I LOVE holidays! I especially love making them personalized and giving gifts (even if it isn't Christmas). This year, since I have recently learned to sew, I wanted to make my boys pillowcases. This is more of a gift idea instead of a "how to" as I am not quite skilled enough to do tutorials on sewing. I will say that I found this cute reindeer patterned flannel fabric on clearance for $3 + tax a yard at my local Joann's Fabric store. It's not pictured but I did sew a red flannel strip on the opening of the pillowcase just to give it more dimension and flare. The boys love them!!

Dates for a Year

For Christmas we have a young family on one side and a newlywed family on the other. I tend to stress about getting people just the right gifts because I want them to get use and fun out of it. So this year I decided that I would focus on Date nights. 

First, I purchased Mason jars without logos imprinted into the glass. I got them for $2 + tax at Target. Since the rings (lid) were already a solid gold I stuck with that color. Since I made date nights to span the year I decided on a traditional "New Year's" color scheme of black, white and gold.

I mounted my note to gold glittery card stock.

I tied it in place with coordinating ribbon

I purchased a pack of tongue depressors aka craft sticks at Michaels for a $4 + tax and used fine tip sharpies to write down date night ideas. I had a total of 60 sticks per jar. I made two jars total. I left the back of the sticks plain so that they could write down their own creative, unique and/or budget friendly ideas.

My date night ideas consisted of various indoor, outdoor, cheap, expensive, free, creative, seasonal, bookworm, sporty, simple, complex but most importantly FUN ideas! I scoured the internet, FB, Instagram, Pinterest and used my own tried and true ideas. Great gift!!

Throw Pillows

I just recently learned to teach myself how to sew with the help of my Husband Steve. He knows the basics of sewing and I'm his first pupil. But this project I did ALL on my own! I'm so proud...can you tell!? He was working the day I wanted to do this project and I'm not the kind of girl that waits around for help. So I figured it out on my own!

First of all I had purchased pillow inserts to go into my designer pillow covers BUT the pillows were too long (as you can see in the first picture). SO I cut the inserts down to size and sewed them shut because exchanging/returning them wasn't an option. 

After I finished the first pillow.

ALL DONE!

Floating Shelves

I've seen a lot of different refurbishment projects posted all over the internet. Especially on Pinterest. I don't mind getting my hands dirty so I thought I would start my first (of many) projects by doing the smaller one first. I got these lovely shelves for FREE at a recent relief society activity. So that made the project even better...along with the fact that I already had white spray paint in the garage. Making this project...FREE!

Originally the shelves were a brownish/wood color.... 

...so I sprayed the crap out of them and waaaaaa-laaaa!!

They make an excellent addition to the gallery wall I put above my couch!

Letter Book

 This is an older project I completed last year. My aunt contacted me and asked me if I would be willing to compile a book of letters from my extended families (aunts, uncles, cousins, cousin in laws, great grandkids, etc) and have it ready to give my Grandma for her 80th birthday. Sort of like her legacy through letters. I, of course, took it on because I love to scrapbook. So here was the final outcome and she LOVED it!

Quotation on the Cover

The Cover

 Along with the letters from all 12 aunts and uncles, 32 cousins and 12+ great grandkids, I thought to put things about my grandmother that she felt were important, things about her life and her hobbies.

I included a page of all the places she has traveled including a picture of each location

She has taught us all the meaning of being a true American and  how to love and respect Freedom

And yes, I typed up and scrapbooked each letter that was submitted to me

It was a very special experience and I was so excited to be given the opportunity to present her with it. She loved it and the memories, the stories and life lessons she has taught us all was very moving and the legacy she has left has been incredible to see...one book wouldn't do it justice.

I have done similar books for both my parents for Christmas, for my mother-n-law to read while going through her Chemo treatments and am going to be taking on another one for a fathers day gift for my Father n law. They are time consuming but the time, effort and creativity put into it but the outcome, the gratitude and the fun it brings far exceeds the stress. You can always make it easier or less expensive. There are a ton of different ways to make something like this. 

Freezer Meals

I have a slight obsession with Pinterest. It is a GREAT resource for so many things and I have learned so much from other people's abilities and talents (and have even shared a few of my own!)! With our life being in a "limbo" and money really tight I've used Pinterest to help me with different ways to save some money. One of the big budget drainers is food and since we can't live without it I needed to find a productive, inexpensive way to stretch that portion of the budget. So the answer I discovered is Freezer Meals. LOVE them!

I only took cash with me to the grocery store so that I was sure to stay within my budget. I shopped, sales, deals, and with coupons and walked away with 50 freezer meals (and good, healthy, yummy ones) for under $200!! ($168.42 to be exact!). Now I only have to shop once every 50 days and all it takes is $200 (give or take). I'm so excited about this. Not only does it help the budget but it makes my day easier too! I only have to set out my dinner to thaw and in 20-30 minutes my dinner is cooked! Nothing in my freezer takes longer than 30 minutes! L-O-V-E, LOVE IT!

I believe in giving credit where credits deserved so I will tell you Pinterest is an amazing resource but I got all my know how about freezer meals from Natalie Dixon at "A Turtle's Life For Me". She's amazing! Check her out: http://www.aturtleslifeforme.com/

I used some of her recipes and I did a lot of my own. Here's a few of my recipes I've done:

-Meat Loaf
-Meatballs
-Pork Chops marinated in Cream of Mushroom Soup
-BBQ Pork Chops
-Shredded BBQ Chicken for BBQ Chicken Sandwichs & Salads
-Garlic Bread stuffed with Mozzerella & Spaghetti
-Twice Baked Potatoes with Bacon
-Teriyaki Steak
-Buffalo Chicken Salads

They are fast, yummy, healthy and delish! I always serve each meal with veggies and fruit to kick up the healthy! I didn't link my recipes but if you're serious about getting started let me know and I'll share a few!

SUPER BOWL 2012

My Husband is a GIANT Football Fan and a lot of it is beginning to wear off on me...I could very well be in trouble! ha ha However, I really wanted to throw a Super Bowl Party (and decided to on Saturday afternoon) and with not very much time to plan and a very tiny budget I was able to pull off a fun and festive party!! Check out some of the fun, impromptu things I did...

I already had 2 plastic disposable tablecloths but cut up the white one to make the lines of the field on the green one. I also used my Cricut to cut out the field numbers. Streamers helped make the table height and add some more flair!

Shredded Brown Paper added some texture to the food table

Easiest and cheapest and yummiest treat! Chocolate dipped and flicked Pretzel Rods
Perfect combination of salty and sweet

Cupcake wrappers were used for the Pub Mix

We were rooting for the Patriots (good thing we didn't bet money on em ha ha)
Their colors are Red, White & Blue and so we had 3 Muskeeters (have all those color) candy Bags
York Peppermint Patties or Baby Ruth's would work too!

EASY and BIG HIT Chocolate Dipped Strawberries
A great way to introduce fruit in with the Wings & Salty Foods

Popcorn Treat Bags...another hit!

Blew up balloons (with my own hot air...no helium) and tied them to streamer to make a Balloon Bunch of the bar
All the Papergoods are laid out below as well as ice water for the non-soda drinkers

We had kids at the Party so each got to have their own Plush Football to entertain them
They LOVED it! Worked for kids 9mons - 5yrs

My Football Banner
It needs a lot more flair but this was my last (3am) project so we'll add embellishments and patterned paper to it for next year

The only purchased decor I used...got it at Party City for $6

Football Juice Boxes
I just cut brown scrapbook paper to size and used packaging tape to secure the paper around it (and help water proof it against the juice dribbles). I removed the straws before I wrapped the boxs and then slid the straws down the side of the brown paper so they each had their straws....kids LOVED them!