A Year of Dates with your spouse: Gift Idea

With Valentines Day coming up this is the perfect gift idea for your husband!

I am sharing this idea with you now....even though this is what i gave my husband for Christmas for his Gift of Meaning.  I have committed myself and promised my husband that I will spend more time with him this year.

with 3 kids, a full time school-working husband, and life.....need I explain why time with him is scarce :)

And this gift is going to help make that happen!

 This is what I did to put this together:

**I took $100 and put together 12 sacks (one for each month) and I randomly filled each one with instructions for the date plus an item to go along with it.  Look below for ideas.
**I labeled sacks with HOME DATE (this is something that we can do after the kids are asleep for the night)
** I labeled sacks with BABYSITTER needed or with different instructions like SUMMER Date.

Below is the list of things that I put in each sack.

HOME DATES
* Two $1.00 store puzzles to have a puzzle race.  Winner chooses their prize. (2 puzzles in sack)
*  UNO Tournament + make slushy drinks for dessert. ($5 bill for slushy ingredients in sack)
* Watch a movie on the couch-Wife Choice and make brownies.  (Box of brownie mix in the sack)
*Watch a movie on the couch- Husband Choice+Jamba Juice for dessert. (prepaid Jamba Juice card in sack)
*Nighttime Nerf Gun War in the backyard. (purchased mini Nerf guns in sack)  SUMMER DATE
*Watch home movies while sharing a Cold Stone Shake. (prepaid gift card to Cold Stone in sack)

BABYSITTER NEEDED DATES
* Go out to a movie.....(Prepaid movie gift card in sack)
* Anniversary Date.....This activity can be done after going out to dinner.  You each have $5, you have 15 minutes each to buy something for each other at the same store and those gifts are your anniversary presents for each other. ( two $5 bills in the sack)
*Out to dinner date + drive somewhere and talk. (prepaid gift card to a restaurant in the sack)
*Out to dinner date + a walk around our favorite park.  SUMMER DATE (prepaid gift card to a restaurant in the sack)
*Out to lunch after a morning hike up the canyon. SUMMER DATE  (prepaid gift card to Quizno's in sack)
* $1.00 store challenge.  5 minutes to buy something for the other person and then wrap them up and give them to each other.  This can be done after going to dinner or out to breakfast.  ($2.00 in sack)

With each sack filled with typed instruction for each date and labeled HOME date or BABYSITTER needed, I gathered them all up and put them into a very large gift bag.  This way they are all together and each month we can randomly pick from the sack.  

Now go and enjoy some alone time with your handsome husband!  

I know I will!!

Check out my previous Valentines Gift Ideas for my husband:
(Click to view)
14 Days of Valentines
Saucy gift Idea and printable
In the Mood Pillowcase

A 2012 Homemade Christmas Recap

I have put together all of my Homemade Gifts of Christmas 2012 together in one post for you.

Just click on the titles of each to take you to the original post of each project!

Christmas Tags

Spelling Blocks

Boy Bibs

Birthday card Organizer

I spy quilt

Wood train set

Wooden Peg People and Houses

Crayon Blocks

Velcro Belts

Ribbon Streamers

Fabric Crowns

Christmas T-shirts

Chevron Tote

DIY Christmas Sign

Yearly Family Journal: 2013 Edition

Happy New Year!

and with a new year comes my tradition of sharing with you my 

 Family Journal. 

Introducing the 2013 edition! 

 This is why I love sharing this project with all of you.......

 because it works.  I have been doing this journal since 2009.  

Here is a look inside:

every month has a title page.

 every month has a calendar that you fill in with the dates and things that happen on those days as well as a monthly summary that you use as the journal part.  After each summary I have left an empty page to add pictures of the events that month.  So not only is this a journal but works great as a mini scrapbook as well.

 At the end of the journal are these fun pages where you can write the funny things your kids say or other fun events that you want to remember.  The pages are a FREE printable from HERE.  I use the Stampin' Up Art Journals (that are no longer available.....boooo!) but I am sure any 5x7 notebook will work just as great.  I highly recommend using Elmer's Spray Adhesive to assemble your journals.  Glue sticks wrinkle your pages.  

 To see my other Yearly Journals you can click on the dates below:

2009,    2010,   2011,   2012

Happy Journal-ing!!

Painted Holiday Greeting's Sign

I am super happy with my new Christmas Sign for the Holidays!

It was super easy and inexpensive to do.

 It's not a tiny thing......It's 48" tall and 24" wide

I bought the board at Lowe's for $5.00

I used an Elmer's Paint marker to paint the words white.

I printed out my words first onto paper from the computer and I used THIS technique for tracing them onto the board.  Added some chevron stripes and a manger and it was all finished!

Make sure to check back often.  I am sharing items from my

A Homemade Christmas of 2012.

The first one being

Velcro Belts

(click on the words above and it will take you there)

Wood 2x4 Witch's Hat

 I turned some left over wood scraps into a couple of cute wooden witch hats!

I painted the wood, mod podged paper to the front, glued the top and bottom of my wood scraps together and then added ribbon and spiders for detail.  Super fun, super easy and super inexpensive.

 Here is what I used to make them:

The tall hat is a 2x6 wood scrap and the small hat is a 2x4 wood scrap.  The rim of each hat is made from scraps of a 2x2.  I made some cute wood Candy Corns and you can look at those HERE.

 These cute little hats also make a fun costume for your pumpkins!!

Happy Halloween!

easy from scratch Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I am addicted to these little things. 

I have grown up eating them from scratch for over 30 years, so when I decided to try the Cake box recipe that is out there......my reaction was yuck!!  I hated every cookie.  It did not matter which brand of cake mix I used I did not like the taste.  So I went back to the good old from scratch recipe that my mom would always make us.

 I love this recipe for many reasons.  The first being the taste.  Second, one batch makes 100+ cookies so you really only have to go to the trouble once and you have an ample amount of cookies to put in the freezer to enjoy all fall long.  That is unless you eat them all up before that  :)

The Recipe from my mom's kitchen:

1 cup shortening

2 cups white sugar

2 eggs

2 cups canned pumpkin

2 tsp vanilla

5 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp course salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground nutmeg

1 tsp ground cloves 

1 package of MINI chocolate chips - totally recommend using mini chips!

Use a small ice cream scoop for unified cookies.  Makes 100+ depending on size of scoop.

Bake at 400* for 10-12 minutes

Enjoy!

My Little Red Riding Hood and my Big Bad Wolf

I am happy to announce that 2 of my 3 costumes are ready for Halloween!

 I first bought a set of sweats at Walmart then found some fleece at Joann's to match and I made the little hat using this pattern.....and just added some ears to make it a wolf hat.  He will stay nice and warm. 

 To complete my Little Red Riding Hood I found the red dress at a thrift store for $3 and the cute white shirt for $1 at the same thrift store.  I made the Red Riding Hood cape using this pattern.  Add a cute basket and she is all set!

Stay tuned for my Princess Fairy Costume coming next week!

Edible Witch Pus Treats

Before you get all grossed out.........

it's pudding inside these witch cauldrons!!

Fun huh?  

Perfect little thing to take to a Witch Party!

Make up some Pistachio Pudding, pour it into the cauldrons and let them set up in the fridge.

Then add a cute little tag to each one and hand them out at a Halloween Party!

I was able to fill 4 mini cauldrons with 1 pkg of pudding mix.

I found the cauldrons at Zurchers Party Supply in town.

Now go eat some PUS!     *gross*

I am also handing out these little cuties at the same party.

They can be found in this post HERE

little miss Frankenstein Candy Jars

I made up these little cuties to hand out at an upcoming Witch's Night out party.

Supplies needed are:  baby jars (spray paint the lids black), googly eyes attached with glue dots, black web tulle and a plastic Halloween ring, sharpie marker to draw on face and green candy to go inside the jar (I found my green candy in the bulk section at Winco)