Showing posts with label e-cards. Show all posts
Showing posts with label e-cards. Show all posts

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Wearin' and savin' O' the Green


Beannachtam na feile padraig! or Happy St. Patrick's day! Being part Irish myself St. Patrick's day means a lot to me, I remember the stories of Irish history my dad used to tell me, people living through a famine on nothing but potatoes and some of them immigrating to the U.S. where they were considered less than second class citizens but still managed to work their way up. Maybe its that fierce tenacity that has helped me through the years when things have been difficult. Whether your Irish or not, St. Patrick's day give us all a reason to celebrate. Test your knowledge on Irish trivia and see how well you know the Emerald Isle and its history.

In honor of the day, Jelly Belly is offering a 10% discount on all their green products if you use the coupon code GREEN and Sees Candy has several St. Patrick's gifts under $10.00, although its over the $10 mark, the Irish potato candies are one of the most clever things I have ever seen!

Making a traditional Irish dinner to celebrate? Since St. Patrick's falls in the middle of the week this year and a lot of folks have to work, here is a recipe for the slow cooker version of Corned beef and cabbage. Irish stew is also a traditional favorite, whichever you decide on don't forget the Irish soda bread to mop up your gravy. If your feeling gourmet then give this recipe for Baileys Irish Cream mousse pie, or if you want something a little easier there are the pale green St. Patrick's day cupcakes or the yummy Guinness and Bailey's Irish cupcakes. What ever you decide to make remember to check for coupons at Red Plumb, Smart Source, Coupons.com and Cool Savings.

If your looking for a St. Patrick's Day gift Teleflora has green floral bouquets and is offering $10 off your order through 12/31/2010 using coupon code PSGG10D. The symbols of the Emerald Isle are the Claddagh, shamrock, Celtic knot and harp, all of these can be found in the jewelry section of Irishop.com. They are currently offering a free dolphin trinity knot pendant with any order over $90.00, just click on the banner at the top of the page to add it to your cart.

Looking to decorate your computer a little? You can find free Irish screen savers and wallpaper at A Bit of Blarney. They also have free e-cards to send to the Irish folks on your list. You can find more free e-cards at 123Greetings.

"May you have warm words on a cold evening, a full moon on a dark night, and a smooth road all the way to your door."

Have a great weekend!

C.Q.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Saving dough…


Its that time of year again, time to get out the mixing bowls and baking sheets and start on our holiday cookies. Whether your in a cookie exchange or just making goodies for your family you can always find a way to make your dough go further.

Nestle has a holiday recipe guide available for free while supplies last at their web site, as well as free e-cards.

A few Christmas’ ago….OK so maybe its more like 10.…my neices made something they called puppy chow and brought it to a potluck at my sister-in-laws. Sure looked like dog food but it tasted wonderful and its so easy to make and share.

Chex Puppy Chow:

9 cups Chex cereal, (any kind works)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Put the semisweet chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter into a 1 quart microwavable safe bowl. Microwave uncovered on high for 1 minute. Stir until everything is melted. If stirring doesn't melt everything, place in the microwave on high for 15-30 seconds. Be sure to stir until it's well mixed and smooth. After it's well mixed, add vanilla. Pour Chex cereal into a large bowl. Pour the chocolate, peanut butter, and butter mixture over the Chex cereal. Use a spatula and mix until all the Chex are covered in the mixture. Toss like a salad to coat entirely. Pour the powdered sugar into a large zip lock bag (2 gallon). Add the Chex. Shake until all the Chex are well coated. While all the Chex are in the bag, clean out the original bowl so no chocolate residue is left inside. Dry the bowl. Add mixture from bag and place into the bowl. If the Chex are not fully coated with powdered sugar, add more powdered sugar to bowl and cover with cling wrap. Shake until well coated. To make for gifts put the mix in glass jars with festive labels.

Coupons for this recipe:
$1.00 off 2 boxes of Chex at the Betty Crocker web site.
Nestle Toll House chocolate chip coupon at the Nestle web site.

Not the baking type? Not a problem! King Arthur Flour has great mixes available, they even have a mix for dog biscuits so you can be Fido’s hero too! They currently have a great deal going, 15% off when you buy 5 mixes, no coupon code needed. These mixes also make great gifts for someone who loves to bake but has limited time.

Don’t even want to bother with mixes? That’s not a problem either. Pillsbury has coupons for their pre-made cookies, just heat and eat. The best part is you can decorate them any way you want and make them look homemade.

Remember, the cost of homemade is a lot less than store bought, on the average a dozen sugar cookies cost you only .95 cents when made at home, that same dozen jumps to $1.45 per dozen if you use a pre-made refrigerated dough and jumps again to a whopping $4.25 per dozen from a bakery.

If your planning on doing your baking over the weekend be sure to check your local grocers ads for savings on the things you will need. You can check out the Sunday paper inserts early at SundaySaver.com.

Hope everyone is having a great week so far!

C.Q.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Halloween family fun:


M&M Mars Haunted Mansion has fun free games for the kids and recipe ideas for fun treats. You can also register for their sweepstakes, there is a link for one free entry and there are additional entries on each bag of M&M or Mars candy. Check it out at http://tiny.cc/ZEICQ.


Pogo features free games and now has options to dress up your Pogo mini avatar in spooky outfits and just for Halloween you can get in on the fun of playing Spooky Slots, who knows you may even win the progressive jackpot! They also have a sweepstakes with Spooky Slots, not part of the regular progressive jackpot, if you play between October 12 and October 31, 2009 you are entered each time you load the game. If you don’t have a free Pogo account you can get one at http://www.pogo.com/.


Send a free e-card to a friend, relative or co-worker for Halloween, tons to chose from for all ages at http://tiny.cc/NYgbG. Got a great picture of your pumpkin patch you would like to give to your friends? Why not send it as a free post card? At Hippopost you can upload your picture and they will make it into a post card and mail it for you free of charge, up to two a day: http://www.hippopost.com/. You can even liven up your email with free stationary from http://tiny.cc/jRp3d. You can also find screen savers, wallpaper and active desktops to spice up your computer screen.


Once you have the pumpkin gutted and carved don’t throw away those seeds! Here is a simple recipe for oven toasted pumpkin seed, just remember to keep an eye on them so they don’t burn. http://tiny.cc/vFKBI. Almost everyone has fond memories of Chex mix, this is a fantastic recipe for a Halloween version. http://tiny.cc/SdSet. Here is a coupon for $1 off any two boxes of big G cereal which includes Chex: http://tiny.cc/CR1XR.


Want to spice up your phone for fright night? Here is a site with free ring tones for your phone as well as some cool music you can put on a CD and play at your Halloween mixer. http://tiny.cc/XJpak. If your in the mood to watch a spooky movie to get you in the spirit Hulu has dedicated an entire section of their site to the season, check out the Huluween section at: http://www.hulu.com/spotlight/huluween to find a free move to keep you up at night.


Not able to get out to the local haunted house this year,? Check out this one on line for free at: http://tiny.cc/439BH this one is not very scary but I would go through it before you let your little ones watch, every child has a different fear level. This is the link to the Bone Garden’s virtual haunted Inn: http://www.bonegarden.com/.


Have a wonderful day!
C.Q.