Snapfish Party Kits

Snapfish is great (see previous posts). This time, I've discovered Party Kits. Snapfish has prepared and made available for free to the public party printables.

Super Celebrations Party Kit

The bright, bold colors in this fun party set brings to mind superheroes, fire trucks, and rocket ships – all things that make little boys, well, little boys! This kit is also great for: kindergarten graduations, pool parties, picnics, playdates, and more! ABC party banners (1.23 MB) Party banners (1.12 MB) Water bottle labels ( 8.74 MB) Cupcake toppers & wrappers (6.0 MB) Favor bag labels (1.33 MB) Table tent signs (1.40 MB)

Sweet Chic Party Kit

She’ll love these oh-so-chic pink-and-black-polka-dotted party printables. So girly, and perfectly stylish for girls of any age. This kit is also great for: Parisian parties, girls’ pajama parties, tea parties, fashion shows, and more! ABC party banners (480 KB) Party banners (287 KB) Water bottle labels (120 KB) Cupcake toppers & wrappers (205 KB) Favour bag labels (127 KB) Table tent signs (124 KB)

Salon des Fleurs Party Kit

These elegant, flower-themed party banners, cupcake toppers, napkin rings, and straw tents are sure to add style, color, and sophistication to any birthday party. This kit is also great for: bridal showers, tea parties, Mother's Day brunches, ladies' luncheons, and more. ABC party banners (6.67 MB) Banner kit (2.35 MB) Water bottle labels (1.77 MB) Party Tags (840 KB) Print at home cards Cupcake toppers & wrappers (1.34 MB) Favor bag labels (803 KB) Table tent signs (490 KB) Napkin rings (519 KB) Love this party design? You can purchase a matching photo book and cards.

Pirate Party Kit

Enjoy all their little "Arghs" after you set the party "plank" with these awesome pirate-inspired party printables. With eye patches, treasure chests, and pirate hats, they'll be more than ready to "batten down the hatches," go "full steam ahead," and have a swashbuckling good time! Ahoy Mateys party planner (1.19 MB) Avast Ye invitation (734 KB) Avast Ye envelope (553 KB) Old Salty's pirate hat (777 KB) Buccaneer eye patches (329 KB) Sunken treasure chest (813 KB) Sunken treasure chest assembly (299 KB)

Glamour Princess Party Kit

Your favourite fashionista will be beside herself when she gets a peek at all the fancy princess-themed party goodies included in this set, including tiaras, wands, slipper decorations, jewel stickers, and more. Oh lá lá, your diva will think it's simply divine! Party planner (260 KB) Gemstone purse invitation (228 KB) Gemstone purse envelope (336 KB) Jewel stickers (326 KB) Slipper decoration (333 KB) Party game sheet (340 KB) Goodie cone (671 KB) Goodie tags (323 KB) Princess tiara (316 KB) Princess wands (874 KB)

Dogs Paw-ty Kit

This party is for the dogs! Celebrate your "best friend's" big day with collar charms, treat wrappers, "doggie" bags, bone handles, and other dog-gone goodies. You won't be able to resist this pooch-inspired party décor created in honor of your most loyal friend. Party planner (1.41 KB) Name tag collar charms (1.34 MB) Decorative collar charms (1.0 MB) Doggie bag (729 KB) Doggie bag handle (484 KB) Doggie bag instructions (391 KB) Treat wrappers (972 KB) Picture poster (500 KB) Picture poster instructions (500 KB) Name tags (1.0 MB) Party banners (411 KB) Banner embellishments (1.41 KB)

Enjoy!

Snapfish Penny Prints - HURRY code expires 9/10

I love Snapfish, especially when they have penny print deals. This month, get unlimited Penny Prints, that's 99 pictures at a penny each! The code is SEPTPRINT99, use it as many times as you want through 9/10. *Offer excludes Deco Prints.

There is also a code for buy 1 photo book, get 2 free. THREEBOOKS through 9/9.** Offer excludes Premier Photo Books.

Enjoy the FREEBIES!!

Modge podge table project

We’ve had this table for a few years and it’s always been hidden in the farthest, darkest corner of the room because, well, its just plain ugly. See what I mean?

After seeing many a pinterest project with modge podge, I decided to give it a try. I made my own modge podge, which is just a 50/50 mix of white Elmer's glue and water (I felt it was a little runny so I added a little more Elmer's glue).  I have a bunch of scrapbooking paper that a friend gave to me, so the hardest part was just figuring out what design to put on the table.

I decided on black and white floral pages. The first step is to modge podge the area where you want to apply paper first. Apply generously. Don't forget to lay down newspaper first!!

Then add scrapbook paper.

Repeat until table is covered with paper. Then apply another coat of modge podge to the entire table.

I was hoping that the paper would cover the edges of the table too, but since it didn’t, I had to cover the edges with a different pattern.

Notice the table’s legs are missing? My husband stole them to spray paint them black for me. He insisted they match. Fine with me

And now, the finished product!! And BEST of all, it was completely FREE and I have a gorgeous table now instead of that eye sore. Thanks, Pinterest!

Update on my husbands IBS

Removing gluten from our lives is going relatively well. We found several types of gluten free baking mixes at Woods and at Aldi, the Aldi mixes were a lot better than the ones we found at Woods, I felt, and gluten free brownies are AMAZING!! Woods does sell a good gluten free bread in their frozen section, though, at a whopping $5 for half a loaf. Wal-mart has a small section of gluten free items, including pasta, organic macaroni and cheese, cereal, and a few more baking mixes. The pasta, made from rice, cooks faster than wheat noodles and faster even than what the box said so they turned out kind of mushy but other than that they were edible. Those are the stores that are closest to us, but they have more choices in bigger stores like Hy-Vee and Price Cutter.

When you have IBS, it really is hard to tell what is going on. You could be having problems with an ulcer, a gluten allergy that affects your intestines, a lactose allergy, or a combination of the three. My husband has, we believe, a gluten allergy and an ulcer.  For anyone that has HAD to change their lifestyle for a gluten allergy, they know it can be difficult. First, you pretty much can’t eat ANYTHING. EVERYTHING has gluten in it. Then you start figuring it out, networking and learning where the best places around are to get gluten free items. But they still don’t taste the same as gluten items. And it’s hard when everyone else around you is eating gluten. Boss brought donuts to work? Too bad, you can’t have any. Your favorite taco truck is in town and everyone is raving about the blueberry empanadas, but you have to have a taco on a corn tortilla. Maybe you even look for ways to try to get out of it, like discovering that peptic ulcers can mimic gluten and lactose intolerance. Peptic ulcer treatment excludes acidy foods, alcohol, caffeine, soda, pretty much anything that can irritate your stomach. But like I said before, it could be a combination of things, not one thing specifically. With all the terrible things we eat these days, it is very likely that we all have a least a small ulcer. But if you are one of the people who think you may have a peptic ulcer instead of being gluten free, please don’t just switch back to gluten. Do your things to treat the ulcer and when you have that under control, THEN you can test with small amounts of gluten.  Remember, just because you don’t have reaction the next day, or even two days later, gluten builds up in the intestines and can sometimes take a few days for it start affecting you again. Take it slow and don’t just jump back onto the gluten train. You’re body will thank you. :)

Free baby stuff from How Does She

I have so many friends who have just had or who are expecting babies. How She Does blog has provided codes available for FREE Car Seat canopy (Click HERE), FREE Nursing Cover (Click HERE), and a FREE Baby Carrier (Click HERE). Just use code 4HOWDOESSHE  and all you will have to pay is shipping and handling, which totals out to be about $15, which I think is very reasonable for a $50 product!  Enjoy the FREEBIES!  And thanks How Does She!  Hope you don't mind me spreading the word.

Snapfish Print at Home

As much as I love Snapfish, sometimes I just can't afford to order prints or customized products.  Today, Snapfish sent me an e-mail about Free summer printables. Of course, I can't pass up free (as you can tell from my previous post), so I had to check it out.  Turns out, they have so much more than just free printables!!  They have a whole Print at Home portion of their shop. Click HERE  for FREEBIES!  Enjoy!

Free Summer Printables from Snapfish

I don't know about you, but I am ALL for free. This time, I found some free printables.  Enjoy!

Click HERE for FREE Summer Printables from Snapfish.

I LOVE Snapfish.  Keep an eye out for their Penny prints.  The deal is usually 99 prints for .99 (+ shipping, which is usually around $5-$7).  And they have plenty of room to upload your pictures, which is a good option if you don't have another way to back up your photos!

Using flour alternatives for thickening

Finding foods we can all eat without gluten is difficult. But it becomes exceedingly more difficult with all the hidden sources of gluten.  I went to make one of my sisters recipes, Rice-a-weanies, which calls for cheddar cheese soup, milk, rice, and hot dogs. Seems pretty simple right? And everybody loves it.  We’ve had it before, but not since we went gluten free.  I get all of the stuff together and then check the labels just in case... A good thing too because right at the top of the ingredient list on the cheddar cheese soup is... you guessed it!  Wheat flour!  Ugh.  So my whole dinner plan is ruined. So I google homemade cheddar cheese soup and find a good recipe at busymominthekitchen.com. Only one problem: still calls for all purpose WHEAT flour. So BACK to google.  How to use corn starch to replace flour as a thickener, which brought me to Celiacdisease.about.com.  It said to substitute ½ as much corn starch as the recipe calls for flour. So if it calls for 2 tablespoons, only use one tablespoon. Also, don’t add the cornstarch directly, dilute it with water to make a sort of slurry and then add it in. Well, now we are back in business. Too bad it’s too late for me to go back to the store today.  Curse you gluten! Get out of my food!

Gluten Free to Combat IBS

My husband has been suffering from IBS for about three years now. He's been to the doctor, to the ER, and all they ever wanted to do (besides unnecessary diagnostic tests) was throw medicine at the problem. But it never helped and he would just end up at the ER again. This last time, they took a CT, which showed nothing, and gave him double the medication and a pain medication. After talking to friends on Facebook and finding a few friends who reported the same symptoms finding relief from a gluten free diet. I did a bunch of research and found out that gluten can cause A LOT of issues that can be disguised by other diagnosis. After much resistance, I FINALLY convinced him to try it. It's been 6 weeks now since he went COMPLETELY gluten free and went from vomiting every morning, having severe intestinal issues, and not even being able to work to waking up every morning with little to no symptoms and not missing a single day of work. I say little symptoms because gluten is tricky. You never know where you are going to find it. But for the most part, his symptoms are gone. Now the fun part, finding foods that he actually likes. Small sacrifice for having my husband back. :-)

How we did it:

1. Of course, the first thing you have to do is identify all the foods that contain gluten. Food packaging is usually (though not always) pretty good about indicating possible allergens in the food. Wheat gluten is what you want to watch out for, it will be listed as Wheat on the label under the ingredients. It can be in ANYTHING, even corn meal and soy sauce can contain wheat. Read labels CAREFULLY.
2. Go gluten free. It takes about 2-4 weeks to see improvement, so don't get discouraged. Your body has to get rid of the gluten still in your body before it can start to heal. And it is very easy to contaminate yourself with gluten. All it takes it being cooked in the same pan as gluten for you to get sick. The best way is for the whole household to go gluten free together to avoid cross-contamination. (We are still working on this, finding the best kind of flour to use instead of wheat and where to find it. We live in a small town with only one grocery store and it is limited.)
3.  At this point, if you are on any medications for IBS, slowly wean yourself off of them. With any medication, stopping suddenly may cause adverse reactions, so slower is better.
4. Identify hidden sources of gluten. Possible sources of contamination could be salad dressings, soup mixes, lipstick, certain vitamins, some preservatives, medications, envelope glue, stamps, Play-Doh. There may be more, but this is all I've found so far.
5. Find ways to enjoy being gluten free. A big problem my husband has is not having very many options of things to eat. With all bread off limits, your chooses narrow greatly. Fruits and vegetables are great of course, meat and fish and other proteins are still ok. We are still experimenting with ways to make the bread items with another type of flour. I've been told that you can usually replace all-purpose flour with almond flour and it act just about the same. We've tried mixes with rice flour but I didn't really care for it. It's really sticky and harder to get cooked all the way.

Easy Immune System Health has some good information, even symptom checklist, so check them out if you have more questions. Or ask me and I'll see what I can find out for you. Going gluten free is a huge life changing journey that you don't want to go at alone. Having a good support system is very important. If your family isn't behind you 100%, it will be more difficult. Good luck!!




Sources from this post include:
www.mindbodygreen.com
www.naturalnews.com