Every year I say that we are going to have a frugal Christmas and then every year we go over board due to poor planning. This year we stuck to our guns!
Gift's for extended family:
***Pillow cases personalized by my kids ($12 total)***
~Grandma
~Grandpa
~Nana
***Handmade "Faith, Love, Hope" Sign ($15)***
~My Brother and SIL
***$10 Game Stop GC ($20 total)***
~11yr old nephews
***Crayon Roll and Coloring Book ($20 total)***
~Niece
~Nephew
Total for extended family: $67 plus shipping (man does that add up fast!)
Gifts for my kids:
*Blank books (made with yarn and printer paper)
*Stockings (made by me out of their old receiving blankets)
*Art Box (filled with lots of arts and crafts supplies) ($20)
*Purses for the twins (made from scraps of material I already have)
*Crayon rolls for the older two ($20 total)
*Plus tons of stuff from the Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles
Gifts for each other:
*$50 limit per person
We had a wonderful Christmas :D
Showing posts with label homemade crafts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homemade crafts. Show all posts
Friday, December 30, 2011
Saturday, April 10, 2010
New Quilt Project
I am happy to say that I am almost finished piecing Hailey's quilt :) I picked out the Fabric with her taste in mind and it has almost been my downfall since she is constantly trying to steal my squares because she thinks they are so pretty. Here she is proudly showing it off....
I just got the batting today so I should be able to start quilting it this week :)
I just got the batting today so I should be able to start quilting it this week :)
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Projects, Projects and more Projects
I am feeling very accomplished right now :) I have actually managed to get quite a few projects accomplished in the last few days, some Christmas related some just projects I have been neglecting.
Number one I am 90% done with all the homemade Christmas gifts I am making for our extended family. I would post pics and tell you all about them but then it would ruin the surprise for my family who read my blog....I do promise though after Christmas I will tell you all about what I made and a breakdown of how much it all cost (cause what is the point of a homemade Christmas if it breaks the bank in the process!?)
All our Christmas cards are addressed and the snowmen picture frames are all put together I will get some pics of them up once I get the energy to actually get up and find my camera ;P
Plus I am totally caught up on our scrapbooks! That is a major one for me since I still hadn't put in the pics from LAST CHRISTMAS! lol! I knew if I didn't get them done before the babies came it just wouldn't get done so I am very happy that I got them all caught up :)
I still need to finish the Christmas gifts for the men in my family and then get everything packed and shipped and then I should be caught up on all the projects that needed to be done before the babies come! It is getting close people!!!
Number one I am 90% done with all the homemade Christmas gifts I am making for our extended family. I would post pics and tell you all about them but then it would ruin the surprise for my family who read my blog....I do promise though after Christmas I will tell you all about what I made and a breakdown of how much it all cost (cause what is the point of a homemade Christmas if it breaks the bank in the process!?)
All our Christmas cards are addressed and the snowmen picture frames are all put together I will get some pics of them up once I get the energy to actually get up and find my camera ;P
Plus I am totally caught up on our scrapbooks! That is a major one for me since I still hadn't put in the pics from LAST CHRISTMAS! lol! I knew if I didn't get them done before the babies came it just wouldn't get done so I am very happy that I got them all caught up :)
I still need to finish the Christmas gifts for the men in my family and then get everything packed and shipped and then I should be caught up on all the projects that needed to be done before the babies come! It is getting close people!!!
Saturday, August 1, 2009
How resourceful are you?
We all like to think that we are resourceful but it isn't always that way our lives turn out. For many of us in this "disposable society" it is just simpler to throw something away than to try and fix it or to reuse it in some way.
Take for example the dresser that was bought for our oldest daughter when she was a baby. Way back then we were poor....I am talking can't afford to buy groceries and pay the bills in the same month type of poor. But here we were expecting a baby what were we to do? Run to momma of course what would you do! My mother was generous enough to buy my little one an entire bedroom set, but even for her money was an impediment and we got the cheapest set the store carried. Little did we know the dresser and the crib would be in use for so many years to come :) Now almost 6 years later that dresser is still in use.....it is falling apart but it is still in use. It is made of MDF, pressed wood chips formed to make a "wood" sheet, and after lots of use you can imagine it is in a pretty bad state. We do have a wonderful (and expensive) dresser that we bought for our oldest when she moved up to a big girl bedroom set but when we moved the two girls in together there just wasn't room for it in the room so we reverted back to the "baby" dresser until they got a bigger room. We will be moving in a few months and the nice dresser will be moved back into their room and the baby dresser will again be a dresser for baby clothes, at least for a few more years. Now every 6 mths I go into the room armed with a hammer, screwdriver, and wood glue and I put the dresser back together again. And every 6 mths I think to myself why oh why don't I just go out and buy a new dresser? Why? Because I am resourceful enough to know that I can keep that dresser together for another few years and the only thing it will cost me is a wrenched back (every time never fail... you would think I would learn!). I could go out and buy another dresser but why? Because it will look better? Because it will cost me only money and not my time? I would like to think that I am teaching my daughters a lesson with that dresser, just because you can buy something new doesn't mean that it is necessarily the best option.
My next example is my bathroom floor....it is missing a rug. I *could* just go out and buy a new one but where is the resourcefulness in that? Instead it has been a year and a half and my floor is still bare. Not because I am lazy and don't want to spend the money or the time needed to fix the problem but because I am collecting old shirts and sheets to make a new rag rug for the floor. I know that it would be simpler and SO much faster to just buy one but where is the fun in that? Once the rug is finally completed and I place it on the floor there will be a sense of accomplishment that couldn't be felt with a store bought rug. Every time I see that rug I will know it may have taken me years to complete it but that I did in the end get it finished and there will be pride and love attached to that rug.
Some times the easy and the simple way is not always the best way. Sometimes it takes some time and some patience but in the end you do get a finished product that you can be proud of.
*Oh and if anyone has any old shirts they are going to throw away feel free to send them to me I need all the help I can get ;P
Take for example the dresser that was bought for our oldest daughter when she was a baby. Way back then we were poor....I am talking can't afford to buy groceries and pay the bills in the same month type of poor. But here we were expecting a baby what were we to do? Run to momma of course what would you do! My mother was generous enough to buy my little one an entire bedroom set, but even for her money was an impediment and we got the cheapest set the store carried. Little did we know the dresser and the crib would be in use for so many years to come :) Now almost 6 years later that dresser is still in use.....it is falling apart but it is still in use. It is made of MDF, pressed wood chips formed to make a "wood" sheet, and after lots of use you can imagine it is in a pretty bad state. We do have a wonderful (and expensive) dresser that we bought for our oldest when she moved up to a big girl bedroom set but when we moved the two girls in together there just wasn't room for it in the room so we reverted back to the "baby" dresser until they got a bigger room. We will be moving in a few months and the nice dresser will be moved back into their room and the baby dresser will again be a dresser for baby clothes, at least for a few more years. Now every 6 mths I go into the room armed with a hammer, screwdriver, and wood glue and I put the dresser back together again. And every 6 mths I think to myself why oh why don't I just go out and buy a new dresser? Why? Because I am resourceful enough to know that I can keep that dresser together for another few years and the only thing it will cost me is a wrenched back (every time never fail... you would think I would learn!). I could go out and buy another dresser but why? Because it will look better? Because it will cost me only money and not my time? I would like to think that I am teaching my daughters a lesson with that dresser, just because you can buy something new doesn't mean that it is necessarily the best option.
My next example is my bathroom floor....it is missing a rug. I *could* just go out and buy a new one but where is the resourcefulness in that? Instead it has been a year and a half and my floor is still bare. Not because I am lazy and don't want to spend the money or the time needed to fix the problem but because I am collecting old shirts and sheets to make a new rag rug for the floor. I know that it would be simpler and SO much faster to just buy one but where is the fun in that? Once the rug is finally completed and I place it on the floor there will be a sense of accomplishment that couldn't be felt with a store bought rug. Every time I see that rug I will know it may have taken me years to complete it but that I did in the end get it finished and there will be pride and love attached to that rug.
Some times the easy and the simple way is not always the best way. Sometimes it takes some time and some patience but in the end you do get a finished product that you can be proud of.
*Oh and if anyone has any old shirts they are going to throw away feel free to send them to me I need all the help I can get ;P
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Homemade Thank You Cards
Well we finally got to make our homemade Thank You cards for the Christmas gifts the girls received. I know they are pretty basic but I think they are cute and had to put up a pic of them. Plus they were simple to make and "free" since I already had all the stuff. The girls should have fun adding their touch to the inside....now I just have to find an envelope big enough for them!
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