Thanks to
My Sweet December for passing along this thrifty tip,
I found this fantastic product called notepad adhesive by
The Unleashed Pen that lets you make your own note pad and countless other projects. It is a glue that you paint it on the edge of any stack of papers, let it dry and TADA! your very own custom notepad. I’m so excited to start making some of my stocking stuffer for Christmas. If you like this project you should definitely go to
The Unleashed Pen on Etsy. You can buy a 2 oz. bottle for 4.99. A little goes a long way, I’m sure even at my rate of creativity this will last me a year or longer!
My first test project was to make gift tags with my Cricut. I love cutting out scrapbook shapes and tags for gifts but they end up everywhere. So I thought why not use the notepad adhesive to stick them all together. It worked great!
Gather supplies. (thanks for the great birthday present Dad!)
Cut out gift tag shape.
Stack and clip together with binder clips.
Let it dry and put on one more layer.
No more tags all over the place!
One of my gift ideas for my mom friends is this notepad of babysitter info. I made a fun little info sheet on my computer and printed it out. Then made multiple copies at the print shop so that I didn’t use up all my printer ink
Then I was able to make a photo frame with some of my scrapbook supplies. Attach the notepad and the photo frame to some chipboard and you have a very cute personal gift for any mom or dad.
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I am guessing that I am not the only one who stresses about the details of everything….. A few weeks ago I had a birthday party for my son, we had 6 little friends over. I was so worried about making sure they had fun, and had fun activities to do. And as always they all had a hoot. The biggest hit was letting them decorate their own cupcake….anyway they wanted. SO SIMPLE, but yet the highlight of the night! I got the cake mix and frosting free….and I got the candy from the bulk section at Winco, it all cost less than $2.
So yes it is ironic that I have a sign in my kitchen that ways Simplify…. I need to read it more often I guess. Many times it is the little things, and my time that my kids enjoy the most. Something I am trying to remember as we start the busy month of December!
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Right after Halloween I was able to get 15 boxes of Dots on clearance for .33 cents each. I know some of you thought I was crazy buying that many, but I knew I wanted to use them for my sons birthday party. I was able to use my thrifty find, to make a cute craft project. It was a total hit with the kids, and they were all so proud of their little turkeys.
Start out with a box of dots or any other candy.
Cover it with a tan sheet of card stock
I then used my Stampin Up punches to cut out;
- a large circle for the head
- 2 small circles for the eyes, and a hole punch for the eye middle
- a square for the beak
- round scallop circles for the turkey feathers
Fold the square to make a beak, and use the circles for eyes
Glue the head to the bottom of the box
Fold the scallops circles into a “V” shape
Glue the back part of the “V”
Glue them above the Turkey head
I had all the shapes pre cut for the kids, they had a blast making them!
I saw this idea on a email from a friend, and changed it to work for my kids.
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Yesterday my 4 year old Mckeely had her preschool Halloween party. They sang a few songs for the parents, and had a cute little party. Her teacher read the kids a story that she wrote in collage. The story was about a witch that wanted to make soup for dinner, and added all sorts of crazy things to the pot. She let the kids all add an ingredient then stir the pot. Or course she renamed all the food, like owl eyes, lizard claws, worms, and all sorts of other creepy items. The kids LOVED it, they giggled with delight, and had even more fun eating the “witches brew”.
This was such a simple idea, but it was the highlight of the party. If you have little ones at home, and are looking for a fun Halloween project you may want to give this a try. Plus it is a great way to clean the pantry!
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Thanks to Melinda for passing this along,
I saw your idea for a Halloween craft/treat, and was reminded of a (non-edible) craft my girls got to do at a recent Halloween activity. You just take q-tips, a piece of paper cut like a skeletal head, and some glue, then make a skeleton by dipping the ends of each q-tip in the glue and arranging in a skeleton position. Both my 3yo and my 18mo/old really enjoyed it!
I have to tell how much I love it when my readers pass along their thrifty ideas. I love seeing what others moms are doing, so if you have a thrifty project, recipe, craft or tip feel free to pass it along! If you have photos to go along with it, that makes it even better!
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Matts Mom came to visit last weekend. She is a pre-school teacher and always comes with fun ideas for the kids. This time she helped the kids make adorable Marshmallow Witches. She got this idea from the Taste of Home site. My kids had so much fun making these. So I thought I would pass this cute idea along.
We used Oreos, so we went ahead and used both the top and bottom. But you are suppose to just use one side as a hat brim.
Add a little dot of frosting so the marshmallow will stick to the cookie.
Add a little frosting to the side of the marshmallow, add some coconut that has been colored green for witches hair.
Add the other half the cookie, to look like a hat brim.
Add a miniature peanut butter cup
Next add a chocolate kiss
Use miniature chocolate chips for the face
Enjoy your little witch!
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We go through a lot of milk, so when a holiday is approaching, I start saving the jugs and scouring the internet for some fun crafts. Here are a few I’ve found for Halloween:
Here’s a fun idea that uses a few milk jugs! We saw this Pirate at Thanksgiving Point last weekend. You could just leave the skeleton free of any costume and it would still be fun to display on the porch!
Here are the instructions.
These are so fun! They would be so cute lining a walk-way. Easy to make as well- go
here to learn how.
Ok, so I know this isn’t a milk jug per se (it’s a Tide bottle!), but it’s still so cute! Plus, I thought you could use the same idea and make a ghost one from a milk jug! Go
here for details on making this little guy.
Want even more ideas? Family Fun magazine has a fantastic collection of crafts for young children. You can also go
here
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Even using coupons, the back to school supply lists can take a toll on your weekly grocery budget. I found a couple neat ideas on reusing items around the house for school lunch supplies and can’t wait to try them out! These look like items even a non-crafty person like myself could successfully create!
With just a few snips, you can create a set of cool, eco-friendly, reusable snack and sandwich containers from juice cartons and milk jugs. They’re food-safe, easy to rinse clean, and absolutely free, so it’s no biggie if they get tossed accidentally. Let your kids decorate the boxes with stickers and permanent markers for an even more personalized look.
1. SANDWICH BOX: Mark a clean 1-gallon milk jug as shown.
2. Cut along the lines with scissors. To make the crease lines, use a thumbtack to pierce a row of dots at 1/4-inch intervals across each side of the jug, 1 3/4 inches up from the bottom.
3. Fold the flaps at these dotted lines, then open them and fold them in the opposite direction along the lines (this will make the flaps easier for your kids to open and close). Fold up the box and add an adhesive-backed Velcro dot closure.
SNACK BOX: Use a clean juice or milk carton. Cut off the top, then cut the sides into flaps as shown. Carefully crease the flaps, then fold them down and add an adhesive-backed Velcro dot closure.
These cute bags made out of Capri Sun juice pouches are popping up everywhere. Why not make a lunch totes for your kids?! Save $ and learn how to make them
here.
I think these would also make a fantastic reusable grocery bag! This is one my friend Ginny made. {Insert shameless plug for Ginny to make me one for my birthday! }
Do you have a creative idea on how to save money be reusing an item? Please share! I love hearing new thoughts and ideas!
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Thanks to Carrie who sent me this photo of these cute little mini compositions books she got on sale for $.19 each. She then was able to decorate them, Scrapbook paper, wrapping paper, fabric, etc., are all perfect to use and typically on hand. It took her about 30 minutes to decorate six of them, and for around $1 plus supplies, she now has customized gifts for her nieces!
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I make these little gift card sets all the time, for thank you gifts. Yesterday was the last day of school for my son, so I needed a few thank you gifts for the school staff. These are quick and easy, and the best part is you can make them for less than a dollar.
You will need:
- 1 sheet colored card stock from the card holder
- 2 sheets or white card stock cut in half ( 8 1/2 x 5 1/2) to make 4 cards
- scrapbook paper ( I just use scraps from other projects)
- glue or adhesive
- 22 inches or ribbon
- paper cuter or pair of scissors
Take your colored sheet of card stock and fold it in half, to make a ( 8 1/2 x 5 1/2) Then open it up and fold the bottom part up 2 inches. Then on the middle fold cut up to the 2 inch mark. See photo above. The flaps will fold in and become the pockets for the card to set in. I only glue the outer edges shut and leave the middle edge open.
Flip the card stock over and add scrapbook paper to the front cover.
Glue your ribbon across the front and back cover
Add decorative paper, stickers, stamps what ever you want to the front.
Take your 2 sheets of white card stock cut in half, fold them in half to make a 4 x 5 1/2 note card. Decorate the fronts, I normally use the scraps from another project or scrapbook page, You can make them as simple or detailed as you want.
Once you are done tuck the 4 cards and envelopes inside the pocket and tie shut with the ribbon.
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