Christmas Window Silhouette

St. Nick is on his way! I love doing these window silhouettes since we've been in apartment. It's the biggest space to decorate so I take advantage of it. I love looking at regular store window displays. I got my inspiration from this image that is posted below and tweaked it to my liking. I have two girls so the second child that looked like a boy had to be changed to a girl. I added a pony tail with a bow. BAM! A girl appeared.  I loved the cute little dog but we have a Dalmatian. I did originally change that too but when I started placing the pieces the dog didn't fit because of the divider between the windows. Overall I love how it turned out. I had estimated on my Halloween display that I would get several displays out of one roll of the magic cover but this is it. I am officially all out. If you want to see more details about how I do these head over here to the Halloween silhouette post.

DIY Drummer Boy Silhouette Handmade Christmas Tree

Litte drummer boy and silhouettes was the theme I was going for this year for my Christmas tree. I didn't want to spend a whole lot of money since I didn't even think we were going to be in an apartment at Christmas time. But, we were so I had my husband's office Christmas tree pulled off the moving truck as all of stuff went into the storage unit that I wouldn't be able to touch until it actually went back into a house....just in case we were. So thankful I did.

I also did a little DIY wall art for above our tv and some gift tags to jazz up the brown kraft paper I wrapped the gifts in. I liked the paper. It went along with the natural theme I was going for. The kids also got to string real popcorn for a garland, which I think might be an annual tradition now. Tip on that: use dental floss it slides easier.

Blowing Christmas Wishes Your Way - Frugal Neighbor Gifts

 I looked high and low for red and green gumballs.  Just when I almost had given up I found them at HomeGoods and they were in the mason jars.  Score and they were $4.99. 

I removed the original label and added a vinyl letter for our neighbor's last name.  I then added a cute little tag that read "Blowing Christmas Wishes Your Way". 

 Here is a close up of the Blowing Christmas Wishes Your Way Tag.

Frugal Neighbor Gifts: Banana Nut Bread - Again!

I made banana nut bread again this year for a frugal neighbor gift but I also include the office staff at my daughter's school. The recipe makes 6 mini loafs so I thought why not. I am a creature of habit and I like to do stuff that I know works and is easy. They are super cute if I do say so myself.  These loaf pans you can find at Michael's for a $1.  So far they have brought them back year after year. I decided to do all red loaf pans this year and add in some green ribbon I really liked how they turned out, again!

Click here for the previous post that includes the recipe.

Santa Baby (Mom Version)

Santa Baby the mom version is one of the funniest things I've read in a long time. Seriously she nailed it! It's always fun to start the season off with some humor. Originally from LetMeStartBySaying.Blog.com. 

Christmas 2012

Merry Christmas!

Chirstmas In the Virgin Islands

Christmas was a little different this year. We we went to the Virgin Islands. Here is what it looked like from the road above going down to our resort. Down below to the left where the beach is is where the resort was. Our room was right on the water with ocean views and the beach right outside. So nice when you have kids. 

 The girls enjoying the ocean.  Payton's favorite part was that she got to wear summer clothes!

Emmy didn't really like the sand on her feet.

 After she brushed it off she relaxed.

There wasn't a lot of touristy things to do on the island....but there were the beer drinking pigs. I was desperate. We were there 8 days and there is just so many days you can lay on the beach, so I thought what was there to lose? Here is Payton buying the "non-alcholic beer" for the pigs to drink. She thought she was big time.

Here is my husband posing for the picture, not realizing the pig was about to snatch the beer from his hand.

T.J. and the baby were not quite expecting the beer to spew.  The baby loved it!  She laughed and laughed.

The pig guzzling the beer. He did it in about 3 seconds....literally.

When he is all finished he spits it out!  Crazy!

Payton was too scared to give the pigs the beer so my husband lifted her up to see him in his pen.

Here is T.J. trying to touch the pig's snout.  Did you see how big that thing was?  He is crazy!

Payton enjoying the water.

Emmy in her Santa hat on Christmas day.

 

Sisterly love.  They loved this hammock.  It was just below our room.

Santa hats for everyone on Christmas.

Payton in hers.

We did Christmas before we left at home.  Emmy loved the tree.

Milk and cookies.

I tried to get a good picture of the girls reading "The Night Before Christmas" but Emmy was not having it.

Pottery Barn Santa Clause Canvas Knockoff

Well here is my first attempt to recreate a pin I did off of pinterest.

It is no way perfect but good enough for me.  I kind of went off of these directions from a pin I pinned on pinterest. I am unfamiliar with the grid system she refers too but I guess it would work.  I just winged it and didn't have as great of results as she did but again....good enough for me. 

Materials: I used a large piece of wood I got from Lowe's and had them cut it down to a 48 x 48 square.  I came up with this number based on the space I had to fill above my mantle. You could use anysize you wanted that is the beauty of it.  I had originally wanted to use a canvas this size but Michael's didn't carry that size and Hobby Lobby was too far.  I think that the canvas would be an excellent option.

Next, was a pint of mistint paint at Lowe's used to paint the board a solid color.

Finally, I used a pencil to sketch the outline and  3 oil based sharpie to color it in.

So for under $30 dollars I had a custom piece of art work to put over my mantle instead of the $299 price tag from Pottery Barn. (Which apparently was sold a few years ago and they didn't carry it this season even if I had wanted to fork over that much cash....which I wouldn't have.)

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Homemade Photo Memory Game

One of my favorite games growing up as a child is memory.  I loved it.  So I decided to make a photo memory game for my daughter for Christmas.  It's very simple and you can do in an afternoon.

You will need scrapbook paper, chip board, mod podge, foam brush, card stock (or copy paper), and some sort of cutting device (I used a paper cutter I already had, but you can use an exacto knife of box cutter to cut your chip board. 

First, you need to cut your chip board.  I cut mine 3x3 but I think the original memory game is 2x2 squares. I cut 20 squares but you can do more or less depending on the age of your child.

Second, you need to cut your scrapbook paper the same size as your chipboard squares. 

Third, print off 3x3 photos on your home printer.

  Fourth, modge podge your scrapbook paper to your chipboard and let dry.

 Fifth, flip over and modge podge your picture on the other side. 

Lastly, I modge podged over the surface of the scrapbook paper and the photo to seal it really good. 

Then, wrap up for Christmas morning.

Frugal Neighbor Gifts: Banana Nut Bread

Here is my frugal neighbor gifts this year.  I went with banana nut bread because it is so simple.  I  went to Michael's and bought these cute little mini loaf pans for $1. Then baked the banana nut bread using this recipe:

Ingredients

• 2 C. Sugar
• 3\4 C. Butter
• 3 eggs
• 1 1\2 tsp vanilla
• 2 C. mashed ripe bananas
• 1\2 C. sour cream
• 3 1\2 C. Flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 1\2 C. chopped pecans 

Method

Preheat Oven to 325' F. Lightly butter & flour 2 8" x 4" loaf pans (or 6 mini loaf pans) - - baking time for mini's 50 min. In a large bowl, cream sugar, butter & vanilla until fluffy. Stir in eggs one at a time, beating with each addition. Stir in bananas and sour cream. In a second bowl, combine flour, soda, baking powder, cinnamon and walnuts; stir into banana mixture just until combined. Pour into pans. Bake about 55-60 min for large loaf pans or 50 min for 6 mini loaves. Ovens vary - check bread with toothpick, when it comes out clean remove from oven - cool on wire rack.

I wrapped the loaves in cellophane, wrapped them in Christmas scapbooking paper, and then tied a ribbon around them.  

Note: They also had these in white and red which would be perfect for Valentine's day or any other time for a quick gift.  I would stock up on these now. I found these with Christmas baking accessories.

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Personalized Dog Bone Biscuits

Here are the personalized dog bone biscuits I made this weekend. In our family our four legged friends ARE part of the family.  With the being said I have 6 dogs I buy for and it can get expensive even if you shop sales.  So I thought I would be creative this Christmas and make dog bone biscuits for each of the dogs.  I have NEVER attempted this before so I wasn't sure if they would turn out but they did.  I also wanted a simple recipe because remember I wanted my doggie friends to have a frugal gift.  I searched and searched and all were calling for all sorts of special ingredients (none of which I wanted to buy).  Then I found this:

Simple Dog Bone Biscuit Recipe

*1 1/2 C beef broth or chicken broth

(I used bouillon cubes since they are cheaper than beef/chicken broth in the can/bottle)

* 2 C Whole Wheat Flour

*3/4 C Peanut Butter

*1 T Baking Powder

* Cookie Sheet

Preheat oven to 350 degress.

Mix the ingredients in a large bowl.  You want the consistency to be similar to cookie dough so add more broth or flour as needed.

Knead the dough and roll it out on a flour cutting board.  You want to have the dough rolled to about a quarter of an inch in thickness. Note: I think I may have cut mine a little thick so I had to increase the cooking time.

Pick your favorite cookie cutters and cut away.  I used a dog bone I already had and a cat cookie cutter I picked up at a garage sale this summer.  And I thought the cat was fitting since most dogs love to try and eat cats.  But I don't condone such behavior from my dogs :) We love cats too.

I didn't show how I made the personalization in the dog biscuits but I got creative and used my William Sonoma message in a cookie cutter set and taped the letters together and used them to stamp each dog's name in one of their biscuits.

Place the biscuits on a greased pan (I used a silpat) and cook for approximately 20 minutes.

Note: I also doubled my recipe to allow for 6 doggie bags. Each dog received 3 dog bones (1 personalized) and 1 cat.

May Your Christmas Be Merry And Bright Sprite Label

Remember when I posted about this inexpensive hostess idea here.  Well I followed through with one of the projects I wanted to do and it was easy peasy and super cheap.  I bought the Sprite I think at Walmart on sale for 88¢ a 2 liter.  Used card stock I already had and used wired ribbon that I already had. I like the wired ribbon best because you can shape it and it stands up better.  So for 88¢ I had a practical and cute hostess gift.  By the way I had three parties to go to but you could take more than one if you wanted.  Make sure you go here for the labels since they are not my creation and I cannot take credit.  I did alter them a bit though in gimp (a free editing program) to include "The Jones Family" at the bottom of tag. 

Inexpensive Hostess Ideas!

I love this cute little freebie available here.  I'm going to a pot luck dinner this weekend and thought this would be perfect to bring.  I usually always bring wine or champagne but since I'm pregnant I thought it would be more appropriate to bring Sprite instead.  All you have to do is print out these pre-made labels and attach a cute little bow to a bottle of sprite.  I enlarged my "May Your Christmas Be Merry & Sprite" label about 25% because I think the creator of this is using individual bottles of sprite and I will be bring a 2 liter.

This is also a cute idea for a Betty Crocker individual dessert.  I know there are a lot of couponers that may have these stockpiled and this would be a great way to dwindle that pile down a bit.  Click here to print your pre-made labels.

White Christmas Pictures!

That is 9 1/2 inches in our front yard!

Merry WHITE Christmas!

We were lucky enough to get a white Christmas!   This is very unusual for our area.  We were also issued a blizzard warning on Christmas eve which was a first for Tulsa County.  I measured in my front yard this morning and we had a total of 10 inches of snow.  Luckily, I bought a sled for a Christmas present and we were able to go sledding after our Christmas dinner.  Even our dalmatian Callie got to hop on and take a ride down the hill. 

I hope you are getting to spend time with your family and celebrate the birth of Christ.

Putting in Her List to Santa!

My baby is getting so big.  Look at her talking to Santa.  Last year she barely wanted to go up there.  We love the tradition of going to talk to Santa.

DIY Bows from Magazines!

Recycled magazines into bows? I think I'll try it. I usually never put bows on my gifts even though I do like them.  So I thought I would give this a whirl.  I did have to go to an office supply store to buy the brads because Walmart and Walgreens did not carry them.  I bought brads even though some other posts I have seen use glue dots or hot glue.  Because if I have to do too much work I usually won't finish the project.  I also just bought a cutting mat and rotary cutter which made it alot easier too.  But, you can do it the old fashioned way with scissors or use those nifty paper cutters that cut paper in a straight line.

Check out my bucket of bows.  This is addicting!

Inexpensive Teacher Gift!

Isn't this a cute idea!  All you need is a shadow box which you can get at Michael's or Hobby Lobby (with coupons), a box or two of crayons, and some white card stock.  Chop up the crayons for the desired name, glue on the card stock, and then write the teacher's name to the side.  I don't like my own handwriting so, I would probably run it through the printer and use a font I liked.

This is such cute and simple homemade teacher gift.  I promise the teacher's will love it.  I know I would have.

Get a Free Call From The North Pole!

Get a free call from the North Pole from ChristmasDialer.com.

Make this holiday special for any child with a merry phone call from Santa!  For Free!

There are three different options to choose from for Santa's message.  There is even one that says, "I've heard you have been trying to be good, but sometimes you get into a little trouble. Just try your hardest to do what is right so I can bring you something very special for Christmas."  That's hilarious!

We will be placing our call for TONIGHT!

Update:  We got our Santa call this evening and I didn't realize that the call would be coming immediately, like in 30 seconds after you press enter after you have chosen the message you want played.  

My daughter was kind of shocked because we hadn't prepared her for the call.  So, I would suggest talking to your child before you place the call so they will be expecting it.  It is a recording so, it only plays once and then it over (limit 1 call).  I know this probably sounds like common sense.....so, I guess I don't have any:)  I hope your child enjoys their own Santa phone call.

Inexpenisve Stocking Stuffers: Crayon Roll

Remember this post I did previously?  Well here it is again and I think these would make perfect stocking stuffers.

I first saw this idea at a craft show and I think they were selling them for $10. I thought.....I can make that for less and I did. I made one for $2.50 and I made another one for a gift and used the crayons that I had price matched for .39¢/each to put in them. I found this tutorial here from a wonderful crafty site called "Make It and Love It". I found it simple to follow because of the pictures. I am a visual learner, obviously.