Thrifty Decorating: July 2012

July 31, 2012

On the Grill Potato Packs

I have been a little AWOL....but I have been loving my break from blogging!

As I have mentioned before, my boys have been swimming....and

swimming...and swimming!

It has, by far, been the most exciting summer of swimming!

They each made it as far as they could in their individual events, placing 9th and 11th!

While I have not felt like blogging, I have been doing a lot of summer cooking

on the grill. It has just been TOO hot to turn on the oven!

Here's a quick and easy side dish that you can make on the grill....

This is one of the easiest side dishes to throw together and can be

made a variety of ways!

The first thing that I do is slice the potatoes and cook them for about 5 minutes

in the microwave. This decreases the cooking time on the grill and insures

sure that the potatoes are cooked through.

Here is what I put in my first packet:

I've also been know to throw in some mushrooms!

After assembling the packet, you can add pats of butter of the top

or I drizzled some olive oil over this version.

My kids don't like all the veggies, so I made a simpler version for them, leaving

out the "extra" veggies!

After you add and season your ingredients, just seal your packet and put it on the grill. Cook it for about 10 minutes until it's steaming and smelling delicious!

You could make these on the grill or over a camp fire....it's one of my favorite summer sides!

July 30, 2012

Contest Winners!

A BIG thank you to everyone who participated in "It Pays to be Cheap Contest"!

We had SO many awesome entries, it was really hard to choose winners. Be sure to check out all of the amazing projects under $10... you will be inspired!

HERE ARE THE WINNERS:

$20 Target Gift Card from Cheap Crafty Mama goes to:

Dresser Makeover by Embracing Change

125x125 sidebar ad for 30 days ($15 value) from Chic on a Shoestring Decorating goes to:

"Bloom" Spring Pillow from Creatively Living

Craft stash goodie bag ($25 value) from How to Nest for Less goes to:

Mod Podge Shoes from Practically Functional

290x140 ad space for 1 month ($20 value) from Nifty Thrifty Things goes to:

Branch Coat Rack by Garden Therapy

]

Vinyl kitchen chalkboard labels and a Chalkboard menu board from Thrifty Decorating goes to:

Remade Chairs from City Farmhouse

Brought to you by some of your favorite "creative on a budget" blogs:

July 23, 2012

It PAYS to be Cheap!

Are you a thrifty crafter? Well this contest is for you!

Brought to you by some of your favorite "creative on a budget" blogs:

We want to see your all-time best projects for under $10!

Here are the fabulous prizes:

(each hostess will choose a winner for the prize they donate)

$20 Target Gift Card from Cheap Crafty Mama

125x125 sidebar ad for 30 days ($15 value) from Chic on a Shoestring Decorating

craft stash goodie bag ($25 value) from How to Nest for Less

290x140 ad space for 1 month ($20 value) from Nifty Thrifty Things

Vinyl kitchen chalkboard labels and a Chalkboard menu board from Thrifty Decorating

RULES:

*For each entry you need to follow 1 of the co-hosts (via FB, RSS, or email)
-that means you can link up to 5 projects!

*All projects need to cost less than $10 to make.

*Each co-host will choose a winner for their prize
-we are looking for the coolest and cheapest projects!

*Be sure to check out some of the other entries so
you can give them some comment love and be inspired!

*The contest closes Friday, July 27th at midnight and winners will be announced Monday, July 30th!

*We would love for you to display our button on your post or blog to invite more people to join the contest!

July 18, 2012

Thrifty Thursday....

I have been avoiding this post for a couple of weeks now....

I have loved hosting a Thrifty Thursday link party for over a year, but I

am just not able to keep up with it.....

I have loved looking through your links and seeing your creativity....and so do

other people. The link party draws some of my highest weekly traffic!

I will miss "meeting" you all here on a Wednesday night, but I am

excited to free up more time to be with my kids.

THANK YOU to everyone who has partied here on Thursdays!!!

July 16, 2012

DIY Sidewalk Chalk

Here's a quick and easy idea for "bored" kids....DIY sidewalk chalk.

All that you need is cornstarch and water.

I mixed 2 cups of cornstarch with 2 cups of water until I got a thin enough consistency to paint with.

If you don't add enough water, then you'll end up with Oobleck.....

After I mixed a big bowl of the cornstarch and water, I divided it evenly

and added the food coloring.

My colors are not really bright because I was almost out of food coloring.

Then, we just grabbed a bunch of brushes and started to decorate the driveway.

It washes off a lot easier than regular sidewalk chalk!

What fun activities have you been doing this summer?

July 11, 2012

Thrifty Thursday #68

I'm late....I'm late!!

We had a big swimming invitational last night and then our huge meet that

we hosted today....translation....a tired and over-committed mama!

All-in-all it was highly successful.....one son brought home 3 medals and

one son brought home 3 ribbons.

So...I am SO sorry, but I didn't have time to choose features this week.

....I'll try to be more organized next week!

Here are some very simple suggestions for the party:

1. Please become a follower of Thrifty Decorating.

2. Be sure to link to your POST and not your blog.

3. Please copy and paste my link button or a text link somewhere
in your post so that others can link back.

July 6, 2012

Beef Wonton Cups

I am trying to get myself organized and make some freezer meals for my days

in the fall that I know are going to be busy.

For inspiration, I have been using the A Turtle's Life for Me blog post on freezer cooking

and football freezer cooking......SO helpful!

I saw this recipe on the football freezer cooking post and

tweeked it a little for my family.

My hubby, especially, likes to eat healthy, so I filled these with tons of fresh veggies!

I used about 1 pound of beef and about 1 cup of each veggie.....you

know me, I just don't measure!

Missing from the picture are the won-ton wrappers.....I searched high and low in my grocery

store for these and the 16 year old teenie-bopper cashier was no help in locating them!

I finally found my won-ton wrappers in the produce aisle above what were

called the "stir-fry" veggies.....go figure!

You will want to precook the wrapper....note, when Natalie says to keep the wrappers "open" she means that when you put them in the cupcake pan, any indentation will harden making it impossible to actually fill it!

Yep....I learned that the hard way!

I used a mini-cupcake pan sprayed with cooking oil and cooked the

empty shells for 6-8 minutes at 350 degrees.