So, do you want to know what I have been up to? Ok I will tell…. I learned to sew! I know….who would have ever thought a girl who loves to shop as much as I do would want to make something instead of shopping for it. Well, I have been planning another trip to Disney World (stay tuned for some wonderful details about our trip and a pre-trip report), and I came across all of these beautiful custom made Disney outfits on Ebay and Etsy. Naturally I wanted to buy my daughter about 20 of them for our trip, but here’s the catch they were nearly $300 a piece. I don’t think my husband would have been happy if I spent $6000 on my daughter’s Disney World apparel. So I decided if I wanted her wearing cute Disney Boutique clothes, I would have to learn how to make them myself.

Now I figured it was a long shot, but when I put my mind to something, I am pretty determined. Now for those of you who don’t know, I am an accountant (not a very creative field). I had never touched a sewing machine before in my life. The things I have been making aren’t perfect, but I am pretty happy with them, and my daughter loves them!

Here are a few of the outfits I have made in the past 4 weeks since I bought a sewing machine and embroidery machine.

Now does this mean I am shopping less? NO WAY….. in fact I have to admit I am shopping MORE! Between buying the machines I wanted and needed to complete these outfits (STAY TUNED: My deal of the week will be my embroidery machine and a great discount I found on it), and shopping for fabric and patterns, I am shopping more then ever. I have only been sewing for a month and I have a full sized dresser full of fabric already and a few bags waiting to be unpacked. I never knew how addictive fabric buying could be. There are just so many prints I adore, and don’t even get me started on applique designs for my embroidery machine.

So stay tuned…. I will be bringing back my shopping deals of the week and sharing all the shopping I am doing for my new hobby!

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We were having a princess and pirate party, and I loved the collection of dress up items I could purchase in bulk. I was able to buy 12 princess crowns, 12 wands, 100 rings and necklaces, 12 pirate bandannas, 12 swords, 12 eye patches, and all of the balloons, decorations and party supplies I needed for less then $75.

The kids all loved dressing as pirates and princesses during the party, and they had lots of great party favors to take home with them. In this video you can see how great the party looked, and how much fun everyone was having with their pirate and princess accessories.

Time for me to start shopping. Check back soon to hear about the great Thanksgiving and Christmas supplies I find!

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My favorite deal this week is from SmartBargains.com. They have a great shoe sale going on. There are lots of shoes to choose from, and you can get 3 pairs for $99. The sale is such a bargain, I am having a hard time just choosing 3. I am seriously thinking about getting 6 (but I think my husband might start complaining about how many shoes I own again).

Here are some of the great shoes you can choose from:

Kenneth Cole Reaction Party Bella Mary Jane Pump normally retails for $89, just $10 less then what you will pay for 3 pairs of shoes!

Jessica Simpson Elroy Croc Embossed Pump normally retails for $79.

Martinez Valero Socal Stretch Ankle Boot normally sells for $149, more then the $99 you will pay for 3 pairs!

This shoe sale is just way to good for me to pass up. There are over 60 pairs of great designer shoes in the 3 for 99 sale, so I am sure you can find 3 pairs you like too!

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I had used Shutterfly before, and liked the quality of my albums, so I decided Shutterfly’s much less expensive albums would work just fine, and they offered a discount on additional copies. I started designing my album, and I just was “not that into it”. Don’t get me wrong, Shutterfly’s albums are nice. I loved the baby photo albums I had made on their site, but after seeing all the Disney borders and backgrounds on the PhotoPass website, nothing seemed to look good with my pictures. I wanted some Mickey Mouse backgrounds, and I wasn’t even finding solid color choices that fit the theme of my photos.

At this point I was seriously contemplating using the PhotoPass photo albums, and hoping my husband didn’t notice how much they cost. I decided to double check with a few other photography websites and see if I could find some generic backgrounds I liked. I checked all the sites I had heard of before: Snapfish, Kodak, and Walmart photos. Nothing on any of these sites jumped out at me. All of them had good prices, but it just didn’t have that “Disney” feel.

In a last ditch effort to avoid paying the high prices from PhotoPass, I did a web search and found a site that rated all the different photo sites. This site had a 5 star rating system the considered quality, prices, ease of use, options, ect. There was a 5 star site I had never heard of before called Picaboo. I decided I would go see what their backgrounds were like. I instantly found a theme I liked better then any of the other sites I had looked at, it still wasn’t Disney, but it seemed to “fit” my pictures better.

I started to make my picture book on Picaboo, and soon discovered they have a free Background Community with almost 15,000 user created backgrounds. I searched for Disney on the background community and quickly found 117 backgrounds including great pictures of the Tree of Life and Cinderella’s castle, as well as some standard Mickey Scrap book pages. A lot of the backgrounds I found were more impressive then the backgrounds on the PhotoPass website. There is also far more page layouts on Picaboo then PhotoPass. I was so excited that I found this site. I have so much design control for my photo book, and I think it is really turning out great.

To create your own photo book: you create a free account with Picaboo, download the free software, do all the editing you want, or let the software automatically fill a book with your pictures. When you are finished, you upload your book to the Picaboo site where you can share it digitally with friends and family for free, or order a copy of an album for yourself. The software has been very easy to use, and I am having a lot of fun playing with it.

The prices on Picaboo are great too. They have photo books beginning at $9.99 for a medium sized soft cover album, and from $29.99 for large hardcover albums. They have more editing options then any other photo website I have seen. I especially love that I can make my own backgrounds for any page I want. I found a great discount code that you can use to Buy 1 book, get 1 free through November 14th. Enter code NOVBG at checkout to receive the discount. I am hurrying and trying to finish my Disney album before the 31st and if time permits I am going to make a few more albums to give as Christmas gifts this year.

I will post an update later this week and show off my completed photo book. I just wanted to tell you about this great site while you still had time to make your own album and take advantage of the discount code. If you need to make a photo album, you just can’t beat the prices and all of the great options for the photo books on Picaboo. Check out Picaboo today, you can make an online album for free, or order great books for yourself and to give as gifts!

Check back soon to view my album and for a full product review.

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I was having a lot of fun shopping online with her. I didn’t realize the little monster I was creating. She wanted to shop for hour and hours, when we finally checked out I explained it would come in the mail in a few days. She kept asking to check the mail box every 5 minutes the rest of the evening. It was cute at first, but got old after the 10th time. A few days later her box of clothes arrived. She was so excited, and she remembered she picked them out.

Every time I have picked up my laptop around my daughter since then, she begs to shop. I could no longer check my email or work from home in front of her. Oh no, what would I do, I love sitting on the couch with my laptop while she watches cartoons. If I wanted to ever use my computer again I had to find a solution.

Lucky for me she is three and can still be tricked. I bought her, her own laptop. An Elmo laptop that is actually very educational for toddlers. It doesn’t connect to the internet, or discuss shopping, but she is still content. Every night when I sit down with my laptop, she sits down beside me with hers. She often tells me she is shopping for princess dresses, and luckily she hasn’t noticed that none of them have come in the mail. Her Elmo laptop is a great toy (Here is a video review I made of The Elmo Learning Laptop) and it really lets her think she is a big girl like mom. Thank goodness for Elmo! As much as I love shopping with my daughter, I also love shopping for me sometimes too.

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For starters, when I shop I shop through Sunshine Rewards! Sunshine Rewards pays me cash back for the shopping I have always done, at the stores I already shopped at. I only wish I had discovered Sunshine Rewards sooner. I think back to all the shopping I had done at Best Buy, Children’s Place, Target and more before I learned about Sunshine Rewards and it just seems like a waste. Not only has Sunshine Rewards given me cash back for my shopping, but they have found me some great discount codes and introduced me to some great new merchants. I have also been able to earn a little extra money by taking surveys on the Sunshine Rewards site. In just a few short months I earned $500 in Disney giftcards. You can get “cash” back, but I prefer giftcards that allow me to save for my vacation without being tempted to spend the money on more shopping.

Secondly, when I shop or even pay bills I always use a rewards credit card. I never spend more on the card then I can pay off in the month, or the rewards would be eliminated because of interest. My prefered card for shopping and paying bills is my Disney Visa Rewards card. I have gotten 1-5% back for my purchases and payments. I earned $575 in Disney rewards dollars over the past year to spend on my vacation. Both Sunshine Rewards and my Disney Visa allow me to save for my vacation without actually saving. To get your own Disney Visa visit Disney Rewards Visa Enter card member ID # 17269183 to get a $25 Disney Gift card.

Finally, I get paid to review the purchases I make for Expo TV. Anyone can make reviews for Expo, all you need is a video camera and a product you have purchased. Your review can be positive or negative, you just need to give your honest opinion and demonstrate the product when possible. I have reviewed everything from Toys to Shampoo and Laptops to Shoes and always get paid at least $10 per review I upload. To get paid for your own video reviews visit Expo TV.

When I pay for something like shampoo through Sunshine Rewards using my Disney Visa and then reviewing it for Expo I actually make more money off my purchase then I spent. Talk about letting your shopping work for you. I do shop a lot, but at least I am smart about letting my shopping earn money for me. This allows me to still enjoy a great vacation every year without building debt. In today’s poor economy, why not let your shopping earn you some extra cash!

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Usually I run my errands alone since she would rather stay home and play with Daddy. I have always purchased her clothes by myself, or ordered them online. On our recent shopping trip we needed to pick her up a new dress for a wedding. I know her size, so I figured I would quickly grab what we needed and get out of the store before she became frustrated. When we reached the section with little girl dresses, she became very interested.

Most of the dresses I saw were pretty, so I figured I’d ask her for her input. Boy was I surprised when she started grabbing dresses and handing them to me. Of coarse she doesn’t know what size to get (or even how to read the tags for that matter), so I switch them for the right sizes and hold a couple up and ask her which one dress she wants to get. Her response, “I think I need to try them on.” I am still not sure where she learned that concept, but we grabbed a few of her favorites and off we went to find a dressing room.

Once we find a dressing room I put the first dress on her. I really expected her to be bored after trying the first dress on, but much to my surprise she tried on all four dresses we had taken to the dressing room. She pranced around in front of the mirror with each dress on. When I asked which one she liked best she grabbed one, held it in front of herself and said, “Maybe this one….but I think I need a hat.” Wow my little girl wants to accessorize already!!!

Back to the little girl’s department we went in search of a hat. We found several pretty little hats, but she insists she can’t choose one without trying it on with the dress. So we head towards the dressing room yet again so she can put the dress back on.

On our way to the dressing room she notices there are purses hanging on a wall. Can you guess where we go? She is very persuasive and she insists that she needs a matching purse (a girl after my heart). So after spending a good 15 minutes while she decides which purse she likes, we finally make it back to the dressing room. She puts her dress on, then her hat, and finally the purse on her arm. It takes another 10 minutes of prancing in front of a mirror before she confirms that she likes her choices.
As we walk towards the cash register and she asks if we can shop again soon, I can’t help but smile. Finally it seems that she did inherit a little more then looks from me, she got her Mommy’s love of shopping! I know we will have a thousand more shopping trips together, but I will always remember the first one.

Stay tuned for The Addiction Continues – Online Shopping to hear about her discovery of online shopping.

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