Craftastic Monday Linky & E-Mealz Giveaway!

It's the end of September already - wow!  What better way to celebrate than link up some crafts & have a useful giveaway at the same time?

If you're like me, you like to spend free time crafting & enjoying your family, not necessarily doing errands, cooking, cleaning, etc.  And while I can get pretty creative with a lot of things, planning mealtime is usually not one of them.  I'll admit, I'm downright bad about it - I don't have much time to think about the whole week in advance so I run out of ideas, end up forgetting to add ingredients to our list or get in a last minute panic because it's 6:30pm and I don't know what to throw together asap.  So I was eager to check out E-Mealz when they asked me to try them out.

E-Mealz provides meal menus so your planning & prep time is kept to a minimum.  Each week they provide a meal plan for 7 full meals (including sides).  It's all formatted in a PDF with easy to follow recipes and a complete & categorized grocery list.  Just print them out and you're ready to go.

I really liked how much you could tailor it to your own needs.  They have a great How It Works section so you can see how all the plans look.  Since I'm vegetarian I loved that there was a plan for me (there are also gluten-free, low carb, low fat & portion controled options).  You can choose the size - they have Family (4-6) and 1-2 people.  And they even have the option to tailor it by store so your list is organized like the store's sections to make getting everything you need is fast & simple too.

There was a nice assortment of recipes so the meals weren't boring (or too exotic for my kids to handle). I was also a fan of how an ingredient on the list was used for multiple recipes so there wouldn't be things left over that were wasted.  And the subscription price is very reasonable so the savings you get from smart food spending can be enjoyed (and maybe save you a little extra $ you can use for crafting.....)

E-Mealz is also giving away a complimentary 3 Month Subscription to one lucky Sew Can Do reader!

How to Enter:
Head over to E-Mealz and check out their menu options.  Then come leave a comment saying which is your favorite.  Be sure to include an email address if it's not listed on your profile.


Additional Entries (leave a separate comment for each one):
- Become a follower of the E-Mealz blog
- Become a fan of E-Mealz on Facebook
- Follow E-Mealz on Twitter
- Enter your email in the Date Your Family at Dinner section of their site (and get a free dinner menu!)
- Become a follower of Sew Can Do
- Become a fan of Sew Can Do on Facebook


The giveaway will be open until 11:59pm EST on September 30th, 2011 is closed.  A winner will be chosen at random and announced the following weekend.  Good luck everyone!


Now let's get to the party!!  Here are a few great Craftastic links we had last week:


How cool is this purse made from woven paper? Ricochet and Away! has a great tutorial so you can make your own.  Love it.

Check out this cute SpongeBob group of costumes by Counting Bunnies Too.  Love that these were for adults & all DIY designed!

I love the simplicity of this cute caterpillar cake by Creative Endeavors.  No need for sculpting or a special pan - she used a bundt shape and cut it in half to make this cute little guy!

The Kids Can Craft Linky's "Pick of the Week" was the Haunting Halloween Notepad tutorial from craftlinky.com.  Using simple things like copy paper, a cracker box & some Halloween stickers, the kids can make these fun little notepads:

The Kids Can Craft Party is for projects kids can make.  It's always open to add your links and the projects do not have to be new (so if you've got a good one from last year, throw it up there!).  You can link up ANYTIME. Just click HERE to get to that party.  Please remember to link back or put the Kids Can Craft button on your blog so you have a chance to get featured:)

Ready to link up?

Party rules are simple:

• As long as it's crafty and made by you it's Craftastic (no links to giveaways, shops, other link parties or other people's work - THEY WILL BE REMOVED).  Just add the link to your specific post (not the main page of your blog).
• Grab my party button & put it on your post or blog.  The code's on the sidebar ->
• Check out some of the other great links and share some crafty comment love.

I leave the party open until 10:00pmEST every Friday, so there's plenty of time to add your newest creations.  Have fun getting crafty this week!!