Frugal Homemaking: holiday

Showing posts with label holiday. Show all posts

Dec 6, 2012

Crochet Crazy {Nesting Syndrome!}

The countdown to the expected arrival of our latest addition is now in the single digits. I have been stressing a bit about labor and delivery, and crocheting has been a great tension reliever for me. As the queen of cheapo, I never pay for a pattern, so all the patterns listed here are available for free on the internet.

I was comforted greatly when I found this verse in Isaiah 41:13, "For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee." I have quoted that verse a lot in the last few days!

Here is the majority of my recent projects:

Owl Pattern

Newborn Hat: no pattern

Gray Hat pattern

Pink ribbon hat: no pattern

I gave this one to a friend who is battling a second round of cancer and chemotherapy. Another made-up-as-I-went, so no pattern for this one.

This was my inspiration, but I'm too cheap to buy a pattern. I just eye-balled it.

Mary Jane slippers

No pattern, but this one was my inspiration.

Queen Anne's Lace scarf pattern (requires free sign-up with Ravelry.com)

For my niece, and again no pattern

For my nephew, and no pattern, but here's something similar!

For my oldest nephew, who is consumed with airplanes and flying right now. No pattern for this one either.

Mar 17, 2012

A Lucky Breakfast {Shamrock Pancakes}

I used a regular pancake recipe with a bit of green food coloring thrown in. I had an old squeeze bottle with a large hole to shape the shamrocks. It's harder than you think!

Eating with her fingers!?! Where is her mother?!

Feb 17, 2012

Something Fun Friday {Valentine's Day Cards}

Today I'm guest posting over at Cotton+Wood, a dear friend's sweet blog, so please go check out my love story!

In other news, the girls had a fabulous time making Valentine's Day cards one afternoon. Grace really has stick people down flat. She's even starting to accessorize their faces with smiles in different colored markers. These little milestones are so fun to watch.

Leah, on the other hand, has started accessorizing her own smile with different colored markers. Lovely.

Feb 14, 2012

Valentine's Day Pop-Up Card {Tutorial}

I saw this sweet card on Pinterest and wanted to try my hand at recreating. I started to click on the link to see if there were more detailed instructions, but the tab popped up with Chinese characters, so I just closed the browser down. I was afraid it might be a virus. I just used the illustration as shown, and dabbled till I got something close to what I wanted.

Here's what I did:

Open a new Word document. Using Arial Black font, size 130, I typed "U" and "I". Place cursor between U and I. Type the U before I because you'll be cutting it from the back.

Step 1

To make the heart, go to Insert > Picture > AutoShapes > Basic Shapes (the button with the square, heart and triangle) > Heart Shape.

Step 3

In the drawing box that appears, just click and drag your cursor till you get a nice size heart shape.

Step 4

Crop the drawing box to tightly fit around the heart by grabbing the dark corners and sides of the drawing box. The box should settle itself nicely between the U and I. The height of the heart should be 1.28" and width works well at 1.45"--format the heart by right-clicking withing the drawing box.

Step 4

For cutting, we just need the outline of the letters, so go to Edit > Select All.
Now go to Format > Font. Click the "Outline" box. Click OK.

Step 6

Print page. Print on the back side of the paper. I chose one of Grace's numerous works of art to print it on.

Employ your inner artist and draw the sides of the heart out so that each side touches the U and I. Once cut, the heart will only be attached at the sides. Free-hand a smaller heart within your new heart shape.

Using a ruler, draw a line 3/8" above the top of the letters. With the ruler, extend the top of the U and I to meet the line.

Using the diagram pictured here, use an X-acto or very sharp utility knife to cut on every straight line, and fold on every dotted line. Note the bottom of the U and I are not cut, but folded. Be sure to protect your work surface from being cut through. I just used a thick newspaper.

Fold the letters first, then fold the card. The card is folded in half at the point 3/8" higher than the bottom of the letters, along the straight cut around the heart.

Cut the card to your desired dimensions.

Glue the back to a contrasting sheet of stock paper, being careful not to get glue on the letters.

This post is linked to Tute Tuesday and Tuesday Talent Show.

Feb 9, 2012

Valentine's Wreath

Ben says it looks *insert disgusted face*. I wanted a little something fun for Valentine's Day. To make this, I wrapped a straw wreath form with strips of quilt batting, then wrapped that with chenille yarn. (I scored a whole skein for $.50 at a Michael's craft store that was moving and everything was 70% off!) I made a few felt flowers, stuffed a few fabric hearts, and added a t-shirt flower I already had. Everything is fastened on using safety pins. The bow is made from ribbon I had leftover from my wedding. (Was that really 6-1/2 years ago?)

I didn't buy anything for this project specifically, so a homemade project for nothing! My kind of decorating.

Dec 15, 2011

12 Days of Christmas Giving {Day 12}

On the twelfth day of Christmas

my true love I did give...

a 12 piece box of Ferrero Rocher.

These went so fast, I didn't get a shot of them before he had nearly consumed half of them! He may or may not have had a little help. :)

12 Days of Christmas Giving {Day 11}

On the eleventh day of Christmas

my true love I did give...

an eleven minute back rub.

My masseuse trainees

12 Days of Christmas Giving {Day 10}

On the tenth day of Christmas

my true love I did give...

10 bold-tasting calories.

12 Days of Christmas Giving {Day 9}

On the ninth day of Christmas

my true love I did give...

nine sugar cookies frosted.

This was such a fun "mommy and me" moment. Obviously, I did have to let go of my ideals for cookie decorating. I tried to guide her, but it was so fun to see her describing what she was doing.

12 Days of Christmas Giving {Day 8}

On the eighth day of Christmas

my true love I did give...

eight words of honor.

I made this PDF in Picnik, had it printed as a 5x7 print for $.94 at the grocery store, and popped it in a frame. Since I'm clever and all, I just wanted to point out that the first letter of each word spells out "BENJAMIN".

Honestly, this gift is not extremely practical, but I wanted Ben to know how much I admire him. I enlisted the help of my parents with some of the traits. I told Ben I would understand if he didn't hang this up. :)

12 Days of Christmas Giving {Day 7}

On the seventh day of Christmas

my true love I did give...

seven sticks of jerky.

(Can you believe I found a package of jerky with exactly 7 sticks!? FYI, it was Old Wisconsin brand.)

As I type this, my girls are in the bathtub.

Leah is blowing raspberries on Grace's belly, and they are both laughing hysterically.

Life is good, amen?

12 Days of Christmas Giving {Day 4,5, and 6}

On the fourth day of Christmas

my true love I did give...

a $4 gift card for song downloads.

On the fifth day of Christmas

my true love I did give...

a 5 minute foot massage.

On the sixth day of Christmas

my true love I did give...

a 6 pack of Snapple.

12 Days of Christmas Giving {Day 3}

On the third day of Christmas

my dear husband I did give...

three trifles for my true love.

12 Days of Christmas Giving {Day 2}

On the second day of Christmas

my true love I did give...

two fish a-swimming.

Columbian tetras

12 Days of Christmas Giving {Day 1}

On the first day of Christmas

my true love I did give

a pie with an apple filling.

After a friend mentioned the idea of doing a "12 days of Christmas" theme for her husband, I decided it would be a fun idea for Ben as well. Over the next 12 days till Christmas, I will chronicle the gifts I'm giving Ben. They are all simple, inexpensive, generally consumable, and gifts he will enjoy.