Freebie Friday: January 27, 2012

Happy Freebie Friday, everyone! We would like to thank Couponing 101 for assisting us with our freebies each week. Be sure to swing by the site to get the scoop on loads of deals, freebies, and coupons happening in your area!

This week on MomAdvice I am sharing a recipe for roasted brussels sprouts for a fun side dish, an easy way to spruce up your yarn wreath for Valentine’s Day using this fun loopy felt flower tutorial, lots of fun Valentine’s Day crafts & food in our weekly notebook, and over 140 great giveaways to enter on the blogs this week.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Don’t forget to join us over at the MomAdvice Facebook Page! Today we will be discussing our favorite reads of the week and I always get the best book ideas from my fellow readers.
Health & Beauty
Versace Yellow Diamond Perfume Sample
Yummi Bears Vitamins Sample – use code KK Free
Kleenex Cool Touch Tissues Sample
NeilMed Neti Pot
NRGX Sample
Spiru-tein Sample
Spark Energy Drink Sample
Pristine Skin Care Sample
BioPro Whey Protein Sample

Food & Drink
Corner Baker Power Panini Free Coupon
Rold Gold Tomatoes Free Coupon
Natural Persimmon Tea Sample
Tea Chef Tea Sample

Entertainment
Gooseberry Patch – 8 free Cookbook Chapters
25 4×6 Photos from Walmart
Weight Watchers Recipes Kindle eBook
BJ’s One-Day Shopping Pass
Wisconsin Cheese Variety Guide
Toy Story Read-Along App for iPad
Printable Packs for Kids
Wiggles Songs Download

Baby
Parent’s Choice Formula Sample

This Week’s Freebie Events

Jan 28 – Feb 3

28 – Lakeshore Learning: Create a Groundhog Puppet, 11 am – 3pm.

28 - Lowe’s Build and Grow: Build a Dinosaur, 10 am.

Amy’s Notebook 01.25.12

These DIY arrow Valentine’s would be a cute Valentine’s Day project to do with your kids (@ Two Shades of Pink)

These snowball cupcakes are the cutest idea for winter celebrating (@ Hungry Happenings)

I want to make these hot chocolate sticks (@ 30 Pounds of Apples)

This side gathered shirt refashioned from a man’s t-shirt is so cute & a clever transformation (@ Sugar Bee Crafts)

This painted heart bag would make an adorable library bag (@ V & Co.)

Fat Elvis ice cream? Yes, please! (The Type A Housewife)

I love these printable Valentine’s Day coupons for a cute gift to give your sweetie (@ Love vs. Design)

Beef Pot Roast Marsala? Yum. (@ The Gourmand Mom)

These homemade peppermint patties would make a fun Valentine’s treat (@ smells like home)

I want to make some of these Anthropologie-inspired letters for our kitchen (@ Life as a Thrifter)

These blueberry yogurt multigrain pancakes look so yummy (@ Annie’s Eats)

This wood wax seal made from a dowel is such an elegant way to seal an envelope (@ RageHaus)

These homemade corn dog bites look like fun kid food (@ Gluesticks)

This personalized canvas art inspired by Red Envelope is a fun way to personalize your home (@ Decorating the Dorchester Way)

This teddy bear crocheted hat makes me want to learn how to crochet (@ Jennyandteddy Creation)

Oh my! Tiramisu brownies sound heavenly! (@ Bake. Eat. Repeat.)

This tunnel of love printable would be a cute way to decorate for Valentine’s Day. (@ Flamingo Toes)

Why have I never thought to try a gyro salad before- so smart! (@ The Gourmand Mom)

I want to dive into a bowl of this spaghetti with real deal bolognese sauce (@ Dinner: A Love Story)

Valentine’s Day Yarn Wreath

Since Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, I thought it would be fun to decorate my little yarn wreath for one of my favorite holidays. Today I wanted to share with you another fun way to decorate that wreath of yours and some fun creations you can make with a simple piece or two of felt.

You may recognize this yarn wreath that I made this Fall to decorate our front door. This wreath was created because of the limited amount of storage in our house. I created this wreath to transition with the seasons and figured out a way to create accessories that could easily be removed and switched out with the holidays. Say goodbye to this old Fall look and let’s brighten things up with some Valentine’s Day fun today!

 

For this wreath, I wanted to create some loopy flowers in pinks and purples for my wreath.  I found a multi-pack of fun felt colors at Walmart over by the craft supplies with my Valentine’s Day colors in it.  You will also need a hot glue gun, glue sticks, scissors, a tape measure, and your choice of a clip (like I have shown here) or a jewelry pin (you can find those in the jewelry-making supplies).

Taking your felt square (which is roughly the size of a sheet of paper), measure 1 1/2 inches width. You will cut a strip 1 1/2 inches wide along the long edge of your piece of felt. Repeat one more time so that you have two of these strips for your loopy flower.

Dab a little hot glue on each end of the piece of felt and fold in half. I also like to make sure it is a little secure in the middle with one more dab of glue, but you can judge for yourself how secure you like it.

Cut slits down the side that is not glued.  You can make them fat or thin depending on what type of look you are going for. You can cut them straight or cut them on an angle. Basically, anything goes with the cutting!

Now start rolling your little loopy flower up and add a dab of hot glue here and there to make sure it all holds secure.

So pretty! You can leave it like this for a small loopy flower or you can use that other strip of felt you cut and start cutting it up just like the last one.

Once you have that second piece of felt cut, you can start wrapping it around the outside of your loopy flower you started, picking up where you left off with the last piece of felt. You can do two different colors of felt or keep it sweet and simple with the same color. Apologies for switching colors on you, my pictures from the first flower didn’t turn out as good.

Hot glue a small circle of felt to the back of your loopy flower to hold it all together. Add your pin or clip to attach the flowers to your wreath.

If you have any stray strips of felt, you can transform them into bows. I just fashioned this one into a bow shape and then secured it with a little floral wire in the center. Cover your wire with another little scrap of felt and you have another fun element to your wreath.

Here are all of my fun Valentine’s Day accessories on my wreath. I made these felt roses, several of these loopy flowers, and a bow in the middle clipped to the top. You could also add some cute fabric flowers, if you like, in other fun Valentine’s Day shades.

Same exact wreath.

Totally different look.

I saved all of my accessories (that my daughter did not run away to accessorize her room) and I can just reapply those fall accessories next year.

It is much easier to store a box of accessories than a million wreaths in my basement.

What special traditions have you created for your family for Valentine’s Day in your house? Do you have any special crafts you do together or any special food traditions? I would love to hear your ideas!

An Apron Full of Giveaways 01.24.12

Adrienne Honeycombs, $25

Welcome to our Apron Full of Giveaways! I hope everyone is having a great week this week! As we do each week, here is our round-up of giveaways for our readers. We hope that this is beneficial to you and your family! Please let us know if you guys win anything- I love to hear the success stories!

Below are the contest links-if you are hosting a contest please link it up below. Sorry, we aren’t giving away the aprons just showcasing them! Please put your site name and then what type of contest you are hosting. For example, “MomAdvice (Kid’s Movies).”

Please let me know if you have any questions and good luck to each of you!