Free Fabric

I love fabric.  I never do anything with it but I love looking and touching and imagining all the possibilities a flat little piece of coloured threads can become.  Of course I love it even more when it is on sale or clearance or some other huge discount.  Usually my maximum willing-to-pay price for a fat quarter is $2.00.  That is pushing it.  I like $1.00 or $1.50 better.  A fat quarter (Canadian preferably) gives me enough fabric to get a good feeling of the overall pattern, touch and feel, hang up on my quilt rack for show, and maybe (maybe) cut it up to make something practical or impractical.

Imagine my delight, then, to discover an older blog post describing how to get these little pieces of fabric for free!  Hee hee hee JOY!  I don't know why I didn't think of this before.  In fact, it is something my mother probably mentioned to me that I forgot about - along with the many other thrifty, efficient tidbits of wisdom she imparts when I'm not listening.  But I digress.  Here is a link to the blogpost from 2009 by ecokaren that details how to do it.  Now to mypoints search local upholstery stores...

http://www.ecokaren.com/2009/09/how-to-get-free-fabric-and-be-eco-friendly/

Want to see an American fat quarter size chart?  Check out Whipstitch Fabric's blog, based in Atlanta, GA, USA
http://whipstitchfabrics.com/blog/organizing-your-fabric-stash-by-size-with-a-sidebar-discussion-of-the-fat-quarter/

mypoints free and fun

One thing I love to do is browse internet sales and occasionally purchase something that is an awesome deal, taking advantage of any bonuses, extra coupons, or rewards-earning opportunities.  A great way I have discovered to do this is through using mypoints.com 

I was first introduced to this site as a rewards option through completing surveys and reviews for BzzAgent (BzzReports, etc.).  I wasn't familiar with the concept originally and I confess I ignored my first few mypoints rewards (grrr!!! dumb!!!).   Then I checked it out thoroughly and registered for an account.  It was a basic registration - pick an email address and password, enter your real first and last name, and mailing address.  I was a little leery of the mailing address, but I don't think I have had any spam associated with them and I only get about an average of three mypoints emails per month by not signing up for the daily deals alerts.

Anyways, by earning mypoints rewards through BzzAgent, answering occasional surveys, and purchasing occasional products by linking to the company's website via the mypoints site, I have earned various gift certificate rewards that I have put to good (FUN) use.

I have earned since 2009 (keep in mind that I purchase something online on average once per month):

- $50 in Williams-Sonoma gift cards 

- $125 in Macy's gift cards 

These cards physically arrived in the mail to my house about three to four weeks after requesting them and I was able to use both for online purchases via mypoints to earn rewards again on their value. It is an American website, but they still sent my rewards to Canada no problem and most companies associated with their site offer Canadian shipping if you do not have an American address you can use.  Unfortunately, the Canadian shipping on some sites is a total rip-off, so you do need to do your due diligence and remember to think of duty/customs/HST/GST.  But if you're a smart shopper, you can certainly get good deals via mypoints.com and I recommend it.

BAGS @ Start Some Good

Not free, but excellent free feelings come along with supporting this venture!

You can purchase yoga mat bags, purses, scarves and coin purses made out of recycled saris from recovering survivors of human trafficking.

Support Human Trafficking Survivors with BAGS

I'm very excited to see on my BzzAgent account this status for my Burt's Bees Sensitive Skin campaign:

"Shipped via U.S. Mail on 02/23/2012"

Yay!!!!!! Hopefully it will arrive by the end of next week!

Burt's Bees(R) Natural Skin Solutions for Sensitive Skin

Yay, I got another BzzCampaign invite as a BzzAgent!

I am happy that this one is finally open and available to Canadians.

It looks like as part of the kit I should receive coupons to share, plus samples of the sensitive facial cleanser, daily moisturizer, night cream, and eye cream. Estimated arrival time is three weeks. I am slight disappointed there is no toner included (maybe there will be a discount coupon for it?) and I am most excited to try the moisturizer. I have yet to find one that leaves my skin moisturized but non-greasy and doesn't cause it to break out in a day or two.

My Bzzguide says the products contain cotton, rice, and aloe. I've heard of aloe, of course, for sensitivity, but not cotton or rice so I am curious to see how these work with my redness-prone skin. I hope it works on t-zone blemishes, too!

All in all, it was a good day to get the campaign invite email!




Update:
Unfortunately, I didn't really like this particular Burt's Bees product.  It was too heavy/greasy feeling for my skin, especially the moisturizer.  If I had dry, sensitive skin I think it may have worked well.  However, I have combination skin, so it left a feeling of slickness on top and never felt quite clean.  I do love other Burt's Bees products, especially their spot blemish treatment and Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream, so I was disappointed with this product.  Most friends I gave the moisturizer sample to had the same experience.

Stouffer's Saute Sensations Review

Last year, Stouffer's had a reward system where you would enter PINs from specially marked boxes of Lean Cuisine, Stouffer's Bistro Panini & Crustini, and the like. Once you reached a certain number of PINs you were sent an envelope via regular mail with a $10 gift card to a store of your choice (limited selection at the start of signing up for the reward account) and several coupons for free products. One of these coupons was for Saute Sensations.

Saute Sensations are found in most grocery stores' freezer sections (Safeway, Superstore, Wal-Mart are the ones I have checked) and in some food-enabled Shopper's Drug Mart locations.

I decided that the Mediterranean Chicken flavour was the safest to try. After hanging around in our freezer for a few months, a night came where we had nothing quick for dinner and were both tired. Saute Sensations to the rescue!

The above photo is of the package contents straight out of the freezer. A good start as all the food looks like food.

Saute for about seven minutes and it turns into this:

Food still looks like food!

The package contained enough to feed two regular adults. Our meal could have been supplemented by a small green salad, but not much else. There are probably just under two servings of vegetables per person in the package.

There were plenty of coloured peppers and potatoes as well as chicken. It tasted real and reasonably new and unprocessed.

I was impressed. I'd say Saute Sensations are a good instant emergency dinner to keep on hand in your freezer. The latest sale price I saw was $5.99, regular retail is about $8.99.

Style Find - Hair Dos!

As mentioned back in September, I am participating in a Bzzagent campaign to increase awareness about the StyleFind.com website.

Right now, the website still has "holiday" looks and tips on it and their editors' pick gallery is still the Fall 2011 one. I hope they update it to Winter 2012 soon. I do like looking at their photos and trends.

What I have found today is hair up-do instructions! Yes, something useful! The instructions are found under the "Trends" tab and are for a loose up-do and are short and easy-to-follow.

Various products are recommended to aid in pulling this 'do off, such as the Kerastase Double Force Controle Ultime Extra-Strength Hold Multi-Protective Hairspray for Weakened Hair. This stuff goes for $36 USD for 300ml so its not cheap, but I'm sure you can find a drugstore brand that would work just as well as long as you're not walking down the red carpet.

Sephora snag-free hair bands are also suggested which are priced for the average consumer at 8 for $3.50 USD on their website.

The other style helper is Sally Hershberger Root Boosting Spray - Salon Shape Up Styling Spray - listed at $24 for a 5 oz. pump spray.

Of these three, the easiest to find would be the Sephora hair bands as they have retail outlets in most major centres. Online shipping is reasonable plus you get three free samples with each shipment. Kerastase also gives three complimentary samples with shipping, with free shipping if you purchase over $85 of product - which shouldn't take long at their prices. The Sally Hershberger product link took me to the Home Shopping Network site.

Well, its been ages since I have last posted, but that doesn't mean I haven't been enjoying my freebies.

An update on the OXO Candela Glow, they work well and look really good lit up among my Christmas decorations. My toddler nephew likes them as well and can push the on-off buttons easily without doing any damage to himself or the lights. They would potentially work well as a nightlights in a child's bedroom.

I cashed in all of my free Multibionta Vitamin coupons that were leftover from a BzzAgent campaign. I gave them away to friends and relatives who were excited about getting them for free. There was some confusion as to WHY I got them for free - "What is wrong with them?" and "What do I owe you?" were common first remarks. I think the next time I get free product coupons from BzzAgent I will collect some first myself to have the actual product to give away for people to sample. They sure went much faster than just the coupons when the campaign was on! As a side note, the manufacturer no longer lets London Drugs double up on coupons for Multibionta products and the same for Scrubbing Bubbles. As far as I am aware, everything else is still a "go".


I also cashed in my somewhat-free coupons from my Kraft sample pack. I had to pay $9.99 plus tax for a box of new-er Kraft food products. Included inside were boxes of Chips Ahoy Middles, Applewood Smoked BBQ Triscuits, Kraft SMART Dinner, many packages of different Trident layers gum and other gums, and more. Also included were coupons for free perishable items: Philadelphia Cream Cheese Dill, their A-MOO-Za cheese twists (love the name pun), and a jar of Kraft's new Pure Refrigerated (fresh) Dressings. These I found in the bagged salad section of Superstore. I chose the BBQ Ranch variety for my husband.




For the cheese twists I chose the mozzarella-cheddar combo. We both really like them and they are very portable and easy to put in adult lunches. The other two items we haven't tried yet but it is worth noting that the salad dressing was named one of Canadian Living's Best New Products of 2011 (http://www.canadianliving.com/life/best_new_product_awards/2011_best_new_product_awards_winning_products.php) so a well worth-it almost-free product.