Attention Publix Shoppers, CHA-CHING!



Right now, 5-5-11 through 5-11-11, Publix is offering $10 off a $50 American Express gift card with a coupon from their store flyer. You will need 1 coupon for each card you want to purchase. There is a $4.95 activation fee, so after that is taken into consideration, it is like getting paid $5.05 for each card you buy. $5.05 is not bad, but please pay attention carefully now, because this is where it gets interesting! You can buy more AmEx gift cards with the AmEx cards you previously purchased, so you are not coming out of pocket any more money than your initial investment and you are making money each and every time you buy them.

Here's what I did:
I bought 4 $50 AmEx gift cards with 4 coupons spending a total of $179.80 for $200 worth of AmEx gift cards. $50 gift card + $4.95 activation fee = $54.95 - $10 coupon = $44.95 spent for $50 gift card. $44.95 gift card purchase price x 4 cards purchased = $179.80 paid for $200 in AmEx gift cards = $20.20 in profit.

I wait the 1 hour and 10 minutes for the AmEx gift cards to activate. After the cards are activated, I go back to Publix, tear out 4 coupons from their store flyer and buy 4 more $50 AmEx gift cards with the cards I bought an hour ago. Again paying a total of $179.80 for $200 in gift cards.....$20.20 profit. I wait another hour and 10 minutes and go back and do it again and again and again basically getting paid $20.20 each time. I can't go every hour, but I try to go as often as I can. It works, I have even done this right in front of the store manager. I usually do this 4 cards at a time, but you could do it as much or as little as you like. The Publix down the street from me lets me buy as many as I want, but I have been to another Publix store in my area and they have put a limit of 2 per person at a time. I guess it is up to the individual store to put limits on this. The stores tend to restock a lot throughout the day. If they are completely out they will give you a rain check that is good for a month.

I have seen this deal in the Publix flyer several times in the past, the most recent was about 3 weeks ago. So keep an eye out for it. Cha-ching!

Free piano, yes please!

Recently, the No Money Mama was at a local yard sale and I was lucky enough to stumble upon a FREE piano! It looked nice and it worked. I did a little cleaning, listed it on Craigslist ( my first time ever ) and 30 minutes later it was sold for $200! One man's trash is the No Money Mama's treasure. Now if I could only do this a few times a week, every week I could be the Some Money Mama.

Add multiple pictures to your ebay listing for FREE!

Maybe everyone in the world knew about this except for the No Money Mama. On the off chance that there is someone out there like me, that does not know, here is how to add as many pictures as you want to your ebay listing for FREE! I figured this out through trial and error. Right now on ebay, your 1st picture is free, then they are .15¢ a piece up to 12 pics. Or you could also use the picture pack for .75¢ for up to 6 pics or $1.00 for 7-12 pics. You could also pay for a 3rd party snazzy template that allows you to add multiple pics. But again, my way is FREE and when you are selling stuff on ebay, every little bit helps!

1. I used Internet Explorer. Open up 2 tabs, 1 for ebay and 1 for photobucket or something like it.
2. Start your ebay listing, upload 1 pic from your computer for free in the "Bring your item to life with pictures" section.
3. In the "Describe the item you are selling" section, add your item description.
4. Click over to the photobucket tab, click on the thumbnail picture of your item.

-This will take you to a screen that shows your picture by itself.

5. Right click on the picture and copy it.
6. Go back to your ebay tab and paste your picture where you want it in the item description.

7. Repeat as many times as you want, once again for FREE!

I've been framed!

The No Money Mama has had a few inexpensive ($1.99 at Michaels) blank MDF frames for a while. I always thought they were a great idea, but I never really did anything with them, until now. I like my crafts cheap, easy and fast, this project covers all three. Today we will be working with: 1 blank MDF frame (or any flat frame), decorative scrapbook paper, scissors, small screw driver, paint brush, acrylic paint and Mod Podge. Optional items are 24" length of 1 1/2" wide grosgrain ribbon and a little help from a drill.

I placed my scrapbook paper face down on a table, then on the back of my frame, I unscrewed the little screws and levers that hold the back of the frame stand and then placed the frame face down on top of the paper and traced the outside of the frame and inside of the picture opening. I then cut paper along the outlines. For my ribbon frame, I had my husband drill four small holes about 1/4" in diameter in the middle of the blank area on the bottom half of the frame. Two holes were 2" in from the each side and two holes were 3" in from the each side.

                                 
I then painted the entire frame with two coats of paint that coordinated with the scrapbook paper that I was using, I used Apple Barrel brand Light Pink on one frame and Green Apple on the other. After the paint was dry, I brushed Mod Podge on the face of the frame and placed the paper face up on top of the Mod Podge. I pressed down on the paper with my hands and rubbed all over it to avoid air bubbles. After the Mod Podge was dry, I brushed Mod Podged over the top of the paper and the sides and back of the frame, then let it dry. I screwed the little screws and levers back on the backside of the frame, replaced the glass, added a picture, then replaced the back of the fame. For my basic frame, I was done. For my ribbon frame, I took a small screw driver and carefully pushed the paper through the pre drilled holes, then I threaded the ribbon carefully through the holes, tied a bow and trimmed the ends of the ribbon. Walla! Sweet custom frames. My frames are very girley, but with a different choice of paper they could fit into any decor.

This little birdie!

The No Money Mama has seen this awesome Spool Sewing bird tutorial around for a while and I just adore it. Let's just say sewing is not my thing, so I thought to myself, "What about paper?" Today we will be working with: paper, glue, scissors and pipe cleaners.

I have been holding on to this super cute monkey paper from Michael's, just waiting for the right project.

And yes, the hot pink monkeys are flocked! It kind of reminds me of the PB Kids Emmy collection. So, I made a few changes to the original Spool Sewing bird tutorial, and here it is. My birds were printed out at 100%. *Please note, I did not create the original Spool Sewing bird pattern, I only made a few slight adjustments to turn it from a sewing project into a paper craft.

Cut out the body and belly out of coordinating papers, I got three bodies out of one 12" x 12" piece of scrapbook paper and plenty of bellies out of another coordinating piece. Fold the flaps to the wrong side. then punch the holes in the belly as shown (make sure only 1/4 of the hole is on the inside of the belly, we need a very small hole for the pipe cleaner legs to fit through.)

Glue the belly to the body. Put the glue on the flaps of the belly and glue to one side of the body, starting tail first, let it dry, then glue the other side. I used Elmer's glue, but now looking back I think that Crazy Glue would work even better.

Glue the flaps of the head and press together. After the entire bird was dry, I used a chop stick to poke out any little dents or wrinkles.

Push the pipe cleaner into one leg hole and out through the other.

If you are going to wrap the legs around something, you can leave the pipe cleaners alone and you are finished! If you are making a free standing bird, measure about 2" of the pipe cleaner on each side for the legs and cut. Fold little "L's" at the bottom of the legs and use the cut off pipe cleaner scraps to wrap around the "L's" and fashion your bird feet. So "tweet"!

               

               

If these walls could talk!

Ok, this is my first post on my first blog, so here we go! Being the No Money Mama, I don't usually have a lot of extra money, so I'm always on the look out for a deal. Boy, did I find one. Target has Circo wall decals for their super adorable Love and Nature Collection (I love the owls and little birds) for $14.99. They are not available online, just in the stores. The decals are made of a low tac vinyl that can be repositioned how ever you like. Use them only on relatively smooth walls. I never really liked the look of wall decals before, I hate the clear border around the objects that they usually come with, it makes them look terrible and cheap. But these were just so cute, I thought I would give them a try. When I got home I peeled one off and put it on the wall. I was not impressed. A super cute flower was surrounded by a horrible clear, but still obviously visible border. I knew it would always bother me so I considered returning them to the store. Then I thought, what if I just cut the "clear" border off and just left the image of the flower? That is exactly what I did. I could not cut the decal by itself, but I could cut it if it was still on the paper backing. So it took a little time and effort, but I cut all of the decals out with scissors then I started sticking them on the walls. I just placed them and smoothed them out with my hand.

My four year old daughter helped me with the layout and design, after all it was for her new big girl room. These decals came with a big tree and lots of different colored flowers, animals, birds and owls. I made the tree the center piece. There were more than enough decals, so I was able to place others in different areas around the room. They were very easy to rearrange. My daughter loves them, I think they came out great and you can't beat the price! I loved the way this looked so much, I bought a coordinating sheet set and a matching owl pillow. We call her "Pillowl". Super cute, fast easy and cheap, what more could you ask for?

P.S. Another No Money Mama score, the day bed was only $99 at IKEA!

I put this pink owl on a branch next to her window, above the bed.

I put this tan owl on a branch next to her door, underneath the light switch.

She loves her new big girl room (and owls), can you tell?