Make It From Scratch Carnival

Thanks for all of the great submissions guys!! I'm hoping that in the next few carnivals we'll start seeing handmade Christmas gift ideas...hint hint!!

Katie presents How to Make Ghee (Clarified Butter) posted at Kitchen Stewardship.

RecycleCindy presents T-Yarn Pot Handle Cover posted at My Recycled Bags.com.

Alex presents Free Printable Calendars posted at Home Life Weekly.

Make it from Scratch presents Make it From Scratch Thanksgiving posted at Make It From Scratch.

Annette Berlin presents Tomato Pesto Sauce posted at Craft Stew.

TSW presents Healthy Breakfast Idea: Rethinking Oatmeal posted at The Smarter Wallet.

Gramma Greenjeans presents Rosemary-Growing It and Cooking with It posted at Better Gardens than Home.

Mrs. Accountability presents Cranberry Chocolate Bread Pudding | Out of Debt Again posted at Out of Debt Again.

Amanda Louden presents Shepards Pie posted at Daily Diner.

Carole DeJarnatt presents Preparing for Christmas! posted at Fowl Visions.

Liss presents Fast Food on a Friday: Swedish Meatballs posted at Frills in the Hills.

Fabulously Broke presents Spicy Chicken Noodle Soup posted at Fabulously Broke ....in the City.

Beth Terry presents Baking Soda: So Many Uses; So Little Money... and Plastic posted at Fake Plastic Fish.

Kris presents Slow Cooker Pork Chops, Apples, and Sweet Potatoes: A Crockpot Reborn posted at Cheap Healthy Good.

Sarah presents The Wonder of Green Smoothies posted at Glory In The Clutter.

Abi presents corn dogs posted at lighter side.

Kristia presents Make It Yourself Monday - Apple Crumb Pots posted at Family Balance Sheet.

Lucky presents Fall Harvest Muffins posted at Making My Own Luck.

NerdMom presents Super Easy Home Made Chicken Stock posted at Nerd Family Food.

Kristen presents Homemade Applesauce Muffins posted at This Homemade Life.

And that's it for this round of the Make It From Scratch! (click to submit!) Carnival - be sure to check with Frugal Changes next Tuesday, and submit your article by Sunday!

PS - I've got 4 giveaways running right now, you should check them out! A 16x20 canvas print, 50 custom thank you cards, an 18x24 poster print and the fourth is for 100 brochures!

GIVEAWAY! 16x20 Canvas Print From UPrinting

Last giveaway! Another large print from UPrinting - this time it's for a 16x20 rolled canvas picture! Just like the poster print, this would make a great grandparent gift, and could be framed for your own personal touch.

As usual, to enter, all you have to do is tell me what you'd do with yours if you won!

This contest is only going to be open until Friday November 13th so hit up the comments right now! If you want to Tweet about any of my giveaways for an extra entry, @littlespace your Tweet, then post a link to it as a second comment. You can copy and paste the following if you'd like:

I'm trying to win a free @uprinting product from @littlespace! http://tinyurl.com/y9epeh4

This contest is unfortunately only open to my American readers - UPrinting promises that they are negotiating better shipping so that they'll be able to open their great giveaways to more locations soon!

To sum up:

1. Contest is open to US residents only.
2. Contest will run until midnight, Friday November 13th; winner will be chosen by Random.org and announced Monday November 16th.
3. As per the FTC ruling on Blogger Reviews and Sponsored Postings, I disclose that I will be receiving a 16x20 canvas print from UPrinting.com for hosting this giveaway.

Good luck!

GIVEAWAY! 50 Custom Thank You Cards From UPrinting

Second giveaway is for something useful not only at Christmas, but year round - thank you cards from UPrinting (envelope printing is also available)!

You'll receive 50 - 3 1/2x5 custom thank you cards with plain envelopes - ready to design with your ideas!

To enter this one, comment by telling me if you use thank you cards or not - has sending a thank you card in response to birthday and Christmas gifts become a thing of the past?

This contest is only going to be open until Friday November 13th so hit up the comments right now! If you want to Tweet about any of my giveaways for an extra entry, @littlespace your Tweet, then post a link to it as a second comment. You can copy and paste the following if you'd like:

I'm trying to win a free @uprinting product from @littlespace! http://tinyurl.com/y99a7yf

This contest is unfortunately only open to my American readers - UPrinting promises that they are negotiating better shipping so that they'll be able to open their great giveaways to more locations soon!

To sum up:

1. Contest is open to US residents only.
2. Contest will run until midnight, Friday November 13th; winner will be chosen by Random.org and announced Monday November 16th.
3. As per the FTC ruling on Blogger Reviews and Sponsored Postings, I disclose that I will be receiving 50 cards from UPrinting.com for hosting this giveaway.

Good luck!

GIVEAWAY! 18x24 Poster Print From UPrinting

First giveaway of the day!

An 18x24 poster print from UPrinting - I remember getting one of these way back when I first started holding giveaways from UPrinting. We ordered one of Baby Bear at the park - it turned out unbelievably.

Your poster is printed on a high gloss or semi gloss paper and as I said, is 18 by 24 inches - huge! Not sure what I'm going to use mine for yet - probably a picture of either the three of us or just Bear.

As usual, to enter, all you have to do is tell me what you'd do with yours if you won! This would make a great Christmas gift for grandparents, or you could think of something risqué for your partner!

This contest is only going to be open until Friday November 13th so hit up the comments right now! If you want to Tweet about any of my giveaways for an extra entry, @littlespace your Tweet, then post a link to it as a second comment. You can copy and paste the following if you'd like:

I'm trying to win a free @uprinting product from @littlespace! http://tinyurl.com/yf6tbyl

This contest is unfortunately only open to my American readers - UPrinting promises that they are negotiating better shipping so that they'll be able to open their great giveaways to more locations soon!

To sum up:

1. Contest is open to US residents only.
2. Contest will run until midnight, Friday November 13th; winner will be chosen by Random.org and announced Monday November 16th.
3. As per the FTC ruling on Blogger Reviews and Sponsored Postings, I disclose that I will be receiving an 18x24 poster print from UPrinting.com for hosting this giveaway.

Good luck!

It's Giveaway Day & Some News

Gotta Little Space is hosting three new giveaways today and they're all perfect for Christmas - only 45 days left! Well, 46 if you count Christmas Eve day but who in their right mind enters any stores on Christmas Eve day (other than my ever so prepared husband and his man friends)??

There will be a giveaway for an 18x24 poster print, a 16x20 canvas print and one for 50 custom thank you cards - keep checking back throughout the day!

As I mentioned last Friday, Sweet Rina had it's first craft fair on Saturday. Wow. Learned a lot, sold a lot (way more than expected - sold everything save for 4 mini zucchini breads!). All in all it went well - one of the seniors refused to take a sample from my tray because I didn't have a tablecloth on my table...um, yeah, ok. I had already written 'tablecloth' down in my notes for the next craft fair but I thought that she was being a little strange about it considering the samples were on a tray, not sitting directly on the bare table, for goodness sake...anyway.

I have some news.

We've bought a house. Well, we couldn't have done it without some very awesome family help. Thank you. Seriously, thank you family.

At the end of this month we'll be moving out of the apartment and into a fabulous 60's house in another city (thankfully, only about 15-20 minutes away). I'll tell you more about the house itself another time.

So begins our new life of some serious frugality - even more than currently in place. We haven't spread ourselves so thin we don't have anything left over each month; but the amount we do have isn't a lot, so we'll be squeezing every penny available. I know the way you Dear Readers feel about buying a home vs. renting is varied: some of you think buying is a good idea, some think renting is better. We've wanted to own our own home for a very long time now, and as Baby Bear gets older we found that we've really outgrown the apartment.

Our new home has a fairly large yard for a big vegetable garden and for Baby Bear to play in, more room for him to move around in the house (not to mention room for his 'accessories' - therapy device, stroller, toys, books, etc), a bigger kitchen plus a big unfinished basement. There's a garage for Papa Bear, too.

We're excited. Nervous, too - but only because this is a huge change for us. Not only are we moving from renting to owning, we're moving out of the city we've all lived in for our whole lives. The majority of our family and friends live in this city. We know this city. It's going to be difficult, emotionally.

Bah! Enough. This is giveaway day, after all! A few little somethings, courtesy of UPrinting (one of my favorite blog sponsors). I'll post the first contest as soon as it's light outside (it's late late night right now)!

Sweet Rina's First Craft Fair

So I'm basically pooping my pants right now. Great visual, no??

Tomorrow is Sweet Rina's first ever craft fair. And I'm kind of scared. My cousin, who makes personalized piggies (for birthdays, births, baptisms, etc) told me about it and we're going together, along with another girlfriend of hers. So at least I'm not going at it alone. I honestly think she has it easy - her product requires no preparation, really. You hear that Sonja? I'm freaking out over here and you are probably cool as a cucumber!!!

I didn't want to go too crazy with items to sell - what a waste it would be if not all of it sold! I am doing several samples though - a few cookies, a peppermint cake and the ever popular bienenstich. For sale I'll have cookies, buttertarts, date cake, mini zucchini breads and more.

Because of this craft fair, this week has been a bit insane. I've been planning and preparing and essentially going crazy. Thankfully I manage stress and pressure well.

I've been re writing and re designing my flyers, printing out business cards, typing out ingredient lists, preparing order forms and hey - why not decide to create a strictly seasonal flyer, too? Oy. Not sure if that's going to be done in time...I'm really hoping it is though.

Yesterday I baked and baked and baked, and today I'm baking even more. I've had a few client orders squeezed in there as well, so it's been, well, busy. I'm hoping that I'll be able to sit and maybe even watch Pineapple Express with Papa Bear tonight. Er...we'll be multitasking though: folding flyers and cutting out entry forms (I'm giving away a door prize)...and I really ought to do my nails sometime in there. I usually do them on Thursdays while I watch CSI but I was baking till after 10pm last night so I didn't get to watch.

Needless to say, I've been feeling guilty about Gotta Little Space - have I been neglectful? Not terribly, I don't think (hey, I only skipped a post yesterday!), but you haven't heard much on the personal side of things this week. So for that I apologize. Next week looks a little more relaxed so I should be able to get back into the swing of things; I know my Google Reader is scary - I haven't even checked it the past few days (expect a flurry of comments on what you might consider old posts on your blogs, they're new to me!).

So.

What are your plans for this weekend??

PS - please go enter my contest!
PPS - don't forget to submit to the Make It From Scratch carnival - I'm hosting next Tuesday!
PPPS - I love you all so much. Thanks for your patience and understanding.