A penny saved is a penny earned. It's true...but for most also incredibly hard to do. For some of us, you know, it's not about lack of desire or inability to save but money management. Now, I'm no expert but I've learned a thing or two over the years: having your cash IN HAND makes a difference - so does tithing regularly. I remember one time when Shawn had to cash his entire paycheck. He came out of the bank, got in the car, opened the envelope about to designate cash here and cash there - and he stopped. He sat there for about a minute and just looked at the money. 'Honey, I don't remember the last time I actually SAW my paycheck.' Here's to direct deposit and debit cards. The experience changed how we handle our finances. Actually SEEING real money on payday was such a … [Read more...]
Party Hat DIY
Hi there! It's Stef, from girl. Inspired. Today, I wanted to show you how to take your child's birthday party to the next level by making some of the cutest party hats you've ever seen. Remember the "straw flare" that we made a while back? Well, I've made a little firetruck party hat to go along with the firetruck theme. These are so simple, you're not even going to believe it! First, you're going to cover a plain party hat with some nice patterned cardstock. To see how to do this in more detail, you can visit my party hat how-to, here. Next, we're going to make an accordian circle and hot glue it on the center front of the hat. To make the circle, I use three square pieces of patterned cardstock. Score the squares at even intervals all the way across. Score once … [Read more...]
Nothing Spectacular but it’s Something
Whew! Talk about a crafting slump! I take a few days off to do some laundry and now I feel like "i got nothing". Not sure if it's the winter blues or the fact that I have like no supplies but either way, I'm kind of running out of steam. And you know it's bad when you can only come up with bookmarks! lol So, like the title of my post, it's nothing spectacular but it's something!My daughter's school is doing this program called P.A.R.P. (Parents as Reading Partners). It's a 4 week long program where parents have to read to their kids 5 out of 7 nights a week for the 3 out of the 4 weeks that the program is running. For 15 minutes a night. Each week a booklet goes back to the teacher that we fill out showing what we've done for that week. At the end of the program, the school is having an … [Read more...]
DVD Case Photo Holder
Disclaimer: I hope you'll excuse my cheesy photos. I'm just putting that out there from the beginning! One of these days I'll take a course in photography and put an end to the horrible pictures in my posts.Now that that is out of the way............Ever have those empty DVD cases that your kids have nearly demolished? You know the ones.........the movies are all scratched so they are long gone; the pictures and paper under the clear plastic stuff has been removed by your 3 year old and has been shredded into confetti. Let's all nod in agreement. I knew you knew what I'm talking about. Well, I decided that they had to be good for something and this is what I came up with. The Supplies:(1) 12x12 sheet of scrapbook paperPhoto of your choiceString, Jute or Ribbon (your choice)Scrap Fabric … [Read more...]
{Hand Me a Clothes Pin, Pin Would Ya?}
Clothes pins have been come pretty popular lately. In fact Sweet Pea from Brown Paper Packages even posted a cute little valentine using an embellished clothes pin here at TGC last week. So stinkin cute. I'm so making those for my girls classes this year. While working on my bulletin makeover I thought that adding push pins to the back of my clothes pins would be a really cute idea. I could pin them towards the bottom of my bulletin board thus being able to hang important papers from them, giving me more room on the board for other stuff. So, that's what I did. This was probably one of the quickest, easiest projects to do. And you don't need many supplies. In fact, everything you've seen posted at TGC lately has been from stuff I had kicking around the house. As I mentioned a few times … [Read more...]
{Finally, A Cricut Project}
I've been tinkering around with my Cricut for a few weeks now and finally have a craft to show off. Although I love my Cricut Create, I'm kind of wishing I had gotten the Expression instead. :( Maybe I'm not having as much fun because I don't have a lot of carts to work with? So far I have Tags, Bags, Boxes and More which is great for tags but not such much bags and boxes..........unless you are making gifts for Smurfs. They kind of come out small. Ok. I'm exaggerating a bit but I think the Expression would be better for that part. I also have Opposites Attract which is font cartridge and I have Don Juan which came with the Cricut. That seems to be my cart of choice.............for now. Hoping to either pick up Design Studio or some more cartridges soon. Alright, enough mindless chatter, … [Read more...]
{My Cheesy Version of Quilled Paper Hearts}
You guys remember THIS post from Friday, right? The adorable quilled paper hearts from Under the Table and Dreaming. Well, I tried my hand at them today. Again, being very limited with my resources I think this almost borderlines cheesy. lol I had fun making them and they were easy enough that my 6 year old was able to help. I made a bunch using Amy Butler scrapbook paper. Then I taped a piece of raffia inside the vase and just put the hearts inside. I added a paper heart to the ends of the raffia bow on the outside and that was it.To make the hearts I used a pencil to curl them and double sided tape to tape them together at the top. Not my best work but it didn't cost me anything so that has to count for something, right? ;)Don't forget to link up tomorrow with "Just Something I Whipped … [Read more...]
{Just Something I Whipped Up Monday & A TUTORIAL}
Back in November I was hosting a table at our women's expo. My table's theme was Fall/Harvest. Everything on the table was coordinated but the butter container. I know, what's the big deal? No big deal really but I was being anal and I wanted that to match too. For the life of me I could not figure out how to wrap the butter container so that it fit perfectly. Having a container that was wider at the top and narrower at the bottom provided a challenge for me. I know that it was the same concept as making a cupcake template but I couldn't even figure that out. Frustrated, I asked the hubs and he had the answer. Score!!!! So, of course I took pictures and now I will *try* to explain how to do it. Here's where paying attention in Geometry would have paid off! *This is not the greatest … [Read more...]
{I Heart Ebay}
I am rockin n roll'n on Ebay this week! Just scored the Tags, Bags, Boxes and More Cricut cartridge for $32 with FREE shipping! Yee-haw!! I'm so excited! I've bid on Ebay before but now I'm really getting the hang of it. Rut-roh! My Cricut shipped yesterday and won't be here until Dec. 29, sniff, sniff so I'll have to wait. My poor husband. My poor, poor husband! As if I don't have enough things to distract me, here's one MORE!!!I do have to say though, he was pret-ty happy for me when I told him I won the Cricut for $86. Love that man! He ultimately knows what getting a Cricut means. More projects, less laundry getting done. Maybe it's the Christmas spirit or the fact that he just got himself a nice little Christmas gift himself, who knows. But I'll take it. :)Okay, bragging over.Due to … [Read more...]
{Come to Mama, Sweet Little CRICUT}
I was in Hobby Lobby today (no surprise there) and I saw an older man plunk down $300+ in cash for a Cricut Expression. I nearly made a comment like "I'm coming to your house for Christmas" but kept my mouth shut and just sighed wishing someone was buying me one. Over the weekend I had tinkered around on Ebay, bidding away for various Cricuts. I came very close to winning one but then felt relieved that I didn't because I was still unsure about spending such a big amount of money.Then tonight on a whim, I decided to check out Ebay again. I found a brand new Cricut Create with a Don Juan Cartridge included with the auction ending in like 15 minutes. So................I put in my bid at $106 as my maximum bid. Not sure why I chose that number. Maybe because I had just lost a bid on the same … [Read more...]
