Thrifty Uno First Birthday Party Theme

My son's first birthday party happened over a year before I started blogging, but I pinned the theme on Pinterest, and it has been re-pinned many times! Since there was so much interest, I thought I would explain what we did. This was an inexpensive theme, so it definitely fits into the thrifty category. Full disclosure: my husband is a very-talented graphic designer, so I didn't have to purchase design time for a banner or invitations, but the theme relied mainly on projects anyone can do.

Round-up of Hand-made Christmas Gifts

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I hope all of my readers had an amazing holiday, filled with family and friends! 

I thought it would be fun to do a "round-up" of Christmas gifts I gave this year, that were hand-made. Some I blogged about and others I didn't, but all were fun to do and well-received.

Easy, Inexpensive Stocking Stuffer: Christmas S'mores

I haven't posted in a few days because we were out of town, celebrating the holiday with family. We had such a good time!

Today, I am finishing up some Christmas things, and one of them was so inexpensive and easy, I thought it would be a good post for the blog.  If you are looking for a great stocking stuffer that kids just love, these Christmas s'mores are easy and thrifty.

Kite Embroidery Hoop Art

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I haven't been doing quite as much upcycling during this week before Christmas, other than my seat belt pillow, because I've been working on hoop art. I do, however still use upcycling in everything I do. This hoop upcycles an old pair of trousers. The fabric was perfect for this.

My world embroidery project came out well, but it was meant for the play room and my 14-year-old snagged it, so I had to start a new decoration. 

This one is my favorite, yet. I just love rainbows, and this one is very colorful. The phrase is a Fleetwood Mac song. I just love it. It sums up one of my main parenting philosophies. 

For the felt graphic piece, I almost went with cars, a hot air balloon, or a suitcase, but in the end, the kite won out, because I could picture it in my head better.

My favorite part of this hoop has got to be the little pink leopard-print bow on the end of the kite string. It was an inspiration I had at the end of the project, to replace a solid green bow with a surprise—a bow that "goes its own way". 

The process:

And the finished piece:

This will be wonderful in the play room. I'm going to wrap this up for the babies to open on Christmas. I know they won't know what it is now, but it was definitely a labor of love from me to them. :)

Thrifty Cooking: Meals 4 & 5 from the 5 Meals from One Turkey Meal Plan

This is the last installment in my 5-meals-from-1 turkey meal plan. I have to say, that $2.92 was the best investment I could make! The cooking method was great and the meat was flavorful. The first week, I made tacos, spaghetti, and modified BLT sandwiches. My family devoured them all, and the tacos and spaghetti were enough for 2 day's worth of lunches for my husband and I, so they were definitely more of a "serves 12" recipe! 

World Embroidery Hoop Art

Like my hoop art? Purchase it here.

This isn't a tutorial, just a post to show you guys my continuing love of hand-embroidery and to show off my latest project.

I DID use some upcycling principles, though. The cloth I embroidered on is an old, off-white curtain. The embroidery hoop was $1.69 and I used scrap felt for the earth.

Upcycled Seat Belt Pillow

My 14 year-old is constantly falling asleep in the worst positions in the car. We travel a couple of times a month and this makes for some very uncomfortable sleep for him. Also, sometimes he even moves the belt completely out of the way, which is very unsafe.  In an effort to solve all of that, I thought a seat belt pillow would be ideal. It's just a long, skinny pillow with thin ties that tie on to the seat belt. The long ones I've seen have been running $25, but my version was free!

Fun, Inexpensive Santa Gift-Wrapping

This is just a quick, fun post for anyone who wants a fun way to wrap Santa gifts this year.

I've seen similar wrapping on other sites, but they use expensive heavy-weight red paper and expensive gold-foil scrapbook paper sheets. My way is so much cheaper!

Simple and Cheap Christmas Gift: Felt Food

Most of us look for ways to save during the holidays. If you have a little one who loves to pretend cook, this gift idea is perfect. A sheet of acrylic felt is 29 cents, and you can get multiple pretend food out of it, or use up old fleece scraps. I sewed all of my "food" but I think you could do this with a hot glue gun, too.

Easy Christmas Card Holder Decoration

I secretly (not so secretly now) LOVE getting Christmas cards! They are always so cheerful and uplifting and I am sad that they aren't sent as much these days. However, I finally received one today and wanted to make a holder for them. (Well, my husband brought one he designed for his work home, so I'll count that one, too. I'll take what I can get these days!)

Thrifty Cooking: Meals 1-3 from One Turkey

Right before Thanksgiving, I scored an 11-pound turkey for $2.92, total! I told you guys about my plans for this guy,  but instead of updating the original post, I thought a new post would be less lengthy. When I cook like this, I always leave a day where I cook something completely different, so my family doesn't get tired of the main protein. Also, except for the sandwiches, I had leftovers, so these really serve more than 5. The chicken spaghetti probably comes in at under $1 a serving!

Upcycled Sewing Caddy

Lately, I have been having so much fun with hand embroidery. It's pretty surprising, since I am quite impatient (just ask my husband) and embroidery is very slow-going, but I just love the pictures the thread creates. My first try at embroidery was sprucing up a sweater destined for the donate pile; a Charlie Brown Christmas tree:

Simple Stocking Dress-Up (No-Sew!)

Our baby girl needed a stocking, and I came across a couple of plain green ones in my Christmas box. I decided I could cut out an applique design and affix it to the stocking.

No-Sew Warm Baby Headband From Fleece Scraps

This morning, I was getting my baby girl dressed and reached for a headband, but with the temperatures in the forties today, I wondered if there were something warmer I could make for her (besides a bulky hat).

Super Easy Christmas Decoration for Stairs

Want a free and very quick way to dress up your stairs this holiday season? Hang your stockings from them! Not only does it add a "wow-factor" to your stairs, but it's very practical.

Upcycled Baby's First Ornament

A couple of years ago, I made my son a baby's first ornament. I went to a big retail store, bought a fancy ornament, and followed the process I'll write out here. I love seeing it on our tree.

Easy, No-Cost Candy Cane Rag Wreath

I really liked how my Halloween rag wreath came out and wanted to do something similar for Christmas, although I did eye a white curtain and consider doing one like my fall shabby chic wreath. However, I already have a cute door decoration that I love, so knew that I wanted to work around it. I thought that a candy cane would be the perfect shape.

Simple Christmas Wrapping

Usually, I buy lots of pretty paper and bags for my Christmas wrapping, but for this year, I decided to go with much simpler wrapping. I have seen a ton of pretty simple packaging on Pinterest—using newspaper, brown kraft paper, and even the white side of printed paper.