Confessions of a FreeGifter

WHEW! That was a long break!

2011-08-30T11:59:00.000-05:00

Wow what a long blogging break! I can't believe that it's been since December. My last post was just before I found out I was pregnant with baby #5! Before the exhaustion hit, before my precious 15 month old decided to become very active and started getting into everything making it almost impossible for me to get anything done. Now the baby is out of me, my 2 year old is still active but my energy is returning and I'm feeling creative again. Hopefully I can start posting again and sewing again and being productive. Wish me luck!!

Wordle-ing my brains out

2010-12-19T15:05:00.000-06:00

If you haven't tried Wordle yet...YOU MUST! I've been using it for all sorts of things and Christmas projects. I won't share them all because some of them are for people who may on occasion click on this blog. But I will share one with you that I took to a gift exchange at church and it was a big hit. I really need to make one of these for myself because I wanted to steel my own gift back!

I used this website Wordle and typed in the words I wanted. To make the bigger words you type them in more often. So for "Believe, Christ, and We" I typed them in 3 times each. Then you can manipulate how you want them, what font they are to be in, size, shape, color EVERYTHING! It's fabulous, then just print...FOR FREE!

I printed mine on vellum and Mod Podged it over scrapbook paper on this cool wooden thingy. I call it a wooden thingy because I have no idea what it was used for in the first place. Since it's just you and you won't tell anyone else, I got it off the curb, it was dark brown and solid wood, so I painted it and WA-LA! I may have found 8 of it's brother's and sister's on the curb too and can't wait to get to making these for my family next year for Christmas. I'm going to ask each family for 20 or so words that describe them and then make one for each family group.

SOOOOO long story short this gift cost me $0 out of pocket that day I had everything in my stash! YAY for the stash!

An Army of Gingerbread People!

2010-12-09T12:40:00.000-06:00

I found this cute tutorial online to make these super cute gingerbread men.

click here for tutorial

Immediately I started making them and made them until I ran out of felt! I didn't have any tiny rick rack so I improvised and just used embroidery floss to make the squiggles on the leg and arms. I also improvised and used fleece for the eyes instead of felt. I decided to make them gender specific (my girls needed gingerbread girls) and added a half eaten bow to one with some "bling". They are adorable!!

I got 3 out of one piece of felt and on the last 2 I didn't stuff them and I really like the flat ones better. SOOOO long story short these cost me $0 today, I had all the stuff in my stash, and even if you didn't you are talking a whole dollar (maybe) to make several of them!

Now...to take over the world!!! MUAWHHAAHAAA

Christmas Plan 2010

2010-11-14T08:24:00.000-06:00

I realized today that I needed to sit down and write out my plan for Christmas. Lots of people have been asking me what I am making my family for Christmas this year and I have lots of ideas floating around in my head but it's time to get the plan formulated so that I'm not running in 50 directions Christmas Eve! So here is my outline of things I am doing for the kids for Christmas:

K= Oldest Daughter 11 years old:

She has requested a stuffed Octopus (weird I know and it goes against all my "no stuffed animal" rules, but it will be homemade and hopefully something she will love, and it will be FREE!!)
Wooden bracelets found at Hancock's for 25 cents each will decorate and make beautiful with fabric, paint, and ModPodge.
PJ's bought last year on clearance at Walmart for $1.50 a pair
Knitting loom bought on clearance for $2 (will get some yarn too)
scripture tote
maybe a shelf for over her bed so she can have her books handy

O= Youngest Daughter 8 years old

Same wooden bracelets as oldest
also Pj's bought on clearance
knitting loom
Quilt
Handmade hair bows

C= Oldest Son 6 years old

Cowboy dress up outfit. I am making a vest out of faux leather. Sheriff's badge, and maybe some chaps.
PJ's free from a friend
Star Wars wooden people found here
He has also requested a stuffed Panda bear.
Dinosaur DVD's received set for free from hubby's "select a gift" at work

L= Youngest son 16 months old

Homemade PJ's
Need more ideas!

Hubbs= Best Husband EVER (age will not be disclosed)

PJ's pants
need more ideas

So that's it so far. Haven't even begun to think about extended family yet. My SIL has requested blankets for her family, and my mom wants coasters. FIL is getting Cowboy Poetry book, MIL is getting a cute picture thing that Hubbs found for her. Grandma is getting...don't know. I'll post more when I figure it all out.

Excuses, Excuses

2010-10-30T15:04:00.000-05:00

It's been so long since I've posted I bet you thought I was busy making something A-M-A-Z-I-N-G...well I wasn't! I was busy with life, 4 kids, daycare, hubby, and just running a household. I know how can I be sooooo boring? My daughter asks me that ALL the time!

I have done a few projects I found a really cute chair on the curb and have reupholstered it to look fabulous, do you think I've taken a picture of it...NO! I guess I could now, I'm looking at the chair and my camera is within reach, I may not even have to move...hold on...be right back...

OK, there! Before it was a velvet pink and it would not have been so bad if it hadn't been so dirty and worn. Now it is sporting a new clean fabric and is all cute and creaky! I found the fabric at Hancock's for $8 a yard (luckily I hadn't bought it yet) but my friend and I went up to Chicago to Vogue Fabrics and found the exact same fabric for $1.99 a yard! What a bargain. Now for only $4 I have a new-to-me chair.

If you live in or around the Chicago area you have to hit Vogue Fabrics, it was fabulous. Word of advice, don't take your 12 month old, it's a big downer! I could have looked around for hours but I rushed through a bit because he was getting antsy.

Let's see what else...Oh, I took apart one of my old dresses and made a fabulous skirt for my daughter.

She's 11 and growing like a weed so things get short really fast. She likes it and all of you re-designers out there really inspired me!

Oh, and I've got on a kick making head bands for my girls.

(no this is not one of my girls, but he was the only one home with me, don't judge me!)

Now that Christmas is coming up really fast I'm sure that I'll have lots of projects to post about. I'm so glad that this whole blog thing didn't take off like I hoped it would have because really several months in between posts is NOT acceptable for a craft blog!

I'll try and be better, I'll try and craft more, promise.

Finally Done

2010-07-13T12:10:00.000-05:00

This project has been months, maybe even years in the making. For a few years I have dedicated a wall, the only wall, in my kitchen to the children's art. Before this project I had a wire strung between two antique door knobs that the kids hung their art on with decorated clothes pins. This system worked well and the kids know if they put it on the board it is temporary and only stays up about a week or two then is taken down/thrown out to make room for new art.

Well I wanted something different there so I came up with this:

You can see my kids already got to the Welcome! I just taped off a rectangle the size of the inside of the frame and painted it with about 8 coats of magnetic paint, and 2 coats of chalkboard paint. Then I just hung the frame around it.

Here's what I learned:

1. Magnetic paint says you only need 2-3 coats, well it LIES! I did 2-3 and you couldn't even hang a small magnet on it. Even with 8 coats it's not strong like your fridge, but it will hold things well enough for my purpose.

2. Don't paint your actual wall! Next time I will paint a board that size and nail it into my frame, way easier and removable. Now if I want to get rid of it I will have to repaint my whole kitchen!

3. Be prepared to Swiffer Sweeper your floor every day, chalk is very dusty.

4. Chalkboard paint washes very well with water, unlike an actual chalkboard.

5. The kids will be completely entertained for 15.2 minutes after you are done with this project. Just long enough for you to take pictures and blog about it!

Chalkboard paint is cheap, magnetic paint is not cheap, the frame was on clearance at Hob Lob for $8. I got the paint for a gift so in my mind that is FREE, so the whole thing only cost me $8!!!

My 30 Second Fix

2010-07-12T21:00:00.000-05:00

No, that's not the amount of time it takes me to down a Pepsi...maybe 60 seconds...HAHA. No, seriously, It's the amount of time it took me to dress up these puppies.

I put my plastic grocery sacks in my old pickle jars. I have 2 of them full. I could have one of those hangy thingamabob's but I don't have a lot of wall space in my kitchen, actually none to be more specific. So I opt to shove my bags in these jars. They are not cute by any means and have looked like this for ~~years~~ days. My motivation to make them cuter comes from the fact that my friend is coming from out of town and she hasn't been to my house in years, and her house is always WAY cute and put together and I was feeling a little competitive. I know get over it already, but hey I'm a girl and that's just how we roll. Sooo here is the before: I know yuck-o-rama, right?

and the after

I just cut a piece of scrapbook paper big enough to cover the pickle label and scotch taped it on. When they are up against the wall you can't even tell they are half-a$$'d

Teddy Bears

2010-07-11T21:26:00.000-05:00

I've been wanting to try my hand at making Teddy Bear's for a while now. I have tried a few different stuffed animals and they have not come out well. So when I came across this pattern on the Internet I was thrilled. It promised that it would be a quick, easy project, and by-golly it WAS!

The pattern was free, you know I love free! I used fleece for this project and it worked well. There were a few parts where it got a bit bulky, so next time I think I'll try flannel. I also learned that I should embroider the face before I attach the head. Oh, and if you decide to use the pattern the part when it tells you to slit the stomach so you can sew the top, don't do that! Just leave one of the side seams open and hand sew it back together it will look better. I think that's all I would change. One of the legs looks like it's growing out of his bottom, so next time I'll position them more carefully, and the tail did not get caught all the way in the seam, thank goodness this is just for me, I think I'll call him Oops!

Syndy's Sweat Shop

2010-07-07T18:41:00.001-05:00

I decided a few weeks ago, as my girls were screaming at each other, and then things became violent and there was an incident with one of them getting pushed backward into the bath tub (man O is freakishly strong), and they were yelling about how much they hate each other, that they needed a distraction. A distraction that would get them thinking about other's and not just themselves, they needed a service project. I contacted my MIL in Chile and asked if there were any needs that the kids and I could help with. She came back with a great one. There is an orphanage in her area that needs backpacks, and school supplies. They don't need to be huge ones since they don't have very many possessions to speak of, so they can be homemade. PERFECT, I can do homemade. I came up with a pattern and yesterday we started making them to send.

Sadly K is on a super fun trip and can't help but she can when she gets home. So I taught O and the neighbor girl M to sew and they each made a back pack. I still need to buy the draw string but other than that they are complete! They both did a wonderful job for 1st timers and I'm going to put them to work again shortly.

We are sending the supplies and packs to Utah, where my MIL will be for a few weeks and she will take them to Chile in her luggage! Win Win!! Cheap shipping for us and new packs for the children in Chile. Bonus, my girls aren't fighting anymore...sad that one of them has to be 3 states away for this to happen, but still a bonus

Earning the Mommy points

2010-07-01T18:48:00.000-05:00

Today my 5 year old son comes in with his friend P and asks when I'm going to make him a cape. Then he proceeds to tell me that I need to make P one too so they match. So being the awesomest mom ever I start to dig through my stash and come out with two T shirts that I put with my fabric to "upcycle". I pulled out my cape pattern, any respectable mother with boys should have one, cut the pieces and serged around the edges. Now P and C have matching capes that are red on one side and green on the other so they can either be arch enemies, or each other's side kick.

Here they are with their best Superhero moves:

Total project cost $0, 15 minutes of time invested and they are happy Superhero's.

Having a Kick Butt Summer

2010-06-28T08:22:00.000-05:00

Actually the title of this post should be, "Summer is kicking my butt!".

Really, that's how it feels lately. My parents came and had a great visit for 2 weeks, we went to a family reunion in Missouri, of all places, and it's been stinkin' hot and wet here in the Midwest. We've tried to go to the pool, but the baby is not a fan! Do they make baby sunglasses? I think his problem is the brightness of the water because all he wants to do is bury his head in my shoulder and sleep, that's cool if I'm at home with the TV on or my laptop handy, not so cool if I'm in the middle of a swimming pool getting a MAJOR sunburn, and trying to keep track of all the other children who don't know how to swim!

Needless to say there has not been much crafting going on at my house. I have been doing some "tailoring" for a friend of an acquaintance. I say "tailoring" because I do not know what the HE-DOUBLE-HOCKEY-STICKS I am doing. She came to me with the favor of mending her clothes, well my idea and her idea of mending were two different things. 10 hours later (with her sitting and watching me) we are still not done and I'm getting pretty good at taking a blouse from a size 2X to an XL! (just buy clothes that fit you in the first place PLEASE!)

A few of the projects I've been working on are:

A wet bag to put my soiled cloth diapers in when I'm on the go. They are made from cotton and PUL on the inside. Each has a zipper closure and ribbon handle. Check my ETSY shop if you are interested in purchasing one.

My hubby had a birthday and this is the only picture that I got of the tie that I made him. Yes, I make his ties. They are quick, easy, and you can customize them to the likes of the wearer. If you haven't made a tie you should it's an easy 20 minute project that always gets lots of compliments, and hey you know we are all about the compliments.

So the wet bag was almost free, all I had to buy was the outside fabric, I already had the PUL, zipper and ribbon at home. The tie was also free I had that fabric stashed away waiting for a great project.

What have you created this summer?

Sometimes free is not that great

2010-06-03T08:31:00.000-05:00

So, this summer has been CA-RAY-ZEE!! Is it me or does every one's children go insane and become extra naughty the minute school gets out? Our school got our last week on a Tuesday (weird I know) and the kids, all three of the oldest, were grounded the rest of the week for being awful to each other. The worst part is that when they are grounded I'm grounded too, it doesn't seem fair that I am punished for their naughtiness.

Anyhoo, I posted earlier in the month about the free bowling. Well as expected the free bowling coupons came into my e-mail inbox, I was so excited to think that we had a weekly activity to do that didn't require me getting into a bathing suit! I called the bowling alley to see how much shoe rental is... $3.75 per person per game! W-H-A-T????? That is not a good free deal. It was going to cost me $22.50 for free bowling, I don't think so!

So I found another bowling alley in town that has free shoe rental and their games are only $3.50, better but not great, so we are going to do one game each and call it good.

Sometimes the "free" deal is not the steal that it is made out to be!

Free Bowling

2010-05-14T13:38:00.000-05:00

I found this link on another blog and thought it sounded cool. I signed our family up for it and am excited for it to start. I don't know all the details but it sounds great and even found an alley that does it here in my small town.

kidsbowlfree.com

I am trying to find fun and inexpensive things for my kids to do this summer. We of course are going to sign up for the reading program at the library, we also have a pass to our local Children's Museum, and where my hubby works they have a park with a free swimming pool, and mini golf. Another great free thing I found was Border's is doing a reading program, read 10 books and get a book for free. They had good books to choose from too! Go to their website for more information

So this summer will be full of fun, free, activities!

Freegifting at it's best

2010-05-06T09:06:00.000-05:00

Just an FYI Walgreens is offering a free 8x10 photo collage today thru Saturday (May 8th). I've made these before for gifts and they are a big hit. I did this one for my hubby for his birthday. Here's the link Walgreens
They come out really cute and you can pick your colors and add a title. Stick them in an inexpensive frame and they are fabulous!

Happy Freegifting!

Mother's Day is just around the corner!!

2010-05-05T08:56:00.000-05:00

Mother's Day will be here this weekend. My husband always asks for a list of things that I want. That's hard because I see so many things that I would love to have, problem is when it comes to sitting down and making the list I can't think of a single thing. Sometimes I wish we could take our thoughts out of our heads like Dumbledore in Harry Potter, put them in the Pensive, and give them to whom ever needs them (did I use whom right?).

Anyhoo, I also always struggle with what to do for my own mother. When we lived close it was easy we would go out to lunch with my grandma the Saturday before and have a great afternoon. Now that I live 2000 miles away it's not so easy. Just sending a card doesn't seem like enough, and frankly sending a gift is hard because I am THE most forgetful person on earth and don't think of it until late Mother's Day Eve!

This year I found this link to Snapfish for a free flip book. I tried it out and made 2 books, one for my own mom and one for my mother-in-law and only paid for shipping and tax on each book. It equaled out to about $2.15 for each one. SWEET DEAL if you ask me. Use coupon code ALLYOUMOM at check out and it's that easy! You are able to do a 5x7 45 page book!

Don't know if it will be there by Mother's Day (my mom should be used to that by now), but what a great gift. I also hope that my mom doesn't read this blog cuz I just blew the surprise!

Here are a few things on my Mother's Day List:

Chalkboard paint
Smock top fabric
Chalkboard fabric
Magnetic paint

What's on your list???

2010-05-03T21:14:00.002-05:00

AAAAWWWWW that's much better!

Technical difficulties!

2010-05-03T10:44:00.002-05:00

I don't know why my sidebar things are at the bottom of all my posts...I swear I didn't click on anything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I Toiled you so!

2010-04-29T12:37:00.002-05:00

Made this cute purse for a friend. She is in charge of the teacher appreciation gifts at her son's school and asked me to donate. I love it, I wanted to keep it, she had to rip it from my hands! Just kiddin'.

All HALE!

2010-04-28T20:31:00.002-05:00

Last night was GREAT!

We had a blast at the Shannon Hale book signing. It was so great to meet the person who writes the books I love. She was a very accessible person, sweet, friendly, funny. There was about 60ish people there, so it was a small group and we were able to talk with her and ask questions. Not me of course because I was so nervous I didn't have anything to say, but my friends had plenty to say. I brought Book of a Thousand Days for her to sign, my favorite title of hers. It's a wonderful book with a sweet and innocent main character that I just fell in love with.

Now my dilemma, do I read the signed book or invest in a different copy???

Mother's Day is taken care of!

2010-04-27T13:02:00.003-05:00

I've posted before how I love to get kitchen gadgets and appliances, and other crazy "housewife" stuff for gifts, I do however like the stuff just for me too! I know it's a little early for Mother's Day, but my hubby has given me my gift early. I'm headed up to the Chicago area tonight to attend a book signing for Shannon Hale. If you haven't read her books you should they are wonderful. She writes Young Adult Fiction and Adult Fiction. I've only read her YA stuff and they are the kind of books I would read over and over again.

So tonight my friends and I are headed on a bit of a road trip. There's going to be good conversation, good books, and possibly good food (oh and NO kids!!!) what more can a Mom ask for?

I'll post tomorrow on how it went, I'm a book signing virgin!

On the agenda

2010-04-25T08:31:00.003-05:00

Last week was spent finishing up projects for my daughter's birthday. Let's just say it was not a good sewing week for me. I waited until the last minute to even start one of the projects and after sewing it wrong 3 different times, and then having it be too small in the end I gave up and told her that one of her gifts was an IOU!

So...on the agenda this week is the IOU gift, it's going to be a strap for her new digital camera. Hopefully I can cut it the right length, get the interfacing to fuse correctly, and don't run out of the right color thread (told you it was a bad week last week!). Sometimes I wonder how long I've been sewing, has it been 26 years or 26 minutes? I guess it really keeps things real for me and let's me sympathize with my sewing students when they mess up on their projects.

Also on the agenda is a tote bag for a giveaway at a friend's school. She contacted me to see if I would donate to her cause. My dilemma was what colors to make it. I don't know who it will be going to so I decided on a neutral black and white palate with a punch of red for color. I got a remnant of fabric from my store yesterday for $1.07, and some ribbon with my 40% off coupon and I'm ready to work tomorrow.

On the agenda will also be making myself a wet bag for my cloth diapers. I found a great tutorial online and if it works as well as it says I'll share when I'm done.

So those are a few projects that I'm working on this week...what are you're plans for the week?

Going Green...Literally

2010-04-21T21:02:00.008-05:00

I have to admit that I don't typically think too much about our environment. I'm not a recycler, I don't compost, I don't ride my bike to the grocery store. However being thrifty most of the time, by nature makes you environmentally friendly. I do cook a lot from scratch (not a lot of packages in my trash), I do buy at thrift stores and garage sales, I do hand down clothes to my friends (and vise versa), I do cloth diaper, and I do make my own baby food. So it's not like I'm an "earth hater" or anything I just can't keep my brain focused long enough to separate my garbage. My adult ADD is for another post all together!!

I did however manage to make a cute earth friendly craft this week. I love those toys that have the crinkly stuff inside that babies love. I've often wondered what they made them out of. I'm sure there's cellophane or some other great material in the middle of them, but I improvised. Inside my crinkly tab blanket is an empty baby wipe container.

First I cut the wipe container at the seams and squared it up. It ended up being about 9"x10".

Then I pinned the ribbon to the Minky

Then I sandwiched a piece of flannel between the Minky and the wipe bag

and sewed the whole thing together. My 7 mo old really likes it, and I have to say it's oobercute.

Not a bad project and ZeRo dollars!

linkin' to

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Earring Holder

2010-04-20T20:25:00.002-05:00

I saw this cute earring holder on A Girl and a Glue Gun and loved it. My daughter is starting to care about wearing jewelery and has gotten a bunch of earrings for her birthday this week. So I dug through my stash, found a frame, some leftover paint, plastic mesh (free from a friend), some ribbon, and as A Girl and a Glue Gun would do plugged in my own glue gun and went to town.

This holder matches her room and she is gonna SQUEAL!

Thanks so much for the fab idea!

Let Sleeping Babies LYE!

2010-04-09T13:12:00.005-05:00

Seems like these days my crafts have been more functional than fun, but I do have a fun time making them so I guess they are FUNctional...I know corny. Anyhoo, at my house it's inevitable that when the baby is sleeping someone rings the door bell. It's almost always the same culprit too...the neighbor kids. So I made a cute sign to hang on my door and we'll see if they actually read it.

Found a 6x8 canvas at a garage sale this morning, and painted it brown, then added orange accents to match my paper. Modpodged paper and letters on... it wasn't rocket science.

Total cost for this project 30 cents! I got the canvas that I used at a garage sale today for 30 cents and the rest of the stuff was from my stash!

linked to: Tatertots and Jello

I LoVe Kitchen Gadgets

2010-04-08T08:09:00.009-05:00

I know I'm a freak of nature. I'm the woman who LOVES getting kitchen gadgets for gifts, Mother's Day, Christmas, my birthday, you name it. I like to think that my hubby is the luckiest guy on earth because I'm so easy to buy for. Last year for Mother's Day he got me a set of bamboo spoons that are dishwasher safe, I smile every time I use them. So I decided my gadgets needed a cute place to live. I used to have an adorable pitcher that I used for a utensil holder for a long time but eventually it broke. I've tried other holders but they are always too small, too big, or are made of glass and I'm really rough on them. My solution was to use something that I had an abundance of...#10 cans. Every time I grind wheat I have an empty #10 can (yes I grind my own wheat, I told you FREAK OF NATURE!) and they are the perfect utensil holder size! Of course I can't just use an ugly ol' can, can I?

NOPE!!!

This is much better. Just hot glued some burlap and ribbon on, and stenciled utensils on the side. Now that is what I call a CA-UTE utensil holder.

Total cost: $0 (it all came from my stash!)

linked to The Girl Creative

I think I'm addicted to Toile

2010-04-07T09:24:00.006-05:00

I don't know about you but to me Toile makes me smile. It's one of those timeless patterns that you can use with almost anything. I love that it comes in many colors now and you can find it to accent any room in your house.

I know my last Creative Juices Challenge was also a "Toile" project, but this weeks is too. Found this cute star at Hob Lob. The places where I put the toile paper were just plain white. I distressed the paint and gave it a good coat of gloss Mod Podge. Now it hangs on my door, but I think it's a little too big and really does not compliment the 1994 hunter green. In my perfect world my door and my shutters would be black and the word 'WELCOME' be lovingly displayed in vinyl on my front door. Now back to reality where my house screams 1990's and my priorities are wiping bums, and keeping up with baby and his spit up puddles!

RECAP: Paid $3 for star on clearance at Hob Lob, had the paper and Mod Podge at home. TA-DA only 3 bucks for this cute find.

Playing with myself

2010-04-06T07:08:00.003-05:00

Well I'm challenging myself to another Creative Juices Challenge. Last time no one linked up even though I went through all the trouble of figuring out the MckLinky (seriously it's not THAT hard but for me to do something techie at all is a MIRACLE!), but my project turned out WAY cute and my BFF benefited from it so I'm doin' it again. Tomorrow is the day and I have my craft all finished and ready to be debuted. It's a bit bigger than the last one. SOOOO here's the rule:

Craft must cost no more than $3, this does not include tax

All 'stash' stuff does not count towards your total

Lets see what great things we (I) can come up with!!!

Rules are Rules

2010-03-30T09:11:00.003-05:00

Recently my bestest buddy and her family moved closer to us. It's been 10ish years since we've lived within a days drive and in the same time zone! So this last weekend we headed up to Chicago to visit them and see their new diggs! Poor thing hardly had a box unpacked and we invaded, all 6 of us, with all our crap.

Well unpacking would have to wait a few more days because we had our hearts set on a craft project, and let me tell you don't get in my way when a craft project is involved (just ask my kids...wait...do I have kids???!!!). Our inspiration came from her friend, who's inspiration came from someone else, who's inspiration came from someone else...it's sometimes hard to tell where these fabulous ideas start! Here's the link to the blog I used... Forthelove . And here is my process:

A blank canvas from Hob Lob. I found mine for $7.99 for two 16x20 canvases. (didn't have my coupon so I paid full price but what a deal if you had your 40% off!!!) "For the Love" did hers on a 24x36 inch canvas but my house is not big enough to pull off such a large piece of art, so I scaled back.

I only painted the edges of the canvas.

Rows of paper. I bought a small stack of coordinating papers at Hob Lob, they were on sale so I got 30ish pieces for $5.

Here's the finished product. Towards the end I ran out of patience and steam so one line is just cute leaves. The letters were cut from vinyl with my Cricut. My friend provided the vinyl from her stash, so the whole project was well under $10. I may do a few of these up for Christmas!!!

Some things I learned during the process:

Mod Podge and canvas together are hard to work with. The canvas stretched when it was wet with ModPodge, so maybe next time paint the whole canvas to stiffen it up? Also having something underneath that was hard helped with the bubbles. Mostly just put it on and walk away, when it dried overnight it looked a lot better than when I left it.

Paper stretches when you get it wet with Mod Podge, be careful not to stretch too much or you do not have even edges (don't look at mine too closely)

Stagger your paper seams so that there is not a big line in your project.

When putting on your letters measure and center them (again...don't look to closely at mine)

For me coordinating paper was great, I didn't have to think too much.

Next time I may even use a harder surface like wood so it all goes a little smoother.

Don't let your hubby help with the "rule" making. Mine wanted to add things like, no farting at the table, and no electronic gadgets at dinner. He didn't understand the cute whimsy of it all.

I love my finished product. It's cute and fun, and my kids are starting to refer to it. Thanks Tam for the idea!!

Creative Juices Challenge

2010-03-19T10:21:00.004-05:00

What a week this has been. Between Dr's appointments, play group, church activities, St. Patrick's Day, Hockey, pre-school, and baby sitting, my week has been very full! I still managed however to slip in a little crafting. I mentioned last week that I was going to start at $3 craft challenge... well here it is.

I've decided to call it the "Creative Juices Challenge" because it takes a lot of creative juice to do something for 3 bucks. So here is what I came up with:

I found these gems at the Dollar Store. They are glass and were plain (just clear). I used Mod Podge and cute paper to cover them, then just hot glued some ribbon and a button on. Red embroidery floss through the button gave me the pinch of color I needed. My whole project cost me about $1.40, and that's if you count the whole piece of paper (I only used a small corner of it). I thought these would make a great hostess gift, or a gift for a bride made to match her china. Does anyone even register for china anymore...??? Anyhoo you can use paper or fabric to cover them I even used tissue paper on a set and they were adorable.

SOOOOO what have you been working on? Do you have any fantabulous ideas for inexpensive project? Link up... I hope this works, it's my first time.

Remember the rules:

supplies must cost no more than $3 not including tax

anything you have at home already does not count in your $3 (fabric, glue, Modpodge, you know "stash" stuff)

It can be anything, home decorating, gift giving, craft, sewing, crochet, the possibilities are endless

Let's get those creative juices flowing!!

linked to :

Craig's List Enthusiast!

2010-03-16T12:40:00.004-05:00

I don't know if any of you have the same problem I have...I love Craig's List! I have found the best stuff on there. My husband knows when I call him at work and the first thing I say is I LOVE YOU, that he is swinging by to pick something up that I got for free on CL. My finds have been, a wooden swing set/play thingy (we call it The Monstrosity, cuz it's HuGe), a nice cabinet for my sewing room, sewing machines, lots of things for the children the list could go on and on.

My most recent find was fabulous if I do say so myself. I had a baby in August, child #4, and decided that to save a few buckaroos I should try cloth diapering. I have lots of friends that cloth diaper so I was able to use them as support and reference. Buying ready made cloth diapers can be a daunting and expensive endeavor, so I set out to make my own. Bought all the supplies, made the CA-UTEST diapers ever and when my baby came out he was already too big for them...AAAUUGGGHHH! So I used disposable for a few weeks, in the mean time my friend, bless her heart, sold me some used Fuzzi Bunz to get me started. I used those and made a few more of my own (bigger this time) and now he's outgrown all of those. So I decided that I was gonna have to fork out the bucks for the one size cloth diapers, or commit to make several more sizes (I was not willing to do that).

Long story short, being the thrifty girl that I am I've been procrastinating spending the $300 it was gonna take to buy those plush, already made diapers, and my procrastination paid off!!! Searching Craig's List I found a woman in my area giving away a bag full of cloth diapers. They were all the sizes I needed (I won't need any bigger) and it was a huge bag, we are talking a large leaf garbage bag, full of random diapers. AIO, pocket, covers, snapped, Velcroed, you name it.

Here's a pic of about 1/4 of the diapers that I got (the other 3/4 are dirty and you don't want to see that!). I am so pleased with my find, and to add a cherry to the top of that sundae when I got there she (the woman from CL) had a bag of women's clothes she was giving away that just happened to be in my size! They were all cute and gently used SCORE!

So here are a few things I've learned about getting great stuff from CL:

1. You have to check it often, I'm a little embarrassed to say that I check CL about 10ish times a day. If something good comes up it goes FAST!

2. If they leave a phone # just call, don't wait for an e-mail to be answered.

3. When responding to them via email be sure you use the exact wording of the ad title in your subject line, some people use this as a means of weeding out spam. They may delete you if it's not exact.

4. NEVER go get anything alone!!! This is basic safety ladies, take a friend or spouse, NO the 4 year old does not count! This also goes for selling items on CL. I never have someone come and get something from my house unless my hubby is home. If you live alone or are concerned, agree to meet in a public place. I've picked up lots of things in the parking lots of our local grocery stores.

5. Be considerate. If you agree to meet someone or pick something up DO IT! Don't leave them hangin' it's just bad form.

So those are a few tricks of the CL trade. Now go find something fab for free!

Free Alert

2010-03-12T16:40:00.002-06:00

I saw this on another blog that I lurk on and had to try it. It's a company called HotPrints that gives away photo books. I was skeptical so I waited to post about this until I saw the finished product. Well, I received mine in the mail today and it actually turned out really cute. The photos are a good quality, and the backgrounds are cute. I don't think I would call this a book actually, maybe more like a magazine, but on thicker paper... does that make sense?

They offer one free every month, there was an advertisement in the middle of mine but you can easily take that page out. So for free I give it a thumbs up!! Here's the link:

HotPrints

Happy Free Gifting!!

Time Flies

2010-03-10T21:02:00.002-06:00

WOW, time flew since my last post. I betcha' thought I was gone for good... well I'm back. I took a short spur of the moment trip to visit my family in California. It was great. I hadn't seen my brother in about 2 years, and heck, I have a new baby to show off!

So now I'm home, sleepin' in my own bed again YEAH! and really wanting to do some crafting. I've seen so many $5 challenges out there, you know the ones, see what you can create for $5. Well I'm steppin' it up a notch and I want to see what we can create for $3.

I'll post the challenge next week, I need a few more days to get my ideas in check, and hopefully I'm smart enough to run a MckLinky so we can see all the fab things you come up with.

rules:

supplies must cost no more than $3 not including tax

anything you have at home already does not count in your $3 (fabric, glue, Modpodge, you know "stash" stuff)

It can be anything, home decorating, gift giving, craft, sewing, crochet, the possibilities are endless.

So check back next week with your projects and we'll get some creative juices flowing.

Missed the Boat

2010-02-20T19:43:00.003-06:00

Totally blew off Fabulous Gadget Friday. Maybe I should call it 'I have four kids and my brain is fried Friday'!

I'll try harder next week I PROMISE!

Cuz who wants to share Chapstick???

2010-02-14T10:18:00.003-06:00

There are a few things that we learned when we moved to the Midwest from California, never wait until the end of a snow storm to shovel your driveway, NEVER leave your house without your umbrella, never assume that the tornado sirens are running a test, and never run out of Chapstick! The winters here are sooooo cold, we sometimes feel like our skin is just flaking away. Chapstick is a must but the kids are always losing theirs or they can't remember who's is who's. So I came up with a simple cute way to keep it all straight.

All I did was remove the original wrapper and Modpodged cute paper on the outside. I did use my Cricut to cut out their initials, but if you did each one in a different paper it would work the same. This way no one uses someone else's, and I find my girls are more likely to keep track of it since it's cute. I even have one for myself that says MOM! What a great gift these would be for a child or even party favors at your next birthday bash.

Spell check only takes you so far

2010-02-12T10:44:00.002-06:00

I just realized that in my attempt to spell SEW-er that I spelled sewer. OOPS! You know what I meant. Are they spelled the same? Now I'm confused.

Fabulous Gadget Friday

2010-02-12T07:57:00.004-06:00

I've decided to start a new feature on my blog, it's called Fabulous Gadget Friday. I tease my hubbs a lot because he LoVeS electronic gadgets, I mean we are talking big time here. Our room practically glows at night from all of the the lights of the things he has plugged in on his side of the room. However I am just as much a culprit when it comes to sewing gadgets. So, I'm going to highlight a new gadget every week and it will typically be something that I have used, which means it will have been tried and tested and proven to be something that EVERY die hard crafter/sewer/decorator will need.

This week I am starting small:

This little handy dandy helps string elastic through a casing. No more using a safety pin, that would come unpinned half way through and poke you. I really don't know how I lived without this gadget for so long. You can find them at your local fabric store on the notions wall, and they are very inexpensive, but will save you tons of time and sanity!!!

On a side note, I finally got a picture of myself up for my profile. It's hard to get a good picture of yourself when you are the one taking it so I apologize for the lack of photography skills. I tried to have my 7 year old take it but really this one is much better. I will continue to strive for a better one, but at least now you can put a face with a name.

Oh, and it's almost Valentine's Day!!! I love Valentine's Day, we are starting a new tradition this year of going out to breakfast (as a family) to celebrate the holiday. Since it's on Sunday this year we are headed out a day early and are hitting a new restaurant tomorrow morning. So, have a great weekend!!!

Free Alert

2010-02-09T09:17:00.001-06:00

Free Grand Slam Breakfast at Denny's today until 2pm!!! The kids and I scooted over there this morning in our PJ's it was great, no waiting, and fast service. I guess the 6 inches of snow on the ground slowed down everyone else!!

Homemade Cleaning Supplies= Thrifty BLISS!

2010-02-09T08:57:00.005-06:00

I came across this the other day and a huge light bulb went on over my head! I have a Swiffer Wet Jet but hardly ever use it because the cloths are so expensive, and so is the cleaner at goes inside.

No tutorial here, just cut an old cloth diaper to the correct size, attached the loop side of the Velcro with a zig zag stitch and WA LA, a Swiffer pad that works perfectly and goes in the washer.

For the cleaning solution I use a homemade 409 in a squirt bottle. I have laminate floors and it works really well. Here's the recipe for the 409 if anyone is interested. I have not bought any other cleaner for my bathroom or kitchen in years. It even works on windows or mirrors.

16oz water

2 tbl spn vinegar

1 tsp borax

1/8 cup of dish soap

Mix in a spray bottle and shake.

linkin' to

The Laundry Fairy Left Me a Treat

2010-02-07T08:42:00.007-06:00

I don't know about you but laundry is the bane of my existence. It never ends, when I get to be in charge of the world there will be a clothes tree and every morning when you wake up there will be a new outfit hanging on it ready to be picked. The outfit will fit perfectly, be cute and fashionable, and also be appropriate for the weather for that day. Most importantly it will also be disposable so just toss it into your outfit compost heap, grab you new pj's off the tree and wait for tomorrow when another new outfit will appear! I'll save my dream of a shoe patch for another post!

SLAP, SLAP wake up and get back to reality... oh, yeah, laundry, right..

Laundry would be at least tolerable if it wasn't for the rewashing. That is washing the clean clothes over again because either your kids threw the clean folded clothes on their floor instead of in their drawers, or the basket of clean clothes sits in the laundry room/living room/dining room/bedroom until no one can remember if it is actually clean or dirty.

Well first problem solved! I no longer do laundry for my older children. I have a 10 year old and a 7 year old that are completely responsible for their own laundry, sorting, washing, drying, folding, putting away. My 5 year old is responsible for putting his clothes away, and he is being trained on how to use the washer and dryer. The 5 month old gets to have a little slack until he's old enough to at least walk. HAHA!! This way they cannot say, "MOOOOOOM I don't have any clean (insert any article of clothing)" because I can say, "NOT MY PROBLEM!"

The second problem has been a little harder to tackle. I am a big culprit when it comes to leaving the clean clothes in the basket and forgetting that they are clean. Sometimes I'm running out the door and need to switch the laundry, most of the time I just get sidetracked by the million other things that are going on in my head and forget about the laundry. So I came up with this little guy:

One side says clean and the other says dirty. It is attached with velcro and you can just flip it over depending on the condition of the clothes. Now maybe I won't have to hear the dreaded question, "is this basket clean or dirty?", and I won't have to do the sniff test. I hate the sniff test.

Oh, and I'm using what is quickly becoming the bestest, most cutest, most versatilest fabric ever, burlap. I love a good burlap project.

linked to

Feel the LoVe

2010-02-05T08:47:00.003-06:00

I love Valentine's day. Sadly enough my hubby thinks it some made up holiday that is pretty much pointless. (and really if you think about it, it is) Thankfully he's sweet to me all year long so I don't miss Valentine's Day too much. I do however take the opportunity to do some things for the kids. They usually get some candy or a little trinket of my love. This year I came up with this really cute idea for book marks. I made some for Christmas and they were a hit, so I hearted them up and they are ready for Valentine's Day.

I am trying soooooooo hard to get better at photographing my things, this is better don't ya think? (lie to me if you have to!) Anyhoo, I used really stiff fusible interfacing. It is fusible on both sides so you can sandwich it in between two pieces of fabric. I tried to get a pic that showed how stiff it is:

Basically I just fused two pieces of fabric to the interfacing. I used Wonder Under to fuse the middle section to the book mark, and then just zig zag stitched around it all. Be sure to put your ribbon in while you are fusing the first pieces. I'm going to be making more of these for my sewing students so I'll post pictures when I do.

I had the interfacing and ribbon here already in my stash, and the fabric was leftover from my barter with Heather. She was kind enough to let me keep the excess! So all of that equals FA-REE! My girls are gonna squeal when they see these.

Are you a good dater?

2010-02-04T09:08:00.002-06:00

Come on let's face it, dating is hard. REALLY hard. I'm not talking about being single, and trying to find the right guy, while having to kiss a lot of frogs on the way. I'm talking about dating AFTER marriage. That's when it gets tricky. I'm guilty of thinking, "When was the last time we had a date?" and the answer never comes because I can't remember.

My husband and I have become very creative when it comes to dating. Babysitters are very expensive so hiring one is a, once-in-a-while, thing. What works best is trading with our couple friends, they go out on Friday night and we watch their kids, then we go out on Saturday and they watch ours. We also have a lot of dates at home when the kids are asleep, or otherwise occupied. We sometimes don't tell the kids that dinner is ready if they are playing or watching a movie until after we have enjoyed a quiet dinner alone. Sometimes we wait until they are in bed and one of us goes and gets dessert from our favorite restaurant to bring home and enjoy.

Money is another issue. If you think I'm thrifty with gift giving just imagine it seeping into other aspects of my life too, like dating. I don't want to spend $20 to go to the movies when we can wait for the DVD and rent it for $1. I am however OK with going out to eat, I like a nice dinner out and don't really fret too much about the bill. What I quickly discovered is that lunch out is WAY cheaper than dinner out, so my friend and I trade Thursday's. She has lunch with her hubby one Thursday while I have the kids, and then we switch the next. So we are guaranteed at least 2 dates a month. Even doing that I sometimes just pack a home lunch and take it to his office.

I found this really great website that has a 52 date challenge.

She has some great date ideas, and even a little pledge that you can sign with your significant other to make it more official.

I love dates, it gives us time to be us and not just Mom and Dad. So go out, or stay in, just make a date! It'll be the best gift you can give yourself (shy of a pedicure, and a massage!).

AAAHHH I can't believe it!!!

2010-02-03T09:22:00.006-06:00

I woke up this morning to a great surprise!! I was featured at The Thrifty Home's Penny Pinching Party!!! I've never been featured before!!! So exciting!!! Can you tell I'm excited??!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's her link

Go check her out. She's has great stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously excited!!!!!!!!!!!!

I heart BABIES!!

2010-01-30T21:04:00.004-06:00

My all time favorite things to make are anything baby! There are so many cute things out there right now for baby, things I wish I had when I had my first. Where were nursing covers when I was sitting in the foyer at church on a couch in the middle of all the people trying to keep a blanket on my shoulder while nursing, then skipping it all together because my baby was freaking out because it was too hot? Where were cute chic diaper bags when I was carrying Winnie the Pooh on my arm? Where were cart covers when I was wiping down the whole cart with a baby wipe hoping we wouldn't get pink eye AGAIN?

Well, I had a baby shower to attend this weekend, it was my friend's 3rd boy so I'm sure she was set for lots of things. So I whipped up a few bibs for her because those are something that get nasty fast.

They are made of denim, and flannel. I clipped the edges so when they get washed they will fray a little and look like fringe. I had all my supplies here at home in sta-ash so they were fa-ree!

Warm up your winter

2010-01-27T20:24:00.007-06:00

Being a California native living in the Midwest I have to admit that I am freezing my Patootie off! I think I shiver from November to May, and I'm not zageratin'!! A few years ago I discovered rice bags. If you haven't seen them or used one you are missing out. They are basically bags made from cotton fabric that are filled with rice. When it's time to use them you pop them in the microwave and they stay toasty warm for quite a while. My kids use big ones to warm their sheets before bed, my husband uses the XL ones to loosen the muscles in his back.

Well the other day it hit me... TINY RICE BAGS!! So I made these tiny rice bags for the kids to put in their jacket pockets so their hands stay warm as they are waiting for the bus in this Arctic weather. I always feel guilty sending them out in the cold every morning while I wave from the window, now I don't fee SOOO bad! (well maybe still a little bad, but at least frost bite is off the table now!)

These little squares of FiRe are made from cotton fabric cut into 4 inch squares, sewn together and filled with rice. Place them in the microwave for 30 seconds and they will stay warm in your pockets for about 30-40 minutes, just enough time to catch the bus, play in the snow, or walk from the parking lot at work to your cubicle! Best part, I got the fabric for free from a friend, and had the rice in the pantry. So for a few pennies you have a wonderful, warm, winter gift.

Linking up to:

Penny Pinching Party at The Thrifty Home and

Bizzy Bee Creations

Keepin' up my side of the bargain

2010-01-24T19:51:00.005-06:00

Last post I talked about the barter system. Here is my side of my latest barter:

What cool stuff have you bartered?

I am The Barterista

2010-01-23T10:51:00.004-06:00

I honestly don't know why more people don't use the barter system. Maybe they do and I'm just not seeing it in action. I love bartering with people for things we need or want (mostly what we want!). Lately there have been many opportunities to barter. In addition to searching for thrifty finds all over town, I also teach sewing lessons, and make custom purses. Those two things are my skills that I use for trading.

Somethings I have traded:

purses for aprons (check out my friend at Vivapron she's under construction but her aprons are adorable)
purses for beads
sewing lessons for tutoring
sewing lessons for baby sitting
baby sitting for baby sitting (my friend and I switch every Thursday so we each get a lunch date with our hubby's at least twice a month).
left over lumber from a shelving project for a train table for my son.

My most recent acquisition was the purses for beads, my friend Heather over at Dragonfly Lampworks has some CrAzY skills! Here's what she designed for me:

As you can tell I am not blessed with photography skills so bear with me! Seriously isn't that the cutest thing? AHHHH I love it. Thanks Heather for being willing to share you talent and barter with me.

So what can you barter? Try it, you will be surprised how much people are willing to share their talents and skills.

My attempt at being a little more organized

2010-01-15T18:16:00.008-06:00

I don't claim to be an organized person. I'm sure my husband is sitting here snickering right now. To tell you the truth he is WAY more organized and tidy than I am. One room that gives me fits when it comes to tidiness is our master bathroom. I feel like it is a catch all for every one. My girls are always digging through my drawers for hair bows, my oldest always wants the styling products, they are constantly stealing our toothpaste, or leaving theirs in here, and don't get me started about the laundry. Why can't the clothes make it into the basket? It's all a bit overwhelming so I decided to start small.

Just to keep things real here is a picture of my "hair" drawer:

Yeah, it's bad.

So here was my solution:

SOOO much better! I whipped theses cord keepers up in a jiffy from supplies I already had here in... you guessed it... my stash!

They were so easy and here's how I did it:

First cut a piece of fabric 5"x7" (you can make it bigger if you have a bigger cord. Oh, and yeah that's my funky retro 70's orange towel that I use for an ironing board in the background. Don't you lurve it?)

Second: Fold it in half lengthwise, right sides together and sew up 2 sides.

Here's my cute machine sewing up both sides.

Clip your corners so it will lay correctly.

Flip it right side out. I top stitched mine because I'm a topstitchin' fool. Just make sure you close up the end that is open.

Cut your Velcro the size of half of your keeper. Sew one side of Velcro on one half of one side. Flip it over and sew the other side of the Velcro on the opposite side of the keeper.

Here's your finished product.

OK, I went a little crazy with these. I have them all over the house now making all my cords tidy! They are so cute and soooo easy!

I linked up over at Thrifty Decor Chick! Check her out she totally ROCKS!!

for Thrifty Decor Chick

Free Alert (kinda)

2010-01-11T09:38:00.003-06:00

I came across this free offer from Canvas People, they are giving away a free 8x10 canvas of your favorite photo. You DO have to pay for shipping, it's kinda expensive mine was $14.95 but when you are getting a $50 item for free it doesn't seem soooo bad! Here's the link:

https://secured.canvaspeople.com/

This would make a great Valentine's gift, or if you are really on the ball a Mother's Day gift!

Happy Gifting.

Sometimes the Stars Align

2010-01-07T16:33:00.005-06:00

Sometimes in life the "thrifty" stars align! If you are an avid shopper and deal searcher they align more often, but sometimes it happens when you least expect it.

I was hosting a New Year's Eve party at our home. It was a murder mystery which required a little creativity in finding costumes for me and my hubby. Of course I waited until the last minute, but in my defense I was sick the week after Christmas so really New Year's Day was my only day to shop! I was searching the thrift stores in town, which isn't a hard job since there are only 3, and I found these really cute dessert plates.

I love to use cute dessert dishes, serving pieces, and any other utensil that can make a regular meal seem "fancy", as my daughter would say. They were marked $1.99 for 8, I had to do a double take to make sure it wasn't $1.99 each, sure enough $1.99 for the whole set! So I quickly snatched them up. Once I got to the check out they were having a special that if you would make the noise like a bell you got 50% off of one of your items. Since they were my only item my daughter and I rang like a bell and got all 8 for $1...

SA-WEET!

Then the obsessive compulsive part of me kicked in and I wondered if the person I asked to bring dessert that night would bring a beautiful dessert that would accent these lovelies, or should I just make an extra one just in case. Well my friend Kim did not disappoint. She brought a delish orange cake with fresh berries and chocolate sauce, not only beautiful but YUMMY. Only problem is we devoured the whole cake before I got a picture, dang.

Anyhoo, today I linked up to Frugalicious Friday over at Finding Fabulous, check out her blog everything she does is beautiful!

Maybe your day be extra Frugalicious!

It's Official!

2010-01-04T12:47:00.003-06:00

Well it's official, I think this is the earliest I have ever started shopping for Christmas. What's a girl to do when there are great deals to be had? I found fleece PJ sets at Wally World today for $1.50 each! Can't make them for that price.

I've also got a few projects planned for the next few months. I want to do something for my parents this year that will involve getting my brother to help me out. Hopefully it will pull together the way I think it will, we'll see.

I haven't crafted since before Christmas, I guess you can say I have a little burn out. That's ok because it will come back soon enough and this year I plan on starting the Christmas Crafting EARLY! Maybe I should have called this blog "The 12 Months of Christmas"! Sometimes I think it feels like that around here.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-24T14:33:00.003-06:00

WHEWW! I made it! I officially put my craft table away this afternoon, until after the holiday (which means Saturday!). I hope all of my hard work and crafting is appreciated by all, I know way to be selfish!

Merry Christmas to all, I hope that we all remember the reason we celebrate this time of year, and take time to remember Christ and His birth.

Happy Holidays

Food Gifts

2009-12-22T19:19:00.004-06:00

Food gifts are a great way to keep costs down during the holidays. I sent these yummy candied almonds to the kids teachers, and to my hubby's co-workers. I had the jars here at home too, and I got the almonds as a gift from my in-laws, so the whole thing just cost me my time.

Here's the recipe for these delish almonds!

Candied Almonds

2 egg whites (at room temp)

1 cup packed brown sugar

1-2 tspn vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup butter melted then cooled to room temp

1- 1 1/2 lbs nuts

I used almonds for this recipe and I used about 5 cups of almonds and it was perfect.

beat egg whites until they have soft peaks when beater is lifted from bowl. Beat in brown sugar 1/4 cup at a time, vanilla, and cinnamon until stiff peaks form, and they are glossy. Slowly fold in melted butter. Fold in nuts until well coated. Pour nuts out onto ungreased jelly roll pan (or a cookie sheet for those of us out there that didn't know it was the same thing!). Bake at 275 for 1 hour stirring every 15 minutes to keep the nuts separate.

As they cool stir them also to keep them separate. Make 2 batchescuz you're gonna want to eat a whole one yourself!

Oh and crafting tip #507... Spray paint does not come off of skin like regular craft paint, it stays on for DAYS!

"Tis the season for gift exchanges!

2009-12-15T08:45:00.003-06:00

The closer we get to Christmas it seems the more parties and gift exchanges we are involved in. Sure mostly they have a $5 limit on them, that's not so bad, right? Well times that by 4-5 gift exchanges and it can really add up. So last night my daughter and I rummaged through my craft room for a project for her gift exchange at church. She was actually really excited to make a gift and she thinks she may try and get this one back for herself tonight. Here is what she came up with:

Yes, another project from a block of wood, but they sure are cute.

17 Teachers and no $$$

2009-12-13T21:50:00.006-06:00

Yes, I said 17 teachers. My son goes to preschool at our local High School. His class is taught by high school students supervised by a teacher. There are 17 "Big Kids" that teach, so when it comes to teacher Christmas gifts it can get a little overwhelming. So this year I decided I needed something quick, easy, and CHA-EEP!

Here's what I came up with:

Basically just clothes pins that I embellished. I've seen these lots on other blogs, but it never dawned on me how inexpensive they would be. I had the clothes pins, buttons, and paper at home. I added a magnet on the back for their lockers, which I had to purchase, but they only cost me $2! So for a grand total of $2 and 1 hour I had 17 teacher gifts.

You can really go all out on these and embellish the bee-geebers out of them. I went simple because really a high school locker is no place to keep really nice things... unless they are iPods, cell phones, MP3 players, etc!!

Use those coupons in the mail

2009-12-07T14:03:00.003-06:00

I don't know if it's just me, or my neighborhood, but a few times during the year we get great coupons in the mail. I'm not talking 50 cents off if you buy 2 of something, I'm talking $10 off a $10 purchase. In my opinion that is a great opportunity for some Freegifting!

We have a tradition of sorts in our household, each new baby for their first Christmas gets a Hallmark ornament. It's one that has the date and baby's first Christmas somewhere on it. This new baby is no exception, but I was choking on having to fork out the $12-$15 for only one ornament. Lucky me this week I got a Kohl's gift card in the mail one of those $10 off a $10 purchase, so this little gem only cost me $2.50!!!

Can you say BARGAIN!!??

So Cute and Cheap I Almost Wet My Pants!

2009-12-04T21:59:00.004-06:00

Wednesday I was visiting my most favoritest thrift shop in town. I go about once a week just to check things out. You really never know what you will find there. I confess I used to be a thrift-store-snob, meaning I would NOT shop in one if you paid me $$$. Now I must confess that I'm a bit of an thrift shop "enthusiast", to put it mildly. While I was browsing the isles I happened upon a really cute antique window for $4.99. Let me just say that is a bargain! I bought an antique window at a local salvage warehouse a few years ago and paid $25 and I thought that was a bargain. The window at the thrift store had some really ugly flowers painted in the panes but I knew they could be scraped off really easily. I didn't buy the window right away, I was a little nervous about what my hubby would say since I already have an antique window, and really who needs two... ME! Well hubby did not really care about how many windows I bring home, so I fretted about it ALL NIGHT. I was sure the minute I left the thrift store 100's of people stormed it looking for that exact same kind of window. Lucky for me it was hidden in the back among all of the ugly art work and frames, cuz it was still there in the morning. I scooped it up and shoved (I mean placed it gently) it in the back of my mini-van (yes I drive one when you have as many kids as I do there are not a lot of choices out there) and took it home. My 5 year old was in the back fretting the whole time about it having spiders, and he was sad when I told him I was scraping the pain off, he really liked the ugly flowers.

Scrapping off the paint took about 15 minutes and now it has a wonderful home on my mantle. I'm not the best at decorating and accessorizing so I know it needs a little something and I'm sure one of these days on another trip to the thrift store I will find just the perfect thing!

Before:

After:

notice I didn't show the whole fireplace since all my sewing crap is still blocking the view!

Do you have a gift closet?

2009-12-01T14:33:00.003-06:00

Well Ok maybe mine is not a whole closet but it's slowly starting to take over my clothes closet. I am getting into the habit of picking things up on clearance and storing them away for the future. It really comes in handy when you have a baby shower to attend, or a birthday party, just head to your gift stash and find something great.

I find things all over. I'm not a huge fan of Wally World (you know the store I mean) but you can find really great deals on things there. Sometimes they even mark their clothes down to $1, and you cannot make it for that price. I also like to shop the craft stores for their clearance items and have a few things that I can throw together in a jiffy.

Today I was a WW and found backpacks for $1, they are cute and girly and I don't know who they will go to yet but they are headed for the closet as I type. The other day I found cute beaded butterfly trim at the fabric store on clearance for $.25 a yard, YES 25 CENTS! I bought it all.

It is very important to go through your gift stash occasionally it can get quite messy!

FREE ALERT!!!

2009-12-01T08:18:00.004-06:00

Found this link today to American Greetings where you can create a photo calendar, a photo book, cards, or get a gift card for FA-REE! I made a calendar this morning for my parents and I didn't even pay for shipping! Happy gift giving! Hurry though it's for today only and they are only giving away 20,000!!!!

No Sew Cute

2009-11-18T09:16:00.002-06:00

I found this great idea for a no-sew craft here I loved it so much I had to make one of my own. As usual it was done with things I already had around the house so it was FA-REE!!

Before:

And AFTER:

An up-close so you can see the detail. I used only 3 different fabrics, not including the green and red at the bottom for accent. I also embellished with a little pearl trim (.25 cents on clearance at Joann's years ago!)

Cookin' with Fire... Cute Fire!

2009-11-10T20:59:00.004-06:00

I am one of those strange women that actually likes getting kitchen "things" for gifts. Christmas, birthday, anniversary, even Mother's Day, I love kitchen stuff. I love it even more if the stuff is cute. Nothin' better than serving your treat at a church potluck with those cute spoons your hubby got you for your birthday or going to the Mother's Day Tea with your beautiful serving dish your Mother-in-Law brought you from "Out West"!

Along with all those kitchen things comes cute accessories. I have several adorable aprons that unfortunately get a lot of use, I also have great kitchen towels. These are some hotties I whipped up from the things I had in my stash. Towels are from the Dollar Store bought years ago, fabric was free from a friend, and trim was some I had in a drawer probably bought years ago also.

Here's what they were before:

And after:

Don't know who is getting these treats, maybe they will stay at my house. Who know's!!

FREE ALERT!!!

2009-11-07T10:37:00.001-06:00

Follow this link here to get a free $15 code for Kodak online Gallery. I used it this morning to create a photo book. The book was free I just had to pay shipping ($1.99) and my book is being sent to my Grandma for Christmas. They have lots of other photo things you can get also.

Happy Free Gifting!!!!!!

Halloween Treats

2009-10-31T23:05:00.004-05:00

I know Halloween is basically over but I had to share this great free treat. I work at a local fabric store and sometimes I do get the best stuff for free. They were tossing these lovely ghost plates in the trash last year and I quickly snatched them up. So cute and they are glass. I made some yummy cookies and there you have a wonderful free gift for friends and neighbors.

I'm not saying I actually condone dumpster diving... but I'm not saying I don't either... you never know what you might find.

I Heart Burlap

2009-10-29T21:51:00.004-05:00

I love burlap. I know it's crazy the stuff itches like crazy, what can you really do with it? Well recently I've learned that you can do a lot with it. I've seen it on purses (done that one myself), used as matte's for pictures, used for table runners, and my personal favorite place mats.

I don't remember where I saw these cuties first so I can't link back to it. She had them made with just numbers on them, I decided to personalize them. Each family member has one with their name and a different ribbon, I also made two extra for guests.

They were completely easy and completely FREE! I got some burlap from a friend that had a give-away-day at her house. I used my Cricut (I know it's one of those "gadgets" I said you could do without but I also got if for free from my mom, don't judge me) to make stencils from contact paper, and had ribbon and buttons around the house. Here are the results:

Basically you cut the burlap to the desired size, I used an old place mat for a reference, then used acrylic paint and a stencil to do the name. You can use any ribbon you like and just hot glue it around the edge. On some I also embellished with buttons. The possibilities are basically endless for this FREE project.

Patience Grasshopper!

2009-10-26T15:35:00.004-05:00

Freegifting is an art, seriously. It takes creativity, vision, work, and A LOT of patience. Sometimes that item that you are looking for is illusive and cannot be had for a good deal, be patient something will come along.

My daughter has been wanting a sewing machine for some time. Hers broke a few months ago and frankly it was not that great to begin with. I don't really trust new sewing machines. I know that sounds crazy but give me an old Singer, or Kenmore any day over a new machine with lots of buttons, and lights. So I started looking around at garage sales, Craig's List, Ebay etc. all the places where they sell those great old machines. However old machines do come with a hefty price tag if you find a nice one.

This is where patience comes into play... searching many, many garage sales... searching Craig's List SEVERAL times a day... hoping that gem will become available and hoping you have quick enough Internet so your e-mail gets there first!

SCORE!!! Finally the moment I'd been waiting for, after months of looking I found a great little machine on Craig's List for FREE!! Yes, FREE!! I called the woman who was giving it away and went the next day to pick it up. It hadn't been sewn on for years and she didn't know how well it would do. I brought it home, cleaned it up, oiled the snot out of it and so far it's a great find! Here is a picture of it, I hope that my daughter will get years of use out of it.

Using Your Stash

2009-10-02T08:43:00.005-05:00

The key to free gifting is simple, use what you have. I know this is a foreign concept for a lot of people. There are so many cute things in the stores nowadays, new fabric designs, cute crafting papers, adorable embellishments, and don't get me started on the gadgets. There's a gadget for just about anything that would make your life so much better. DON'T FALL INTO THE TRAP! You have cute stuff at home, you can often do without the gadget, and seriously you'll respect yourself more in the morning if your project was free (or really cheap) rather than spending money unnecessarily.

I know you all have a "stash", you know what I mean even if you don't want to admit it. Any self respecting crafter has a stash of some kind, fabric, paper, stamps, ribbon, the list could go on and on. Heaven forbid you have several hobbies then the stash can be pretty extensive. Mine consists of LOTS and LOTS of fabric, some paper, stamps, embellishments, gadgets, paints etc. I try and use what I have before I hit the craft store. Usually I can find enough fabric for any crafting project, and enough paper for most paper projects in my craft room.

Well I did some "Stash Crafting" today and this is what I came up with:

You have to remember that my crafting skills far outweigh my photography skills! These are tiny little composition books that I found on clearance months ago for about 60 cents each. They are about 4" x 2 1/2" and are stinkin' adorable all on their own. Here's how I did it:

First cut a piece of cute paper just bigger than the outside cover of the book. I wanted the black spine to show so it worked best to use the already straight edge of the paper so it will look neat and tidy.

Apply glue (I used a glue stick) to both the paper and the book. Press the paper into place. Use scissors to cut the paper to the size of the book, after you glue the paper on. Add embellishments to your hearts desire! You have a great gift. I think all in all I only spent about 75 cents and that wasn't today, remember I used my stash.

So use your stash and your imagination and see where they take you.

Where the heck have I been?

2009-09-26T15:56:00.003-05:00

Long story short, having a baby. It is however time to start thinking Christmas gifts. I have been thinking and thinking about these things for a few months now and have a few ideas of what I want to do. Stay tuned and hopefully soon I'll have some fabulous ideas.

Using Your "Free Gifts"

2009-04-28T13:30:00.005-05:00

Occasionally in the mail I get gift cards from different stores. Usually you have to spend $50 to get your $10 off. Sometimes however you only have to spend $10 to get your $10 off, this means if you find something that is $10 it is FREE! Today I had a Khol's free gift card for $10 off so I went shopping for something for my daughter. It's her birthday and she's outgrown all of her summer clothes. So with my trip to Kohl's I found these cute shorts for $11.99, so I paid $1.83 for these cuties.

Oh, the shoes, they are mine. I had another gift card and got them for $4.99.

Shorts regular price: $26.00

Shoes regular price: $34.00

The Cheap Chick Paid: $7.21

That's a savings of $ 52.79!!!!!

Cute Mary Jane Booties

2009-04-14T13:29:00.002-05:00

I have a lot of friends that are having babies right now. Baby shower gifts can get expensive. Who can stop at buying just one little thing for a baby. I always go overboard. So my solution was to find a great crochet pattern for booties on line. I found this pattern at Knotty Generation it was really easy and took hardly any yarn. If you use your craft store coupon for your yarn you are literally spending pennies per pair. I did embellish them with cute buttons but again you are only adding about $1 to your price. So for less than $2 you have a cute gift that will really steal the show.

Word Blocks

2009-04-10T14:02:00.011-05:00

I have often admired the blocks that people use to decorate that have cute words and sayings on them. I have gone to a few of those vinyl lettering parties and have been tempted to buy letters to make my own. However they are really expensive. So I've come up with a great looking alternative. First, scour your hubby's garage for random 2x4's. Cut them into 4" sections. Paint desired color. I used a white paint on these then rubbed on brown paint with a paper towel to give them a distressed look.

Cut scrapbook paper 3"x3 1/2" and decoupage to the front of the block. I used an actual decoupage medium, ModPodge, but you can use watered down white glue.

After you have the paper decoupaged on and it is dry you can do your lettering. There are many inexpensive stencils that can be used. You can purchase them at the craft store for about $2-$5 and they can be used over and over. Or if you are really talented you can put your letters on by hand. I however found alphabet stamps on clearance at Hobby Lobby and used those. You can use them over and over so unlike vinyl lettering your price stays WAY down.

Use craft paint to put on your lettering. You can also do a clear coat over that to seal it all, or use your decoupage to seal it. There you have it. Cute letter blocks, that can say anything you'd like. Obviously these are not the same finished product but you get the idea!

I gave these cuties to a friend for her birthday and they were free! I already had everything at home that I needed.

FreeGifting... What the Heck?!

2009-04-08T10:11:00.003-05:00

Welcome to Confessions of a FreeGifter. You may be asking yourself, "what is a freegifter", or you may already know because secretly you are already one. Well a freegifter is someone that uses the things they already have in their home to make a gift for someone. I'm not talking about RE-gifting that toaster you got at your wedding 6 years ago. I'm talking about finding things in your craft stuff, garage, closet, etc that you can re-purpose into a wonderful gift for someone.

You'd be surprised what you can find right in your own home. Sometimes my posts or ideas will be for things that are simply homemade and you will need to purchase a few items but trust me, being the Cheap Chick that I am it will never cost very much.

So become a "follower" you may come away with a few great ideas, or just do it because it will make me feel special!