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.

Halloween Fun

 Even though Mr C doesn't look too happy in most of these pictures, he was thrilled with his costume. He did however elect not to wear the fuzzy mustache that came with the costume. "It's itchy and how will I eat a hot dog?" Good point Mario!

Since I sold 3 outgrown costumes before Halloween, I was able to feel OK about spending $20 on the Mario costume. We had a total of 4 Marios at church Sunday night, so I am pretty confident I will be able to sell it with no trouble next fall.

 Annie did a little singing for a few lucky few! Her dress a thrift find for $3 this summer, with the addition of my gold locket, her black Mary Jane's, and $2 for a can of red hairspray on her hair which was curled the night before. It washed out surprisingly easy too.

 The winning car at trunk or treat. Skippy the dog was later added as the inmate -in a full doggy costume. Really, how can you compete with a cute pup?

 2nd place Fiesta!

Our car "Parkway Perk" coffee shop - a play on the name of our church. As in the past, we didn't spend much on our car, using things we had around the house!  Click here for a peek at our trunk from last year.

 We served hot chocolate with whipped cream and sprinkles along with candy of course!

 The menu got lots of attention.

 Phineas! (The kids and I clean out the guts and Dad does the fancy stuff.)

 

A night shot just before we went home. See our luminaries on the ground? They had coffee scented tea lights in them - we worked on ALL the senses! 

 Day 2 of fun - Halloween Night! Since it was a school night Miss M opted for a simpler costume. She wasn't 100% thrilled with the flour on her face, but the mixing bowl "treat bag" made her happy! Mr C stuck with Mario.

Not really sure what's she's going for in this shot - Iron Chef maybe?

Fancy & Frugal

My real life friends know I love a good bargain, so I just had to post a few pictures from a recent wedding our family attended. Miss M is sporting a sparkly dress in crimson velvet that we scored from Kohl's during an end of spring sale. The original price was $50. It was 90% off, making it $5!!

Not to be outdone, Mr C is dressed up in a totally free-to-me 3 piece hand-me-down suit, which included the shirt and tie. With shoes from Payless and Target, they were dressed to the nines and we only spent pennies!

The reception was baseball themed, so guests were invited to pose with various props for candid shots. My wee ones took advantage of it and posed with their "just like family, but not really" aunts.

Glam Girl's Room on a Budget

Old outlet covers..made new with a coat of silver spray paint. We also painted the floor vent and the drawer handles.

A yellow wall becomes turquoise!

 She already had the pink canopy (a $3 garage find a few years ago). The flower hooks and name above the window were purple and pink. I repainted all the purple parts turquoise.

 Switch plate cover...glammed up with turquoise paint and the same rhinestones as the lamp. It makes me happy that she wanted the vinyl puppies on the wall...lets me know she is still a little girl and not growing TOO fast.

 Old hand-me down mirror freshened up with a coat of what else.....silver spray paint!

 A bit of hand-sewn ribbon detail adds a little sparkle to the curtains.

This bulletin board has been several colors in its lifetime...turquoise with a spray of glitter gave it new life. The two over the door jewel hooks add a little more storage for all kinds of things.

So, the total breakdown of the room redo:
bedding and curtains: $70, but it was a birthday gift from Cupcake Nana.
gallon of paint: $20
ribbon: $2
silver spray paint: $5
nightstand table: $20, plus a few materials already on hand
light switch cover: $5
package of rhinestones: $3
lamp: $10
trim for lamp: $5
vinyl puppies: $10
turquoise spray paint: on hand
total for room: $150
seeing the pleasure on your daughter's face of a job well done: priceless!
We still have a few little things to finish, but she is very happy with the results and proud of our work. I have caught her several times just sitting in her room and looking around.  Happy (early) birthday Miss M!

Thrifty Lamp Re-do & Candlestick Frame

Yes, I am finally posting after a blogging break...mostly for a lack of time more than anything else. Summer has finally arrived in the Midwest and the heat is driving my family indoors, so maybe I'll get caught up a bit now! One project that has been keeping us busy is updating Miss M's bedroom decor. She turns the ripe old age of 8 in 2 weeks and has been after us to redecorate her bedroom for several months. It's almost finished, but here's a sneak peek.
I picked up this lamp at a thrift store for $10 before we even started on the room. At that point, she knew the main color would be turquoise and I thought the silver base and acrylic "jewels" could work in the room.

Here's the before....perfect size, marble base good for defending yourself against bumps in the night...

Now, with a coat of turquoise spray paint left from this awning project and some hot glue action paired with sequined trim and rhinestones at a total cost of $15 for the lamp and supplies...

I will confess that the shade is a little marbled looking when the light is on, but the effect is perfect for Miss M's room. After I completed the lamp, I saw fabric spray paint at Michael's so I may investigate that for future projects. I also made the little frame in the photo...more details about that later but it probably only cost about $2 and took about 2 minutes to make!

Finally, a full shot of the new bedside table made by Miss M's daddy. If she ever gets the floor and dresser cleared off enough I'll take some more pictures!

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.

Candlestick Redo

Thanks to Sarah at Thrifty Decor Chick, I have been introduced to Rust-oleum Metallic Spray paint in oil rubbed bronze. I have been trying it on several projects around the house, but here's my favorite one so far.

My mom picked up these 3 ceramic candleholders at a thrift store for $1 each - notice one has an original price of $9.99. They were in great condition without a single chip.

I tend to favor warmer tones in my home and these were just a little too white. So they sat and sat in the basement all summer long. Finally, inspiration hit! With two coats of rubbed oil bronze and a few apple pie candles from Walmart, they are a perfect fit in my living room. I just hope my mom doesn't want them back when she comes to visit next month! 

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!

Coldstone Deal

It's hot where I live....REALLY hot - just like a lot of places in August. I heard about a great coupon from Coldstone that will help cool you off! Two Like it size create your own (ice cream + 1 mix in) for $5. The coupon expires on 9/30.  You have to download the coupon program to print anything, but it just takes a second and then you are ready to start saving!

Ice Cream Shoppe 7th Birthday

Well, my girl has gone and turned SEVEN already! I can hardly believe it. Once again, she decided on a theme months ago and stuck with it! I really followed my "party rules" to the letter this time - even finding leftover poster board in the basement! One party goer said "Wow! I didn't know Miss M had her own ice cream shop!"

As is our tradition, a silly pose is always required! Some of us have had more practice at this than others!

This doesn't show off the spoons very well, but they were so cute! The handles are each shaped like an ice cream treat: a fudge bar, banana split, milk shake, and ice cream cone. I watched and waited at my grocery store for SIX weeks until I knew the store would mark them down. They finally did and I scored them for 50 cents each down from an original price of $1/spoon. Dollar Store clear plastic jar were filled with sprinkles and bear a label reading "It was so sweet of you to come to my party!" We also found lip gloss in ice cream cartons at the $ Tree! So perfect!!! Miss M also added a cupcake eraser from Aunt J.

Another Miss M, Poppa, and Miss M. Trying to scoop "ice cream" into a dish....a lot hard than it looks! The girls had lots of fun watching one another on this game. These are also the ice cream dishes we used at the party. I bought 12 at Deals a few months back....$1 each of course!

Miss M and I made the awnings, with help from our bloggy friend Nikki. She has the lowdown on how to make the freezer paper awning and some other great ice cream party ideas. We also made the crepe paper ice cream cone. Cupcake Nana painted two "shoppe" signs. The one on the front door also says "OPEN". The effect was not lost on Miss M or me!

Mr C was so serious about helping churn the vanilla ice cream. Everyone took a turn, but Daddy finished the job!

A party goer giving her sundae order to Cupcake Nana. Bananas, strawberries, sprinkles, chocolate syrup, M&M's, chocolate chips, gummy bears, marshmallows, cherries, and of course whipped cream were the offerings.
Miss M's new favorite color is turquoise. (Notice the cupcakes and signs/awnings - even her nails!) She was so pleased to find Kool-Aide that "matched"! The girls and Mr C decorated soda jerk hats while taking turns churning the ice cream.
I received an ice cream cone cupcake pan for Christmas from my SIL last year and it was just the ticket for this year's party. (Cupcake Nana scored the cake stand decorated with ice cream treats!! for $2.50 at Goodwill.) Mr C spied the ice cream shirt a few weeks before the party and that was his gift to Sissy. Unlike her Christmas gift, he didn't tell her what it was this time!
After the party, Miss M said "THIS was the best party yet! I love homemade things...especially things you and Nana make for me." She is a girl after my own heart.