It's All in the Jeans

Ever wonder what to do with those jeans that are getting a little too worn to wear? I try to get creative with things, so as not to waste them. I have also been building our cloth napkin stash so that we don't need to buy paper napkins. This project killed two birds with one stone!

Recently, when a pair of David's jeans wore thin in too many places, I took them and laid them flat on the ground. I cut the seams off each leg of the pants, getting as close to the seams as I could. Then I cut it into pieces of appropriate napkin length (this will be personal preference). I ended up with about 4 napkins from each leg; two from the front and two from the back. With each napkin, I turned it over, folded the edge down one time, and zig-zag stitched around the edges with my sewing machine. If you wanted a nicer finish and your machine could handle it, you could certainly fold the edges over twice. I didn't want to risk damaging my machine and we really don't mind the fraying for everyday use, so I just decided to fold it once. No pinning necessary, either. Just fold and sew!

Here is my neat little stack of napkins:

Mission accomplished!

A Frugal Fourth Birthday.

My daughter turned 4 on Monday, so we celebrated her Birthday over the weekend. When I asked her what kind of party she wanted, we settled on Strawberry Shortcake. It's one of her favorite shows to watch, and we both thought it would be cute. If you know me at all, you know I love the challenge of spending as little as possible on Birthday parties, but still making them fun. Here is what I came up with!

We put up red balloons and pink streamers from the grocery store.

 For their activity, I found some free printable coloring sheets from various websites that they were able to color and cut.

 I scored when I found this free printable banner online. I used cardstock leftover from our homemade wedding invites, and strung it up with yarn from my craft shelf. The number 4 I printed on cardstock as well, then colored it with marker. The pictures on either side are cut out from the cover of an old strawberry shortcake coloring book.

 For the cupcakes, I printed tags I found online and taped them on colored toothpicks. The frosting is homemade and the cake mix was from Gleaner's. I blended some defrosted cherries in with the liquid for the cake mix. They turned out moist and delicious!

The other online printable I found and printed on the cardstock was a pattern for a birthday hat. I used the colorsaver setting on the printer to save on ink.

 

Charlotte had a wonderful Birthday party for very little out-of-pocket cost! One happy girl and one happy mama :)

What are your favorite frugal party ideas?

Christmas Stockings

In addition to the cloth paper dolls, which the kids will be opening on Christmas morning, I made them new stockings. Since I had bought my felt for 50% off on Black Friday, I stocked up (maybe $20 worth) for other projects, including these.

This project was relatively fast, not to mention very affordable.I laid out some red felt and folded it over so that it was 2 layers thick. Since I loved the size and shape of my stocking, I traced around it, leaving about 1/2" for the seams. I also measured and traced the white part for the top, also in two layers. Less cutting! I sewed the tops on the red portions, then turned them face to face (as if it were inside out), sewing around the whole stocking. After that was done, I flipped it inside out, folded in the top of the white, and sewed that down for a clean edge. I made hooks by cutting a strip of red felt about 1 1/2" wide, folding it in half, and then sewing it on the inside of the back part of the stocking, right under the top seam. They are decorated with a $1 pack of sparkly foam stickers (which I adhered with hot glue) and a multi-pack of puff paint (also used to decorate the doll clothes).

Here is how they turned out:

I am planning on wrapping these up for them to open on Christmas eve so we can hang them up before bed. I can't wait to see their eyes when the stockings are filled with treats and gum on Christmas morning!

Cloth "Paper" Dolls

One of the gifts I am making for the girls this Christmas is cloth "paper" dolls. I love the idea and remember seeing some a few years ago in an online shop, but there aren't many to be found right now. So, why not make them myself? I think they turned out quite cute!

 I made matching sets so they won't get jealous ;). Each set has a doll, 2 dresses, 2 boy hairdo's, 2 girl hairdo's, 1 pair of shoes, 1 hat, and several mix-and-match outfits. 

I still need to add some velcro attachments to the back of the clothing and the front of the dolls, but here is what one looks like dressed:

I'm even making sparkly carrying cases for doll sets. The cases will hold plenty more, so I can make them extra outfits for future gifts.

I think they'll really like them, don't you?

Creating a Frugal and Beautiful Christmas

Photo Credit

I was going to write this post up yesterday, but I spent the evening listening to a group of singers I discovered called Il Divo. Their Christmas album is positively heavenly. Music has a way of touching me, such that I can hardly focus on anything else.

But I digress.

Since we are sticking to a tight budget, we don't spend much on non-essentials, even during the holidays. But that doesn't mean we go without beauty and memorable moments. Here are some of the  gifts and traditions I have run across in the past few years. Some of them I have incorporated already. Some of them I would love to begin at some point in the future.

Traditions:
-One of my high school friends had a wonderful tradition during the advent season. They would turn the lights down in the evening, light the candles (another each day), and read scripture pertaining to the season. Sitting in the candlelight sipping peppermint cocoa is one of my favorite memories.
-Driving to look at Christmas lights. My grandparents did this with us a lot and it became something I looked forward to.
-Make a popcorn string for the tree with a needle and thread. Make sure to save some for eating, too!
-Build a fire in the fireplace (if you have one), turn the lights off (and the tree lights on), and listen to your favorite Christmas music.
-Bake your favorite Christmas goodies and eat them with some hot apple cider.
-Put on your favorite Christmas movie while decorating the tree.
-Read a Christmas-themed story to the kids each night in December.
-Make a simple advent calendar, putting a different activity for each day (use some of the above and add your own).
-Attend a Christmas eve church  service with the  whole family. This has really served to get us in the mindset to be thankful for the gift of Christ.
-Invite someone to spend Christmas with your family that might otherwise end up alone for the holidays.
-My favorite tradition that we do with the kids now is that I spend the time right before bed on Christmas eve blowing up a large package of balloons and cover the living room floor with them. When the kids wake up, it's play time. This is a frugal, yet magical way to bring lots of joy to little ones. They love this!

Gifts:
-Make a fleece blanket or scarf.
-Knit or crochet a simple blanket, scarf, or kitchen rag.
-Sew some flannel pajama pants or pillowcases, both of which are simple patterns, even if you're a beginning sewer.
-Design paper dolls and clothes for a little girl. I'm going a more time-consuming route with these and making girls paper doll sets out of felt so they will last.
-Sew and decorate new stockings.
-Make drink mixes for flavored coffees, hot cocoas, or teas.
-Make candies, cookies, or breads and put them in holiday gift bags/tins.
-Put together simple themed gift baskets (spa, movie, gardening, arts & crafts, etc.) The sky is really the limit here. You can come up with lots of frugal, fun items that anyone would love to receive.
-Give framed family pictures.
-Make ornaments. You can get really creative with things you already have on hand. Or head to the local craft store.
-Make gift certificates for things your loved one would appreciate, such as babysitting, housecleaning, a massage, etc. Let them arrange to cash them in throughout the year.
-Stuff stockings with small, fun items. Examples include candy (homemade or otherwise), trail mix, gum, lotion, nail polish, socks, ornaments, small games, toys, books, puzzles, crayons, gloves, stickers, etc. My grandparents always put an orange in the toe of our stockings, so now we do the same. We loved coming down and opening our stockings on Christmas morning. Everything was wrapped and packaged, even the small packs of gum. So fun!
-On Christmas eve, we give each of the kids a new book and new pair of jammies. They need not even be brand new. Consignment shops, garage sales, and thrift stores can all be a wealth of great items that are more than gift-worthy.

These are just a few ideas. Just do a web search for homemade or frugal Christmas gifts and you'll have more ideas than you know what to do with.

Project Overload!

The past few days have been ultra-busy with all sorts of projects and outings.

Thursday we headed out for a play-date with a good friend. And Charlotte drew on the table with a sharpie... what an artist!


Friday we went to OMSI (our local science museum) with my dad. We had a picnic on the grass and then the girls enjoyed playing in the children's area. They have a big sand box with lots of toys, a woodland animal dress-up area with logs, trees, tunnels, and costumes, a wooden block play area, buckets with pulleys that are filled with beanbags... and more. They had a blast.

Saturday we did some work around the house, some grocery shopping, and in the evening we fired up our new charcoal grill and made burgers for ourselves, my parents, and David's brother.

Sunday we had church, then Dorothy went to a Mary Kay party and then to Home Depot to scope out some wood for our planter boxes. We had a nice mommy-daughter date :).

Yesterday I made some cookies and took them over to my friend who is about to have a baby. We've been friends for as long as I can remember, and she'll be my first client as a Doula-in-training! My doula bag is all packed and ready to go.

We also made some puppets yesterday morning! Are you ever frustrated with all the kids' stuffed animals and how much space they take up? Well, simply cut a hole in the behind of the animal and pull out the stuffing (the kids LOVE helping with that part).

The animal will look rather flat...

But it will be perfect for little imaginations and some really fun puppet shows. We made about 8 puppets yesterday and the kids were thrilled.

When we got home yesterday, David ran over to Home Depot to get our raised garden bed supplies. We're in a rental, so we didn't drop the money for the cedar, which would have been about 3 times the cost. We just got some untreated 2 x 8's cut up... enough to make 6 beds that are about 3 ft. by 5 ft. Along with the screws, it was maybe $60 tops, which I think is pretty good for 6 large beds! We put them together last night after the kids were asleep. Today I'll be digging out the area where they'll be resting as well as transplanting most of the veggies that are currently in pots. I'll get pics as soon as it's all set up! We're also going to be planting pumpkin, corn, strawberries, basil, and mint in addition to what we've got already.

As for this morning, I'm working on cleaning the house and getting our roast in the crockpot for tonight.

If I'm lucky, I'll sneak in a 5-minute shower. Happy Tuesday!

Play Dough Success!

Instead of tackling the laundry right away when Charlotte laid down for her nap yesterday, Dorothy and I decided to make some play dough together. Their play dough from more than a year ago was finally too stiff to play with, so I wanted to take a crack at making my own. I remember my mom making it when I was little, and I always thought it was great fun.

~~~
I got this particular recipe from The Complete Tightwad Gazette.

Play Dough
3 C flour
1 1/2 C salt
6 tsp cream of tartar
3 C cool water
3 Tbsp oil
food coloring

Mix dry ingredients in a big cooking pot. Blend liquids in a bowl. Combine with dry ingredients and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat when dough pulls away from the sides of the pot and can be pinched without sticking (usually about 5 minutes). Turn onto board or counter & knead until smooth and play dough consistency. Store in an airtight container.
~~~

Dorothy got a chair and stood by the stove playing with the old play dough as I stirred the new batch. Man, that took some elbow grease to stir at the end of the 5 minute cooking time! I was not expecting such a workout!! In all, it only took about 20 minutes to cook the dough and knead in all the different colors. I separated it out into 5 sections and dropped the food coloring onto the top of each flattened dough-ball before kneading it in. I was able to fill up all 5 containers...


...and then some! Dorothy is still happily playing with the extra dough that wouldn't fit in the containers we have. One batch will easily fill 6-7 regular-sized play dough containers.

She wanted to make sure I showed you her pretty designs, too :)

Here is the small tote we keep it all in.

5 containers and plenty of accessories fit in there. It's simple, and the kids will play happily for long periods of time.

I just have to watch Charlotte, as she likes to eat things...

Saturday's Spreads
B: Oven "Puff Pancake" and smoothies.
L: Leftovers from last night's dinner.
D: Chinese stir fry with chinese-style noodles and stir fry mix from freezer.

Happy Valentine's Day

The girls and I worked on a Valentine's Day card for Grandma this morning. Dorothy was drawing her initials on some hearts for her and Grandma. She was really excited to pick out the pretty striped paper, and loved signing her name on the card.

Charlotte was even learning how to use her scissors!

Even William helped by holding somewhat still while I traced his hand on the back.

See, Mama, aren't I helpful?

I sure do love my babies <3

As for plans later today, if we have the time, I want to make some heart-shaped sugar cookies with the kids. I also need to go to Gleaner's and Safeway after David gets home from work. After the kids go to bed tonight, I have a few loads of laundry to fold and some spanish homework to get done online.

Monday's Munchies
B: Cold cereal and juice.
L: David and I had leftovers from last night and the girls had mozzarella bread sticks, peas, and applesauce.
D: Leftover Chicken soup and french bread.

Crochet....

I finished my first little pair of crocheted pants for Charlotte. I think I'll try to find a pattern for the next pair. They didn't quite turn out like I wanted, but they're cute enough, I think!

Front:



Back:

28 weeks!!

You'd think being on bedrest that I would post more often. I really intend to, but time slips away from me between homework and Dorothy and everything else. Over the weekend I reached 28 weeks, which was the major milestone we have been shooting for. It feels good to know that baby Charlotte has such a good chance of survival now:)

I had a bit of an eventful week. Last Monday/Tuesday David came down with a cold/fever. By Tuesday afternoon, I had a fever as well... but being that my stomach is so sensitive when I'm pregnant, I wasn't keeping anything down. One of my church friends came to take me to L & D for the night so they could monitor my contractions and hydrate me. We got there around midnight and I was discharged by 7 am, but it was a LONG night. It took me most of the week for my stomach to be back to normal (as normal as before, anyway). I will be getting my flu shot at my appointment this week to avoid Influenza this year. Now I'm just dealing with mild cold symptoms, which are totally nothing in comparison to what I was dealing with. Luckily Dorothy avoided getting sick. She and David will be getting flu shots as well... we can't have the flu this year. I'll be either pregnant or dealing with a newborn for the whole of flu season.

I have also made a *few* more things lately. Purple K asked me to post pictures of the wool diaper covers I've made. I used up all the wool I got from her, and I think they turned out pretty good. There are a few different styles of them.

3 newborn soakers, 1 small soaker, 2 medium soakers, and newborn longies:


1 small soaker and 2 medium soakers:


The rest of the stuff is just random things that I wanted to make....

Strawberry Shortcake set of a prefold diaper, hat, and pants:


4 large fitted diapers:



And a bunch of cloth wipes:


Diapers are about the most exciting thing around here for me, so sorry to bore you with them! I'm actually going to start selling a few things... wetbags, nursing covers, wipes, wool covers, and baby legwarmers. I have a friend that has a website and she wants to have my stuff available on there. As far as time, diapers take a while to make so I don't know yet if I will want to sell those, but I'm sure that if I wanted to I could.

That's all for now! Off to do some more homework... oh, how interesting History is.....

25 weeks!

I am so pleased that we have made it another week. This week Dorothy will start her daycare 3 days a week, and that should cut down on the stress of wondering where my help is coming from for the day. Monday is also when my online classes start, so I'm looking forward to the term flying by. 2 weeks after the end of the term is when we should be getting induced as long as baby stays put and bakes that long.

My cervix shortened only a tiny bit. In the past few weeks it has gone from 2.7cm to 2.5cm to 2.25cm. As long as we're moving in mm, then it's not so bad. My cervix is open to the stitch above it, and basically all of my length is below. So little stitch is doing his job very well. I'm trying to stay off my feet unless I am getting something to eat or taking a shower. Obviously sometimes I need to get up for this or that with Dorothy, but for the most part I am doing a pretty good job of staying down.

I made my first pocket diaper this week. A pocket diaper is waterproof, and it is made so that you can stuff the absorbent material inside the pocket. It turned out pretty well, and I hope to make some more after my sewing machine gets back from the shop. I was sad the other day when it pooped out on me, but hopefully a good cleaning and tuneup will fix the problem. Here are some of the embellished prefolds I did before my machine freaked out on me....

Sewing adventures

Since I am on bedrest and classes haven't started yet, I have my sewing machine set up on a wooden chest next to the couch. If I put the pedal on the couch and lay on my side, sewing is not too difficult at all. I have sewed 8 new fitted cloth diapers and modified some fitted cloth diapers that I bought and used with Dorothy. Here are some of the pictures of my diapers....





I am also starting to work on embellishing some prefolds. Since they are plain white, I wanted to add some color to our diaper wardrobe. I have a ton of cute prints, many of them girly, that I can add a wide strip of down the middle of the diaper. I'm excited to see how they turn out and I will make sure to post some pictures when they're done.

I'm also excited to be 24 weeks now! We're now at the beginning of viability, so if my contractions start to change my cervix, the baby would at least have a chance of survival. Her chances get better by the day, really. But 24 weeks was our first major milestone. This pregnancy is flying by!!!

And just because she's my sweetie....

Birthday pictures!!