Frugal Friday With Marsha -- Handmade Christmas Gifts

Everyone knows that I make gifts every year, and even more so for the past 7 years or so since joining a sewing group at my church and joining the quilt guild.  I've learned to make so many more things.

One year everyone got simple hotpads.  Another year everyone got a set of coasters.  Another year everyone got pillowcases.  Another year everyone got a lined fabric bag made with Christmas fabric and filled with little goodies.  Last year I gave everyone a microwave hotpad.

This year I am making everyone a drawstring backpack.  This is thanks to the community service project that my quilt guild is doing.  We are making the bags and giving them to First Call for Help where they will be filled with personal hygiene items and given to those in need.

Once I made the 2 bags that I signed up to make, I seen how cute they are.  I showed them to several family members who all wanted one.  You don't go anywhere these days without seeing people carrying the drawstring backpacks.

I already had a fabric drawer full, and another stack of fabrics that I had set aside just for making bags.  Much of my fabric has been given to me when a person cleans out their sewing room.  I always appreciate that they think of me!

I have a lot of bags to get done, and as usual, I am starting so late that all other projects really must be put to the side until I finish the gifts.

I have 3 out of about 25 or so done:

I have some other things that I wanted to make as gifts, but doubt that I get to those.  I wonder if next year might finally be the year that I actually work on gifts ALL year instead of waiting until weeks before Christmas to actually get started on them.

WIP Wednesday -- Time To Get Busy For Christmas

Actually it's past time to be working on Christmas gifts, but at least I do have a start.  After putting together a couple of drawstring backpacks for charity with my quilt guild, I decided making them for gifts was a great idea.
When I showed the bags, not only the children, but the adults said they wanted one.  I already had 2 stacks of fabrics put aside just for making bags.

Here is what I have cut and prepared so far, mostly working on cutting fabrics that will make bags for the guys.

Quilt guild put out the challenge kits.  They are encouraging us to do paper pieced stars.  I chose one from a book I own and just to remind myself of how to do paperpiecing, I made one of the 16 pieces I need to make the wall hanging that I want to make.

Then, I started working on the toothbrush rug made of nothing but selvage.  I probably will only work on this at the bowling alley while we bowl on our league, at least for now.  I plan to enter it in the fair next year, so I have until August to finish it.

I did finish all of the sets of microwave hotpads that I was working on, but haven't gotten any of them listed in my etsy shop yet.
My days are so full and I sure don't see that ending any time soon at all.  All I can do is do what I can each day and be happy about it.

UFO's:

Rectangle quilt
challenge wall hanging
Hexagon quilt
Emerald Island Fusique table runner
Five and Dime quilt
Brown half square triangle table runner
2 sets of doll blanket, pillows, bed and rug
Wall hanging for quilt guild
yo-yo's that need to be made into projects
black and white rail fence quilt
Arkansas Crossroads scrap quilt
T-shirt latchhook rug
Charming Stars quilt
Special crocheted prayer shawl
Fall Squares table topper
Crazy colored quilt with the five and dime blocks
Rainbow colored string quilt
St. Patricks yo-yo table topper/runner
Lexington quilt
? Fabric boxes for Christmas gifts
? microwave hotpads
? drawsting backpacks for gifts and for sale


I link up with the following blogs:

Let FamilyFun Magazine Help Make Your Thanksgiving Fun

FamilyFun Magazine is always full of awesome family activities each and every month.
So many fun ideas for Thanksgiving.  I have chosen 2 of them to share with my readers.

Festive & Funky!

Watch your kids transform your dining room into a bright woodsy wonderland with crafts to keep— and share.

mod garlands

String these cheerful strands from cabinets, the buffet, the walls, or even down the table.

What you’ll need

• Leaf templates (find them at familyfunmag.com/printables)

• Kraft paper or paper shopping bags

• Craft paint

• Wooden beads (we used 20mm ones)

• Pinecones (about 20 per garland)

• Brightly colored twine

• Clear tape

What to do

1. Print leaf templates; cut out. Trace onto folded kraft paper as indicated and cut out,

then open. You’ll need about 12 leaves.

2. Paint stripes onto the leaves and wooden beads, allowing some of the natural wood

and paper to show. Paint the scales of the pinecones (rolling them works too). Let dry.

3. Cut an 8-foot length of twine. Tie on your first pinecone, looping the twine around the

top few scales. String on one or two beads, then tie on your next pinecone. Continue this

way, spacing the pinecones 3 to 5 inches apart.

4. To add the leaves: Fold the leaf stem down over the string in between the pinecones

and beads, and secure in the back with tape.

Tip: Paint a few extra pinecones and beads to scatter along your runner for easy table decorations.

Let’s Get Cookin’

From scooping and seasoning to spreading and rolling, these recipes have tons of steps that kids can really do all on their own. (Just be sure to adjust and supervise based on age and ability!)

Tip: Remind your guests to bring their reusable containers from home to fill up after dinner!

Send Some To-Go!

Have kids make leftover bags ahead of time: Paint colorful, nature-inspired designs onto kraft-paper gift bags, and then stamp or paint on each guest’s name for an extra personal touch!

Twice-Baked Sweet Potato Bar

Prep these spuds with the kids and then let everyone top their own!

ACTIVE TIME 25 MIN.

TOTAL TIME 13/4 HOURS

MAKES 10 SERVINGS

INGREDIENTS

5 sweet potatoes, halved lengthwise

2 Tbs. olive oil

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 ½ Tbs. light brown sugar

Kosher salt and ground pepper

Toppings: maple syrup, candied walnuts, marshmallows, sliced green onions, crumbled cheese, bacon, sour cream, fresh herbs

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Prick cut sides of spuds with a fork. Rub all over with oil. Place cut-side down on a sheet pan.

2. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until just tender. Let sit 15 minutes.

3. Carefully scoop flesh from potatoes, leaving shells intact. Mash potato pulp, cream cheese, and sugar with a potato masher until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon or pipe mixture into shells. (To make ahead, cover and chill for up to 2 days. Let stand for 15 minutes before baking.)

4. Bake potatoes 25 to 30 minutes more or until golden and thoroughly heated. Serve with bowls of desired toppings.

PER SERVING (WITHOUT TOPPINGS): 169

CALORIES; 2g PROTEIN; 7g FAT (3g SAT. FAT); 26g

CARBS; 3g FIBER; 7g SUGAR; 148mg SODIUM

Get Your Spice On With RawSpiceBar

RawSpiceBar obsesses over global flavors with their spices and blends tht enable home chefs of all levels to cook new dishes and discover new flavors from a different region each month.
They freshly toast, grind and blend their flavor kits.

Each month you will receive a kit.  October's kit was Oktoberfest.  Each kit contains 3 different spices along with recipe cards.
Each month is a new region.  Recipes are globally inspired and customized for your diet--organic, vegan, paleo, sugar free or gluten free.

The spices are portioned to serve 3 or 4 and are just enough for each recipe included in the kit.
I made the German Chicken Chicken Schnitzel and it was a hit!  
No, mine doesn't look like the picture of the recipe card as I used bread stuffing instead of the bread crumbs, using what I had available in the house.  It sure was good, and as I said, it was a hit with the family for sure.

RawSpiceBar  kits are delivered to your door each month.  You can also have them delivered to someone else as a gift.

Before ordering, you will fill out your own Flavor Profile Quiz.  This tells about yourself and your diet so they will pick the right flavors and recipes just for you.
You can even customize the recipes for your diet.
You can also choose to buy add on flavors of the spices you love if you choose.

The cost is low at just $8 per month with free shipping.  Give RawSpiceBar a try by just ordering for one month to see what you think.
Or, you can save even more buy buying a 6 month subscription at $7 per month, or take the best value with a 12 month subscription for just $6 per month!

You can easily cancel at any time.  All new orders ship within 10 days and subscriptions go out on the 10th of each month.

As an added bonus, refer a friend to RawSpiceBar.  When they sign up, you get a free kit!

I have really enjoyed all of the kits that I've received.  In the past we had some awesome baked cauliflower and at one meal we had the blessing of fancy restaurant bread to serve with our meal.

The kits are fun to receive.  It's fun to try the new recipes.....and good too!
I highly recommend giving RawSpiceBar  a try today.

Disclosure:  I did receive October's spice kit in exchange for a post.  I was not compensated in any other way and all opinions are my own.

Frugal Friday With Marsha -- Halloween Clearance

Earlier this week my oldest daughter woke me up with a facebook message saying she wanted to go to Walgreen's.  I told her to go then.  She told me she thought I might like to go too.  I knew she wanted to go and check out the Halloween clearance.  I didn't figure we would find much as it had been days since my middle daughter has messaged with pictures of all of the cool stuff they bought at 90% off.

We were pleasantly surprised to find that they did have quite a bit of Halloween clearance still on the shelves.

It's always fun, and a great deal to be able to shop after holiday clearance sales.  Sadly for myself, I often don't think ahead enough to make sure I have some money to shop with.  I did have some money in my pocket.  I could have bought more than I did, and probably should have.

I ended up spending $1.45 on what you see in this picture:

I bought myself the little witch headband for a little costume to have for occasions next year.  THe candy bar was a treat that didn't last long.  I now have treat bags to fill for next year, and I will use the activity books in gift packages throughout the year.

My daughter spent $7.03 for what you see in this picture:

I think she got the better deals buying all of the Nightmare Before Christmas items.  They are popular, and didn't seem to me to be Halloween specific.  She will use these for gifts as well.  She went and picked up the other Star Wars activity books for 5 cents each after she seen that mine did ring up for that price.


This got me to thinking too about those who would rather shop online.  I did a search for Halloween clearance.  Some results didn't show much of a discount, but here are some that did, although, not as much of a discount as inside the actual store.

Amazon

Target

Walmart

Did you pick up any good deals this week?

Choose Your Framed Art Today for 50% Off

Are you looking for that special artwork for a room in your house?  You will want to check out FramedArt.com.

I was looking for a picture to hang in my sewing room.  I knew just where I wanted to hang it.  I found exactly what I was looking for and love it!

Currently all framed art is 50% off!  Plus, 60% off  My Framed Art.

Shopping at FramedArt.com is fun and easy.

Choose your print:

Choose by room, style, subject, inspiration or my framed photos.  Or, use the search box (which is what I did)

Customize:

Choose your frame.  There are several color choices available:  brown, cherry, gold, silver, colors, or natural.

Do you want it framed, on canvas, or an art print?

Select your mat.  You can get 1, 2, or 3 mats.  Choose the width of your mat(s).

There is a wide variety of colors available for the mat.

Choose your glass:

Choices are clear plexiglass, non-glare plexiglass, clear glass, non-glare glass or museum quality glass.

All framed and canvas art is custom built in the United States.

Delivered right to your door and usually shipped within 5 days.

30 day return policy if you are not 100% completely satisfied.

This is my second art work from FramedArt.com and I love both of them.  I highly recommend you check out their site and order your art today.

Be sure to check out the Framed Color Photography while you are there!

Disclosure:  I rec'd my choice of framed art in exchange for this post.  I was not compensated in any other way and all opinions are my own.

WIP Wednesday -- Just Hotpads

I never expected that a week later I would still be working on just the microwave hotpad sets.  I've been working on them daily.

My picture isn't the best, but here's where I am in the process.  2 sets are complete, 1 set almost complete, and several more in the works.

I am trying to be good and complete these sets before working on anything else.  I'm itchin' to get stitchin' on the drawstring backpacks for Christmas gifts.  With any luck I will at least have the fabrics cut for those by this time next week.

How are you doing on making Christmas gifts?


UFO's:

Rectangle quilt
challenge wall hanging
Hexagon quilt
Emerald Island Fusique table runner
Five and Dime quilt
Brown half square triangle table runner
2 sets of doll blanket, pillows, bed and rug
Wall hanging for quilt guild
yo-yo's that need to be made into projects
black and white rail fence quilt
Arkansas Crossroads scrap quilt
T-shirt latchhook rug
Charming Stars quilt
Special crocheted prayer shawl
Fall Squares table topper
Crazy colored quilt with the five and dime blocks
Rainbow colored string quilt
St. Patricks yo-yo table topper/runner
Lexington quilt
? Fabric boxes for Christmas gifts
? microwave hotpads

I link up with the following blogs:

Since Christmas is so close I want to share some of the Christmas related book that I have for sale on half.com.  Each picture will open the actual book for sale.

Frugal Friday With Marsha -- Let's Talk Coupons

It's been a long time since I've done a Frugal Friday post.  I hope to make them more regular again.
This week I want to talk about coupons!



Are you using coupons to help save on your grocery and household item spending?

I used to be what my children called a "coupon queen".  When the TV show Extreme Couponing first came on, my children kept telling me that I needed to be on the show.
Well, if you watched the show and you know me, you know that I was never able to stock pile even a tenth of what those people on the show did!  Actually, I wouldn't want to either.  If I had that kind of stock pile, the majority of it would be given to family and friends and to charity, not stored up on shelf after shelf in my house.

As of late I've really slacked off on using coupons.  Every Friday I make sure to add the Dillon's (Kroger) Friday Freebie to my shoppers card, but that's been about the extent of my couponing.  I'm sad to say that!  It's time for me to really get back to the "business" of using coupons.

There are lots of ways to get grocery coupons:
*Buy a Sunday newspaper for the inserts.  If there are enough coupons in the inserts for items we use then I go to our local news office on Monday where they allow us to buy 5 Sunday papers for $6.  Check if your local news office also might offer this deal.

*Print coupons from your computer.  Printable grocery coupons are all over the place.  There are even websites such as swagbucks, inboxdollars, and mypoints where you earn points for printing and using them!

*Store coupons.  Many stores offer store coupons, either in the store, or they will send them to you in the mail.  Get on every mailing list you can if the store offers them as if these coupons are for name brand products, the store coupon can be combined with a manufacturer's coupon.   Many stores offers coupons on their brands of products which saves you even more.

*Ask a friend to save them for you.  Lots of people don't care to take the time to use coupons, but still get them in their newspaper or otherwise.  It doesn't hurt to ask them if they would mind saving them for you.

Here is a picture of my coupon binder along with a huge stack of coupons that need to be cut and filed inside.

If you are looking for deals, simply search for what you are looking for online.  You will be amazed at the search results.  Search Facebook for coupon and deal groups.  Find good deal blogs to follow.  It's amazing the deals you will see that you would have missed out on if these wonderful people weren't out there finding them for us.

I hope my post was an inspiration to you to get out there and start saving money with grocery coupons.  I know I'm ready to get the ones I do have now out and get to cutting and sorting!

For more motivation for myself, I am including a picture from one of my many good coupon shopping trips.  I was able to get everything in the picture and only pay $10.44!

Disney Palace Pets Art Studio

Learn how to draw and paint 19 of the Disney's Princesses Palace Pets with this art studio!

The book that comes with it is 128 pages with illustrations step-by-step for drawing your favorite Palace Pets such as Sultan, Bayou, Lily, Meadow, and 15 others.  After the drawing instruction pages are blank pages for you to draw the Palace Pet.

Also included in the set:
3 watercolor paints
2 paintbrushes
Pallete
drawing pencil
7 colored pencils
fine-line marker
kneaded eraser
sharpener

The 3 granddaughters have had a great time trying to learn how to draw the Palace Pets.  They wouldn't let me take a picture of their work and they think it's not "good enough", but they are still working on it.  I will try to "sneak" in a picture or two later.

If you have a little artist in your life, this will make the perfect gift!