Pink Saturday - Planning Ahead

Thanks to Beverly at How Sweet The Sound, Pink Saturday is upon us again!


Puleeze tell me I'm not the only one who does this...

I refrain rather religiously from buying Christmas decorations in the months leading up to the holiday...knowing I can get the same things for a song if I hold out until December 26.



Anyone else do that?

I even begin to purchase next year's Christmas presents at the after-Christmas sales. (The problem with this money-saving strategy is that I sometimes forget I've purchased something for someone and end up buying them another gift at some point during the year.)



Tell me I'm not alone! Tell me you too start preparing for Christmas a year in advance!


I've noticed the past few years that our living room Victorian tree has been looking more and more bare. This year it was really quite embarrassing, looking rather pathetic. Too many empty green branches. Over the years most of our ornaments have broken at one point or another. When I was packing away the decorations this year, I noticed we were down to just 8 glass Victorian-style ornaments of the original 40 given to me by my mother-in-law.



Which brings me to the after-Christmas sales this year and my quest to liven up my tree next year.




I admit it. I have purchased more ornaments the past few weeks than I ever have in the past. More than I care to ever let my husband know about.

Glass ones. Plastic ones. Styrofoam ones. Of all different sizes and colors. Most of them I have plans to perk up and transform into perfect pinkiness.



On the upside, I've made all these purchases at deep discounts. Some 60% off, more at 75% off



and my personal fave: All the pink goodies you've seen here were 80% off + my 15% employee discount at Hobby Lobby.



So when hubby finds my new Christmas stash, I'll just bat my eyelashes and give him my usual line:

"But honey! See how much money I saved you?"




Now tell me, what kind of after-Christmas goodies have you found? And what projects do you have dancing around in your head for Christmas 2009?

Christmas On A Budget - Part 2

WHOOPS! While doing my Pink Saturday post, I found this post from last month that was never published. It was sitting there as a Draft. Ugh.

So here it is...almost a month late:


The biggest, most overwhelming part of our handcrafted Christmas are the Rice Bags.


I started out with 19 on my List for all the ladies in the family.


But my List has quickly expanded and now we're up to 29.


I'm making each of these with 4 separate compartments in each bag. That helps keep the rice from sliding to one spot in the bag.


Each compartment has 1 cup of rice in it.


I started out using herbal teas to add fragrance to the rice.


Apple cinnamon, lemon, chamomile, orange teas.


But I soon found the teas did not provide enough fragrance, as the bags just smelled like cooked rice when they came out of the microwave. Not good.


So then I switched to fragrance oils which worked much better. "Warm Sugar Cookies" -- ooooh so yummy smelling!





Afterthought: Now that the Holiday is over and all the rice bags have been given away, I cannot tell you how popular these gifts were. I continue to receive Thank You's over and over again for them. People tell me how soothing the bags are on their aches and pains. And with it being winter, several people tell me they heat their bags up and sleep with them or lay them over their feet in bed.

These ended up being very good gifts to give-- for their practicality and for being budget-friendly.

Christmas On A Budget - Part 3

I took a break from the mounds of rice I've been immersed in to move on to some other gifts. These are for JD's work Christmas party this week so I had to get them done. (and I'm pleased to announced they are done ahead of time, no last minute rushing. Woo Hoo for me!)

There's not really a Christmas gift exchange at JD's work. In fact, last year the only people who gave gifts besides us was the Chief and Assistant Chief. With there being 24 people to give to, we have to keep costs pretty low. Last year we spent an average of $2.50 per person. This year I was able to top that at...drumroll please... 20.8 cents a person. Can I get another Woo Hoo for me?!

With that in mind, I have to give you this disclaimer: These are meant to be very small tokens, gag gifts. Not real gifts. Not anything fancy by any means. K?

I purchased one box of ornaments at Wal-Mart. It is the box of 24 for $5.00. They were the gold "shatterproof" (aka plastic) ones. That $5.00 was my only expense for these gifts.

I removed the hanger hooks from them and painted them with Kilz primer. Here they are with one coat of primer. You can see that I used clothespins to hold them by the knobs at the top while I painted them. Didn't work so well.


Then I had the brilliant idea of putting them on skewers (putting the skewer through that hole in the top). I held each one up and spray painted it white. Then I stood them up in styrofoam to dry.

(JD retrieved 5 of these styrofoam strips for me from a garbage bin at a construction site the week before last. "Why do you want them", he'd asked me. "I don't know, just get them for me. Never turn away perfectly good styrofoam. It'll come in handy some day", had been my answer. And here we are.)


Next I put a unique saying on each ornament. Some I painted; most I just used black Sharpie marker. The sayings are all suited to each person's interest or personality and they're all tongue-in-cheek. I'm not going to post them all, but here's the Chief's:


See the black ribbon the ornament is hanging from? Well, last year after Christmas I had purchased some crystal ornaments on clearance. The problem was the ornaments hung from black ribbon, which would never go with my decor. So I removed the ribbons and replaced them with more appropriate colored ones. Here is one next to Chief's ornament on the Teacup Tree:


When I took those black ribbons off the crystal ornaments, well, you know where we're going with this. I saved them. Never turn away perfectly good ribbon. Of any color. It'll come in handy some day. And here we are....again.

I pulled out some craft/lunch bags I had left over from my daycare art supplies and -viola!- instant wrapping. Here they are, all dressed up and ready to go to the party.



Moral of the story? I found a way to make 24 gifts for just $5.00. (One last Woo Hoo for me, please? LOL) If I'd used pretty pastels, glitter, lace, rosettes or pearls, they could have been oh-so-sweet. As it is, they suit their purpose perfectly. And they suit my budget even better.

It's Called Christmas With a Capital "C"

Let's jazz it up a bit for our weekend music...

Christmas On A Budget - Part 1

We are having a "homemade" Christmas this year. We are not buying any gifts for our families, friends, or coworkers; all their gifts are being made by JD and me. This is unusual for us.

No, let's face it. This is a first.

While I've been known to make a few gifts for a few people -usually only the children or women- this is the first completely handcrafted Christmas. JD and I have challenged ourselves to look around our own home for creative uses for items we already have. We've been quite thrifty. We have purchased only very small amounts of necessary components for our otherwise-completely homemade gifts.


This is the gift we are making for each of the men...6 in all. Our fathers, brothers,and wonderful neighbor.


It is a Washer Game. It is a variant of horseshoes.



We used materials we already had on hand. The wood which JD used to assemble it. The paint which I used on the board and the washers. The carpet is a remnant left over from our daycare. And I sewed the bags for the washers with fabric I already had. Even the "cord" for the drawstring bags are shoelaces taken from JD's old tennis shoes.



The only item we had to go out and buy for these gifts were the washers. $13.49 (including tax) for 40 of them at Lowe's.

$13.49 for six gifts. Can't beat that.

Washers is a fun game, perfectly suited for family gatherings and parties. (When our neighbor saw one we'd made, he marveled over it and commented on how perfect it would be for his annual family reunion. So guess what he's getting for Christmas? :-) It can be played indoors or out, by young children all the way up to the young at heart.



In the days to follow (or weeks, depending on how far behind schedule I get), I will be finishing up more and more homemade gifts. I can't wait to share them all with you!


In the meantime, wishing you a very merry (and non-bank-breaking) Christmas season!

Carpenters Christmas Medley

I'm in the mood for a little Christmas music, how 'bout you?

The Teacup Tree

Being the good hubby that he is, the other day JD pulled some of our Christmas trees down from the attic. At one point he came down with a brand new one, still sealed in the box. I'd completely forgotten I bought it on clearance after Christmas last year. It is white (my first white one) and pre-lit with lights (a first there too).

I was delighted when he handed me the box. I set to work right away, putting it up in the dining room.

The problem is that I don't have ornaments, garland or even a star for it. At least, not the kind I want to put on it. And I'm short on time this holiday season, so I cannot dive into making the decorations I'd like to make for it.

I've been gathering little odds and ends from around the house to put on it. But then I had an idea. Since it sits in the dining room, why not hang some teacups on it? I gathered up a few of my favorite ones and -VOILA!-

My Teacup Tree

Happy Veterans Day!

To all those who have dedicated their lives to serving this great nation, I give you my sincerest, most heart-felt APPRECIATION.

Happy Veterans Day!

photo courtesy of Old Sgt's Backgrounds
click on image to enlarge to see all the details

It's Fall, Y'all!

So many of you have been sharing the touches of Autumn around your homes, I figured it was high time I joined in with a few pictures of my own. (as always, you can click on each picture to enlarge)

Usually I put out my Fall decorations the beginning of September, then change over to Halloween the first of October. But since I was so tardy in decorating this month, I decided to combine the two this time around.

Autumn and Halloween decorations don't go with my decorating style at all. But many of the decorations I have were given to me by dear friends or loved ones, so they mean a lot to me.

The three lighter ceramic pumpkins I picked up at an antique mall a few years back. I thought they would go well with the medium sized one my granddad had painted. Until I got them home and realized they don't match at all.

My granddad's hobby was to paint ceramics. I have several of them in my home. Most of them do not go with my style, but I cherish them all because they came from his heart. They are the only things I inherited from my beloved granddad; I will never let them go.

The darker, medium pumpkin here is one of those things. It's been broken a few times over the years. Each time I shed a little tear and then set to tediously gluing it back together.

The ghost standing centerstage on my mantel came from one of my great aunts after she passed away. I believe my granddad painted it and gave it to her, as he gave his creations as gifts to family members often. It has a hole in the back to slip a little lightbulb inside, but I've never added one.

On the mirror shelf above the mantel are a Frankenstein birdhouse on the left and jack-o-lantern birdhouse on the right. They were made for me by a dear friend who was also our next door neighbor in our old house.

This scarecrow leaning against a tree is another ceramic hand-me-down. I don't think my granddad painted this one, as the painting style is not his. But still I keep it because it was handed down to me by loved ones who are no longer with us. It has holes in the scarecrow's eyes, owl's eyes, the tree stump's eyes, and the jack-o-lantern's eyes. There is a red light inside which make all the eyes glow.

The shadow box in the living room wall is decked out for spookiness as well. (Forgive the flash. It's really hard to get a picture without the flash reflecting off the mirrors inside)
I love LOVE my shadowbox and change its motif often.

Another view, as seen from the hallway.

The terrifying trio and creepy tree were given to me by my mother.
I believe she said she got them at Hobby Lobby.

I think this little guy is just adorable. My mother painted him many years ago and he always gets top billing on our coffee table (which isn't a coffee table at all. It's an antique hope chest passed down from my grandparents).

I like the softer, more muted colors. And the way she did a rubbed effect in the creases and crevices, giving this cute little spook a more "shabby" look.

Who wouldn't fall in love with those droopy eyes?