Lilly and Sam Clothing Co.

I have been creating bandana dresses for about 2 years now under the company "Peas In A Pod by Jessica". But I have dissolved the company and have started a new venture with a friend of mine, Lauren Flores. Lauren is an amazing photographer ( Little Flores Photgraphy) , and when she gets an idea in her head you had better hold on tight because your about to move at light speed! We had a meeting together one day that started this all, her idea was to promote the dresses as well as create a unique, yet vintage line the other photographers would have interest in, and thus we have created " Lilly & Sam Clothing Co." - taking inspiration for both of our children. My son Sam, and her Daughter Lilliana.

We recently had a photoshoot with a few of the most adorable and energetic little girls. We had 18 dresses with matching Korkers for them to change into. We are currently coming up with a fall line as well as working on a website. But for now we have our Facebook Fan Page (http://www.facebook.com/#!/lillyandsam) , as well as our New Shop at Etsy (http://www.etsy.com/shop/lillyandsam). When you join our Fan Page on Facebook, you will recieve a 25% off your entire purchase code (one time use).  Here are a few pictures from our photoshoot of our products.

Lauren Flores/Little Flores Photography retains all federal copyrights to all images and reserves the right to use any image in the print marketing, social media, website, or portfolio of Lauren Flores/Little Flores Photography.

 

Grocery Shopping & Couponing our way to a good stock pile!

I have been using coupons consistantly for 2 years now, but I now have a system, organization, and helpful blogs to double check sales and coupons that go with the sales.So let me start out by saying, before summer began I have been begging my husband for a pool in the back yard. He took me to ToysRUs to see the 4th of July 40% off sale on pools. I wanted the 12 foot by 30 inch deep pool, it was on sale for $77 and I had a coupon for $10 off of that. After making the purchase, the clerk came to us and let us know the one we had bought had been broken into and parts were taken. They had said that they could go to another store and get it if they had one, but was also asked if there was another pool that we would like. Of course I had said yes there is another pool we would like, but that it was too expensive. SHe asked me to grab the ticket for it to see, the pool was the 14 foot by 4 ft. deep with a canopy (originally $280) on sale for $167. I asked if it would be possible to further mark that pool down to $100 and we would pay the difference, in order to save on someone driving to pickup the original one we had bought. The Manager finally came over and told us that he would hope that we would have a great holiday and that he would give us our second choice for the same price we had already paid for the other. So honey really does catch more flies!! We paid $72.41 for the (originally) $280 pool ! What a great deal!

Our New Pool

So, As I had said before I am finally getting a grove with my couponing and I am able to stock up on a good stockpile for our household. I am also making it a point to NOT hoard as I have seen those on T.V. do. My first stock pile I am working on for our house are Health and Beauty and Household cleaning items. Once I reach a good stopping point, I will continue to further stock our meat freezer and Pantry ( which I have been doing along the way :) )Below are pictures of the products as well as receipts, and I will list a detail of the items.

Trip #1 at Publix

6 boxes of Tylenol Precise Patches $4.99 each -(6) $5.00 coupons = Free Products

2 boxes Tylenol Precise Creme $4.99 each - (2) $5.00 coupons = Free Products
4 Packages Bic Soleil Razors $5.49 B1G1 - (4) $3.00 coupons = Free Products
After all the coupons and taxes, Publix paid me .38 cents!

Trip #2 at Walmart

2 Packages Cars Marshallows .50 each =$1.00

6 Mini First Aid Kits .97 each - $3/2 coupons (3) = Free Product + $3.09 overage

1 Gillette ProGlide Razor $6.00 - $4.00 coupon = $2.00

2 Travel size Old Spice Body Wash .97 each - $1/2 = $1.03
1 Gillette Heat Face Scrub (Markedown $4.97) $3.97- $2.00 = $1.97
1 Colgate Wisps $1.97 - .50 coupon = $1.47
After Coupons and taxes I paid $5.11

Trip # 3 at Target

And finally my most recent trip to Target.
6 Boxes Zantac 150 mg $7.59 - $7.00 coupons(6) = $3.54
6 Boxes Zantac 150 mg Cool Mint $7.59 - $7.00 coupons(6) =$3.54
3 bottels of Sally Hansen Nail Poilsh $2.09 - $2.00 (3) = .27
I spent $7.53 and saved $90.05

We are slowly getting there filling in our shelf, and of course we have been doing this for about 1 month and gaining this stockpile. her is a picture of our overall stock.

Summer is here and it started out with a Bounty Hunter & a Clone Trooper

Summer is here, and we recently went to Disney for the final weekend of the 2011 Star Wars Weekend at Dinsey's Hollywood Studios. Sam was rockin with excitement as we entered the park, voicing who he was hoping to see and what types of Lego Star Wars sets he wanted.  And low and behold he met Boba Fett!

 Sam informed Boba that his nickname was Boba, that he is a Bounty Hunter just like him, but only on the Paintball Field. He also started singing a song by MC Chris called Fetts Vette, and this is what he sang to him : "My backpack's got jets

Well I'm Boba the Fett
Well I bounty hunt for Jabba Hutt,
To finance my 'Vette ,wicky wicky woo" . I was laughing so hard that he was singing this, but at the same time I was so excited that he was meeting an Idol and having such a great time at Disney.

Boba Fett & Sam (aka Little Boba)





Star Tours had been closed for refurbishment, and reopened on May 20th, 2011. Rumors were flying that there was more than 50 ways to ride. And the crazy math and nerdiness started to run crazy within my Husband - And Star Tours had to be ridden the 50+ times until he had seen it all. So, after riding it 6 times, he finally did the math and found that he had seen it all!! And thank goodness, because we were going to be at the park until close with him riding it over and over again. Here is the breakdown, there are 2 different Introductions, 3 different beginning planets, 3 different middle actions, and 3 different ending planets =54 different ways to see and ride Star Tours.

 



Sam & Storm Trooper TX-521

My brother Ross & his Girlfriend Alex @ Sci-Fi Cafe in Disney's Hollywood Studios

We were accompanied this weekend with family and friends,

and after making sure everyone had done what that wanted at the park, it was us girls turn to do something. Jess (#2) & I had seen on a Disney Food Blog about a "Cupcake Crawl" throughout all of Disney Property, and thus our mission,"to find all the cupcakes within Hollywood Studios"!! Here is the First Cupcake we could find- Darth Vader Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcake. And all we can say is Amazing!! It was the perfect amount of Chocolate Ganache filling in the center to complement the Chocolate Peanut Butter frosting the Chocolate shavings on top. And yes, this was so large that a fork was needed in order to eat this.

 

After enjoying this cupcake we decided to ask if we were able to obtain the recipe for the cupcake. At the time there was no on able to directly handover the recipe, but was assured that if they could get it, it would be sent on to me for personal use. After arriving back home and emailing Disney with my request, I recieved an email back with not just 1 but 5 different Disney Cupcake Recipes! Can you hear the squeals of excitment?

 



Well off to upload more pictures of recent shopping deals for my next post, hope to see you again soon!





My guide to couponing

I have been asked many times, "where do you get all of your coupons, and how do you find the deals?". I have been trying for months to get a group together to go over, Getting started in Couponing. So here it goes. I first foremost want to begin with I have always couponed, but I have finally been guided in the right direction of , Couponing Honestly and affectively! A friend of mine introduced me to True Couponing (http://www.truecouponing.com/), who's motto is Savings for Yourself, Blessing for Others. I went to a True Couponing class ( coming to West Bradenton Baptist Church July 15th,2011) at a local church,  they show you how to coupon and save. They are an amazing Christian family.
I started couponing more and more as the economy was getting worse, my husband had lost 3 jobs over the last 3 years, and gas prices soaring. As we are a one income family, while I persue my B.A. in Elementary Education. And seeing that money may not grow on trees, Coupons ARE money!!
I have been posting pictures on my Facebook account here and there, of some of my shopping trips. Below is how I coupon!
First: I buy 4 papers every Sunday, different counties have different coupons
            * Check each paper for the coupons, you don't want to purchase a paper that has NO coupons in it!!
Second: I check my favorite sites everday ( sometimes multiple times a day) for any good deals, heads up on sales, and weekly grocery ads.
                http://www.iheartpublix.com/
                http://www.truecouponing.com/
                http://www.couponingtodisney.com/
Third: I check out all of the coupon sites on a weekly basis and sign up for alerts on some of these websites for mobile coupons. Also don't forget to 'Like" your favorite products on Facebook, you never know when they might have a coupon available. When you see a coupon, PRINT IT OUT ! Don't wait, because some companies only have so many coupons available for print and you don't want to miss out on a good coupon! Also don't forget, you can print up to 2 coupons per computer!!
                www.coupons.com
                www.allyou.com
                www.redplum.com
                www.smartsource.com
                http://coupons.target.com
http://www.sweetbaysupermarket.com/coupon_section/Coupons/22223.uts
http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/coupons/

Fourth: I start making my list of items I need from the grocery store, and start matching my coupons up to my items. ( There is a coupon database on Truecouponing.com that will let you know if the is a coupon available for products.)

Fifth: Don't forget to check you local grocery store coupon policies, each is different! As well as the types of competitors coupons they will accept!

I clip my coupons each week and organize them in my folder according to the types of products, i.e. Health & Beauty, Dairy, Drinks, etc.

Here is my coupon folder -

I like to use http://www.couponingtodisney.com/, She posts weekly deals $1 and under at bothWalMart & Target. This gives you a chance to use coupons they may just be sitting in your folder, never being used. Who likes throwing away money? I sure don't!! Here is a recent trip I did at WalMart courtesy of Couponing to Disney's heads up on what products were on sale and how to use my coupons.

The products I bought were as follows, 4 women's Nivea Bodywash, 4 men's Nivea Bodywash, 4 trial size women's Degree Deoderant/Anitperspirant, 1 tiral size Secret Clinical Strength women's Deoderant/Antiperspirant - Total $32.33, After my coupons $3 off womens Nivea Body wash (x4), $3 off men's Nivea Bodywash (x4), $1 off ANY Degree Deoderant/Antiperspirant (x4), & $3 off ANY size Secret Clinical Strength = $ 1.33 <--- I just paid the taxes on my items!

Once you get going on stock piling your coupons, don't be afraid to take your folder with you every where! I do it all of the time, I hate walking into a store without my folder, realizing that I found an item on sale ( or possibly free) and that I have a coupon just sitting back at home.

Try to get into the habit of writing companies emails, let them know how much you like their product (or dislike), if it is a company you don't feel is as competitve product wise- let them know! Keep a Excel sheet of who you write and when ( so you don't double write to a company). Some companies will reward you as a loyal customer with products, and coupons. And it is always worth a try! And who doesn't like FREE products.

Hopefully, I will post more about my shopping experiences and tips to go along with them.

* Note: My grocery money allowance is $100/week, what I don't spend I put away! As I am Couponing to my Disney Cruise, I have $1300 paid into it & $1000 to go.

Disney News

Disney Passholders recieve a newsletter 4 times a year, and the summer issue had a wonderful surprise inside. For months there has been construction in the Value Resort area, with only speculations as we looked of what was the next surprise from the Disney Resort. And now it has been revealed!  In May of 1012, Disney's Art of Animation Resort will open. This Resort will be drawing inspiration from Pixar's Cars, Pixar's Finding Nemo, The Lion King, and The Little Mermaid. At this resort there will be "big fun at a not-so-big price" (Disney Destenations LLC pg.10), including 1,100 family suites that will sleep up to six. Those with larger families know that this is a blessing, and or just wanting some extra room.  So come along to enjoy the " Hakuna Matata" lifestyle at the newest resort areas at Disney Resorts come May 2012! As a passholder I am looking for the opportunity to look at this first hand when it opens and spend time with my family with this new Disney experience.
Concept art of resort released by Disney (http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2010/12/new-images-disneys-art-of-animation-resort/)

14 foot x 42 inch Metal Frame Canopy Pool - General Foam Plastic - Toys "R" Us

I am officially on the hunt. I have found that this summer this pool is exactly what this family needs. With money being very tight, there is not alot of wiggle room to run back and forth a few times a week to the beach. So, the search begins! This pool is just right for our family of 3, and reasonable. Hopefully this will be in our back yard soon, and I can start helping Sam learn how to swim. I can't wait for our summer fun.


14 foot x 42 inch Metal Frame Canopy Pool - General Foam Plastic - Toys "R" Us

Couponing to Disney, and many more things to come!

Ok, where should I begin? Amongst my friends, I am the one they come to full of questions and advice when it comes to Disney & Couponing. I have never been the one that my friends had come to on such subjects, but it gets me all excited when I help them save money, and or help them plan a trip to the most magical place on Earth! So you can only imagine when a great freind of mine introduced me to Couponingtodisney.com by Kristin. Because as your know I don't just love Disney, I am crazy about Disney, and Kristin has fueled that fire even more! My story starts with losing my job back in September of 2009, and my husband wasn't having much luck either in the IT world at well known companies due to budget cuts. At one point we were trying to make it just on my unemployment, and as many know, that doesn't work. We have fought very hard to get where we are today! I have been going to school full time to finish what I have started nearly 12 years ago, a walking towards becoming an Elementary school teacher. My first hurdle was accomplished just oneweek ago, I just graduated with my A.A. from State College of Florida (formally Manatee Community College) and have applied to the University of South Floida's Elementary Education progam. Robert has been very blessed as well, he has settled in quite nicely at Realogy. Heis still working in IT, and for once he is relaxed and loving his job. Thus, bringing us back to saving money. I am pinching pennies harder than ever perfecting my shopping lists and strategies for food items, clothing and other products we need in our house. One of these other items is our Disney annual passes, which costs us $107.39/month. The passes we have are the premium passes which include all four theme parks, Disney Quest, Typhoon Lagoon & Blizzard Beach. With these passes, there is specail passholder events, and the icing on the cake is the discounts that we recieve for having the passes. When at Disney, our passes give us FREE parking ( otherwise $14/day/park without annual passes) and we can recieve 10% off food, up to 20% off merchandise. Using our passes for the few items listed above saves us alot of money.
I have my own tips and tricks which I have been successful with thus far, But Kristin at CouponingtoDisney.com has been a guide to pin pointing EXACTLY how to utilize my coupons. With these new ideas, I am saving more than ever and putting it away for our trips. I strive to be a cash only family, if we don't have cash, we don't buy it. I have been saving nearly $200 a month using my coupons and tips from kristin and if I look at it as a yearly profit, we are putting away around $2400. Our biggest upcoming family trips is Star Wars weekend at Disney's Hollywood Studios and our first Family cruise on Disney's Dream, so this extra money being set aside will be alloqing us to have a good time with less stress on the money home front. I can't wait to continue to set goals for our family trips and my love for Disney. Come along for the ride as I continue to share some of my shopping success and weekly tally of savings.
http://www.couponingtodisney.com/

Publix stores will vary on coupons they accept

Publix stores will vary on coupons they accept: "Publix, which had one of the industry's most lenient coupon policies, will officially announce the changes Saturday, May 14, and put them into effect Monday, May 23."

It's that time.....Finally

As everyone knows, I am Disney obsessed! So what better way to start my blog by having the cap I should be wearing next Saturday ( May 7th). It is the perfect colors of Blue and Gold, which are my colors. I am overly thrilled that the light and the end of the tunnel for part one of my Education Degree adventure is within arms reach. Between writing papers, taking tests, and meeting the best women ever this semester, I have managed to apply to the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee in the Elementary Education department. Thankful to have such wonderful support from my family, and truly looking forward to my first Summer off in years- and more importantly, quaility time with my little guy! There will be a few weeks were Sam will still be in school when I am not, so.....I am hoping to get a TON of housework done so that we can have a really easy going summer. We are also looking forward to repainting our living room and designing it to be more inviting in a seaside escape.

Now THIS is where we want to be all summer long! This girl is dying for a tan, sand between my toes, and a fruity drink accompanied by a tiny umbrella :) I recently purchase a cabana so that we will have some type of shade on the beach, and I started to pack the beach bag with newly aquired becah toys and other goodies to take with us. Now there are just so many choices to choose from next : Duffy's Tavern - Coldest Beer and Greasiest Burgers in town, the Beach House Restaruant : The Best Grouper Sandwiches in Florids, and last but not least to finish of all of the yummy food with The Shake Pit: for Shakes and Banana Splits!

Here is a few more place I would like to take Sam to : Central Park @ Lakewood Ranch ( and it's FREE to go to ) Steigerwaldt- Jockey Children's Fountain @ Marina Jack's Sarasota (FREE)

Hopefully I will be posting more about FREE summer fun, as well as crafting! I am hoping to make many dresses and hair accessories for the Back Alley shop on Bridge Street Anna Maria Island (121 bridge street
bradenton beach, FL 34217  941.778.1800), things have been going very well for me out there and I am looking forward to them keeping me busy making business!!

Now, one last final exam to study for and graduation in one week! Next, packing for Star Wars weekend and "May the Force be with You"!

Disney, Disney, Disney! Did I mention Disney?

My birthday is coming up soon!  I haven't been able to make it to EPCOT during their Flower and Garden festival since we have had Annual Passes the past five years. But not this year! I am clearly on my way this time, the hotel is booked for the Extra Magic Hours and I am going to fully take advatage of all the EPCOT has to offer!

Meanwhile business is picking up on the beaches again, and the Back Alley is thriving! Which in turn means my sewing machine is going crazy making new dresses for the season, and I have plenty of new prints in the store that will grab the little girls and grandmothers eyes. I am so thankful to have the opportunity to have my dresses in the store, and I hope things will continue! I am also making more hair accessories to go with the dresses as well.

Robert & Sam have already started scheming our Disney Hollywood Studio trip in June, just as soon as Sam gets out of school. Oh did I mention how they are both Star Wars crazy?!? They can't get enough of Star Wars action, so much so that Sam just received his call name for paintball which is "Boba Fett". He said that it fit because he wants to be a bounty hunter on the paintball field. And just a few weeks ago we celebrated Sam's 6th birthday, can you guess what the theme was? Well Lego Star Wars was the theme with themed foods and candy bar for the kids to create their own goodie bags. But our stay in Lake Buena Vista is booked at the beautiful Lake Buena Vista Resort Village & Spa and the weekend is planned.  It will be our family, my brother & his girlfriend, as Robert's brother Matt. We will spend the entire day at Disney's Hollywood Studios for the Star Wars weekend with special dinner reservations at the Sci-Fi restaurant. The following day we are all going to Typhoon Lagoon, since we have already gone to Blizzard Beach, it is time for us to check out the other water park.

And as I had mention before, more Disney. Robert has never been on a cruise, and I haven't been on one since I was 15. Since Sam is still young enough to appreciate this, we are taking him next year with us on a cruise to the Bahama's and Cast Away Cay on Disney's newest ship - Disney Dream. now it's time to get crackin on the couponing my way to our cruise and getting our Passports in line! Below is a picture of our deluxe family oceanview room and the aquacoaster the " Aqua Duck".

Trying to get all of my ducks in a row

Trying to get all of my ducks in a row lately, but it seems that there is always one who doesn't want to follow in line. Last time I wrote we were on Christmas break and heading up to Sea World for some quality family time. Low an behold this would turn into a not so great weekend. I had begun to not feel well a few days before we left for Orlando, and there was already talks around town of everyone catching " The Bug". Well we finally got up to Orlando and took a pit stop at Disney's Hollywood Studios to check out the Osborne Spectacle of Dancing Family Lights. It was truly an awe inspiring detour! We spent about an hour just listening to Christmas songs and watching the lights dance as we were lightly "snowed" upon. Having the cast members take photos of us in different areas of the lights, hoping we would get that perfect family picture to share on next year's Christmas card - but that didn't happen, which was a bit disappointing. The next morning we arose to have breakfast and get on our way to Sea World, and while most know living in Florida there is always a 50/50 chance it is going to rain. After finishing up breakfast and heading over to the park, we were caught up in a Down Pour! This lasted until 1pm, and by the way did I mention I was feeling under the weather? The change in weather did not help my on coming cold at all, but we stuck out the entire day and because of the rain the park was nearly empty which we were able to do EVERYTHING in the park. The fantastic Shamu Christmas show wasn't until 9pm  and we had to stay as Shamu was the main reason for coming. Sammy was super excited to see the show, but the day must have just been too much for him as he slept through the whole thing. I had taken enough pictures and video of the whole weekend and couldn't wait to upload them as I had previously stated I would post some from our trip. 
After relaxing a few days I decided I would spend some time on our photos and add them to my computer, but in the middle of it all my computer died! I was ever so upset, I know that they had saved , but now I have to get in touch with HP and ship my laptop off to be fixed. So needless to say I am now on our Home Desktop computer and with no photos of our trip.

While we had just a few more days of Christmas vacation, I decided that I no longer could just stare at white walls of our laundry room and needed a pick me up color to make doing laundry a little less blah! So we went to Lowes as we also had to find a new mailbox, as some awfully nice person decided to knock ours off onto the ground New Years day, and a new color for the room. Robert picked out the final color of  "Nautical". I LOVE IT!!! It has that Key West feeling now and I am on the hunt for metal signs and saying of our favorite Jimmy Buffet World. And at least I was able to accomplish something during our time off. Now it is back to school for now, only 15 weeks till Summer Vacation!!