Making a big deal of the Resurrection and still keeping within budget

It's not about what she gets, its not about how cute or how fun. It is about pointing her to my Savior, creating family memories, and trying to make as big a deal of His death as we do His birth. And all without blowing the budget. This year I believe we have a balance of some budget friendly items but also something that she needs "spiritually".

First off I have this on order.

She is at the stage where I have read all the devotional Bibles we own to her. I feel that she is ready for a Bible that she herself can read. I chose this one because I use the NIV, this one will be close to my version. I also wanted an early reader Bible to help her gain confidence in her reading abilities. I want her to enjoy scripture reading, not to get frustrated with it. Looking through it on Amazon, there are even fun study questions throughout the book that will allow us to explore deeper. I am paying $12.80 (plus $3.99 shipping) for a new hardcover early reader.

Now on to the basket. I shop the thrift stores regularly and was pleased to find this bike basket for only 65 cents! I new immediately this would be used for her Easter basket.

After Easter this will be added to her bike

The items I am filling it with are from Dollar Tree, Walmart, and Joann's and all cost $1 each. With the exception of the My Little Pony stuffed animal which was $4 at Walmart and the cross necklace which I saved up for and bought from a friend who sells Premier Designs. The total for the basket was $13.65 the total for cross and Bible is $36.79.

We believe Easter is a special day and deserves to be celebrated!

Other ways we are making a big deal out of the Resurrection  are our DIY Resurrection Eggs and  our Sense of the Resurrection lessons, which we are working on each day as we head into the big day!

He is Risen!



Affiliate link included in this post. I will only share what I truly feel is a blessing to families. 

Camo Birthday Party Ideas

My first official order for this new business of mine, was from my sister-in-law Carly. She gave me call and said she was looking on my Facebook page and decided I needed a boy party on the page. She was right! My nephew's birthday was coming up and she ordered some camo cupcakes and I also went ahead and did the banners as well. She then let me take pics of some decor ideas that she used. 

The duck in the picture below I purchased at the thrift store for only 65 cents! We both thought it would fit in with what she was planning.

For starters I knew that I would want to make some cake picks. I have a Cricut machine, however I do not have a cartridge for the shape I wanted. Well, what did I do before I received a Cricut- I did it by hand. 
I was going to need a pattern so I turned to Pinterest for one. I enjoy Pinterest immensely! You can find just about anything there. I found a few that would work, however my printer was not working at the time. I was unable to print out a pattern. 
So what's a girl to do? Yep, that's right, I traced it. The computer screen works like a light box. So I gently placed a piece of copy paper up on the screen and lightly traced around the pattern. I cut it out and then used it for my pattern for the cake picks I would make. 

I worked on a few at a time and before I knew it, I had enough small for 24 cupcakes and 6 large for the banner. Once I cut them out of cardstock I inked (using an ink pad) around the edges with bright orange to give it some pop! Then I adhered them to a toothpick.

large ones I used for banner, I layered with a piece of camo paper

I did 12 bucks and 12 duck camo cake picks

In case you are wondering I timed myself on the small ones, I was under 2 minutes to trace and cut each one. Not too bad for how cute they turned out! 

The banner I made with scrapbook paper and my Cricut machine for the letters. I found here a pattern to make each triangle. I inked around the letters with a stamp pad in bright orange as well to coordinate with the picks.

This was a very fun party. It was a beautiful March afternoon. My brother BBQ'd, we shared potluck, the kiddos got to run all over the countryside as well as horse ride and everyone got to enjoy the yummy cupcakes-which I will share in Friday's post.

DIY Resurrection Eggs!

Counting today there are 13 days until Easter. Want a fun easy way to celebrate with your kids? Make some DIY Resurrection Day Eggs! Gather all your supplies today then start counting down tomorrow. You will open your last egg on Easter morning. Other options are to do them over several days or even all at once. I have done them all on one day as an Easter morning Sunday School lesson before.

What you need:
Bible
1 empty egg carton 
12 plastic eggs
number stickers (or permanent marker)
several small leaves
a couple pieces of bread (or croutons)
3 dimes
a small piece of purple cloth/felt (I used a sock)
thorns (from tree or bush)
small strip of leather
2 tooth picks to make a small cross
3 small nails
piece of sponge dipped in vinegar
1 toothpick & small paper triangle (to make spear)
small flat rock
glue gun 

Once you have gathered your supplies decorate the outside top of your egg carton. I used scrapbook paper and sticker letters and glued it to the top. Then I took the 12 eggs and numbered them 1 to 12. I then started filling each egg with that days item. Below is the list of what to put in each egg and the Bible verse for that egg. At the end of this post I will have a print button for you.

#1 small leaves for palm branches, Bible verse- Mark 11:8 
#2 small pieces of bread or croutons for the Passover meal, Bible verse- Matthew 26:26
#3 3 dimes for 30 pieces of silver, Bible verse- Matthew 26:14-15
#4 small purple cloth for the robe, Bible verse- Mark 15:17
#5 thorns for the thorn crown, Bible verse- Matthew 27:29
#6 strip of leather for the scourge/whip, Bible verse- Mark 15:15
#7 2 toothpicks for the cross, Bible verse- John 19:17-18a
(to make the cross I hot glued them together, then I cut the ends of each point off just enough so it would fit into the egg)
#8 3 small nails for the nailing Him to cross, Bible verse- John 20:25b
#9 small piece of sponge soaked with vinegar, Bible verse- Matthew 27:48
#10 toothpick/paper made into a spear, Bible verse- John 19:34
(hot glue triangle paper to an end of toothpick and trim other end down if needed to fit into egg)
#11 small flat stone for the stone rolled over the tomb, Bible verse- Matthew 27:59-60
#12 empty egg for the empty tomb, Bible verse- Matthew 28:6

Each day have kids pick the egg for that day and open it up, let them explore it and talk about it. Ask them questions about it. Then open to the Bible verse for that day and read it and discuss with them what God's Word says. Pray with your kids thanking God for His Son Jesus and what He did for us! 

I plan on doing this each morning with Sunshine during breakfast. Then later in our school day we keep working on our lessons from Sense of the Resurrection!

print directions 

Affiliate link included in this post. 
I will only share what I truly feel is a blessing to families.  

P.S. I thought I would share this book that we borrowed from the library. The Legend of the Easter Egg by Lori Walburg. It has a meaningful way to think about Easter eggs! 

Banana bread, you smell good!

Few things in this world smell better to me than these: the scent of lavendar lotion on my newborn baby,
Dear Hubby in his Old Spice, the sweet smell in the air just after a rain on a warm day and bread baking in the oven. This banana bread in particular does not disappoint in smell yumminess! It also happens to be tasty and easy to make.

 The first thing I always do is pull out bananas from the freezer. I will always use frozen bananas because once they have thawed a little, they are so easy to incorporate into the mix. I have tried over ripe non frozen before and it just seemed like more work to mash them down.  

Freezing bananas are easy, just toss over ripe ones in the freezer as is. No need to package them. The will stay for at least a month in the freezer just as they are. When you want to make some bread just grab 3 from your stash. A tip though: defrost on a plate not the counter. As they thaw out the peels turn black and I have actually stained my counter top. Whoopsie! Once the bananas have thawed, I break off the bottom end and squeeze the banana out into a bowl.

The original recipe I used came from here . I have made this so many times now that I have adapted it to our tastes. One of the things I added was cinnamon. In my opinion most any bread other than bread for lunch/dinner should have some cinnamon in it. I also use whole wheat pastry flour instead of all-purpose flour. I also have included some oatmeal once, but Dear Hubby didn't care for it that way.

Ingredients:
3 frozen bananas thawed 
1/3 cup melted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
healthy dash of cinnamon
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread coconut oil (or lard) into the baking pans set aside. Empty bananas into bowl and mix with the melted butter. Batter will be lumpy. Add in sugar, egg, and vanilla and mix some more. Sprinkle in the baking soda, salt and cinnamon and mix in to the batter. Add the flour last and mix just until evenly blended. Pour mixture into two 8.5x4.5 inch loaf pans and bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. 

Enjoy!

print recipe 

Sweet, simple, money saving alternative to soda and juice

I grew up putting a tea jug out in the sun on a warm day and drinking sun tea in the summer. I married a man who drinks it all year long. So I quickly learned how to make it from the stove top  when it is too cold for sun tea. We go through about 2 gallon jars a week. It is quite simple and inexpensive to make. It saves us a ton on sugar intake, as it only takes a minimum amount to sweeten the tea. It also happens to save on the grocery bill because I send a 16 oz plastic jug with Dear Hubby to work everyday. Between that and his water he rarely has to spend money on a soda or sports drinks. Sunshine loves it too, and will actually ask for tea instead of soda or chocolate milk when she gets a kids meal somewhere.

Here is how to make it:
Fill a pan 3/4 full with water, bring to a boil on stove. Note: I have a pan I only use for tea because overtime it gets stained. Once the water is boiling I take it off the burner. I add 5 bags of tea and let steep for 5 minutes. If you like it stronger add another bag or two. Five seem to be just right for us. 

While the tea steeps in the pan I fill a gallon glass jar with 3/4 full of warm water. I use warm so the sugar (about 1/3 cup) will mix in. If you don't want sweet tea then skip this step. We like is sweet! Note: I do not like the plastic jugs with spouts at the bottom that the stores sell in the summer time. Why? Because the spouts always seem to end up leaking. I look for glass gallon jars with no spouts at yard sales and thrift stores. After the tea has steeped I pour it into the gallon jar and give it a good stir. And that's it! A sweet, simple, money saving alternative to soda and juice. 

Thrifting Thursday: How I decorate on a tight budget

Welcome to my first installment of Thrifting Thursday! Each week I will share with you how our family saves money. Posts will include saving on groceries, thrift store finds, decorating on a budget, parties on a budget and anything else I find to write about that has saved our family tons!

To start with you should all know that my favorite place to shop is the thrift store. Why? Because almost anything we need or want can be found there for very good prices. And it is fun- you never know what you will find! Shopping there has truly been a blessing, it has literally saved our family hundreds of dollars over the years. Any thrift store will do, but I do shop our local Youth Ranch the most because it is close to home. I go almost weekly 1) because our store is always busy so I go often to find the deals 2) they put out new stuff just about daily and 3) they have sales that change almost weekly. I will share with you in a later post on the ins and outs of thrift store shopping that I have learned from both working at thrift stores and shopping them over the years.

But for now let's get on to the savings! We have a tight budget and thrift store finds are one way I have found to make our house feel like home. Usually with a little cleaning, up-cycling, or t.l.c. I can make work what I have found, to match the decor we already have.

The first picture at the top of the post is the decor I have on top of my china hutch in the dining room.
I will focus on the items that have been given or thrifted lately. To start with the USA wood sign was given to me from my good friend Heather, it goes well on top of my flag box. Which I got on a half price sale at the Youth Ranch for only 95 cents. The gold pear (which I think I am going to paint) I got again for half price at only 33 cents.

The small white pillar in this picture I got as well for half price for only 33 cents. And aren't the pet food containers cute! I paid under $4 total for them at a gigantic flea market we go to every Labor Day weekend.

This hangs on the wall in our dining room. I love the stitching, heart buttons and colors of it. It goes perfectly in this room. I purchased it for only 95 cents at the thrift store.

The swan planter sits on our dining table which holds our cloth napkins. I paid 33 cents, again on a half price sale at my local thrift store.

And this guy- I heart him! He is adorable and I only had to pay $4 for him at that same gigantic flea market this last Labor Day weekend.

What are some of your favorite thrifty finds? 

linking up at: Faith filled food for moms

DIY Easter Banner for our Sense of the Resurrection studies

We will be starting our lessons in a Sense of the Resurrection this week and I wanted to share with you how I made our Easter Banner to go with our lessons.

 

I went to Joann's with a couple of coupons and got the chevron material and the heat n bond. I had already gotten the felt and ribbon at Walmart.

  I needed a pattern so that my triangles would be straight. I found one on Pinterest of course here

Using the pattern I made, I cut out all of my triangles. I cut out 6 white felt. I then cut out 12 triangles from the chevron material- from those I will make 6 double sided for added durability. I want to be able to use this banner every Easter. 

Once all the triangles were cut is was time to start putting it all together. I did these steps in several different time settings. It is just how my week was going, so I took advantage of small chunks of time. If I added it all up, I would say it would be under 2 hours to complete. Since I wanted to double side the yellow chevron pattern I started with those first. From reading the instructions (on the heat bond package) I cut strips and placed them on the inside of one chevron pattern and ironed it (no steam) in place. I did this to all three sides of the triangle.

Once the paper strips had cooled, I peeled the paper part off and matched up another chevron triangle on top with the outside of the material facing up. I then ironed it fusing both pieces together. (sorry, I forgot to take a picture of this step) When I had fused all of my chevron triangles together I then had 6 chevron and 6 white felt that I needed to piece together. Along the top of each triangle I iron on a strip of heat n' bond and one by one ironed the matching (gross grain) ribbon to each triangle. 

 Once I was all finished with adhering all 12 to the ribbon I decided that to help it be the most durable I went ahead and ironed on another strip of ribbon to the other side. Putting the ribbon on the both sides also makes it double sided.

Then, because I didn't get the extra hold heat n' bond I did a simple straight stitch on my sewing machine. I don't want it to fall apart next year. So going forward I will remember to get the extra hold stuff (lesson learned).

And that's it! We will actually be adding to the banner in the coming weeks leading up to Easter. Starting tomorrow, we will begin our Easter lessons in our homeschool and I will share what we complete as we go along! Do you have any special Easter lessons planned? Please share. 

linking up at:Faith filled food for moms