Personalized Jewelry

I have always loved personalized stuff...especially since I have had kids. One day I was looking at personalized necklaces and picked out the one I wanted and added a couple of birthstone beads to it and it was over $100. I couldn't bring myself to buy it. But for a couple years I kept thinking about it. So, instead of spending the $100 and having 1 necklace, I decided to spend way more than that and invest in the tools to make personalized jewelry.  Don't ask..it really only makes sense in my head. :)

So now on the side, I make personalized jewelry and sell it at a reasonable price so that others can enjoy it too.

Here are some of my pieces with prices. You can email me at: kims_kreations@comcast.net and tell me that you saw my blog and what you'd like and I can personalize a piece for you or someone else.

From Top to Bottom Right to Left: Copper horizontal piece with chain is $13, Large silver circle with elastic chain and charm $12, Double rectangle and circle with cross $13, Double circle with pearl charm $12

Small Circle with Chain and Heart stamp $12, Copper heart with chain and bead with flower stamp $17, Copper circle with double heart stamp and chain $12

Girl washer necklace with ribbon $5, Small circle with double heart and chain $12, Copper square with rectangle with chain and cross stamp $17, copper rectangle with chain $10

I have many different design stamps including peace sign, hearts, smiley face, zodiac signs, cross, apple, baseball, guitar, swirly, flower... 

I have all numbers and letter and punctuation marks.

I have all birthstone color beads. 

I also have some charms to add to necklaces including: cross, cross with diamond like accents, butterflies, princess crown.. I usually can find anything if you tell me what you want.

GIVE SOMETHING UNIQUE...A PERSONALIZED PIECE OF JEWELRY!

Crockpot Chicken Taco's

The best chicken taco's ever! 

What's better than to put a package of chicken breasts in your crockpot, cover with a mixture of a package of taco seasonings and a jar of salsa and walk away and have the best taco's ever in 8 hours? Nothing...well ok, maybe a lot of things are better...BUT these are so easy and sooo good. Enjoy. :)

COUPONING!! :)

So I have been asked and asked and asked by family and friends about my new couponing and price matching addiction and how I do it....So, here is my lesson on how to do it :)

First of all if you want to get a lot of coupons for super cheap...Subscribe to the Chicago Tribune Sunday edition. There is a special right now for $0.50 a week for 26 weeks you can get the Sunday edition with all the coupons in it. Great Deal!! Call 1-800-311-8500 (offer code X974) after the 6 months it goes to full price.

While you are waiting for your subscription go to www.icouponlp.com and read everything on their website. They have coupon books for sale too, which are great to have. Also, this is run by a couple of local women so if you can make a donation to their page to keep them happy and to help us by continuing to receive all their couponing knowledge it would be appreciated! This website will answer a lot of questions!

Next, you can become friends with the ladies that started the icouponlp website on their facebook page La Porte iCoupon Group. This is a fantastic group of ladies who will swap coupons with you, exchange area sales and give great advice on how to coupon and price match.

This is where I have learned everything.
Well, that and at www.krazycouponlady.com That website has all the web printable coupons I use too. Just click on the printable tab and all the coupons that are good right now come up in alphabetical order. I always check for a coupon when I know I am going to the store for something...that and now I look for local ads to price match at Walmart.

Which brings me to my next subject: Price Matching...this is the greatest thing since sliced bread. I wasn't around before bread was sliced..but I can just imagine how genius it was.
Our local Walmart will price match with any stores sales ad within 50 miles. That means Chicago area stores are included. It is amazing. Here is a list of the stores I price match with:
CVS
Dominicks
Family Dollar
KMart
Martins
Menards
Pay Low
Rite-Aid
Strack & Van Til
Target
Town and Country
Walgreens
Walmart
Wiseway
Walts
Hardings
Als
Central Market
Fresh Country Market

Now, I am not an expert whatsoever. Leave that to the icouponlp girls. They also give classes too once you get into it a little you will have questions and these classes will help answer your questions.

But, this is how I do it....
I visit each website and click on the weekly ad section. I go through (or print) each page and click on the items I am shopping for that week. Most sites have a "shopping cart" that will save your items and you can just print out your shopping cart.
I then use the spreadsheet the icoupon ladies have on their website to right down my shopping list and at which stores had the sale. It makes it much easier to look at one sheet instead of a bunch of ads.
Then I shop! I always look at Walmart's price..a couple of times the stores ad is more or the same cost as Walmart's everyday price..so make sure you pay attention. My first few trips I wrote down all the prices so I could really compare at home how much I saved. I used to save about $30 on a $100 trip. Now, I am up to $45-$50 on a $100 bill. But that is using my coupons too.
Here is what I do when I get to the checkout lane... I tell the cashier that I have some price matching but I am going to do the non-price matching stuff first. I pick out everything that I am not price matching and put that on the conveyor first. Then when the cashier is ready, I will tell her/him each items price. Have your ads in your hand so that you can be ready if they ask you to see the ad.
That's it...then I had them my coupons. :) They take any manufacturer's coupon. So as long as it says "manufacturers coupon" they will take it at Walmart. I get a lot of Kroger coupons in the mail that I use at Walmart because most of them say Manufacturers coupon on it..some do say Store Coupon, which won't work...

I am in no way an expert, I probably can't even answer any of your questions..I am just here to show you to the people that I believe can help and that is the ladies on the icoupon website and facebook page. But, I do know that it has saved me a ton of money and I am grateful for that! :)

Work with your child...tear free!

Thanks to my babysitter for showing me this GREAT workbook. It is a company called Handwriting without tears and it has a ton of different workbooks and teaching tools to help you jump start your child's learning. All without tears!

I had been trying to get my son to write his name for weeks. Owen. Who knew that O was not one of the letters you teach your child to write first?!? He got upset EVERY TIME and I figured he was just taking after his father and being way too much of a perfectionist. :) He would cry and say it wasn't perfect every time we sat down to work on it.

My babysitter happened to tell me about this company and all their workbooks and teaching aids and how much she loved it. She made some copies and worked with Owen one day and he loved showing the pages off to me. I went and ordered the book that night. We have been working on it ever since we got the book and he LOVES doing it.

Basically it is a slowed down version of making lines and curves and showing your child how "easy" it is to write. It starts out with simple line work:

And then it works with actual letters:

I don't know who is more excited to get this workbook out, but I do know that it works and works very well. I am excited to continue buying products as Owen continues to grow up! :)
They have a ton of products, but here is the book that I chose to start with:

Get your child familiar with the alphabet, ready for reading, writing AND math!

I love these books by Jane Moncure. Each book is based on each letter of the alphabet. My son had a difficult time, (or he was very stubborn) when starting to talk. I found that these really helped him learn how to pronounce each letter. I am sure they will continue to help him as he gets older.





They were given to me by my Sister-in-law. My son really got into them when he was about 2 1/2 or so. They really helped teach him how to identify his alphabet. Now, it helps him recognize words to start reading and writing them. I did find them on amazon.com so I have pasted the link picture to them. This is a product that is probably about 10 or more years old, so I have added a more current version of the books as well. I have never seen the newer version, but I assume they are just as good.
Here is the link to the newer version:




She also does a book set for first steps to math. I WILL be buying this for sure!