The Message in the Mess
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Christina

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Cyber Monday/Small Bus Saturday

Shop Small Business Week – Funnelcloud Studio

Hey y’all! It’s day two of Shop Small Business Week here at The Scrappy Housewife! If you’ve missed any of the posts so far you can see them here and here. Let’s take a look at today’s awesome online shop, shall we? Rachel is a local artist here in the mid-Atlantic area and she is crazy talented. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting her in person at a blogger meet up and I can say she’s as fun to hang out with as she is creative. Here are some of my favorites from her Etsy shop: Love, love, love the colors in this!This winter scene in blue and white is gorgeous!I want this for our soon to be “cloffice” space!These prints and more are available from her Etsy shop and for Cyber Monday she’s got a 10% discount on orders of $50 or more! What better gift than that of artwork for Christmas…and…

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Cyber Monday/Small Bus Saturday

Shop Small Business Week – Milo and Ben

Last Saturday, I shared with you my Pinterest board that houses some of my favorite online handmade shops around the web. You can check out that post here and follow the board on Pinterest here.Here’s the thing about that post and this week full of small businesses. No one pays to get on this list. I take some time to grab links from my favorites and ask my readers to submit links to their online shops as well. I don’t get paid to do this. And I’m not compensated with free product either. So why bother? Because small businesses, and handmade businesses deserve a moment of our time. In this Wal-Mart world where everything is “made in China” and mass produced the little guy tends to get pushed to the background. Remember that when you shop local, shop small and shop handmade you are helping to put dinner on the table…

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Cyber Monday/Small Bus Saturday

It’s Small Business Saturday!

Hey y’all! Today is Small Business Saturday. In case you’re not familiar, it’s a program started by American Express to help get the word out about shopping local, shopping small business and (at least for me) shopping handmade online.You can find more information on Small Business Saturday here.In honor of Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday coming up next week, I wanted to give you some awesome online small business options for your holiday shopping. Below, I’ve included a round up of my favorites in an easy Pinterest board layout so you can follow along and poke around. And all this coming week I’ll be sharing a more in depth look at each shop and giving you a peek into what I’m drooling over for Christmas. 😉 Someone point my hubs to this page would ya?Follow Christina @ The Scrappy Housewife Small Online Businesses I Adore on PinterestI want to add…

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Thanksgiving

Simplifying Thanksgiving

Hey y’all, Happy Thanksgiving week!Around here I’m still in “simplify” mode and this week that means making the upcoming holiday as simple as humanly possible. I thought maybe some of you might want some “simple” in your life this week too.Here’s what I’m doing to make the holiday run a little more smoothly (I hope…).Like most of you, I make a shopping list prior to the holiday, but this year I decided to work it a little differently. I’m combining my menu and shopping list into one long list. Each item on the menu has it’s list of ingredients listed below it. I took a minute to pull together all of my Thanksgiving recipes (the ones that aren’t in my head, anyway) and list every item needed to prepare that dish even if it’s needed in another recipe as well.Once I had my list compiled I took it and a basket…

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Repurposed Halloween Lanterns from Susan at Organized 31

Hi, you Scrappy Housewife fans. I’m Susan from Organized 31. I met Christina almost a year ago and treasure her friendship and sense of humor. I’m so happy to be here sharing one of my repurposed projects with you.The first thing you need to know about me is that I hate to throw away (whether in the recycle or in the trash) anything that can be repurposed. The second thing you need to know is that my family loves Halloween. And the third thing to know is that I enjoy doing easy craft projects with my kids. So, I’m a happy, happy mama when I can combine the three in one project.With a family of 5, we produce a lot of empty food containers. I really hate to just throw them away if I can find a way to repurpose them. I do save some glass jars, but I prefer…

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Simple

I don’t know what it is lately, but I’m craving simplicity. I want – nope, I need – things to be as simple as possible. There are a few reasons for this.One of those reasons is this guy:Our little Scrappy Dog has begun having very big, very scary seizures. In the last two weeks we’ve been faced with putting him to sleep, giving him up or spending massive amounts of money on specialists. Money we do not have.We have lost a lot of sleep in the last two weeks. Luckily we’ve found a wonderful vet that’s willing to help us and give our little guy what he needs right now.In the course of those two weeks we’ve also discovered our dishwasher leaking and we had to buy a new one last Saturday. (And before you ask – fixing it wasn’t an option. It’s the one the builders installed in 1996. It was time…

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Your Tips for Cleaning the Shower

Hello Ladies! (And gents if you’re out there!) From time to time I post a question on my Facebook page seeking help with a household problem and you’re always ready with great advice! So I thought it might be fun to highlight your tips and tricks that have come in handy for me and helped make me a more productive housewife. I’m calling it “Readers To The Rescue” and today marks the first installment. :)A couple of months ago I asked you all if you had any tips to make the chore of cleaning the shower easier. It’s a chore I hate. The shower at our house is small and old and a pain to clean – unlike that gorgeous shower in the picture above – that’s my good friend Jane’s shower.Anywho, you guys really came through with some awesome time and mess saving tips. Check ’em out.Clean the shower before…

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Our Free TV Update

Last month, I outlined our crazy plan to get a free TV by using “free gift card with purchase” deals at Target. We’re still going strong!The last few weeks have been hit or miss on gift card deals, and true to our plan, we haven’t bought anything just to get a gift card. Which is why you haven’t seen any updates.BUT…I’m happy to announce we’ve hit $50 thanks to deals on shampoo and deodorant that we needed. Our full total as of 7/25/2013: $50.83That’s 10% of our total goal of $500.As long as our TV holds out we’re going for all $500, but we’re hoping for at least $250.Think we can do it? Stay tuned for more updates!

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