Creative Frugality--a good excuse to stamp and paper craft!

With the current economic downturn, which may end up getting worse if the incoming Democratic Congress and President have their way with further undermining our FREE Market/capitalist system, it has been quite pressing on many people to get rid of waste in the spending department and find ways to live more frugally. Most people think frugal is a dirty word, in that it makes them feel stingy or that they have to sacrifice style or meaning. Some of that feeling comes from an increased materialistic mind set in our society that we have to have more and have a certain level of style or whatever to be acceptable. That is so wrong. Just two generations ago, people were quite stylish and creative while living on much tighter budgets than we are experiencing even now. They grew up being creative with what they had and gave and made things from the heart. Their clothes were handmade, their cooking was from scratch using simple ingredients, and their homes were decorated simply and with handmade items. It wasn't the cost of the items that made them important, rather the love, creativity and handspun nature of them that made them valuable.

I think we all need to go back to a much more simple way of living. I don't suggest that we can't have modern conveniences, but think of how much human contact we have sacrificed for our modern technologies. Do we even send cards and letters to communicate with our family and friends anymore? Do we even do the small act of baking a loaf of banana bread or something like that for someone who is feeling down, or needs a bit of help?  Where are the  simple meals brought for families who are sick, have new babies, grieving over the loss of a loved one, etc.?   Do we struggle with gift giving, thinking that the monetary value of a gift is more important than the thought and love behind it? Do we go into debt to give expensive gifts that disconnect us with each other more (televisions, hand held computer devices, iPods, iPhones, computers, video game systems)? Are we all plugged into our stuff more than we are plugged into our family, our friends, our churches, our Christian family? Do we miss meaningful connections with each other because we are too busy doing stuff, being involved in activities, our childrens' activities (don't even get me started on that issue), that we aren't really achieving things that are important? Has achievement become an idol? Has stuff become an idol? Can we function with joy or hope without them? Do we stuff our bodies with unhealthy things because we are too busy to cook a meal and share it around the table together? Are we eating too much because what we are really hungry for is human connection? Are we doing all of this stuff because we are looking for meaning and value?

Well, first of all, I want to say that I think a lot of what is wrong today is from trying to find our purpose in life in all the wrong things. We were all created by God to glorify Him and enjoy Him. Anything that we do should be towards that end...Period. To the extent we chase after other things to glorify ourselves, they become worthless and empty pursuits drawing us farther away from the One we were created to serve and enjoy. God is to be our source of joy, peace, acceptance, value, worthiness, etc. He is the great I AM. However, he does give us blessings in the material realm that we are to use to serve others for His glory. We don't own our salaries, homes, possesions, etc. They are really all God's that he graciously blesses us with. He is the source of our needs and sometimes he chooses to give us some of our wants according to His will and plan so that He gets the glory. Have you ever thought about your stuff as a gift? Have you ever thought of them as really belonging to God? If you grasp that, their hold on you becomes so much less. You start to think of possessions in a whole new light. You start to use those gifts in a whole new way.

Now that we have our mindset paradigm shifted, we can get on with how to live a more spendthrift lifestyle, making the most of the blessings God has given us and strengthening relationships with family and others.  I have some ideas on how to do this, so if you are interested, read on.

1.  Make a budget for your family.   It really is key to knowing what you have coming in and what you have going out to make ends meet.  It is truly eye opening when we list what we spend during a month, and yes, I mean everything.  Your eyes are opened to a lot of waste: a magazine here, a snack there, a book here, a piece of clothing there.  See what I mean.  Do we need those things?

2.  Work on a cash system for variable expenses: groceries, toiletries, gas, misc. expenses, entertainment, etc.  Set aside cash for these expenses:  when the money is gone, then you are done, or you had better figure out how to come up with some cash quick.  Again, another good way to keep an eye on how you are spending your money.

3.  Always go to the store with a grocery list.  Stick to the list.  Plan your weekly menus, check the recipes, check your cupboard and then make sure you get everything on your list.  Nothing less, nothing more.

4.  Make as much homemade as you can.  It is so easy to make homemade baking mixes, cookies, biscuits, snacks.  They are better for you and cost so much less.  If you want some help here, I would be happy to share some awesome recipes for some mixes that would be helpful or sources for those.  

5.  Cook once eat twice.  Try cooking a couple of whole chickens, a big roast, or a large pork tenderloin and using the leftovers for another meal.   Saves you time.  Cook extra meat and freeze it.

6.  Try a small garden.

7. Try to organize your trips out.  Saves gas.

8.  Make homemade little gifts.  You know it doesn't have to be extravagant to mean something.  Buy a bulk bag of chocolates (cause you know just about everyone loves chocolates) and package them in a special way.  You can buy a large bottle of lotions or instant coffees or other such thing and repackage them in smaller containers to get more out of your purchase. Again, it is the thought and love behind it that counts.

9. Encourage personal correspondence by making someone some homemade stationary.  Or make yourself some homemade cards.  You don't really have to spend a lot of money on the items to make that.  Buy a pack of white notecards with envelopes, a good alphabet set and some patterned paper and you have the basics for some darling stationary.  Go online and get craft store coupons sent to you by email and use them for these supplies.  Super savings.

10. Spend less time on the computer, in front of the tv or playing video games.  Get outside and play as a family, play a board game, play cards, read a book out loud together.  Reconnect with your family.  You will save money on videos, worthless entertainments out, and other such nonessentials.   Plus you will be building family ties. Priceless.

11. Practice hospitality to friends and strangers.  This is not entertaining them with fancy food, or fancy tablescapes or such.  It is a simple meal of simple food shared around awesome fellowship.  The food is just a backdrop.  Pull out the crockpot, put on a pot of soup.  Keep it simple.  You want folks to feel comfortable and share in conversation, not a player in a stuffy put on production.  You want to be comfortable.  

12. Make some of your own home decor.  Again clip those coupons for the craft store.  Use rub-ons on mirrors, vases, glass frames, etc.  It's fun and it is rewarding seeing your work of art on the wall.  Get the kids involved in decorating their rooms.  A few well chosen tubes of acrylic paint and a canvas will get them going.  My boys each made a canvas for their room.  They are awesome.  

13.  Oh and cut out the credit cards.  That is a no brainer.  Practice the art of saving for things that you want but don't need.  And practice saving for things that you might sort of need, but can't get yet.  Search for bargains: even free shipping online saves a lot.  

Happy New Year to you all!

I wrote a long very personal New Year's Resolutions piece for the blog the other day, and posted it overnight.  I took it off not because I was ashamed of the message it contained, but felt it really wasn't appropriate for a blog entry.  So I will attempt to summarize and convey the basic idea of that post in a new one here.   

Happy New Year to you all.  I know that we are all excited about what the new year will hold.  Some of us are more optimistic than others.  I know a lot of us are concerned about what will happen once our new President elect will be sworn in.  I speak for myself when I say, that I believe that hard times are coming for those of us who love God and value our freedom not only to worship and speak about Him, but also for our personal freedom as a citizen of the best free country in the world.  I believe that those freedoms are on shaky ground with the incoming very liberal President and Congress.   I could be living in dread of this, but actually, God has given me great peace about these things.  I am not trying to be naive, but instead I BELIEVE with all that I am that God ordains all things for His glory, to strengthen and grow his people into Christ's image.  I know that ALL things work together for good for those that love God and are called according to his purposes.  God works all things together for his children's good for His glory.  It's awesome to think about the possibilities that holds.  I am excited to see how God will show is sovereignty, goodness, grace, and faithfulness through what is coming.  

I am excited to see how his people will grow in grace, spread the gospel, and experience the fullness of God through trials and testing.  I pray that we will all resolve to trust God in all things, and allow him to be glorified in our trust and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

One of the ways we do this is to read His word, the Bible, be in constant prayer, memorize scripture, and not be ashamed to tell others about Jesus, our saviour and only hope.  

I am resolving in this new year to continue to let go of idols in my heart, prioritize my time according to God's purposes, and spend more time in God's word with my family.  I want to be a better mom, enjoying my children and teaching them the awesome truths in God's word.  I want to be a better wife to my wonderful husband, appreciating him, loving him, and coming alongside him as his helpmeet as God intended.   I want to spend my time doing things that count for Christ, giving to those in need, and being creative with my family to do those things.

To do these things, I will be letting go of a lot of my stamping.  I am not giving this up, just putting in its proper place after 6 years of letting it dominate my life and thoughts.  I will be stamping for our family, as a creative endeavor after I do the more important things listed above.   I will probably be ending my Stampin' UP! business, as I am hardly keeping it going, and I don't have the money to spend to keep it going.  I predict that after Sale-A-Bration is over at the end of February, I will probably be letting it go.  I have enjoyed the opportunity to do this, but to truly put this hobby in its proper place in my life, I really can't be a demonstrator and feel the pull of trying to maintain a certain sales level to keep it up.  I have all that I need in stamps and paper, and it will take me quite a long time for me to use up the papers, accessories and ribbons I have accumulated.  If I need to order more, then I will contact a demo I know and order more.   I will keep you posted as to my status when it changes.  

Check out the side bar for the New Decor Elements brochure.  There are tons of new things in there that are very cool.  I am looking forward to seeing if I can use some of the elements in our new home, which we hope to move into very soon.  I have been working on some home decor items these past couple of weeks, and am excited to share them with you.   They are awesome and I can't wait to put them up.  I have some canister to cover for my kitchen, and some recipe card holders to make as well.  It will come together in due time. 

In the mean time, Happy New Year to you all.   May God richly bless you all this year and always.  I pray that you will all gain a greater understanding of the riches and mercies of our Lord Jesus Christ this year.   There is nothing that is impossible with God, and He will always meet our needs, as he met our deepest need of reconciliation and forgiveness by giving us his son, Jesus, even while we were DEAD in our sin and His enemy.  Thanks be to God for his gracious and marvelous gift!  May you experience His call on your heart this year if you do not already know him, and my you answer his call with a contrite and humble heart and let him be Lord of your life.   For we have ALL sinned and fallen short of the glory of our Holy God.  But while the wages of sin is death, the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Believe in him today.  

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Merry Christmas to everyone.  I pray that you all had a blessed day reflecting on the true meaning of Christmas--Jesus was born and came to earth to live a perfect life so he could be the perfect sacrifice for our sins on the cross.  Of course we all enjoyed giving and receiving gifts today from family, and great joy in watching the faces and hearing the comments from our children as they tore open their presents and then ask, "Is there another one for me?"  We had an awesome morning with our family this morning.  Nathan and John had us laughing so hard we had tears in our eyes with their reactions to their gifts.  

We brought tears to my moms eyes with the iPhoto booklet, filled with pictures of the boys, we gave her and dad for Christmas.  I knew they would enjoy it, but I never thought we'd bring Mom to tears.  Dad got a big surprise when he opened his gift and found it was a pair of deer antlers for his truck.  Scott and I got that as a gift from our church Christmas party where they play the game where you exchange white elephant gifts.  It was perfect to regift as a gag for my dad, since he has a truck.  His real gift was tucked inside the box with that.  He laughed when he opened it.  It was a hit!  

We surprised Scott with some much needed clothes, a Gorilla Pod camera and iPod holder, and he got a new electric blanket for the bed, so he is a happy man.  

I got lots of awesome papercrafting and stamping goodies from my dear husband and my parents.  I can't wait to use them.  I am so excited.  Lots of Big Shot dies, Papertrey stamps and ribbons.  Yea!!!  

I'll photo the projects I have been working on lately and some cool Valentine's ideas.  I have been busy working on home decor for our new house to put in as soon as we get to move in.  Still waiting on that after 7+months.  We'll get there.  

Well Blessings to you and yours today and throughout the New Year. 

Some simple gift giving ideas

I haven't been able to make a lot of things here lately to show you, my customers and friends all the awesome things you can make with your stamps and the new Stampin' UP! products.  That is partly due to the fact that my crafting time and photographic time has been limited.  I am struggling myself to figure out what is feasible for the holidays for me to make.  I make a lot of my gifts because it is a lot more affordable for our very tight Christmas budget.  I also like to make things so it is more personal for the receiver.  And of course I just like to make stuff.  But this year has been a bit different in that I haven't already come up with gifts in preparing for a stamp camp and so I haven't been sharing much in the way of ideas with you.  I want to remedy that and share some ideas that I think will be much appreciated, and not to hard for you to execute.

1.  A family recipe box or "notebook" for handed down family traditions.  You could use the From the Kitchen of set by Stampin' UP! , Voila, or the new Recipe box set from Papertrey Ink.  You would simply need to make a few phone calls or email to ask various family members what their favorite family recipe is.  Maybe what is their favorite holiday meal, side dish or dessert?  What was their favorite recipe that they had when growing up or whatever.   Just try to compile some of those treasured recipes that they enjoy and would like to share.  You don't need enough for a grand cookbook, just enough to assemble as a family gift.   

Next purchase some 3x5 or 4x6 index cards and write them down, or print them out on the computer.  I would then use the stamps from the recipe card stamp set and use them to spruce the index cards up, or make dividers for each section of your holiday cookbook.  Use the bulk on board chipboard pieces that you can buy, cut them to fit your cards, decorate them with designer paper,and use the crop a dile to punch holes to tie them together with ribbon or a jump ring.   Decorate the front with the Voila chef or image of your choice and use chipboard letters or numbers for FAMILY RECIPES 2008.

Super easy and can be mass produced.

2.  Little treat baskets: Basket and Blooms totes are great for giving a small little treat to classmates, co workers. etc.  They are super quick and easy to assemble and I can cut them for you and get them to you  super quick.  Just let me know you want to purchase the designer paper, and i'll order it and get them cut out to you  super fast.  You need to let me know about the paper by Dec. 5 if you want them before Dec. 20th.  

3.  Or make the little box totes from Splitcoast or for a mini version here .  They are cute and once you cut the pieces, they are very easy to assemble in mass.  Make some yummy snowball cookies, or some no fail fudge and package them up.  

4.  Go to Papertrey ink and check out Lauren Meador's My Timeless templates for the FREE downloads of the STOCKING STUFFER  and RECIPE  folio downloads.  Just insert your paper into the printer, print out the patterns and you are so done.  She also has a template for a stationary box that is awesome.    It is called All Boxed Up template.  It is only $5 and you can download it as soon as you checkout.  NO shipping.  Awesome.  

Check out the following links to see what you can do with these.  

Teacher gift folio

Monogram stationary holder with a One sheet wonder for making the stationary

Other great ideas for her Timeless Templates from Lauren Meador

5.  For those guys on your list: how about making a stationary set of cards for giving to their wives to keep them out of the doghouse so to speak: Valentine's Day, Anniversary, Birthday, I love you, and Mother's Day.  These wouldn't have to be super elaborate cards, and I bet you have enough sets to do this pretty easily.  A floral set or an all occasion set would work well.  Have fun with them.  

6.  And lastly for the kids: how about some hand stamped line images good for them to color in and "make their own cards".  I like Pun Fun for this, but there are other sets as well.  You need Birthday, Thank you, and Thinking of you cards.  Simple layer imaged on a white card base: see here.  Then they children get to color them in with the crayons or colored pencils you package with them.  Super cute.  Use your punches to punch out some stars or arrows or hearts to put in there for them to embellish with.  I don't know a child who doesn't like to glue things.  

7. And of course you could always package up a store bought gift with a gift bag made of designer paper or a fabulous gift card holder. 

8.  Oh and for the home decorator, try givng them some of our Decor Elements for dressing up a frame or putting on their walls.   These are great, easy to apply and are REMOVABLE.   

9.  Lastly don't forget the great ornament kits in the Winter Mini.  They are super easy to assemble and would be great for attaching to the outside of your gift wrapping.  Try Stampin' UP!'s white wrapping paper, or wrap a small gift in designer paper.  Also there are great rub-ons for putting on packages, glass ornament balls, or vases and candle holders in the winter mini as well.  They are on sale this month too.  

10.  And the Country Living Decor kit is a great gift too.  Put them together with photos and give them on  your packages or as a gift in one of the little gift totes above.  Super sweet and from the heart. 

Have a wonderful Holiday season.  Any orders placed online with me from now until December 25th will get a Free copy of the new Spring/summer Idea Book and Catalog from me when they come out in January.  

Basket and Blooms totes assembly tutorial

Hi, Everyone.  Well some of you have purchased precut basket and blooms totes from me and now you need to know how to assemble them.   They are really very easy to assemble and you will need Sticky Strip to do so.  

1.  Fold the bottom circle piece along the score lines so all the little tabs are folded up.  Set aside.

Take the side pieces and fold the edges where they are dashed/scored.  Place sticky strip along those folded edges (on the side of the paper that will be on the outside of your basket), and along the bottom edge of the basket pieces.  You want to completely cover the bottom edges, as that will keep your bottom piece secure and able to hold more weighty items.

2.  Now peel off one sticky strip piece along the side of one of the body pieces.  Adhere the two body pieces together side by side.  Now remove the sticky strip off the bottom edge of both pieces.  Take the bottom circle piece and start at the edge without the scored side piece left undone and roll and press the circle tabs along the edge of the bottom of the body of the tote.  See photo for what I mean.  You need to make sure that the edge of the circle is at the edge of the tote body bottom.  Again refer to photo.  To make the rolling process work, you need to go slowly, keep tucking the little tabs in so they don't stick to what you don't want.  

3. As you get to the end of the tote bottom edge, you will need to remove the sticky strip from the last side flap cause you will need to adhere that little flap in before you finalize your bottom "rolling" to adhere that.  

4.  You are done.  Adhere the strips from your die cut images to make a stripe on the tote.  Note that the strips are longer than you will need for this.  Trim appropriately.  Use the tags, flowers, etc. to layer a cute embellishment.  You are done.

See, super easy.  

And the photos help.  The photos go in backwards order.  Sorry, but I still haven't figured out the order this thing puts the photos when I upload a lot at a time.

Thanks for checking out my tutorial.  

A cute gift card holder

Here is a gift card wallet.  Perfect for giving the men in your life a great gift card and not having the packaging be too cutesy.  So easy.  It really is a wallet, complete with enough pockets for up to 4 gift cards.  Got lots of kids who want to give Dad a gift card, well here is your answer to packaging them up.  

Some things I have been working on.

Instead of making a bunch of individual posts, I am going to lump my recent projects into one post.  I have been busy making some birthday cards with the SAB set from this past Winter:Birthday Whimsy. I met with a new customer here in Alabama a few weeks ago and we made these sweet cards.  So easy.  I have been making some cards for friend of mine who teaches piano lessons back in Roanoke. She just found out she is pregnant so I made the Baby is Brewing card with a packet of chamomile tea to calm her first trimester stomach.  This is her second child. We are thrilled for her.  I also made some cards for the realtors who have helped us with this move.  I made a set of cards and packaged them nicely in a PapertreyInk plastic box (love those boxes).  We also have friends who just had a third child. Their story is neat because it took them so long to have their first child (born just a month before our first), and their second child is a few months older than our second too.  I also made a little photo album for them but I forgot to get a picture of that.   I used the bitty on board album that I have had forever.  Let's see I have also made some albums for my boys' pictures, but I'll post a picture of that later.  Now I hope to make some interior decorating pieces for our new house.  I got some great canvases from a garage sale next door.  I hope they turn out like I am wanting.  Anyway, just thought I would share.