A little Craziness....

Greetings, and a Happy Happy Thursday to you all....

Okay, so are you wondering why the title of this post is called "A Little Craziness"???

I hope you're prepared for THE FULL EXPLANATION!  LOL

Well let me just tell you...  A couple of weeks ago, well actually back up just a tiny bit farther...  a friend of mine has been a tiny bit obsessed with doing all of her shopping with Coupons...  Of course I told her she's got addiction problems if she can't stop thinking about coupons and sales.  ha ha...  This became obvious to me when she would call me, and KEEP calling until I was home, just to tell me how much her grocery bill came to, and then how much she saved.  It has truly become a major thing for her, each week of shopping her goal is to save even more than the last week.  YES I SAY OBSESSION! 


Needless to say, my friends "GREAT BARGAINS, and SALES" using coupons got me thinking... What would it hurt if I actually started using coupons, I won't become crazy about it like her, but the only reason I never use them, is because I just couldn't find an organized system....

So that brings me to today's post.  My project today has a little something to do with my friends influence on me, and of course my FAVORITE artist Elisabeth Bell.  You know, she honestly does have the ABSOLUTE PERFECT image for such a little project as mine.

Do you want to see it?

I have created myself a very "Crafty" coupon organizer using
"Catch of The Day" 
which of course can be found
in Elisabeth Bell's Digital Collection.

 

Believe it or not, when I started to create this coupon organizer, "Crafting" really wasn't on my mind at all....  all I was looking to do was to find an EASY solution to sorting coupons, without feeling like everything was crammed into a small area, because if it doesn't have quick easy access, I won't use them.  I don't have time to monkey around like that in a grocery store.  ha ha 

So my plan started out with using simple clear plastic zipper bags, once upon a time I used to sell Mary Kay Skin Care products, and I had several clear plastic zip bags from my demonstrators kit.  Hmmmm, NOW I think I found a new purpose for those bags.  I just KNEW there was a reason that I had saved them. 

So my first plan was to make a list of what categories I want to divide my coupons into.  Then I thought I would find some way to connect all 13 of these zipper bags... Hmmm, what better way than with eyelets and binder rings?  WOW, my plan was coming together perfectly.  Each bag was labeled, and coupons were sorted.  BUT WAIT A MINUTE.... I couldn't just leave it that way, I just HAD to put some sort of cover on it.... and it all just came to me, I printed out the perfect image, I cut letters on my cricut, and away we went... It was one of those crafting moments, where you get lost in your thoughts, and don't stop until you've finished....

Here is a picture of all my zipper bags inside.

 

Just to be sure I didn't lose any of these bags, I found a way to attach them inside of the cover,  believe it or not they are attached using ribbon.  The ribbon runs through the two binder rings, and is hot glued to the cover binding, and tied tightly under the zipper bags.  No chance to lose them now.   The zipper bags are sturdy, and easy to flip through.  The only thing I DID change since I took this picture was the way this coupon organizer closes.  I changed the black ribbon ties, I decided that tying this closed with 2 ribbons was NOT as quick and easy as one thicker ribbon in the center. 

Lucky for me, I found a 3/4 inch wide ribbon that is stripped in the same colors as my papers, and it ties in the center ...  This coupon organizer was put to the test when I did my shopping last week, and WOW what an easy thing to use.  Of course my son was embarrassed walking in a store with me while I carried that, but he found out soon enough that NO ONE stared at me, and actually the cashier was admiring my organizer.... 

I am proud to say I LOVE LOVE LOVE this coupon organizer, and creating it was a ton of fun.  Coloring "Catch of the Day" in a larger scale was AWESOME too.  That is definitely one of the big reasons I love DIGITAL Images, because of the ability to adjust the size to fit what you want to do.

I'm so sorry that my post is so long, but if you've made it this far, then you can clearly see why I needed to explain it all...  I'm proud to say that on my first shopping adventure I saved around $20.00 using coupons, so I think I did pretty good for a first time Coupon user.  And it was nice to take a little piece of my love for Elisabeth Bell images along with me.    Having the cashier asking me about the organizer, and the "Darling image" as she put it was WORTH it... I love to share the "Crafting/Stamping" story with people.  

Thanks so much for visiting today.  I'd love to hear what you think of this random crafting idea of mine.  ha ha....

Just a reminder, the Digi Bells GDT Call is open until tomorrow evening... Hurry and get your entries in if you want to give it a try.  And just one more reminder.... Elisabeth Bells World has a brand new challenge going on right now, why not hop over there and check it out....  =)