Christmas Coffee & Cute Cupcakes!!

Last year, I started hosting a come and go Christmas coffee for some special friends. For me, it's easier than a full fledged party at that time of year.

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Kids are welcome, some friends bring something tasty to share, I provide coffee, tea, & spiced cider plus a few yummies. We talk, and eat, and laugh.....and repeat for about 2 hours. It's a little crowded and sometimes a lot noisy, but so fun to catch up with friends I see every week and some I only see once or twice a year.

I also started the tradition of making an ornament for my attendees. Last year it was rather last minute - salt dough "teapots" painted red and decorated with a white paint pen. This year I got a little fancier, but it was even faster and easier than last year!

You just need a glue gun, mini ornaments (mine were shades of pink), mini foil cupcake liners, red berries, white paint and glitter or snow. I actually used a product called "snow paint" that has been in my stash for years! There's no tutorial - I think you can see how to do it. I'd show the blog where I first saw this, but I can't find it now!

A bounty of cupcakes in thrifted (of course!) milk glass!

Easy Neighbor & Teacher Gifts

I always like to do a little something for my neighbors at various times throughout the year. Usually at Christmas, it's something from my kitchen but then you have the expense and trouble of how to package the goodies. I went with something a little different after a reminder from a friend about her scent of Christmas recipe. It's really easy and not too expensive if you catch a sale or have an Aldi store nearby. That's where my fruit came from and the spices were on sale at my local grocery store last week. The baggies came from Hobby Lobby.

In each baggie, place one orange and one lime. You could probably sub an apple for one of the citrus if you wanted. Also add in a sprinkle of whole cloves, 2 cinnamon sticks, and 5-6 whole bay leaves. That's it! Attach a tag that instructs the recipient to quarter the fruit, add the spices, and cover with water. Bring to a boil and then simmer all day, adding more water as needed. 

While also at Aldi's, I decided to do a goodie basket for the teacher's lounge. Miss M's school has a pretty small staff, so there's enough for everyone to have a little something. Using a Goodwill basket I had on hand, I spent less than $15 for the entire basket. I included:

• 3 green apples, 3 bananas, 3 red apples
• 2 oranges and 2 pears
• 1 can of beef snack sticks
• roasted peanuts in the shell
• Hershey chocolate kisses
• Peppermint Oreo type cookies

Tied up with a bow and a note of appreciation, this former teacher thinks the basket will empty quickly once placed in the teacher's lounge tomorrow morning. For both of these gifts, I would suggest giving them early in December so the goodies are eaten before Christmas break and the scent of Christmas may be enjoyed if your friend hosts any kind of holiday gathering in her home.

Cupcake Tea Table

My mom has been gently reminding me to update the blog....sickness, travel, chores, sickness....it all adds up to less time on the computer! Anyway, I thought I would start with a post about the annual ladies tea at my church. Hostesses decorate a table for 8 using their choice of themes. In years past, my themes have been patriotic, birds (in honor of my Grandmommie's hobby), fall, valentine, and twice a vintage table. This year was my most favorite table I have ever done. Cupcakes!!

I used things from around my house  - like my Grandmommie's mixing bowl, one of Miss M's Christmas ornaments, thrifted mini muffin/tart pans, and cupcake cookbooks. All total, I think I spent about $20 for the entire table.

I blogged about the painted cupcake plates here. I was planning to leave the big ones unpainted, but when I set my table up Friday night, I knew they needed coordinating dots. A glue stick made the perfect sized circle and it only took about 10 minutes to do the entire set. And yes, they were dry by the tea on Saturday.

Brightly colored scraps of ribbon served as napkin rings. The punch glasses were thrifted for the vintage table last year - at 15 cents each they were a steal!

My favors were stuffed felt ornaments, complete with "sprinkles" and hand sewn by me! (cause hand work is the only sewing I can do!)

Another little favor was inside each cup - a small canister of sprinkles with the a label attached: "Taste and see the Lord is good. Psalms 34:8. The measuring spoons are heart shaped - $1 from the MOPS garage sale back in the summer.

As always, the food was both beautiful and delicious. The speaker was excellent. But by far the best part of my day was spending it with these two special friends. You know the kind...the ones who are almost like family?

 mushroom/woodland theme

 Snowmen are always a popular theme.

 It's a little dark, but this jungle theme has some fun stuff going on.

 LOVE red and white for Christmas!

Finally, Miss M models a birthday gift for a classmate. $2.99 for an apron from Hobby Lobby, plus fabric left over from a Valentine shirt for Miss M = a very inexpensive but special birthday gift, especially since it was a cooking themed party. We paired it with a cute little necklace from the mall.

Slate Tic Tac Toe Board

We saw this idea in a Lowe's freebie idea magazine last year and made one for my dad. He and Miss M LOVE to play tic tac toe, so this was the perfect gift for him. I bought enough supplies for a second game and just now got around to making one for our house as well.

Easy and inexpensive supplies:

slate tile (Mine was $1.97 @Lowe's)

bag of river rocks (Some Dollar Tree locations in my area carry these.)

4 felt sticky pads (Dollar Tree again, but they are cheap at other locations too.)

white paint (on hand)

polyurethane (on hand)

Draw out your tic tac toe board on the slate. I sketched my lines in white chalk first because I knew I couldn't free hand it very straight! Paint the lines with white paint and seal with a coat or two of polyurethane when dry. Miss M helped me paint the X's and O's on the rocks - 5 of each. Attach a few felt sticky pads on the bottom and you are all set. This is a great little game to have out on the coffee table or outside on the porch!

Painted Glass Plates

For once I am way ahead of the game. Each fall, my church has a "Celebration Tea" and ladies volunteer to create and host themed tables. I have participated as a hostess six times; I wrote about the most recent tea here.

I knew I wanted to do a cupcake table the next time and it is just starting to form in my mind. I bought some

acrylic glass paints last summer and Cupcake Nana used them to personalize and decorate tea cups as favors for Miss M's 6th birthday party. Well, I picked up clear glass dessert plates at Old Time Pottery at the sale price of $0.50 each!!

After cleaning them with rubbing alcohol, I drew a cupcake design on the front side of the plate using a dry erase marker - not my idea, but a tip from a fellow blogger. Thanks Nikki!! This works especially great if you wanted to put words on your plate. The only trick is to remember that you must paint the details first and let them dry, then paint over with your next color. I didn't wait long enough on a few of my sprinkles and there was a little bleed through. but hey..they are all truly handpainted!

I used the old tip of using the end of my paintbrush for the sprinkles and then the unused eraser of a pencil for the dots around the edges. After the paint dries for 48 hours, it says it is handwashable. Baking them at 325 for 30 minutes is all it took to make the plates dishwasher safe - not that I intend to put them there though! Here is a view from the back...

I have clear dinner plates from a previous table I hosted...not sure if I will paint those or not! I might just do the polka dots on them...not sure yet. I plan to use the clear punch cups I thrifted for last year's table. Now, I just need to come up with my favors and napkins...I have 7 months left to come up with those ideas!

* I used Americana Gloss Enamels that I found at Hobby Lobby for $2.99. You get 8 colors in a package and there was more than enough for both of my projects plus several more. Note they are NOT food safe which is why I painted the back side!

Almost Free Cupcake Totebag

If you have visited my blog before, you have surely seen how much I ADORE iron on fusible web. It is great stuff, especially for the sewing impaired crafter such as myself. I saw this idea a LONG time ago over at WhiMSy Love and finally took some pictures of the bag I created for Miss M.

My tote started out as a free giveaway from a MOPS convention. It was great to help carry all my stuff around while I was there, but got stuffed in my closet for longer than I would like to admit. You know the kind...canvas, thick utility straps, and some company's logo.

I drew a cupcake design onto the paper side of my iron on, then I followed the manufacturer's directions for applying it to the fabric and then on to the bag itself. I used some maybe vintage fabrics I found in my grandmother's house after her death. We used some of it at Miss M's tea party birthday party last summer. I then hand stiched around the edges and added a scatter of buttons as sprinkles. My talented buddy cross-stitched Miss M's name, which I have hidden from your view!

 



As a final touch, I cut off the ugly black straps and sewed on some pink gingham ribbon for handles. She uses it to carry her Bible, pencil, and assorted other items to church on Sunday. I am not sure how well the ribbon would hold up on a bag that received heavier use.

To see the inspiration and more of a tutorial post, check out WhiMSy Love.

Cheap and Easy Birthday Gifts

Just a quick and easy gift idea that we made for two special friends who have birthdays very near Mr C. I painted unfinished 4x6 frames from the Dollar Tree with a glossy black. We added pre-painted wooden cutouts and personalized them before attaching to the frame with hot glue. We also added a $5 Blockbuster card for each brother. Total cost for TWO gifts: $13, not including the paint we already had on hand. So easy and the best thing about this project is that is can be adapted for just about any interest/color scheme! I had planned to include a photo of the the birthday boys and my children in the frame, but dork that I am....the best photo is vertical! Wouldn't look so good in a horizontal frame, would it? Oh well, I see this family often so I am sure I can get it taken care of soon.

Christmas Catch Up - Part 2

As the coordinator of my MOPS group, I like to give my steering team a small gift at Christmas. With 12 ladies I can't afford anything too expensive. I learned about Wordle from a fellow blogger. It's a free site that constructs a "word cloud" using text you type in. For my gifts, I asked each steering member to list a few words or a phrase that either describes each leader or is something you admire about her. They had about a week to do this and then I typed in the text. I printed them out on glossy white cardstock and framed them in simple frames. They were originally unfinished so I gave them a quick coat of glossy black. This gift idea has lots of possibilities (grandparents, end of year teacher gift...) and I am sure I will be using it again. I found Wordle incredibly easy to use and enjoyed playing around with the colors, fonts, and word arrangement. Hubby helped me size them to a 5x7 - which took some work on his end. They actually print out 8x10 directly from Wordle.

Here's a shot of my finished project, tied up with ribbon left from Christmas past. I presented the gifts to my leaders at a luncheon at my home just before Christmas. We decided it was both encouraging and humbling to know how others saw us.Next up...gifts for the women who graciously care for our children during our MOPS meetings. Again...small budget but unlike the above gifts, it doesn't come out of my personal pocket. I learned about a great deal from author Richard Paul Evans on Money Saving Mom.(Check her site out....tons of free deals, coupons, and thrifty ideas in an easy to read list.)For a limited time, he was offering 20 copies of his book The Christmas Box at a cost of only $15. This fit our budget perfectly. I even ordered a box myself to give as gifts to other folks. The little silver charms you see are elastic bookmarks. If you can cut string and tie a knot, you can make these. This link will give you specific directions, but basically:

1. Cut a length of elastic beading cord to 15 inches.
2. Slid your charm to the middle of the cord.
3. Tie a knot above your charm.
4. Tie a knot to secure the ends.

That's IT friends! I found a pack of 10 heart charms 50% at Hobby Lobby ($1.50) which made these little beauties ring in around $0.65 EACH! Can't hardly beat it! There are lots of charms to choose from, making this easy to personalize for any reader you know. The motorcycle one in the picture was one Miss M made for my dad.
There you have it...two economical and easy gift ideas. I also learned that LOTS of people like homemade fudge. I should know...I made and gave away 6 pounds of it last month!
Coming to a blog near you....Mr. C's thrifty Cars 3rd birthday celebration!

Witches Shoe Party Favor

****WARNING**** Don't click on my photos to enlarge them! My poor magic marker coloring really shows up. Also, I did remove the big glob of glue off the toe after I took the pictures!

I saw this fun idea on a totally cute blog and had to try making one for Miss M's teacher. I was out of black card stock but refused to go to the hobby store because it has been raining buckets at my house today. I improvised and used a black magic marker on gray card stock. Also, I could have purchased some themed ribbon and probably some charms, but I used what I had! Other than getting a little high on the fumes, I think it turned out pretty good for a first attempt. I didn't make the liner either - just lazy I guess!
before assembly...
Next time though, I think I will try using glue dots - less drippy that way while you are waiting for it to dry - hence the baby clothespins. Also, my pictures don't show the cute little tag that a bushel and a peck added. I took her suggestion and it just ups the cuteness factor by about 50%. It says:

Trick or Treat
Witches Feet
Mrs. XXXXX can't be beat!
Happy Halloween!

If you like this idea, be sure to go here for a shoe template. Not sure who the original idea came from, but it really is precious and could easily be adapted for other themes. It would make a great favor for a princess party, don't you think?

Tattooed Soap Tutorial

Anyone who knows my children in real life probably has seen them sporting a tattoo at least once. They both "wash around" their tattoos so that they last for WEEKS people! So long in fact, that our pastor once asked if they ever took a bath because Miss M had the same tattoo for at least two Sunday mornings in a row. I digress...back to the reason for this post....doesn't this look like a fun project?

I just happened upon this fun little blog called Dollar Store Crafts and she has some fun ideas! I think Miss M and I will try the tutorial and give it a test run for a craft at her kindergarten fall party later this month. (I am the room mother...) If it proves too hard for the class, we could always make them ahead of time as a favor...better than just giving them more candy, don't you think? We'll let you know how they turn out!