Simple Teacher Appreciation Gift

This is a super simple gift idea for teachers.  Simply fill a mason jar with pencils and attach a bow and a gift card, if you like!  The rubber ducky card is a gift card to the Dollar Tree.  Easy Cheesy! 

Sorting Candy: Money Saving Tip!

How was your Christmas?  Ours was great!  Everyone got what they wanted and we had a nice relaxing day as a family.  The kids are spending a few days at their dad's house now and I'm spending some time catching up on laundry, house-cleaning and blogging.  I haven't taken down the Christmas decorations yet, but I think that will come tomorrow.  We're having a few people over for New Year's Eve and I'd like to have my everyday decorations back up by then.

I love taking advantage of after-Christmas clearances to stock up on Easter basket stuffers and birthday gifts...  Another thing that goes on sale for half-off (or cheaper) is Christmas candy.

A trick I've been using since the dawn of time (you know, like back in the '90s) is to buy Hersheys Kisses and m&ms and sort them for Valentine's Day and St. Patty's Day.  Hersheys Kisses are such a traditional party of V-Day... You know with all that romantic kissing and crap, but have you ever thought to buy the red, green and silver Christmas Kisses for half off and sort them out?  It save a ton of money!  A lot of times you can find coupons for candy that don't expire for a couple days after Christmas as well which means you can buy them for almost free (or totally free).

M&ms take a little more time to sort than Kisses, but I love making m&m cookies for Valentines day with all red m&ms.  They also work great to decorate sugar cookies.

This year I found cherry cordial m&m that will make delightful cherry Valentines cookies!  If you freeze the m&ms before adding them into baked goods it opens the door up even more!  How about fudge with cherry cordial m&ms throughout?  Freeze them first and they won't smash up in the warm fudge!

St. Patrick's Day follows soon after Valentine's Day so those green candies won't go unused! 

It only takes a minute to sort out the candy, but it saves you money!  Get the kids to help you!  Little kids actually love sorting!  Get the bigger kids to take notes and pictures as the sort and use it as a science project!  They could figure out if there is an even number of each color of m&ms in the Christmas bags and if every bag has the same percentage of each. 

I might be a little kooky in my money-saving adventures, but every penny adds up!

Why Didn't I Think of This Sooner? Fun and Stylish Ring Holder

I'm excited how cute these turned out!  Of course they don't match my room (Nina is the one with a zebra room), but they'd be perfect for craft fairs or a boutique!  All I did was take pieces of black felt, roll it up, secure the rolls with hot glue and stack them in the shoe.  Each roll was a different size, I just measured and cut as I went to match the part of the shoe the roll would be in.

I didn't glue the rolls to the bottom of the shoes because yes, I do wear these heels on occasion! Aren't they fun?  $5 at Rue 21, which is my favorite clothes store!  These would make fun gifts for teenage girls!  You could split up the pair, attach the rolls to the shoe to make it permanent and you've got a great gift for just a couple of bucks!

Think of the upcycling possibilities!  Vintage looking heels that are too small to actually fit your modern feet could become great ring holders to sit on your vanity or dresser!  You could dress them up with lace or all sorts of embellishments!  Or if you like modern then grab those high heels you'd break your ankle in and make them useful! 

Mason Jar Cakes

These are so adorable!  I whipped them up for the 4th of July and somehow forgot to ever blog about them so here they are 6 months later!  I made them for a cooking class as well and people loved them... they're just so dang fun!

You can use different cake and frosting colors for different holidays or occasions!  They make fabulous gifts as well (think Valentine's Day gifts for lonely single people who will be sitting home eating cake!).  You'll want to refrigerate if you're using homemade frosting or if you plan on making them ahead of time.  Vintage silver spoons look great with the jars or you can use plastic.  If you're serving them immediately don't even worry about the lids!  They look great without!

Mason Jar Cakes
 

24 regular cupcakes made from a cake mix or homemade

2 cans frosting, or homemade frosting in a contrasting color, use whipped frosting if you can find it

Sprinkles or mini chocolate chips

12  8 oz straight mason jars (NOT wide-mouth), with lids and rings (lids don’t need to be new)

12 x 12 sheet decorative scrapbook paper

Ribbon, string or twine (coordinate with your paper/theme)

12 plastic spoons

Bake the cupcakes without paper liners, making sure to grease the muffin pan well.  Let cool.  Use a jar lid (not ring) to trace 12 circles onto the scrapbook paper and cut out.  If you laminate your paper or cover it with contact paper your circles be reused over and over again.  Place your frosting in a ziplock baggie and cut the corner for easy piping.

tray can be found here

To assemble:   Place one cupcake inside the jar, pipe enough frosting on top it will be seen well through the side of the jar.  Add a second cupcake.  You may have to squeeze the cupcakes to fit them in the jar.  Top with more frosting and add sprinkles or mini chocolate chips.  Place a jar lid on the jar and top with a paper circle.  Add the ring and tie a spoon to the jar using ribbon, string or twine.

Quick & Easy Ribbon Hair Tie

My sister wasn't aware that it was "red day" for Red Ribbon Week, so Sadie showed up at my house in the morning not wearing any red.  I whipped together a hair tie for her to show her red ribbon spirit!

It's very easy to make a fun ribbony hair tie in any color scheme.  I did all red, but you can do any color combination you like.

If you're unsure how to attach the ribbons to the pony tail holder, here are some step by step pictures of how to tie them on.  If you'd like to add a dab of hot glue, it will be more permanent.  Hot glue the ribbon to itself, not the pony tail holder though.

Ta-da!  It's that easy!  Add lots and lots of ribbons for a full look!  You can choose the length of the ribbons depending on the look you want.

These would make fun Christmas gifts for the little girls in your life!

She loves it!