Thrifty Thursday: Christmas Decor & More!

I know it's Friday! I meant to write this yesterday, but my trip into town lasted much longer than I had planned, so I ran out of time. It's been a while since I have done a "Thrifty Thursday" post, not for lack of things to share though! I just don't know how these ladies that blog daily have the time on top of everything else!

Anywho, I thought I would share a few tips for Christmas decor and my latest sewing project that will help with both our budget and our goal to be better stewards of this planet.

TAA DAAAA! Cloth "paper" towels! I've seen this idea before online, but the last time I saw it was a post that was linked up to Homestead Revival's Barn Hop. So Saturday I used the last of the paper towels, and thought that I hated to have to buy more. We're rather crunched for money this month and I'm cutting as many things from our budget as I can. So I looked at my dear hubby and said "What would you think of using cloth paper towels? I'm pretty sure I have all the material I need to make them." He thought for a moment and, to my surprise and joy, answered, "Sure. Can we keep a roll of regular paper towels for in case the cats get sick, though?" I agreed that that was a good idea, but they have to stay under the kitchen sink. And then I got busy hunting down some terry cloth I was pretty sure I had squirreled away.

Now, the terry cloth is not my choice of colors, but it was what I have, and I have YARDS of it! I decided to make some Christmas ones because I also have about 3 yards of that as well from years ago. I used the tutorial from My Healthy Green Family. I didn't do snaps, nor do I plan to. I just re purposed a small basket to hold them and set it right where the paper towel holder sat on the counter.

 If you are wiping up something that might stain and you want to keep them looking as nice as possible, rinse them in cool water immediately! Our first major spill was pizza sauce, and I figured that I'd have a stained one, but after wiping up the initial mess, I rinsed it out will cool water to finish cleaning up and there was hardly any discoloration. I was also surprised at the whole incident because it was Wheels that spilled the sauce and as he reached for a paper towel and realized it was a cloth one, I thought he'd sputter about it, but he just went with it without a complaint. I think it helps that they are on the same spot as the paper ones! Now I just need to make a wet bag for the dirties!

Here is another thrifty tip; tie your cupboards shut so your hubby and kiddos can't get to the food!!! Just kidding! This is a bow on the cabinet door that I made from some homespun fabric. This was a curtain that I had made years ago and haven't used in a long time, so I just cut a little notch and tore the hems off, then continued to tear strips off of. I've always wanted to do the bows on the cabinet doors, but have always been too cheap thrifty to buy the amount of ribbon I would need. Even if I hadn't re purposed this material and had bought it new, 1 yard would have cost less than a spool of ribbon and have been more than enough to do the job!

All of the cupboards along one wall. I think it looks so pretty and festive!

A bow in the middle of my DIY lighted garland in the living room. Our living room, dining room and kitchen are all open to one another, so using the same material through each "room" helps tie things together.



I used another strip of cloth around my canning jar caddy, which is also my utensil caddy. You can use what you have to add some festive flare to your home, too! The cream colored bowl is the usual bowl I use to hold our fresh fruit in, but I put it on top of the red cake stand to add some zip. And the egg basket is in it's usual place on the counter. I had the food processor on the counter, but decided to move it to clear some of the counter.

This isn't the best picture thanks to the glare, but this is a Christmas hymn/carol subway art. I've seen some on Pinterest, and there are some free printable ones, but I wanted to make my own. I used the Word Art in Microsoft Works on my laptop and added a bit of clip art as well. I printed it on some off white card stock. I made 2 subway art prints for our bedroom with the names of Jesus. They came out beautiful, if I may say so myself. And I made yet one more, in the living room.

The dinner menu board even got a Christmas makeover! This is just some computer paper I have. I was going to do a subway art print with all of the Christmas goodies we like and I make, but I didn't want to spend the time. And believe me, you can waste spend lots of time on this project. Of course, it wasn't until after I made the prints that I thought to look up free fonts in Pinterest. And I found many, but then I hit the mother load! Dafont.com has TONS of free fonts!! I even found fonts that look like the writing in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Ring series!! My geeky heart swelled with joy at the thought of making my own nerd subway art. (I totally admit to being a huge fan of the Tolkien books and movies. I even named one of our chickens Arwen and I dressed up as Frodo this past Halloween for the kids Book Character Parade at school. Never would have figured me for suck a wacko, huh?)

I hope this gives you some ideas!

Many Blessings,
Kelly

 

Christ Centered Crafts and Decorating for Christmas

This is our Advent wreath for this year. I know the candles aren't the traditional purple and pink, but I couldn't find them this year without running all over town and then spending a small fortune on a set. I have the colors in the table runner, so I'm not going to stress about having the "right" candles!

I added some twine to the gold ribbon, after removing the cardinals and red berries from last year. I like the juxtaposition between the earthy, humble twine and the shiny gold ribbon. It reminds me of the fact that my Lord and King humbled himself by becoming human and was born in a stable.

After scraping candle wax off the plate I use to set the wreath on, I decided to put some tin foil down to catch drips, and I thought it might help reflect some of the candle light.

I put down the Nativity table runner and put out our Christmas books. The kiddos are getting older, but I thought they might still want to look at them, and maybe they just might let me read one or two to them!

I wanted something Christmas-y for our living room art work. So using some scrap booking paper that I have had for a while, I put this together. I'm pretty pleased with it, even if my daughter thought it was a picture of a tipi at first glance!

A pocket chart about Advent. I realized that we have been celebrating Advent for a couple of years now, but I don't know as though I have really shared what it is all about with the kids. I purchased the pocket chart at the Dollar Tree. I just used scrap booking paper to make the candles and flames. the white strips came with the chart, so I just used those to write on. We'll attach the flames in correspondence to when we light the candles on out wreath. I'm going to add Scripture verses to go with each week's theme.

This morning after I finished baking and the kiddos had had a wonderful time playing together in the snow, they came in to hot cocoa and crafts!

This is a "Colors of Faith" Christmas tree. I've had the glittery foam trees for years, bought at Michael's when the value packs were 40% off. I purchased a package of  rhinestones at Jo Ann's to be used as "ornaments" on the trees. I just typed out what the colors represented. We used hot glue to attach the gems and a ribbon hanger.

I used a heart shaped cookie cutter to trace heart shapes onto red and white card stock. The kids used double stick tape to attach the hearts together and then added the candy cane sticker. I have to print out the "Legend of the Candy Cane" to go with these ornaments.

I admit to shamelessly copying this word for word from an ornament I saw in a catalog. It was a pre-made one, not one that you craft, so I used scrap booking paper to make this. The dark blue is actually a glittery paper, and the lighter blue is standard size card stock. I used Microsoft Word on my computer to type this up and used the clip art for the Baby Jesus picture. The star is a glittery foam sticker. I put 2 back to back over the twine hanger. Just a note, if you use the glittery card stock, you really need to use double stick tape to attach the other paper, a glue stick doesn't hold.

This year, after much inner debate, I finally decided to do a Jesse Tree again. Last year I printed out ornaments that we colored, and we used a poster tree. This year I used the same devotional so I knew what symbols to have and used Microsoft Word clip art for the ornaments. We'll hang them on a little evergreen tree that I have already. One of these days I would love to make some felt ornaments, but I just don't have the time (or energy!) for this year!

I hope that these gave you some ideas to use in your own homes, Friends! Have a lovely day.
Many Blessings,
Kelly

Home-Laid Nativity Set

Yes, you read it right. I am making a home-laid Nativity set from blown eggs!

What I have made so far. Joseph, Mary, Baby Jesus and 2 of the wise men.
The stable is from The Dollar Tree. (I have no idea why they sell only
these little wooden stable, but no figurines!)

The happy couple, before delivery. (When I added this picture, the computer went
wacko, so the pic is a little wonky!)

Two of the 3 wise men.

This is not my original idea, I saw 2 blog posts over at Homestead Revival's Barn Hop #89 that showed egg Nativity scenes, and I just knew I had to make one for our family! Both the Chicken Chick and Fresh Eggs Daily posted how to make the Nativity set. Fresh Eggs Daily also shows some other Christmas crafts to make with eggs that are just lovely and I want to make, too!

I have wanted a Nativity set for a couple of years now, and either I couldn't find a set that I liked or it was out of our budget. I was originally going to make one out of the old fashioned clothespins, but I love the blown egg ones better. And I think I would have agonized more over the clothespin ones and it would have taken me much longer. And I wasn't sure how to make them stand up.

So, last night as our turkey soup was simmering away, I blew out the eggs and cleaned them. Then I cooked up scrambled eggs for the kitties, who normally will eat eggs, but of course didn't this time. Stinkers. Anyways, this morning I gathered up all the trimmings and fabrics I thought I would use and also found the little wooden discs that I glued the eggs to. It makes them nice an stable and will make it easier to add the "characters" to the scene. I'm going to put the manger on the shelf of our family faith wall, where Mary and Joseph will travel around the living room during Advent until Christmas Eve. Then I'll have one of the children put the manger in the stable, and Christmas morning we'll put Baby Jesus in the manger. I would like to do a devotional each night as a family as we move Mary and Joseph closer to their destination. I think it will make the Nativity more exciting for the kids, and make it more alive for them as well.

I'll be posting some more Christ centered Christmas crafts soon. I've been pretty busy getting things together to make crafts with the kids, so there is much to post. Hope you have a lovely day, Friends!

Many Blessings,
Kelly

Planning for Christmas and Advent

I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving, Friends. We had three lovely Thanksgivings, and now I am thankful it is Monday! All joking aside, we did have a wonderful holiday weekend filled with family and food. But I am truly thankful to get back into the swing of things today.

I usually do the weekly shopping on Mondays, but this week is a bit different. So I spent the time I am usually in town on other domestic pursuits. I ran the dishwasher and got a jump start on laundry day, which is tomorrow. Then I got out the sewing machine and made 2 lovely double sided table runners. See:

A beautiful Nativity print. I'm going to use it for a family altar, as soon
as I figure out where I want it!

St. Nicholas on the other side. The runner will be on this side for only a few
days before St. Nicholas Day, Dec. 6.

Advent table runner. I knew I wanted a purple table runner for the dining room
table for Advent, since that is where we have our Advent wreath out. But do you think I
could find a purple Christmas print that did not have snowmen, etc. on it? Of course not!
But I found this lovely homespun fabric in purple, with bit of pink in it, and it has
pink and purple glittery threads running through it. It's absolutely perfect!

The flip side, for Valentine's Day, but I'm thinking I might flip it to this side on the 3rd week
of Advent, when we light the pink candle. We'll see!

I also started a notebook for Advent and Christmas ideas. I cut some pictures from a catalog of craft items because they gave me great ideas on somethings to make with the kids.

This way I don't have to keep the whole catalog, and I can write notes about any changes I'd make or materials I'd use. I plan on sketching some ideas for ornaments, too.

I have been working on my holiday planner, as well.

I had to add a new cover, and I'm working on the inside, too.When I have more done, I'll share.

Thanks to Joybilee Farm blog, I have gotten some new Kindle books on Advent and Christmas for FREE!! So far the ones that I have read have given me some ideas on how to celebrate and focus our family on the true reason for the season: Jesus. I'm still working on whether or not I want to try to do a Jesse Tree again this year, and looking to add other meaningful activities.

I'd love to hear from you and how you celebrate Advent and Christmas. You can leave a comment below, or "like" Homespun Inspirations on facebook.

Hope you have a lovely evening.

Many Blessings,
Kelly

St. Patrick's Day 2012

I thought I'd just share a couple of pics from our St. Patrick's Day dinner last year. Here is a link from last year's list of St. Patrick's Day ideas. Hope you have a lovely evening!

Blessings,

Kelly

Double Sided Table Runners

The solid green side can be for Mardi Gras, St. Patrick's Day, Christmas, or any day you want to use green! The shamrocks are for St. Patrick's day. You can't really tell in this pic, but the green has a gold sparkle to it, while the shamrock side has a silver sparkle sheen.

The solid purple side is for Lent, the print is for Easter. I absolutely adore the Easter print, which was the only Easter print that I could find that wasn't completely secular. This has "He Is Risen" and "Rejoice" printed on it, so it is truly a print worthy of the occasion!

Yesterday I mentioned that I was able to do some sewing. I had wanted to make a table runner for Lent. In an article I had read about sharing Lent with your children, the author suggested using a purple table cloth for the season. Table cloths + my family doesn't work unless it's vinyl, which I'm not sure if I could find a purple vinyl table cloth, unless it had bunnies on it. So, when I had purchased the fabric for the chicken saddles I saw the shade of purple that I really liked. (And yes, the chicken saddles now match my Lenten linens.)

 Anywhoo, the kids went with my mother in law yesterday afternoon, so I pulled out the iron and sewing machine. I knew exactly how I wanted my table runner and shelf scarves to look. I had purchased a sort of gold shade of thread and wanted to use one of the fancy stitches that my machine can do. I wanted to iron the hems in and pin them so all was straight and neat. But then I looked at the clock and felt a twinge in my back and thought how in the world was I really going to do this? (And along with my Martha tendencies, I am also very instant gratification oriented. Sound like fun, don't I? Wanna come over and craft? ;0)

I looked at my fabrics and decided that the easiest and neatest way to make these (sorry, I forgot to mention that I wanted to make the green table runner for Mardi Gras, too!) was make them double sided. You see, I'm also rather cheap frugal when it comes to craft supplies, preferring to wait for sales, coupons and (the best!!!!) clearance. I had only bought 1/2 a yard of the shamrock print and saved 1/2 yard of the purple material for my table runner. I had plenty of the green sparkle because that had been on clearance (yay!!!) for like a dollar a yard years ago before I even had children. (I know, yada, yada, yada, get to the point rambling woman that has conversations with her cat) With only 4 pieces of fabric, each 1/2 yard, I ended up with two table runners for about 6 holidays/seasons.

Reasons to make double sided table runners:

• it saves time- you don't have to sew 2 runners for 2 different holidays/seasons/occasions
• it saves money- you don't have to buy more than you absolutely need of a costly fabric or buy another piece of fabric to back it
• it saves space- you'll only have to store half the table runners that you need

Now, I'm not going to give any sort of tutorial here. I think we can all agree that I'm not that good at it! And besides, it rather easy. Sew your fabric faces/right sides together, leaving an opening so that you can turn it right side out. Once you have it turned right side out, iron it so it is nice and flat, the seems pressed out neatly. Now, keeping a consistent seam allowance, sew around the edge of the runner all the way around. Voila! You've got a table runner!

These are the two shelf scarves that I made. The one with the fancy stitching on the right is on the secretary that is on our family faith wall. The one on the left is on a little shelf in my bedroom where I've made a little prayer corner. Unfortunately the fancy stitching made the fabric pucker, so I was only able to do it on the two sides of the shelf scarf, and not at all on my table runner. :(

Well, it's time to turn in for the evening. I'll be sharing more about our family faith wall and preparing for Lent. Have a lovely evening, Friends.

Blessings,

Kelly

Pancake Tuesday, Mardi Gras and/or Shrove Tuesday

Our morning started with chocolate chip pancakes.

The kiddos and I sat down to these lovelies and added some butter and, of course, Daddy's homemade syrup.

After chores we had craft time. We made crowns and masks for Mardi Gras.

These are the boys' crowns.

Mimi got in on the action when she dropped of our King's Cake that we're having for dessert. I'll share pics of that later, she did a beautiful job of it!

This is a cat toy for Miss Merlin. I did some sewing in the afternoon. I'll show the fruits of that labor in a very near future post. Prissy cat didn't even care for her toy. It's stuffed with our last sprig of homegrown catnip. I put pretty, tantalizing ribbons on it. Humph!

This was our table for dinner. I got the coins and center piece at the dollar store. The table runner was one of the fruits of labor mentioned above.

I also took some time to work on our family faith wall for Lent. I got the Alleluia out so that we can bury it tomorrow, for Ash Wednesday. I'll post more about our family faith wall and preparing for Lent.

Well, that's our day! I'm off to have some King's Cake with my family. Have a lovely evening, Friends.
Blessings,
Kelly

Our Valentine's Day

The cards I made for the kiddos.

Yes, I still have evergreen garland up! But on dreary winter
evenings, it's nice to turn on the lights. I dressed it up for today
with some sparkly toille and doilies.

Our dinner table. Not too fancy, but special for the day.

Homemade pizza night! I let the kiddos top
their own heart-shaped crusts.

Finished pizzas.

Gotta have chocolate on Valentine's Day, so
heart shaped browniesare called
for. Of course, they're not complete without.....

pink homemade whipped cream!


Hoping you have had a lovely day!
Blessings,
Kelly

Flock Block Take 2 and A Craft

Sweet chicken ecstasy- nothing but feathers and dirt when the girls and
James get down and dirty taking dust baths! I felt almost like a Peeping
Thomasina!

Remember my homemade flock block? Well, the temperature dipped down last night, so I figured the JIC's (Jerks in The Coop) would be holed up in the coop today. I do NOT want any more boarders in the basement, so last night I made another flock block. This time I had a lovely assistant.

I don't know why the picture is blurry. Hope no one has motion
sickness that views this!

When making the flock block this time, I didn't add any apple, and I used 3 whole eggs. I think the addition of 2 more eggs helped in holding it together better. I also put all of the recipe into just one loaf pan. It baked at 200* for about an hour, then turned the temp up to 300* for about another 2 hours. I took it out and let it cool on a wrack. I tried to get it out of the pan and learned a valuable lesson: use Crisco or butter to grease the pan, not just canola oil. Last time they came right out of the pans. This time my Darling Hubby got it out of the pan after I had given up. (I just love that man!) the block sat out over night to dry out a little bit more.

Flock block baking right along while our waffles and bacon stay warm
for dinner. Told you I hate to run the oven for just one thing!

My DH put the block out in the coop this morning. When I checked on the chickees after lunch, only a little corner was pecked at. {sigh} No one looked injured, so that's good.

Earlier this afternoon I took a break from housework and culinary efforts for the animals to make a Valentine's Day craft. I don't have very many Valentine's decorations because I'm rather fussy. It's been hard to find decorations that go with my country decor and that I'm willing to shell money out for. So I looked on Tipnut.com's Valentine's Day page for inspiration. While perusing the pages, I thought of my own craft to make that would be cheap and easy to make. Here it is:

Finished product! Whaddya think?

It was soooo easy, and only took a little bit of time. What took the longest was getting just the right heart shape for templates. I used scrap paper to make my templates, but you could use a manila folder or card stock. I plan on making more of these in the future. Here is what you need:

I wasn't sure which buttons to use!!

2 sheets of felt
4 heart templates in small, medium, large and extra large
hot glue gun
marker for tracing
2 fabric scraps
twine or ribbon
decorative buttons or other doo-dads
scissors (you could use pinking shears for an even fancier look- I was too lazy to dig for mine!)

Here is what to cut: 1 small heart, 2 medium hearts, 2 large hearts and 1 extra large heart
I cut my hearts out free form, but if you want them to all be alike, you could find a template and increase or decrease the size using a scanner and printer. When I went to cut them out, I folded the felt in half and traced the template with a marker.

Then I laid out my hearts and used a glue gun to glue them together. I flipped over the hearts and spaced them out to where I wanted them. Next, I took a length of twine twice as long as I wanted it to be and made a knot at the top to hang this from. Using the glue gun, I attached the twine to all three sets of hearts.

I took the 2 scraps of homespun fabric and tied a single knot in the middle of each. I then glued these between the hearts. After letting the glue cool and dry I flipped everything over. Play time! I took out different buttons and trims to find the perfect look. Here's what I selected for the top and bottom hearts:

Chickee buttons of course!!!!! I just couldn't resist ;0)

This would be a really great craft for kids. If younger kiddos are making these, you could use good ol' Elmer's glue, though it would take longer for things to dry. I'm thinking you can do lots of different shapes for the holidays, or even for year round.

Well, I'm one tired and sore Mama with a busy day tomorrow. Have a lovely evening, Friends!
Blessings,
Kelly