Gift Exchange

The Jitterbug gals and I exchange gifts each year but we have a rule, well 2 rules. It has to be handmade and it has to cost less than 10 bucks. I look forward to this exchange every year more than any other gift. It's so inspiring to see what everyone comes up with and many ideas are copied the next year. I recently stumbled upon this blog where the blogger asked for ideas for gifts under $20.
These were my personal favorites:

1. tea
2. pedometer
3. knitting or crochet needles, yarn and a cheap instructional book
4. Road ID- for the runners, cyclist or tri-athletes in your life
5. The gift of "green"- Fill a cloth grocery bag with compact fluorescent bulbs, earth friendly cleaning supplies and a micro-fiber cloth
6. Gift Baskets- buy items in bulk and divide into multiple baskets
7. Magazine subscription
8. Biking supplies- if you know someone who is interested in a physical activity buy them items for that; ie: socks, gloves etc
9. yoga mat
10. beauty in a bag- fill a bag with new fingernail polish, emery boards and cuticle cream
    

Holiday Clearance

If I've said it once, I'll say it again...Saving money isn't all about budgeting BUT thinking ahead.

There are so many great deals after the holidays but skip the major purchases and go right for the holiday clearance. Even if you don't have an attic or basement these items can be easily stored under a bed, top shelf of a closet, or the area between the refrigerator and the wall...yes you can store stuff there!

• Buy your wrapping paper (if you use it) right after the holidays when you can get it for 75% off. And this is also what you can store between the wall and your fridge.
• Holiday packs of cards. If you don't plan on using them for yourself, say you prefer the picture holiday card variety, you can give them as a birthday gift to someone you know that has an October or November birthday with stamps and return address label already affixed. Or use the cards to make holiday crafts. I've also picked up holiday cards that said a generic "wishing you joy this year" and sent them as birthday cards, it has gotten many chuckles from the recipients.
  
• Holiday decorations. Now is the time to plan the decor you'd really like to create next year. And it's the perfect time since you are very aware of what you are missing. For me, personally, I'm looking for a holiday wreath for our front door, preferable something that doesn't shed.
• Holiday parties. If you throw a holiday party every year or an open house, stock up on party supplies now. Napkins, plates, tablecloths. And if you don't throw a party but you have kids who will be having birthday parties buy the solid red and green table cloths and napkins and use them for the birthday party decor. Red tablecloth can go along with = Spiderman decor, Ariel (little mermaid) or even a Valentine's party. Green tablecloth = Pirate themed party and draw a big X in the center of the table cloth, green goblin or even a Saint Patty's Day party. I've even seen shiny gold and silver tablecloths that would be perfect for a princess party.
• Along with the decor you can also pick up red and green candles for cheap. Create a valentine's themed gift for someone you love using the red candles you bought for 90% off, pair it with a bottle of wine and a romantic movie and also some holiday chocolate that you put in your freezer to keep fresh and then take the wrappers off and place in a decorative bowl or bottle right before delivering it and Wha-la an inexpensive Valentine's gift. Also the candles can be using in many other crafty ways by hot gluing pictures or trinkets to them and giving as gifts throughout the year.
• Books. I've found some wonderful holiday themed books on clearance that make great gifts for the next year. Whether it be cookbooks or last year I picked up a few crafty holiday gift making books and then gave them to the crafty women in my life. Even if they have an April birthday they will appreciate the book and the motivation to create and start their holiday planning. Cause we all know that the crafty folks who make their gifts start planning or at least thinking about what they will make by September at the latest.
• Gift boxes. Even if the face of Santa adorns the box it is so easy to use scrap wrapping paper that you have to cover the top of box. Adorn a bow and now the recipient can very easily open the gift and recycle the packaging for his/her next function.
• Fabric. I am already seeing signs at Joann's for 75% off holiday fabric and it will only get better from there. I always stock up on holiday fabric for many reasons, one being I like to wrap gifts in fabric to the crafty folks in my life. Plan on making napkins and place mats for someone on your gift giving list next year. You know what...a set of Everyday Holiday Napkins would be a great "elephant gift" at your office party next year. Or plan on making those stocking you have been talking about forever..OK that may be just me! :)

Plan ahead and make a stop at your local Target, Michael's or Joann's...wherever you see the 75% off holiday clearance sign blowing in the wind...stock up and save yourself some money!

Hand-Made Magnets

Gretchen and I decide in January 2006 to make these mini-magnet sets as Holiday gifts. So we've both been cutting circles out of magazines for the whole year. Sometimes, I would get to a new magazine too quickly and Greg would have to read a Time that looked like Swiss cheese.

I simply loved making these mini-magnets and hope that everyone that received a set is happy to add them to their refrigerator. In fact, when the day came to take them off my door and hand-pick them into sets I was sad to see them go.

You will need:
*3/4 of an inch circle cutter (look in the scrapbook aisle of a craft store)
*Clear drying jewelry adhesive
* 3/4 inch or 1/2 inch magnets
* Clear Florist marbles (the ones with a flat side)
* Plenty of thumb size pictures from magazines and newspapers

1.) Using a toothpick put a small amount of glue on the picture and place the florist marble on top. Squish the glue around and center the picture while you adhere them together.


2.) Glue the magnet to the back of the picture.

3.) Let dry.

I know the directions are pretty simple because these mini-magnets are the easiest craft I've ever made.

Packaging is such an important part of gifting. It was important for this gift that the magnets be presented in a metal box so that the receiver can see all the magnets at a glance.
At first the plan was to use Altoids tins (which I believe Gretchen did) but I don't like that candy so I search around and found circle tins at a local Herb and Tea shop.

I think these little presents are a perfect gift for just about anyone for Birthdays or Thank Yous. I even think they would make a great party favor at a kids birthday party or baby shower.



Please make a comment if you received magnets from Gretchen or me and let us know if you liked them.

Happy Holidays!!!!

Recycle Holiday Waste #3 Mini Scrapbook

I am so in love with how this turned out that I'm going to be making many more in the new year. I made this one as a quick gift, took me 1 1/2 hours from start to finish. I created this book for my brother and sister in law to capture a moment in their lives for the next year. So each side of a circle is a month. I wouldn't suggest doing anything larger than this, this is borderline too big but is still awesome. The next one I make I'm going to square off the bottom so that when the book is open it can be displayed across a mantel or tabletop.



So here is how I got started. I used the box that my son's Spiderman playset came in and taking my creative memories circle shape cutter I traced the circles on the box with a sharpie marker and cut out with scissors. I then cut 2 inch pieces of ribbon to attach each circle. I alternated affixing them to one side of the circle and then the opposite side so that when you fold up the album it folds like an accordion. I first attached them with adhesive and when I knew it was what I wanted I went back and stapled each ribbon to the circle.


I had to play with folding it a bit before I figured out what would be the front and back of the album. These circles need to be 2 circles that are attached together with ribbon so that the ribbon becomes the binding to keep the album closed. Once I had that figure out I labeled each circle. Since my album is to go in order of months once you open it completely. I then attached a longer piece of 5 inch ribbon to the front and back circles opposite the binding ribbon so that the album can be tied closed.
Then I let my creative juices go wild and I designed each month's circle. I only used scrap paper to keep with my recycled theme.
I hope the scrappers reading the blog give this a try, it's a lot of fun and so easy to make. I think the mini albums will make nice gifts throughout the year; birthdays, mother's day etc. Come back and share your creation in the comments section!

Luggage Tags

Yes I am always one of those people filling out my name and address on one of those airline tags and every time I do it I say to myself...Gosh I need to make these. And I finally did. And just in time for our flight to spend the holidays in AZ. I keep all the cards we get for birthdays and holidays, I used the cards left over from my son's b-day to make these cute luggage tags. On the opposite side I used scrap card stock in bright orange that I had and laminated the whole thing, hole punched the top and to attach them to the bags I used 1" binder rings, found at office supply stores. The entire project took less than 30 minutes for 4. So don't put it off another day...make those luggage tags!

Recycle Holiday Waste #2 Box

Make a Custom Box out of a Box!

There is a wonderful article in Craft magazine Vol. 5 giving step by step directions on how to make a box from trash. I think it would be so cool to make smaller boxes out of the large toy boxes that my kids' toys come in. But they say any box will work; cereal box, corrugated boxes etc. In the magazine they show the artist, Phranc, using a Bisquick box. I haven't personally tried it yet but it's on my "things to-do" list after the holidays.

Pick up the magazine this month if you love paper, there are so many wonderful articles to keep your interest instead of eating another holiday cookie.

Reusing the Pretzel Tub

Our Costco stopped selling the gigantic bag of pretzels and replaced it with a large tub of pretzels.

So? Who Cares? Why does this deserve a post?

If you saw how many pretzels my husband consumed in a month or week you'd understand. Looking at these plastic tubs I thought to myself..this can totally be used for something else. And then it hit me....STORAGE!!
Martha always says you should use clear plastic containers for storage so that you can see what you are storing. So I've come up with many storage uses for the pretzel tub.

Toys that are in rotation. Every few months I rotate the kids' toys so that they don't become bored with what they have and also to save space, we don't have the room to have every toy they own out at one time.

Yarn or fabric to store in an attic or basement so that it never takes on the smells of its environments. Also seasonal clothes for the same reason.

Random bits of scrap booking paper. You would think by reading this blog and how often I talk about using scrap items that I am a hoarder and unorganized. I'm actually so far from that. I'm borderline OCD about organizing. And if I set up a container, like the pretzel tub, to be the holder of all scrapbook paper of a certain size (are you seeing the OCD yet?). Then once the tub is full it's time to sit down and create something from the jug. Whether it's making a ton of cards or making personal embellishments for layouts or gift tags for presents.

Holiday decorations, now I can see what holiday each tub is instead of labeling a Rubbermaid box.

And that's where it ends for me. So now I need your suggestions, what would you use the pretzel tub for?

Holiday Cookie Tray Time

It is that time of the Holiday Season when we give sugary goodness to others.
Personally, I love baking cookies - but hate having too many around the house. So making a few Christmas Cookie Tray is a perfect activity for me. I get to eat a few, but give the majority away.

Here are a couple of Quick Tips to improve your cookie trays:

Add some Chocolate Covered-Somethings
It is super easy to make chocolate covered pretzels. They add nice shapes to the tray and salty flavor.

Recipe:
Cover a cookie sheet with wax paper.
Melt some really good dark or milk chocolate
Dip the pretzels and lay them on wax paper to set.

*Try the same technique with dried apricots or other dried fruit.
Or do a few fresh Strawberries!*

Use a real dish, plate or tuperware container.
If you are giving a cookie plate to a close family member use a real dish and save yourself the cost to you and the environment of the plastic or paper holiday plates.

Don't try to over do it.
2-3 cookie varieties are plenty. It is easy to want to make every Christmas cookie you love. But you might feel overwhelmed when you are staring down 6 different recipes. Instead make double batches of 2 or 3 great cookies.

Bar Cookies
I always include a bar cookie, brownie or something that bakes all at once to offset the time
of making drop cookies or cut outs.

Chex Mix
My mom makes the best fresh Chex Mix. And I simply love it around the holidays. The recipe is the one that has always been on the side of the box. CHEX MIX RECIPE. I hate the chemical taste of store bought Chex Mix There are literally dozens of different Chex Mixes you can make. There is such little baking involved with making a mix, you might want to just give out bags of it instead of cookies.

Enjoy the baking and making.
If you are too overwhelmed to have fun while baking don't overextend yourself. There is
plenty of SUGAR everywhere you look during the holidays. If you are going to enjoy making
the cookies right now pass on it this year and make sure to make it a priority next Holiday
Season.

The biggest hit this year on my cookie tray was a Black Forest Cookie. I got the recipe from Every Day Food. Please email me and I will send you a copy. There is no link online and the PDF showed up blurry on the blog, but I will happily pass it along to anyone that desire it.

Free Rice Story on NPR

In case you haven't clicked on the FreeRice.org link from the Cocktail Moms' page. You really should check it out.

Here's a link to NPR.org where you can read or listen to more about the fantastic site.

Costco Electronics Recycling Program

Did you know Costco has a recycling program for Electronics? Go to Costco.com
and click on electronics, towards the bottom of the list on the far left hand side click on Trade-In & Recycle. You can select the item you want to recycle and Costco will give you money in the form of a costco gift card for your trade in value. And get this...Shipping is free!!!

Office Party Update

The Office Party was a success! Quite frankly most people were dreading it, but in the end I think everyone had a good time. Even two of the people I doubted ever had fun, seemed to crack a smile while playing Bingo. This is an office of very competitive numbers-loving-type-A people, I knew they would get involved if there were games. And they did! Completely giving themselves up in the quest to win the Holiday Movie Trivia Quiz.

In order to keep things moving I printed the Christmas Movie Trivia Quiz on Christmas stationary. I placed the snowflake stationary on top of a double sided 4-up Bingo card and finally on top of that was the snowflake themed plate and napkin. As well as silverware, each place setting had a pen for the quiz and to cross out Bingo. Finally, I topped each plate with a candy cane for the "Change" game and "Don't say it" game. Once everyone was seated no one ever had to get up unless they wanted to. The party was all in the place setting.

I kept everything moving and we were completely done with lunch and all games in a little over 90 minutes. Many people commented that it was one of the best Christmas parties they'd ever been to, and I think they meant it.

Milk Jug Bathroom Toy Holder

My milk jug gets a second life. My youngest son goes through milk like you wouldn't believe, I often joke that if we lived in a less urban area I would buy a cow. It's that bad. I recently discovered that we can buy organic dry milk, which would save on waste but I would have to order it online because none of the health food stores in my area carry it.
So we end up with a recycling bin filled with milk jugs. I've turned this gallon jug into a bath toy scoop. I simply cut part of the jug off, opposite the handle. And then I turned it upside down and literally jabbed scissors into the bottom repeatedly to create holes for water to drain out of. Now when my hubby gives the kids a bath he can scoop all of the toys in the jug and allow them to drip dry. At one point in my life of many apartments, this would have come in handy to store my shampoo, conditioner, facial scrub etc. since in our bathtub we didn't have the storage to hold anything in the tub. I've also created one to hold gardening tools.
The possibilities are endless!

Recycle Holiday Waste #1 Mini Book

Every home ends up with a ton of waste around the holidays. Some of us secretly tuck away salvaged pieces of wrapping paper and bows and others turn the holiday cards they receive into gift tags for the following year.
I've been trying to come up with some ideas to recycle the toy boxes that we end up swimming in on Christmas morning. My kids, as most do, love the box as much as the toy and will stare at the pictures on the boxes whether to recreate the perfect Island Of Sodor out of Legos or to learn all the tricks and trap doors of the Spiderman play set. One idea is to make books for homemade coloring books or to-do lists books. This is something your child can do with you.
Measure and cut each piece of the book, front and back, and punch holes along the side. You can use either yarn or string to bind it or use book rings, found at your office supply store in the fasteners section. I used 1 inch book rings so that I can continue to add pages to the book. Fill the book with either blank pages, recycled paper or coloring pages that you print out.
Whether you have kids or not, most people are swimming in cardboard boxes around the holidays. Even adult toys come in cool boxes, for example: apple products and the much loved Tiffany box!
You can make the books out of any box and fill with blank pages to keep track of your to-do list or shopping list. The great thing is you can make it whatever size you want. I made a small one, as shown, to easily fit into my purse whether to make a note to myself or entertain my son during church.

From craftster.org

Unique contest open to all American crafters to submit their homemade, handmade American-themed creations for a chance to win a Grand Prize package valued at over $6000.

Click the image above to learn more about it!

Gift Ideas for the People Who Don't Need Anything

Have a friend or a parent or a boss that doesn't need a damn thing. Then give to someone that does have a genuine need. My favorite tip is to discover a not-for-profit that caterers to the passions of person you are trying to give the donation in honor of.

Boing Boing's Cory Doctorow's Charitable giving guide, the 2007 edition (complete list on Boing Boing) is a great example of finding interesting not-for-profits to donate to this holiday season. He suggests: Electronic Frontier Foundation, Creative Commons , Free Software Foundation/Defective By Design , and the The Internet Archive because he obviously loves the the tech/computer charities. Check out his list for the tech geek in your life.

Go to Heifer International to give a gift that is sure to start a conversation. Gifting a cow can do that.

Kiva.org is the gift that keeps on giving, as well as, the gift that keeps on letting you give. Give someone $25.00 to invest in pre-screened individuals whose lives can be radically changed by a micro-loan. The most amazing part happens when they pay you back. You can then re-loan your same investment to help another person.

Craft Site Directory has a whole page of Craft Charities.

Without a doubt there is a charity out there that your friend will thank you for donating to in their honor. And the best part is... is that they don't have to find room for it on their shelf.