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:






How to Nest for Less
{nifty button}




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!

It Pays To Be Cheap







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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!!!





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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?



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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.



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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.




While the wrappers cooked, I fried my lean beef, drained the grease and then 
added red onions, red peppers, mushrooms, and fresh basil.



Once everything was cooked, I added about 1 cup of sharp cheddar cheese.


I used a tablespoon to fill my wrappers with the beef/veggie mixture. Then, I put them back in the oven for about 7-10 minutes until they browned.

{My oven temp is off and I've been too lazy to adjust it.  If you have a hot oven, keep an eye on them to make sure that they don't get too brown!}


I froze a bunch of them and we've already tried reheating them and they are delicious!!





For the less adventurous eater's in my household, I made some taco cups, too.
I just took plain beef, seasoned it with taco seasoning and mixed in the cheddar cheese.
It makes eating "tacos" fun!


Hope that you all are staying cool in these hot temps!



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July 4, 2012

Thrifty Thursday #67

Happy Fourth of July!!!

I have been absent around the blog because I have been enjoying a lot of this...


My boys spend the summer swimming and I spend the summer cheering!

We've just been having a lot of family time and it has felt GREAT not to have the
pressure of "needing to complete projects!" over my head!

So I am glad that you all are doing projects and sharing them every week
here at Thrifty Thursday!


Would you believe this shelf used to be a door?? Shabby Love
transformed an old door into a usable kitchen shelf!




Pondered Primed Perfect also made some creative shelving using twine and a glue gun!



Design, Dining & Diapers created this DIY eye chart and has an awesome tutorial!




Cherished Bliss shared this beautiful Pink Lemonade birthday party....so fun!




Cookin' Up Good Times made these red, white and blue lava flows using
drink mixes but made them non-alcoholic for kids!




I've seen a lot of mason jar soap dispensers, but this from
Ugly Duckling Transformations is especially cute!




Finally....for a fun summertime idea, how about this watermelon
pedicure from Fancy Frugal Life?




If you were featured this week, feel free to grab one of my buttons!


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.





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June 27, 2012

Thrifty Thursday #66

Less than 24 hours till hubby is home.....I think I can, I think I can........

Truly, my kids have been amazing, but there's just something about not having
another adult in the house that wears....me....down!

I think it's because I have to answer every.....single...question....and they
ask A LOT of questions!  For which, I am usually grateful, but am just a
little out of answers!

I'm excited to get to the features that week because, once again, you all shared
FABULOUS projects!  There continues to be such an amazing pool of talent
among you all!

Thanks for visiting  and linking every week!!

Reason #2,317 to own a Silhouette....these beautiful latitude/longitude signs from The Concrete Cottage.




Art is Beauty transformed an ugly dresser into this gorgeous piece of art!



I love this chalkboard gallery wall designed by Toolbox Teenah.



The Ivy Cottage shared the recipe for this homemade blueberry 
cheesecake ice cream...yum!



Another fun summer recipe was linked by Saving 4 Six....Pink Lemonade Pound Cake!



I doubt they are healthy, but these taco fries from The Crafty 
Blog Stalker sure do look good!





If you were featured this week, feel free to grab one of my buttons!


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.








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June 26, 2012

Kitchen Cleaner for a lot less....



Things have been quiet around the blog this week because they have been 
BUSY at home!

My hubby is in Northern Ireland on a mission trip and has been gone for over a week.
It's usually about this point that I start feeling a....little....bit....C-RAZY!!!

Before he leaves I always have these big plans to read.....get projects done....relax...

WHO AM I KIDDING???

He leaves and I accumulate all of his chores and mine!!  
How do I manage to forget that every year???



Before I share my "enlightened" idea about kitchen cleaner, I need to brag a bit on my boys because they are what inspired my need to go cheap on cleaner.

My boys are swimmers.  
You see, my hubby is 6'5" tall....
For a person to get that tall, you must grow a LOT and that is what hubby did, except
that he would grow in spurts. He'd start the baseball season with
20'" arms and end the season with 22" arms....that makes for a lot of strikeouts!

So when our kids were young we talked about what types of sports we could put them in......where we saw them being successful.  Baseball was out!

We landed on swimming.  
It's a sport made for long...lanky....grow-4-inches-in-a-year people with big feet.

Now, just to keep it real, this mama has ABSOLUTELY no ability for swimming.
I could tread water if necessary.....maybe even do a lap if being chased by
sharks, but putting my head underwater.....doesn't happen!

Every year my kids jokingly ask at the start of pool season..."Hey, Mom, gonna get your head wet this year?"

"No, children, you see, my chemically treated hair may just explode if it touches chlorine!"  
{That and I HATE water up my nose!}


So when my boys look like this....


and this...


and bring home some first place ribbons, I gotta get a little excited because I
had absolutely nothing to do with it!

But....isn't this supposed to be a post about KITCHEN CLEANER??

Oh yeah.....so the reason I need to cut costs with kitchen cleaner is because my
boys are swimming and eating EVERY OUNCE OF FOOD IN SIGHT!!!

Seriously, I am going broke on bananas alone.  So the other day I thought,
why don't I just buy a concentrated bottle of cleaner that I usually use to mop
floors and dilute it to make my spray cleaner??

Before I diluted it, I checked the back of the bottle, and wouldn't you know, but
they actually had instructions for how to do this!!!


Take your concentrated cleaner...




Measure out 4 ounces....the bottle calls for 1 ounce/15 ounces water, 
but I wanted to make mine stronger.





I then used my empty bottle of cleaner and filled it with 28 ounces of warmer water.
{Because 4 oz cleaner + 28 ounces water = a 32 ounce bottle!}




So what do you save by doing this??


Let's do the math:


Lysol concentrated cleaner:  $2.79/40 ounces
{If you use 4 ounces per bottle, it can make 10 32-ounce bottles of cleaner}


Total cost: $0.28/bottle!!!


AND you're reusing a plastic bottle!




You're Welcome!















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