DIY Glue Art

I was bored this afternoon, so I grabbed some paints and went to work.  I made a piece of art work using a glue gun and acrylic paints.  Don't let the term "art work" discourage you; you DO NOT have to be artistic to make a great picture!  You can also make this project for under $10. 

What you need: 

Pre stretched canvas, whatever size you want.  Sold at arts and crafts stores.  Look for sales and use coupons!  

Hot glue gun

Acrylic paint

water

small/medium paint brush

What you do:

1.  Use the hot glue gun to draw a design on your canvas.  I drew flowers.  You can draw a picture or just lines and shapes - it's up to you! 

2.  Water down your paint.  You want the paint to be almost like water colors.  One of my painting teachers from high school said to apply paint thin to thick - this "rule" came in handy with this project.  

Use a wet, thick brush to apply the paint, one color at a time.  You can always go back and add more color if you want.  

first layer of color

beginning of second layer of color

It's finished! 

I decided to hang my painting up in my living room.  I think it looks great!

My tips:

1.  Less is more!  After finishing my painting, I realized I didn't really like the swirl designs in the painting.  Depending on the light and the angle, they don't really stand out too much.  Next time, I'm just doing one, simple design/pattern.  

2.  Let the paint dry between layers!  This will make it easier to work on one layer at a time.  Since the paint is so watered down, it will only take 5-10 minutes to dry between each layer.  

3.  Have fun!  there is no right or wrong.  It's all an experiment - play with the paint, water and glue; see what you come up with! 

Design "on a dime"

It's kind of is a funny saying, "design on a dime."  I haven't figured out how to design for only $0.10, but I can design for a few dollars.  There is a wall in my living room that doesn't have any windows or any major pieces of furniture on it(there is a bench with cubbies for storage).  I could hang up a generic piece of art work, a mirror, or anything else that's been done before.
I wanted something different and fun.  I LOVE family photos, so I got a bunch of frames and made a photo collage on my wall.  I pick of picture frames all over the place; yards sales and thrift stores mostly.  It is very easy to re-paint a frame.  Each frame is different, and I NEVER pay full price for a frame.  Right now, I have 9 frames in my collage, I will be adding more soon.

my picture collage! 

Today I bought the wall decals that are around the pictures.  I bought the decals for $1 at the dollar store.  The decals are dandelion designs in a grey/silver color(dandelion wishes happen to be one of my favorite things...).  When buying wall decals, go for something simple; you want the pictures to be the focus of the wall.  Also, you do not need to spend a lot of money on the decals!  Dollar stores sell decals, as well as craft store.  

My favorite thing about my picture frame collage is that it gets the photos off the digital camera and computer, and onto the wall for everyone to see!  There really is something great about viewing photos in an "old fashion" way.  It's a nice alternative to the Facebook photo albums and digital picture frames.  

  

a new take on flowers

I think I've posted about flowers and saving money before.  I LOVE fresh cut flowers, so I couldn't help but post some more tips and ideas.  I've seen this trick on design shows and news show segments.  So why not try it?

I bought carnations at the grocery store, cost about $6.  Carnations can look really cheap, like $6.  But it is easy to dress them up to look very pretty and sophisticated.

Take a large bunch of carnations, all of the same color.  Tie the stems together just below the blooms to form the illusion of one larger flower.  

I used a round, fish bowl like vase for this bunch.  It normally works best in shallower or shorter vases.  

Carnations are also very long lasting flowers, that come in a variety of bright, vibrant colors.  This bunch has been sitting on my kitchen table for about 8 days now and they still look great!  To allow your flowers to last longer, change the water ever few days.  

Enjoy!  Happy Spring! 

Backyard garden on a budget

I recently moved into a new house with a great backyard.  I had a great idea to plant a veggie garden this year, even though I have never done anything remotely close to successfully growing veggies.  I decided to go for it anyway.  I spent a few hours working in the garden this morning; weeding, edging, planting seeds.  I did not want to spend a lot of money on my garden; my goal for the garden is to get produce without spending a lot of money and learn how to garden in the process. 

My tips for gardening on a budget:

1.  Use what you have!  There are two flower beds in my yard that are lined with rocks; I picked through the rocks and found extra ones to create a boarder/edge for my garden.  I also found some old wood planks to use to create walkways between rows of veggies.  

2.  Don't have any materials around?  Ask neighbors, family members, friends; you never know what other have that you could use!  

3.  Plant seeds.  Seeds are much cheaper than starter plants.  If you want to use starter plants, buy the smaller ones because they are normally cheaper.  Also look for sales.  Only plant the veggies you know you are going to eat.  Don't let the veggies go to waste!  

My garden, as of today

There is no need to spend a lot of money to create a garden bed in your backyard!  So far I have planted green beans, cucumbers, carrots and sunflowers.  

Good luck and happy gardening!

DIY T-Shirt Fabric Flowers

I'm really into the whole fabric flower trend.  They are really cute and can dress up anything.  BUT I don't want to spend the money on them when I know I can make it myself for cheaper.  So I browsed online and found a tutorial for Ribbon Flowers.  I cannot take credit for the original tutorial, I found it here. 

And mine turned out like this...

I used silver ribbon and then played around with my camera settings

After playing around with some other materials, I found that you can make the same flower, using the same technique, with T-shirt fabric.  

Cut a long strip of T-shirt fabric, about 1 inch wide.  

Then use the same technique to make the flower:

Tie a knot at one of the ends of the strip of fabric.  Using the hot glue, twist the fabric around the knot and glue as you go along.  

Here is what I came up with: 

I think I like the way it turned out.  It is a little more "rustic" than the ribbon flower because the edges aren't finished.  But it gives you more of a casual look than the ribbon flowers.  

Why I like these:  

*  They are VERY easy to make, takes about 5 minutes per flower.  

*  They are VERY cheap to make!  I bought fabric from the remnants section of the fabric store and ribbon from the dollar store.  Each flower uses very little fabric; you get a ton of flowers for your money. 

*  They are easy to turn into pins and hair clips.  

Homemade skin care

I was browsing online recently and I found a "recipe" for a homemade skin care item that claimed to be a "black head eraser."  I have always spent a lot of money on skin care items; I've always felt that skin care is worth spending money on.  But paying $50+ for one skin care item isn't good for the bank account.  So I gave this recipe a try.

What you need:
granulated white sugar
baking soda
water
a small bowl
measuring spoons

Everything you need!

What you do:

1.  Measure out a teaspoon of both sugar and baking soda.  You want equal parts sugar and baking soda.  Put these in the small bowl.  

2.  Add a VERY small amount of water.  Start with a 1/4 teaspoon.  Stir to make a paste.  Add small amounts of water if needed to make the paste.  

3.  Apply to CLEAN skin, avoiding eye area.  Leave it on your face for about 10 minutes.  You will feel it "working."  It's like a mild tingling/burning feeling.  That's the baking soda working to get all the gunk out of your skin.

4.  After 10 minutes, use warm water to wash the paste off your face.  Use your fingers to massage that paste into your skin.  The sugar acts as an abrasive and will help remove dead skin sells.  

5.  If you have sensitive skin, your skin might be red/tender after this treatment.  Follow with a light weight, oil free moisturizer.  Also, if you have sensitive skin, only use this treatment a few times a week.  

Did it erase my blackheads?  Nope.  But it did help.  My skin felt very clean and smooth.  I did have less black heads and my skin was very clean after the treatment.  

Have any other products I've used erased my blackheads?  Nope.  So I found that this treatment was worth it.  

Each treatment will cost you just pennies!  Great way to stretch your skin care dollar!  

Thrifty DIY Fabric Flowers

This must be my new DIY crafting obsession.  I just love it, and it is super quick and easy to make.  I cannot take credit for this idea/method: I found the original tutorial here.  I followed the directions on the original tutorial, and played around with the designs and folded the fabric in different ways to get different shapes.  Play around with it; you never know what you will come up with.

I set out to make these No Sew Fabric Flowers on a budget.  I wanted to spend $10, and I spent $13.18(including tax).  So a little over what I planed to spend, BUT I have enough materials to make 50+ flowers.

All my materials 

You will need: 

Fabric

Buttons

Hair clips(if making those) 

Scissors

Glue gun

Marker 

Here's what I made:

simple, black and white

attached hair clip to back

stacked 3 flowers onto of each other, with 2 buttons

My money saving tips for this project:

1.  Shop the remnants section of the fabric store.  You do not need a lot of fabric to make these flowers, so it's ok to buy small amounts.  Most remnants sections are priced at 50% off. 

2.  Look for sales!  I bought all my buttons on sale buy one get one free.  I got 8 packs of buttons for the price of 4.  

3.  Use coupons: most fabric stores will put coupons in the Sunday papers

4.  Ask friends and family members if they have any old fabric scraps that you can have.  Also ask for buttons.  

5.  Look for buttons and fabric and flea markets, thrift store, and 2nd hand shops.  

Consignment Shops 101

I love having cute clothes, but again, I hate the high price tag.  I have been shopping at consignment shops for a few years now and I would like to share my tips and tricks with you.  At consignment shops you will find like new brand name clothes.

Each season(fall and spring), I go through my clothes and pick out stuff that doesn't fit anymore or that I never wear.  If it is in good condition, I take it to the consignment shop.
Selling tips:
1.  Check the store's guidelines!!!  Every store will have different guidelines for the clothes that they will take.  You can find this info on the store's website, or in person at the store.
2.  Make sure your clothes are clean and wrinkle free, they will sell better this way.
3.  Most stores will only buy in season clothes, check policies first!
4.  Most store give you two options: cash up front or consign.  I normally get cash up front.  With consigning, you will not get cash right away and your item might not sell(you won't get any money).

Buying tips:
1.  Use your cash up front money to by new clothes!  Most stores will let you apply the cash up front money like store credit.
2.  Try stuff on!  Most consignment stores won't take returns! Check store policy first.
3.  Look for sales: most stores will put items on sale that have been sitting for a while.
4.  Shop without expectations!  You never know what you will find, the items are always changing.

My Example:
I went to a local consignment shop today and they gave me cash up front for 2 pairs of jeans and a few tops.  I got $16 dollars for these items.
Here is what I found to buy:

Khakis from J. Crew in my size

Khakis from American Eagle in my size

Super cute cardigan from Talbots in my size

So here's how it all panned out:  The 3 items I bought added up to $29.60.  I applied my $16 cash up front payment to the total amount.  So I paid $13.60 for the 2 pairs of khakis and the light weight cardigan.  

Good Luck! and have fun shopping!

Save Money On Holiday Decorations

I have always loved cute, fun holiday decorations, but I don't like the high price tag they come with.  After browsing some stores and online, I decided that most of the decorations wouldn't be that hard to make.  So I raided the dollar store and ended up with a super cute Easter Egg wreath(that won't be going up until AFTER St. Patty's day.  What's this new trend of skipping holidays?).  I spent $9 plus tax to make this wreath, and bought everything at the dollar store.  I already had the glue gun.

What you will need:
hot glue gun
wicker wreath form
decorative Easter eggs(I used small foam glitter eggs from the dollar store, 8 packs of 12, you will need more than you think you will!)
scissors

Get Started:

Cut the ribbons off of the eggs.  Then start glueing them around the wreath form.  Work around the entire wreath, do not just work in one section, you will get better coverage this way.  

Continue glueing the eggs around the wreath form until it is as full as you like.  You do not want to be able to see the wreath form when finished.  Glue a ribbon loop on to hang the wreath from. 

My finished wreath!  

Other ways to save on holiday decorations:

Wait until after the holiday and buy stuff when it is on sale.  Stores discount seasonal merchandise after the holiday to very low prices.  Buy this stuff for next year.  *Only buy ahead for next year if you have room to store it, don't let it clutter up your house!  

Check out thrift stores for holiday decorations. 

Ask your family members- hand me down decorations are as good as new ones!

Save money with gift cards

Wow!  It's been forever since I've posted!  New goal: post at least once every week.  We'll see how well I do with that one ;)

My tip for today is to use gift card for purchases.  But you have to buy the gift cards at a grocery store.  Most grocery stores sell a large selection of gift cards for many popular retailers and restaurants.
*If you are planning to eat out or shop at a different retailer, buy their gift card at the grocery store.
* The grocery store will give you gas rewards points for the purchase of the gift card.
*Then take the gift card and make your purchases using the gift card.

For example: 

I am going to be building garden boxes within the next month or two(keep a look out for a how to post!).  I need to buy wood, nails etc. from the home improvement store.  

I am going to buy $100 in gift cards for the home improvement store AT MY GROCERY STORE.  

I will get $0.10 off a gallon for purchasing the gift cards.

I will then take the gift cards to the home improvement store and buy my materials with the gift cards.  

Also:  Need to get a gift card for a gift for someone?  Buy it at the grocery store and then you will get the gas rewards points!  

Good luck!  

PS: share your tips and hints with us!  

Cut Your Food Bills

I really struggled with putting this post in my money saving blog or my cooking blog.  I finally decided on the money savers blog since the purpose of this is to save money, not a new way to cook or season something.
I cannot take full credit for this tip; my nutritionist gave me this tip.  Buy veggies fresh from the market when they are on sale.  Then blanche and freeze the veggies.  Buy the veggies when they are on sale.  Most grocery stores and farm markets will put the veggies on sale the day they are supposed to go bad.  Buy the veggies then and blanch and freeze.  They are cheaper and the freezing process will make them last for a while.

All the veggies I got from the local farmers market.  Spent $6 on everything.

I will take you through the blanching process for the carrots.  It's very simple and easy to do.  

1.  Peel and slice the carrots.  Cook in salted boiling water for 1-2 minutes only! 

2.  After the 1-2 minutes of cooking time, transfer the cooked carrots to ice water.  This will stop the cooking process.  

Cooked carrots in ice bath to stop the cooking process. 

3.  After the carrots have cooled in the ice bath, transfer them to a baking sheet lined with paper towels to  remove excess water.  

Dry the carrots with paper towels. 

4.  Put the carrots in plastic bags to freeze.  Make sure to label the bags with a permanent market with the date and what is in the bag.  After your bags are filled, put in the freezer.  

Ready to freeze!

That's it!  That's the blanching and freezing process.  I spent $6 on veggies and it will last me about a month.  So much cheaper than buying frozen veggies from the grocery store.  

When you are ready to eat the veggies, just dunk them in boiling water for a few minutes, drain and serve.  

Flowers!

I LOVE having fresh cut flowers around my house.  They make the house seem so much more homey, bright and cheerful.  The down side is that the flowers died and you are kind of just throwing away money.  For me, this expense is worth it.  I have a few tips to make your fresh flows last longer, stretching your flower dollar.

Tulips in my living room.  $7 from grocery store. 

1.  Try and buy flowers when they are on sale.  Most flower shops or grocery stores will put flowers on sale when they are on their last leg.  Sunflowers are my favorite, so I will sometimes pay a little more than normal for them.  

I bought flowers from the flower shop stand at my local farmers market this week.  The lady working at the stand gave me some tips:

2.  Put the flowers in warm, not hot water.  Flowers do not like cold water.  

3.  Change the water and re-cut the bottoms of the stems about every other day.  Flowers hate dirty water.  

Some other tips that I have picked up over time:

4.  Dissolve and aspirin in the flower water.  

5.  I also read that a shot of vodka in the water will make the flowers last longer.  I have never tried this one myself.  

Sunflowers in my kitchen, from the local farmers market.
$10 for 3 sunflowers and the 2 purple flowers

Enjoy your flowers!  Please share if you have any other tips for making them last longer!

Make More Money

I was watching the Today Show yesterday and they had tips on how to make more money this year.  Their tips were stupid.  Not practical at all.

Here are their tips:
1.  Get a part time job.
2.  Start an online store.
3.  Charge petty cash for mini projects.
4.  Tutoring, or teaching a course.
5.  Babysitting or pet sitting.

Why these tips are stupid and not practical at all:
1.  Who has time for a part time job with a full time job?  It is NOT worth working all the time and never sleeping just to take in a few extra bucks.  You will go nuts and turn into a grouch.
2.  This one is sort of not stupid.  If you have something that you can sell online that people want/need, go for it.  Don't spend too much money for your online store.  The down side is that most people do not have extra money to spend on random things online.
3. People can't afford to spend money to mini projects that they could just do on their own.
4.  OK, who has time to tutor?  If you do have the time, the skills, and the clients, go for it.
5.  Babysitting is not practical for the majority of us, unless we are still in high school.   Most of us do not have the time.  If you neighbor is going out of town and needs someone to feed the cat, offer to do it for a small amount of money.  But this will not bring in extra cash to pay the bills.

My Tips For Making More Money: 
1.  pick up some extra shifts at the full time job you already work.  Most places will pay you overtime.  And you don't have to get another job.
2.  Go through your house and find things that you do not want.  Sell them online or have a yard sale.  This will not bring in tons of money, but it might give you a little extra cash.
3.  Sell clothing at consignment shops.

Good luck!  Please share your money making tips :)

Start Fresh In The New Year!

Wow!  It's been almost a month since I last posted!  The past month has been crazy busy for me.  I just moved into my new house, my first big girl house.  No more apartments for me!  Anyway, that has really taken up a lot of my time over the past month.  Work has also been crazy busy, and I have revamped my schedule, so things will be less stressful for the new year.

I have a few money saving goals(resolutions) for the new year.  These are my personal goals, I encourage you to make your own money saving goals to accomplish in this new year.
Some tips:
1.  Make the goals reasonable.  Don't make the goal something that you know you cannot achieve.
2.  Make a timeline for the goal.  Split the year up into quarters, and set mini goals within the larger goal to make by the end of each quarter.
3.  Ask for help.  Don't ask people for money, that is a bad habit to get into.  But if you need help organizing your filing cabinet, ask for help.  If you need help understanding a bill, ask for help.
4.  Don't stress!  Take it easy; the goals are supposed to make the year easier, not more stressful.

My money saving goals for the year:

1.  Pay off my credit card debt.  Yes, I have some credit card debt.  From about age 18-21ish, I have racked up some credit card debt.  This year, I want to pay it off.  Making monthly payments on a credit card is a waste of money, with the interest rates racking up.  I want to pay it off, and not make any more purchases with my cards.  CARDS ARE FOR EMERGENCIES ONLY!

2.  Organize my filing cabinet and set up an organized bill paying system.  I have some ideas for a good organized bill paying system, I will be posting about this system within the next month.  An organized bill paying system will prevent paying bills late and prevent late fees.

3.  Maximize my take home pay.  I don't want to work 60 hours a week just to take in more money, I would go nuts.  I would like to keep my full time job the way it is, and add something else to bring in some cash.  I will be posting another blog within the next few weeks about ideas for taking in more cash.

What are your money saving goals for the new year?