DIY Countdown to Christmas Craft!

This craft was seriously so easy it's hardly called a craft. I saw this idea on a different blog and wanted to make it scrapbookish, but ran out of time and sort of forgot. However I was reading another blog this week and found a free printable.  All I did was print it out, trim it to fit an 8 x 10 frame, then added it to a frame I had at home. A COMPLETELY  free craft! All you do is use a dry erase marker to write the number of days until Christmas on the outside of the frame. It wipes right off the glass, so each day all you have to do is erase and add the next number. EASY PEASY.

Tree of Thanks

My latest autumn craft, a Tree of Thanks! Again very easy to make and only cost $8. I just cut leaf shapes with the Cricut and fall colored scrapbook paper scraps and wrote one thing I was thankful for on each leaf. Then filled a large vase with a multi colored soup bean mix.

Gathered some branches from the yard and put them in the vase of beans.

I took clear tape and folded it over the ends of each leaf "stem" and punched a hole with a hole punch, then just hung them on the branches.

Finally, I cut a strip of fabric left over from the Fabric Pumpkins and tied it around the vase.

I love how it turned out!

P.S. The pictures have a shadow on them so it looks like there are more branches than are actually there.

Another Pumpkin!

Yesterday I did another super easy autumn decoration craft. A pumpkin made out of pumpkin seeds! Such a cute idea, I saw it on pinterest and had to make my own. The original was made with a piece of wood painted orange, I didn't have a piece of wood and didn't want to buy one just for this, so I made some changes.

Here's how I made it:

1. I cut a piece of orange scrapbook paper to fit an 8x10 frame I had. The paper looks solid on the photo, but it actually has some detail on it.

2.  I laid out my pumpkin seeds in the pattern I wanted. I just used a bag of salted roasted pumpkin seeds from the dollar store, I think you can even get them at the gas station. I bought 2 bags but only used 1/2 of one bag.

3. I picked up each seed and stuck a mini glue dot on the back, then placed it right back on the paper. That way I didn't lose my pattern.

4. Once I had the pumpkin stuck down I arranged some seeds to make a stem, then pushed each one onto a brown ink pad. I let them dry a few minutes before sticking them in place with glue dots.

5. My pumpkin was done! I layed the paper in the frame, secured the back and viola!

This craft cost me a total of $2 for the bag of pumpkin seeds. (well $4 if you count both bags I bought). I already had all of the other stuff at home! I love it! I'm just trying to find the perfect place to put it right now.

Pumpkins!

I made these pumpkins yesterday to decorate the house with! Aren't they cute? A friend of mine told me how to make them.

They are super easy to make! All you need is:

a 16" Square piece of fabric

1 toilet paper tube

4-5 empty plastic shopping bags

a stick a little longer than the paper tube

and a ribbon if you wish.

To make the pumpkin:

1. Lay the fabric face down on your workspace.

2. wrap the plastic bags around the paper tube.

3. Place the tube in the center of the fabric square.

4. Tuck the fabric up over the bags and into the top of the tube.

5. Push the Stick in the tube to hold the fabric in place.

6. Tie on a ribbon if you wish.

That's it! So simple. You can make any colors you wish and they literally take 5 minutes to make!

LOVE THEM!

Do you have any Fall Crafts you love to make? I'd love to hear about them!

Father's Day Invitations

My sister Kayla and I made Father's Day Invitations for our dad and uncle. We invited them to play mini golf and have ice cream. Here's a peek at how they turned out!

Kayla's Graduation Thank You Cards

White Border 5x7 folded card

Shutterfly custom cards for Valentines Day, Easter & Mother's Day.

View the entire collection of cards.

Frugal Friday-Homemade Face Wash

I came across a recipe for homemade face wash on Money Saving Mom. It uses the Oil Cleansing Method I had not heard of that before yesterday but it looked intriguing. Basically store bought face washes completely strip your skin of all oils, which either completely dries it out or makes your skin produce way too much oil to compensate making you wash it more often. That makes the problem worse rather than better. Personally my skin is extremely dry, so much that I have red scaly patches that don't go away until humid summer time, no matter how much moisturizer I use. When I do put on moisturizer it burns my skin because of the dryness. There were several comments of people that had tried it and loved it, so I thought I would give it a try too! It's made up of two simple ingredients: Olive or Sunflower oil and Castor oil. I used Olive oil because that's what I had. You just mix different proportions depending on your skin type.

OILY: 3 parts Caster oil to 1 part Olive oil
NORMAL: 1 part Caster oil to 1 part Olive oil
DRY: 1 part Caster oil to 3 parts Olive oil

The Caster oil has cleansing and purifying properties in it.

I made some last night I used 1 tsp Caster oil to 1 Tbsp Olive oil and just filled a travel size bottle and shook it up together, so easy.


To Use:
1. Pour a quarter-size amount on your palm, rub your hands together, and slowly massage your face with your finger tips. Do not splash your face with water first, put it on your dry face. Work it into your face for about a minute. Don't scrub, just rub.
2.Wet a soft washcloth with hot water, (but not scalding), and put it over your face for about 1 minute or until it feels cool on your face.
3. Rinse and wring the washcloth and gently wipe off the oil.

I did it last night in the shower. It was very relaxing. My face felt a little oily right when i got out of the shower but with in 10 minutes, if even that, it just felt very smooth. Usually my face feels very tight and almost irritated from dryness after I shower, last night it felt refreshed and soft. I went to bed right away and when I woke up this morning I could immediately feel and see a difference in my skin. It is so soft and smooth and my dry patches are probably 50% better after just one use! I am totally sold on this and it's so economical to make! It cost me $5 for all the ingredients including the bottle to put it in! I love that its made from natural non-toxic ingredients, makes a lot for little money, and works better than anything I've ever bought from the store! You really only need to use it once a day and it is supposed to remove make up too(I wasn't wearing any so I can't weigh in on that). I even crocheted a cotton washcloth last night to use with it! It was so cool to be using a face wash I made in 5 minutes on a washcloth I made in 20 minutes and LOVE the results!

You must try it, if you don't like it you can always go back to your regular stuff, but I don't think you will want to!

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