  While you’re here, please link up at my  Friday Favorites party!  (Your post might get featured here next week if you do!) 
Simply Sweet Home has everything from recipes to organizing & housekeeping tips, as well as product reviews, craft projects, giveaways, and more! We also have a monthly dessert carnival called Sweet Thursday. Our next event is Spring/Easter Sweets on April 1. (Mark your calendars!)  And there’s always other surprises just around the corner! 
I hope you’ll take a look around and decide to become a follower! And please leave me a comment, so I can come over and follow you!  I look forward to “meeting” you and seeing all your blogs!
 Friday Follow is hosted by One2Try,  Hearts Make Families, and Midday Escapades.  
Follow Me Friday is hosted by The Trendy Treehouse
-Jerri
Filed Under: Friday Follow
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