Shutterfly Holiday Cards

  Shutterfly is a site that I use often for my photo gift ideas. I have created calendars and photo books which all have turned out exactly how I was expecting. The quality is great and the website is so easy to use! Everyone who has received a photo gift from our family that came from Shutterfly has loved it!

This year I was chosen to share my love of Shutterfly to my blog readers. I am happy to announce that I will be doing my first giveaway! One lucky winner will win a $50 credit to Shutterfly to create your own beautiful holiday cards.


Here are a couple of designs that I really like:

 Also- if you are in need of pictures to put on your new holiday cards then head over to Mallory Leigh Photography for all of your photo needs :)




Please check out Shutterfly's special offers page- Special Offers






 Please enter the raffle below for your chance to win $50 in credit to Shutterfly!



a Rafflecopter giveaway



This post was sponsored by Shutterfly. Shutterfly Christmas Cards

Shutterfly Long Live Summer Photo Contest

Shutterfly is my go to site when I make my photo books. I absolutely love their quality and their website is so easy to use. I love the photo books I have made through them, and it is so fun to look back on them to remember some great memories.

This summer Shutterfly is doing a photo contest. Here are the details:

Long Live Summer – Facebook Photo Contest details - 7/9 – 8/12 Multi-week summer themed photo sweepstakes with instant win prizes. Enter Here

Win a trip for four to The Bahamas and a professional photo shoot so you’ll remember your vacation forever.  All you need to do is upload your favorite photo and caption based on the theme of the week.  Get a gift from Shutterfly just for entering! You can enter at any point during the 5-week sweepstakes period.

PHOTO THEMES

•       Week 1(7/9): Americana

•       Week 2 (7/16): Great Outdoors

•       Week 3 (7/23): Water Fun

•       Week 4 (7/30): Sports & Activities

•       Week 5 (8/6): Parties & Celebrations

PRIZES

•       Instant win prizes just for submitting a photo!

•       Weekly prizes (contestants can enter one time/week)

•       Weekly featured photos: up to 5 weekly entries will be selected from the gallery and featured on the Facebook fan page and awarded a $500 gift card on Shutterfly and a copy of the new Lonely Planet travel photography book.

•       Grand prize: trip for 4 to Bahamas, 4 nights, family photo shoot

•       Shutterfly Sweepstakes- Official Rules

I fully intend on taking advantage of this! A $500 gift card to Shutterfly will keep my photo book making habit so happy! :)

Long Lost Blogger

Hard to believe that it has been since November since I last posted. I want to say I have been off doing some world saving and all time consuming charity work, but I haven't. I have just become a lazy blogger. I am on a mission to change this. I originally started a blog so I could look back and see how things were, what I was going through and remember the little things that are too often easily forgotten. How am I supposed to look back when there is nothing to look back at?

So a quick recap of November 2011 until now, June 2012.

-My baby boy turned 1 in January. My baby quickly went from sweet and quiet infant to crazy and defiant toddler. Boy that was quick. Everyday is now a challenge of authority between myself and an almost 17 month old. I remember the days when I thought having an infant was so hard and I couldn't get a thing done. While yes that was hard, oh if I knew what I know now. I think I would have cherished the time more.

-I have learned that a baby really is the determining factor of whether people who you think are important in your life really are or not. I have a child that has a schedule and I am now a slave to that schedule. If you can't find time to fit us in into your no child schedule, so be it. Nice knowing you.

-Couponing still rocks. You think it is stupid I spend all that time clipping coupons and planning? I think it's stupid you are paying full price for things I get for free.

-We have officially gotten "that" itch in the Berry household. The change itch. We have spent the last few months house hunting, only to be really disappointed in what we found. We have almost entirely remodeled our current home, so no houses are meeting our standards. The addition for our house is all drawn out, now for the bids to see if we are going to do this...

I am going to try to keep up to date with my blog from now on, but hey it's summer. Pools are calling my name :)

Until next time.

Couponing According to Me

I absolutely love couponing. It wasn't always this way though. I hate to admit but I was one of those people who categorized couponers with old ladies who have nothing else to do with their lives.

Then I saw Extreme Couponing on TLC. I sat there with my cousin and was absolutely amazed that people can save that much money on the things that I always pay full price for. I then started small, I would buy a paper and clip the coupons I thought I would use and then they would just sit in and pile and eventually be thrown away because they had expired.

I decided to get more serious about it after I joined a Facebook group that was saving a lot of money, but doing it realistically, not the "extreme" way. I am in no way, shape or form an extreme couponer.

I do not buy 10+ papers a week.
I do not go to the store and steal inserts out of papers I don't intend on buying.
I do not buy 30+ of an item that I am not going to use just because I got it for free.
I do not clear shelves.

The TLC show Extreme Couponing has definitely caused some problems for us normal couponers. It shows completely ridiculous couponing tactics and the stock piles are just crazy. Who is going to use 100 bottles of mustard in the next year or two before it expires? At that point they are just doing it because they can, not to better their families.

I have bought things that I am not going to use if I can get them for free. I also donate those items to people who will use them.

I coupon because it has seriously helped my family economically and I can not believe that I used to pay full price for things like toothpaste, body wash and deoderant which I now almost always get for free or almost free.

Some couponing pet peeves:
-I hate the dirty looks that I get from cashiers who God forbid have to scan my coupons. How dare I?? Right? Why did couponing become such a negative thing to people?
-Then there are the dirty looks from fellow shoppers. How am I bothering you? Go to a different line if you can't stand to wait for my coupons to be scanned. I have to sit and wait while the person in front of me counts $10 in pennies, or when the person can't get their EBT card to work. Why can't someone be pateint for coupons too?
-Shelf clearers. Why yes dog treats for free is a really good deal. But you have to buy 80?? Save some for other people.

Being a couponer has opened my eyes that anyone who has the time can cut coupons and be as dedicated to it as you want, but when your local paper prints out free money every week, why not take advantage??  To me, what no longer makes sense is paying full price.

I missed it!

Mason finally did it! He for real crawled! But I wasn't home.

As I was leaving my Scentsy party last night, I looked at my phone and saw that I had a text from Dan.

"Mason crawled 4 steps" is what it said. How ironic is it that I am a stay at home mom but I miss out on one of his firsts.

It is really ok with me though. His Daddy got to see him crawl for the first time and that is special because I feel like he misses out on so much when he is at work all the time.

My baby is getting so big. : (

This is not the time Mason first started crawling, but this is him and his Daddy practicing :)

Wordless Wednesday

My handsome little boy at the pumpkin patch picking out his very first pumpkin.

Terrible Blogger

I have been a terrible blogger lately. I haven't updated since July! It is now the middle of October. A lot has gone on around here since July! Mason now sits up on his own, waves, dances whenever he hears music and sometimes when there is no music, gives kisses, is absolutely obsessed with anything electronic and will try to get it any way possible. He even throws little fits when I won't let him have things (oh no! how can this be starting already?)

Mason is crawling all over the place now too, army crawling that is. He doesn't care how he does it as long as he can get to what he wants. He loves getting into his Daddy's CDs, and his new favorite thing is getting into the dog's food.

The other day I was making him some food and I saw that he was over at the dog food bowls. So I went and picked him up and sat down to feed him. He looked at me funny and then opened his mouth and a piece of dog food popped out. Omg this child...

:::GROSS WARNING:::
Then last night his Daddy was watching him while I got dinner ready. Dan was puttering between the living room and dining room trying to pick up before dinner. All of a sudden I hear Mason cough a couple of times and then a big splash, then Dan yells that he needs help. I run in the living room and everything that was in Mason's stomach was now on his playmat. (He had just nursed by the way) Mason had his very first projectile vomit and it was disgusting. As I was helping Dan clean it up I noticed that there were paper towel chunks in it and a paper towel sitting next to Mason. Mason had been eating a paper towel on his Daddy's watch. Where he got a paper towel from we aren't sure. We are thankful that he didn't choke and that it didn't cause some serious problems. I think Dan has learned his lesson that Mason is no longer the little immobile baby that you can leave in one spot and he will still be there when you come back from the other room.

I think this child is going to keep us on our toes for the next 18 years.