First Ever Giveaway!!

Are you ready for it? The first EVER Frills Fluff and Trucks (phew, what a mouthful!) giveaway is next week! I know you've all been on the edge of your seat with anticipation, right? After all, I've been blogging for over a year and have never done one of these.

To make up for not giving anything away on my 100th post (oops!) or my one year blogiversary (oops again!), I'm giving away TWO giftcards! Will that make up for my poor etiquette in missing these major blog milestones? I hope so!

Every one here in blogland loves a good deal--especially me! Remember those topiaries I snatched up at TJ Maxx in an after Christmas clearance? I just love that makeover and those topiaries were such a steal of a deal! I was at TJ Maxx last week and saw so much great stuff--lots of cute little tables, big letters to hang on the wall, and I even picked up a Ralph Lauren polo shirt for Handsome for $5! So cute!

Soooo...how about a $25 TJ Maxx giftcard?

Oh heck, let's do a $25 Marshalls giftcard too! That store is chockfull of goodies too!
All you have to do to be entered into the running for one of these giftcards is to come back here on Thursday, June 25th and join in my TJ Maxx Thursday linkfest! Post a link to a blog post where you show us your best TJ Maxx or Marshalls finds! Sorry, HomeGoods doesn't count...I'm still bitter that we don't have one of those near me! Everyone who posts their finds is eligible to win!

TJ Maxx Topiaries

A PR firm contacted me via my blog and asked if they could give me a $25 gift card to TJ Maxx for me to find some home decor items and blog about them. Being that I loooove shopping for home decor, I quickly agreed to this plan. Princess, Handsome, and I went shopping there a few days ago--I was hoping to find some cute Valentine's Day stuff since our teeny tiny attic space seems to have swallowed up our old Valentine decorations...or maybe my husband just got tired of looking for them... Anyhow, I didn't find any Valentine decor that would work for me (it was mostly dish towels and silicone heart cupcake pans) but I did find a way to spend the giftcard...although I'm not sure it was what the PR firm had in mind...
Look!! Super duper tacky glittery topiaries!!!

What? They don't look so bad to you? You don't see the sparkle? Just wait...I used the flash on a closeup, just for you!
Now do you believe me? They're so shiny and poky and, um, well, not exactly what I was looking for...but the price was right! They were in the Christmas clearance section. The ball topiaries were $5 each and the cone topiaries were $4 each. Perfection!

You see, I want to redo my fireplace wall and I've been looking for affordable topiaries and haven't had much (any?) luck. Topiaries are EXPENSIVE! So these, despite their tackiness, are great!
Like the glitter on my table? This is just SOME of the glitter that now is all.over.my.entire.kitchen after pulling the poky glittery things off ONE (just ONE!) of the ball topiaries. The topiary is looking better already even though it's still pretty glittery.
Are you starting to see my vision? I'm thinking of painting the gold urn black, painting the gold glittery stick brown, and then hotgluing moss on the styrofoam balls and on top of the glittery mess that is inside the urn. What do you think? Is there a better way to do this? Oh wait, will hot glue melt styrofoam? Hmmm...maybe I better test this out first! Give me your thoughts, please!

Oh and the cone shaped topiaries? I'm going to save those for Christmas and replace all the poky stuff with small colored balls. They'll be soooo pretty!

Isn't it fun to see what you can find in amongst all the stuff at a place like TJ Maxx? Once I started thinking outside the box, it was amazing what I found!

Box Tops for Education

If you're anything like me, you like to support your schools whenever possible. One popular way is by cutting out those "Boxtops for Education"...or, if you're REALLY like me, you don't cut them, you just rip them out and hope that you don't tear off any pertinent information. I have a hefty stockpile of boxtops that I've accumulated that will go off to school with my little girl next year--don't worry, I've been checking the expiration dates and they haven't expired!

So, lucky me--I was contacted by a marketing firm and given the opportunity to test out a NEW way to support the school of my choice. And, the best part?? It is by shopping!! Woohoo! Shopping is something I'm very very good at!
All you do is go to http://www.boxtops4education.com and click "Sign Up Now" and pick a school to support. Then you click on "Marketplace" and shop at the stores that are listed--anything from Nordstrom to Gap to Barnes and Noble! Hey, if you want to give a child a subscription to Zoobooks (remember that animal magazine?), they'll give a kickback of over 22% to your school!

Anyhow, it was super-duper easy to navigate and shop--I highly recommend it! A few clicks and POOF! Not only does my son have a new pair of snowpants, but I've supported the Catholic school I'm planning on sending my daughter to next fall!

So, what do you think? Did you know you could shop this way? I had no idea!