Guest Blogger: Meet Bella from Bella Before And After

I'm so excited to be the GUEST BLOGGER
today over @
Bella Before and After.

I want to introduce you to Bella.
I've been following her blog for a while 
now and i just love all the crafty things she has going on.
Bella...take it away

Hey Keeping it Thrifty readers, I'm so happy to be here today. Thanks Andrea for letting me say hi to your readers. 

My name is Bella ~ Isabella~ and I am the one behind the blog:

I started on this blogging journey in August of 2010. After being a SAHM for 12 years, it started getting to me. I needed something to call my own, other than my kids, lol. Getting a job, unfortunately is out of the question for now, as my kids need me WAY to much, even more so as they get older. Plus being mommy is my number one joy, and duty in life, right now.

I am Romanian, born in Transylvania, came to the U.S. when I was just a baby, lived in California for a good 20 years, (Orange County) and now live in the south (sigh) with my husband who is from India, and 3 kiddos, who range in age from almost 12 to almost 4, with an almost 7 princess in the middle. I love to cook, and have learned quite a lot of Indian food, of course Romanian food, and I grew up loving Mexican food. I like to blog about food, and share recipes with my readers. I'm particularly passionate about organic, non processed home cooked meals.

Some HOT Kerala Indian fish curry, Bella style!!

Some crazy good BRICK Chicken!!

Savarine, a delicious Romanian pastry!!

Did I mention we make cakes too?
You can check us out on Facebook, for more cake designs!!
EURO STYLE CAKES on FACEBOOK


I also love to craft, and love to create, and LOVE to save money, and hopefully save the earth a little too, by trying to reuse things I already have, and upcycle other peoples trash. My most favorite kind of craft involves recycling products, and not spending money.

Contact paper is AWESOME!!

Come see how I grow my own pineapple plant.

Trying to organize my pantry, at least it's clean now, hehe.

The girls and I love doing mehndi for fun.

Check out how I created a flower bed for my garden.
I also host a weekly party called 

I've worked really hard at redesigning my blog so I can FEATURE my top 10 every week, on my SIDEBAR, the whole week. It's a great way to be seen, by the masses, hehe ( I wish), but ONE day, I will be big, and you will BEG to be featured on my blog. Until then I do it happily and love helping out new bloggers, because after all, I'm still learning myself, and support is key to growth. 


I love all my followers, and have made some wonderful friends, bloggy friends, and look forward to getting to know you too.


So come on over and see how I clean my stove with my shampoo!

And check out how I cut MY OWN HAIR!


I really hope you enjoyed my post today! I loved sharing with you.

Come say hi to me on facebook, or twitter!!

Don't forget to join me at my weekly party. 
AMAZE ME AUGUST

             

Thanks Andrea for having me, I had so much fun!

Everyone make sure you stop by Bellas blog and show me some comment LOVE

Hope yall have a wonderful WEEKEND!!!

Blog Swap: Truly Lovely fun fleece blanket {tutorial}

Hey Everyone!
I have been so busy with my wedding, that i haven't really
been posting as much here lately I totally apologize!
Yesterday was 2 months exactly till i say I DO!
Time is flying by!!

I want you to meet Kassi, she is sharing a fun tutorial with you all
today. Kassi take it away girl....

Hello Lovely again lovely Keepin it Thrifty readers!!
I am so thrilled to be blog swapping here with the lovely Andrea today!
If you're really missing your daily Andrea fix, she's posting over on my blog, Truly Lovely! You can check that out here!
Until then... I'm Kassi from Truly Lovely!


That's me! :)

You might remember me from the guest post I did here on my Bride Bag a week or two ago! Remember this??

If not, you can read more about my sister and I 
AND our blog by clicking that lovely little button down there. :)

Today I would like to share a ANOTHER SUPER EASY tutorial with you!!
A fun fleece blanket!!

The materials needed are:

2 yards of fleece fabric

1 package of coordinating satin blanket binding

Coordinating yarn

Coordinating sewing thread
Pins

Yarn Needle

Scissors

Sewing Machine

In this case I went with zebra fabric and all red coordinating materials.

First trim your fleece fabric of any uneven edges or those funky white labeled edges... You know what I'm talking about... :)

Then, using the Yarn Needle, stitch your thread down the two length sides of your fabric like so... I spaced each stitch about a half an inch apart...





Next you'll pin and trim your satin binding to the two width sides (the two shorter sides)... The binding will have a fold down the middle, simply line that fold up with the edge of your fabric, making sure it's centered so there's an even amount of binding on both sides...





Fold over the edges of the binding to make your four corners and pin those as well. You can either trim or fold the extra binding inside to make your corner.







Once you have the binding pinned onto both sides, get out the sewing machine. I used red thread to match the binding...


If you sew really well, you can use a varying color of thread for added pop!!! I don't so much... SO matching thread hides my inexperienced sewing skills. :)
(I'm a little addicted to zebra print... can you tell?!?)

Simply sew the binding to the fleece pulling pins as you go.


And TaDA!!!! A SUPER EASY fleece blanket made by you!
They make great baby gifts, or gifts for friends or family!! :)





Hope you enjoyed my tutorial!!


We would love it if you would pop over to Truly Lovely to say hi!
AND if you like what you see we would LOVE a follow! :)
Hope to see you there!!


THANKS SO MUCH TO THE LOVELY MISS Andrea of Keepin It Thrifty
for allowing us to share with you all today!!!

I encourage everyone to stop by and visit Kassi blog today!

Hope you have a wonderful day!!!

$35 CSN WINNER

Happy Monday Everyone!!

I hope you had a fabulous weekend,

so sorry I'm so late on posting this I have be crazy busy today!!!

The winner of the $35 CSN Giveaway

is ....



Lucky #11

Domestic Diva!!

Congrats!!!

I'll be emailing you

**If I don't hear from the winner in 48 hrs. I will do a redraw**

PS  I just received a email from a company wanting me to do a review

sooooo that means more giveaways!

YAY!

Glitter Shamrock Picture Frame {Tutorial}

I've been such a slacker on my St. Patty Day Crafts!!

I've had so much going on with the wedding, trying to get things ordered,

talking with photographers, florist, wedding coordinator, trying out

places for rehearsal dinner.

I have been busy, but I did find the time to make the

quick and simple St. Patricks Day Craft.

Do you remember my Rosette Picture Frame from V-day?

If not click HERE

I used that same frame, just took out the the heart and

replaced it with a Shamrock

Supplies:

*foam hearts

*glitter

*fabric

*pipe cleaner

*hot glue gun

*craft glue

Step 1. I cut my fabric that I found at goodwill for a dollar!..It said it was from Christmas

but the glittery green was PERFECT for this project.

Once you have cut your fabric to fit in your frame, close up the back and

flip over.

Step 2. Glitter your foam hearts. I had these hearts left over from V-day. I just used my dollar store glitter.

Coat your hearts in glue and just sprinkle glitter over it.

Step 3: Let the hearts/ glitter dry.

Step 4: Make a stem. I used a pipe cleaner and just twisted the top to make a stem.

Step 5: Glue down your glitter hearts and stem directly to the fabric.

Step 6: Hang and Enjoy!!!

Quick & Simple last minute St. Patty's Craft.



$35 CSN GIVEAWAY!!!!!

Who's ready for another GIVEAWAY???

I'm so thrilled to be offering another

$35 gift code to CSN stores

You can use it to purchase literally anything in their 200+ stores.

I'm crushing on their computer desks for home

I would love Love LOVE to have one of these.

How to enter the GIVEAWAY

 Mandatory

**Become a follower of  Keepin it Thrifty

** Tell me what your crushing on from CSN

Extras

**Blog about this giveaway {2 extra entrys}

**Share about this on Facebook {1 extra}

**Tweet about this on Twitter {1 extra}

**Like me on Facebook {1 extra}

**Follow me on Twitter {1 extra}

Be sure to paste this link if tweet..blog..or facebook
http://keepinitthriftyandrea.blogspot.com/2011/03/35-csn-giveaway.html

 I hope you take advantage all these extra entrys!!

Giveaway will end on Sun. March 20 @ 12:00 MIDNIGHT  EST

**Only open to US & CANANDA residents

so sorry for shipping reasons**

Good Luck

 

Going Green Crafters & Artists

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!!

Susan {my soon to be mother-in-law} is coming down from WV to spend a few days with us.

I'm so excited I haven't seen her since Thanksgiving, were going to check out some rehearsal dinner

spots for the wedding!

Today I'm featured over at

Going Green Crafters and Artists

Its such a awesome blog , they have a great collection of recylced crafts and ideas!

I encourage you to stop by and check it out!

I'm so thrilled to have my thrifty photo frame re~do

on their blog today!!



Guest Blogger: Kassi & Bride Bag Tutorial

Happy Friday!!!

I have a Amazing guest blogger today,
Kassi from Truly Lovely is sharing a fabulous tutorial.
Take it away Kassi.....


I am SO excited that Miss Andrea asked me to share my Bride Bag tutorial with you lovely Keepin' It Thrifty Readers today!!!

She is a sweetheart! And I am SO excited for her wedding planning and upcoming wedding!!

I am Kassi from the blog Truly Lovely!

I am right in the midst of my wedding planning for our June 2011 wedding!

If you'd like to follow my wedding planning in more detail,

I have a 'just for the wedding' blog over here. :)

A wedding craft that I did just for me, just for fun, was my Bride Bag!

Every bride needs a handy little bag to carry around the wedding planning essentials!

So...

I am so excited to be able to share my Bride Bag tutorial with you today!

Materials Needed:

• Plain Tote
• Sticky backed Vinyl or other stencil
• Fabric Paint
• Iron on embellishments (I used my wedding flowers, daisies)
• Cute little craft iron... Or a regular iron will do ;)
  (All these materials were Christmas gifts from my sweet sister, so thanks Miss Kayli for gifting me some awesome craft supplies!!)

First, I used my new Silhouette SD (Christmas gift from the hubs-to-be) to cut out the lettering, "Kassi's Bride Bag June 2011".

Next, I pulled the cutout lettering away from the vinyl sheet.

This became the stencil.

Then I peeled the backing off of the vinyl and stuck it to the tote.

*Tip - Sticky backed vinyl is great because once the backing is removed you can stick it onto pretty much anything and it'll last long enough to work as a stencil.

The only fabric paint I had at the time was puff paint... but that wasn't the look I was wanting for my bag... So I improvised...

I just used a small paint brush to brush the puff paint onto the stencil... I used pink and turquoise paint, my wedding colors of course!

It took a few coats of the puff paint to get it dark enough on the black tote to pop, but once I got those coats on, I just left it to dry overnight.

The next morning I simply peeled the vinyl stencil from the tote and walla, insta-tote wording!! :)

To spice it up a bit, I ironed on a few daisies (my wedding flower of choice) using my nifty little craft iron! (Again, thanks Kayli!)

The next, and final step is to fill your new Bride Bag with all the wedding planning essentials!!

In went my wedding planning notebook, wedding ring brochures, hand written guest list draft, and our engagement pictures CD.

I literally carry this bag with me everywhere I go!!

At less than four months til the wedding, it's so nice to have everything I need right on hand in my handy little Bride Bag!

 This picture was taken by my Maid of Honor, Miss Kayli of course, after a LONG day of trying on wedding dresses!!!

As you can see, it'll wear a girl out! ;)

But the Bride Bag in tow means less stress for the bride-to-be!!!

Thanks again to Miss Andrea for having me over!!! :)

Always happy to share with my bloggie buddies!!

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!!!