Thrifty Thankgiving Center Piece

I sort of stumbled onto the idea for this blog today when I was scavenging through the house looking for a Thanksgiving center piece. I realized not only didn't I have a table cloth, but something to put on the table as a decorative piece. With my husband being laid off, I knew better then to hold my hand out for even a few bucks to purchase something. So I decided to......let the creativity flow!

I'm not much of a foo foo girl; more like casual chic and I love natural elements. So I stood and stared out through my back window trying to absorb some inspiration from my yard. I spotted a pot and sticks from the tree we trimmed out front. I found an old silk arrangement in the garage, a vase of pussy willows in the kitchen, and two bunches of dry died leaves that I purchased for $1.00 ea. at "Michaels" on sale. I knew this was only the beginning to a very long hot glue gun journey!
My first step was to play with the sticks, finding the perfect heights and sizes to make the shape I've envisioned. Then I tore apart all the arrangements I found, washed them, and cut them into individual pieces with a pair of dykes. Then I started to glue the silk artichokes onto the blunt ends of the sticks being careful to keep balance in mind. You can use just about any type of fruits or vegetables like apples, grapes or even acorns.
Next I glued the leaves on that I steamed and ironed to make flat. Try to reserve each branch for only I particular element, if you have a gardenia leaf on one stick don't glue a pussy willow on it too. It'll just look messy and unorganized. After an hour went by my arrangement became very full, I needed to make the decision to continue or to stop and keep it simple.
The bigger and fuller it is the more elegant it's going to be, so Idid a couple of quick touch ups and ended it there.....right at simple.

As for the table cloth.....I didn't have any that resembled thanksgiving or fall, for that matter. I then picked two that I already had, starched and ironed them. I found some dish towels that were fall colors and ironed them also. Once I layered them onto the table I wasn't quite happy with the outcome but I really had no choice.
I figured I'd do a mock set up to get a better feel for it. Once I placed my pretty new center piece and dishes on the table, it all came together. I'm super happy and in love with the results. Our table feels warm and comfortable just the way I like it. On Thanksgiving day I'll add some finishing touches like mason jars with tea lights in them, they'll contrast nicely along with brightening the table. Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving full of loving memories!

It's Redbox vs Netflix!

I was so impressed when Redbox hit all our local stores, I couldn't believe that I could rent a movie for only a dollar a day. So we stocked up on rentals. Each member of the family got to pick out their own movie. It was a lot of fun popping the popcorn, turning the lights off and having a movie marathon.....til the movies weren't returned the next day! Our affordable "Movie Marathon" wasn't costing us 4$ anymore, it was now 8$, oh but wait...."what day did we rent these movies, " three or four days ago!!! Yikes! We just spent way more money then we had originally planned. Owell, we'll try to be better next time. So the next weekend my daughter has friends over. My husband takes them to rent movies. Two weeks later I find movies in her room that I had no idea were rented! I can't keep track of how many we ended up buying at $25 a pop! What started off as an affordable luxury had now become a pleasure I tried to stay away from. Until.....(drum roll)....Netflix!

I kept seeing commercials advertising Netflix for only $9 a month, with unlimited access, no late charges and the ability to watch movies "instantly" on your Wii console or via the Internet! Are you kidding me N-I-N-E dollars a month! That's amazing, awesome, unbelievable, "ok, what's the catch?" There is no catch! As a matter of fact the first month is free! If you're not happy with the service you can cancel at anytime! No credit checks and no contracts. Now granite not all videos are available to watch instantly but if you send away for them you'll be shocked at how quickly they arrive...within a day or two. You can keep the movie as long as you'd like while still using the "watch instantly" option. There's no shipping charges involved and even includes the envelope to ship it back in...all you have to do is drop it in your mailbox!

I've never been much of a "T.V" person, I can't seem to keep track of the airing times and dates. But since signing up for Netflix I now take the time for myself to enjoy a television series, watch a movie, or lay in bed with the kids to watch a "family classic." So next time you're having a hard time gettin ahold of me, know that I'm probably curled up in bed, with my laptop on my lap, watching Netflix....good luck!

Note: I'm in no way affiliated with Redbox or Netflix, neither have been informed about this post, nor have I been compensated in anyway. This blog is solely based on my personal opinion.

Live Advent Tree

I love doing holiday crafts with the kids. It encourages us to slow down and be creative together as a family without breaking the piggy banks. One affordable idea that the kids seem to appreciate is decorating our huge tree in front of our house. You can apply this idea to any holiday or celebration. For Halloween we cut black bats out of foam craft sheets (89 cents ea. at Michael's) strung fishing line or kite string through a needle, then sewed it 3/4 of an inch from the edge then tied them to different levels of branches. You can find templates anywhere on the Internet or free hand your own.

For Thanksgiving I came up with the idea of making our tree into a Live Advent Tree by purchasing red, brown, orange, and yellow foam craft sheets. I had my daughters friend free hand 3 different styles of leaves plus an acorn onto white paper. We cut out the designs and used them as patterns for the foam sheets. You can use a marker or pencil to trace the pattern but know that if you use a dark color it will show up as an outline around your leaves. I choose to use a pencil and when I trace onto a dark color I press harder so I can see the outline of the pattern. You'll then cut out a leaf/acorn for each day reaching up to Thanksgiving, then sew fishing line through them and hang from the tree. As each day goes by one of the kids will pull a leaf off. We can then count how many leaves are left and will then know how many more days til Thanksgiving. You can make an extra special glitter leaf to represent Thanksgiving day! The kids will look forward to the routine!

If you love the idea but don't have enough time or kids to help, my neighbor strings silk oak leaves to her tree. It's beautiful and adds a realistic touch. Be creative, glue buttons, glitter, sticks, macaroni, or even spread peanut butter on them sprinkled with bird seed, anything to get the little ones involved and their creative minds thinking! You can do snowflakes for Christmas, hearts for Valentines, and stars for the 4th of July. Before you know it you'll be starting a neighborhood trend!

"My Love Letter To You"

Those who know me know I'm obsessed with my children! I'm very much aware of how delicate life is and that it can be taken from us at any moment. If I should ever leave this earth before my kids I want them to know how very important and dear they are to me. That's why I am a fanatic about documenting details of their lives in their baby books. On the front page of each I have written, "This is my love letter to you." Every stage of development, songs we sing, cute and funny phrases they've said, first dates, every tooth lost, baby food labels, tags off Christmas gifts, Valentines, first love, anything and everything that I never want to forget is logged. All three of my kids love to sit down with Mommy and read "their" books as if they were beautiful award winning novels. I keep them handy so they could be pulled out and updated at any moment. My 7yr old will say, "Mom get out the baby book I have something I want you to write in it." My 16yr old will say, "Mom are you going to put this in my baby book?"

Most of you are probably saying, "I don't have the time for that" well sometimes I don't either. That's why I have a basket that I drop things in, report cards, pictures, letters they've written, etc. That way when you "do" have the time you can grab the items and insert them in the books. This way the kids can also add things to the basket that are important to them too. The books don't give you much room to write, maybe one or two pages per year, so I write in the columns, and even cover up pages I won't use with a white piece of paper, that way i won't miss out on any info. due to the lack of space. I try to get the kids involved as much as possible by having them stick stickers they get from the doctor in there or by tracing their hands each year, this way they feel apart of the book and helps them retain their memories.

It's never to late to start a baby book. I had my first daughter when I was 20 so I didn't have much time to keep up with it, however I did keep a piece of paper handy on the fridge to write down firsts like smiles, words, solid foods, etc. A couple years back i took those papers and filled in her book the best that I could. From that point on it's been updated with report cards, school Id's, essays shes written, even her thoughts and feelings written by herself.

Keeping a Baby Book is very similar to scrap booking, it just takes less time, less money, and it only looks perfect in the eyes of those it touches. Now my love and memories of my babies will never be forgotten.

A Childs Treasure

Both my younger kids have a "Buddy", a stuffed pillow shaped as an animal. My 7 yr old has a pink rabbit that I found at a thrift store before she turned 1, and my son has a brown Monkey that was given to him also before the age of 1. My daughter Cheyenne named hers "Buddy" so we called my son Riers pillow "Buddy" also. When he started to talk he changed the name to the sound a monkey makes, oo oo ah ah. Both of our children treasure their "Buddies." They have become a part of our family. It's not an odd site to find Mommy or Daddy hugging, kissing, or cradling a "Buddy."

When Riers Buddy, "Oo Oo Ah Ah got his first battle wound, (a hole in his head) I came up with the idea of writing a note and stuffing it in him before we sewed him back up. I cut up an old crib sheet and wrote a "love letter" to my son with a black Sharpie on it, dated it, and stuffed it into "Oo Oo Ah Ah" and sewed him up. Few months later I did the same. The next time we had a "battle wound" I wanted to do something different so I took the little tiny toy monkey Rier received as a prize from his first dental appointment and wrapped it up in one of his baby socks and stuffed him in "Oo Oo Ah Ah." This time around he was looking a bit flimsy, so Rier helped Grandma stuff more stuffing and all the little treasures into his buddy himself. Now he felt so proud and was apart of the process of making "Oo Oo" a true treasure