Friday, May 18, 2012

Frugal Tip Friday - Kitchen Week 9

Saving in the kitchen...
  • Put dish detergent in a pump dispenser.
  • Save soap slivers. Put in microwave to melt. Add a capful of vegetable oil (shake before use). Pour into a mold if you desire bar soap.
  • Keep your freezer full. Consider filling plastic jugs with water to take up empty space.
  • Pack lunches. Don’t purchase.
  • Wash and re-use Ziploc bags.
  • Go out for breakfast instead of dinner. It is significantly cheaper.
Happy Saving!

Thursday, May 17, 2012

50s Housewife Bridal Shower Part 3 - Lace Wrapped Jars



So here's part 3 of my sister's 50s Housewife themed bridal shower. Her wedding is going to have a vintage modern flavor with a coral and blue color scheme and lots of lace. I wanted to incorporate some of those elements into the decor.
(Check out other shower decor in these posts: Pennants and Poms and Coffee Filter Wreaths)
To add some filler pieces, I brought out my stash of canning jars. We used to can fruits and veggies more frequently but just haven't had time in the past couple of years. I couldn't quite part with all our supplies yet so I had a good number of different sized jars to choose from for this project.

They were already clean so I just added white lids to hide the threads. Then using my ATG adhesive, I attached different types and widths of lace. I found some cool, still-in-their-original-packaging vintage lace from a local non-profit called, Creative Re-Use. For only a couple dollars, I got a lace with coral ribbon threaded in it, a blue ribbon lace, a blue tatted lace, and several white laces.
The ATG tape held just fine. (In fact, I think it's going to be a project in itself just to get the tape off the jars now that the shower is over.)

I used the jars on the piano vignette.


I used a few on the server which held the plates, flatware, and napkins.

And I used a few on the kitchen peninsula where we had the drinks.

They looked so pretty with lit tea lights inside. A little lace, a little vintage, a little housewife... perfect!


Linking up to these great blog parties:
Sunday: Sunday Showcase at Under the Table and Dreaming; Show Me What Ya Got at Not Just a Housewife;
Tuesday: One Project at a Time at A Bowl Full of Lemons; Tuesday's Treasures at My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia;
Wednesday: Wicked Awesome Wednesday at Handy Man, Crafty Woman; It's Overflowing at Overflowing with Creativity; Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts;
Home Decor & Organizing at Organize and Decorate Everything;
Thursday: Delightfully Inspiring Thursday at Delightful Order; Thrifty Thursday at Thrifty and Fabuless;  Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Creek Cottage;
Friday: Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest; Flaunt it Friday at Chic on a Shoestring; 

Monday, May 14, 2012

Make a Card Monday - Call Her Blessed


Just in time for Mother's Day... this card base came in a DCWV pack of pre-folded cards. I love the cheery floral pattern on it. This was a no-stamping card because I found the verse in my stash. A few button flowers dress it up.


Details:
cardstock: Georgia Pacific (white)

embellishments: Jolee's flowers, DCWV Quick Quotes verse


Friday, May 11, 2012

Frugal Tip Friday - Kitchen Week 8

Saving in the kitchen...
  • Use dishes, cloth napkins, cloth dishrags, cloth dishtowels for eating and cleaning. (Cheaper and more eco-friendly than paper.)
  • Host a Tupperware or Pampered Chef party to receive free merchandise.
  • Make your own pickles. When you finish off the pickles, slice up a cucumber and let sit in the remaining pickle juice for about a day.
  • A 1 gallon milk jug can hold 100 plastic grocery bags.
  • Use plastic grocery bags as trash bags. (Keep extras in the bottom of each can.)
  • Use an old mustard squirt container to ice a cake.
  • Put flour in an unused saltshaker in the freezer—great to flour a pan.
Happy Saving!

Thursday, May 10, 2012

50s Housewife Bridal Shower Part 2: Poms and Pennants

Like I posted earlier, I got to head up the decorating committee for my sister's 50s Housewife themed bridal shower. Her wedding is going to have a vintage modern flavor with a coral and blue color scheme and lots of lace. I wanted to incorporate some of those elements into the decor.

For the bridal sofa, we dressed it up by hanging a curtain backdrop with Ikea flat sheets and Command hooks. Then to add a focal point, I created a tissue pom and lantern cluster.
The white poms came from Hobby Lobby (a pack of three at 50% off). I made the blue and faux coral (ie orange and pink layered together) with tissue paper using this tutorial. We had the lanterns on-hand (from our homeschool room). Bass stuck a Command hook to the ceiling and then clipped 3 little Ikea curtain hooks on it. Then he tied the poms to the hooks with the ribbon I had used to make them.

Right behind that cluster.... can you see it? I made a bunting that we clipped to the curtain backdrop.
I loved a coffee filter and doily bunting that I had seen online so it became my inspiration.


I got 8" doilies at Michael's for the base. Then to add some color, I cut coral cardstock circles with my regular Nestabilities circle dies for half of the number of doilies. I glued the cardstock onto the center of the doilies and then them in half. I had some satiny blue ribbon in my stash so I measured the amount I needed and then spaced out the doilies evenly along the length, leaving equal amounts of extra ribbon at each end for tails. Then I used my ATG to glue the doily over the ribbon. We hung the longer bunting behind the bridal seat. The smaller bunting I made hung from tiny Command hooks between the living room and the dining room.
Cute, right? They added some of that vintage lace look my sister is doing for her wedding and the coral added just a bit of soft color. More shower projects to come.... 


Linking up to these great blog parties:
Sunday: Sunday Showcase at Under the Table and Dreaming; Show Me What Ya Got at Not Just a Housewife;
Tuesday: One Project at a Time at A Bowl Full of Lemons; Tuesday's Treasures at My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia;
Wednesday: Wicked Awesome Wednesday at Handy Man, Crafty Woman; It's Overflowing at Overflowing with Creativity; Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts;
Home Decor & Organizing at Organize and Decorate Everything;
Thursday: Delightfully Inspiring Thursday at Delightful Order; Thrifty Thursday at Thrifty and Fabuless;  Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Creek Cottage;
Friday: Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest; Flaunt it Friday at Chic on a Shoestring; 

Monday, May 7, 2012

Make a Card Monday - Special Delivery


This card base was another one in a DCWV pack of pre-folded cards. I thought the candy colors would be cute for a baby card. I cut a little tag and dressed it up with patterned paper and then a stamped image of the wrapped up baby burrito. A friend gave me blank tickets in an assortment of colors. I put a few pink ones behind the tag to add another layer.


Details:
cardstock: Georgia Pacific (white), DCWV (mat)
patterned paper: unknown (tag layer)

embellishments: Making Memories staples, ribbon (unknown), tickets (unknown)
color: Palette Noir ink, flesh-toned pencils
stamps: TAC Special Delivery

Friday, May 4, 2012

Weekly School Summaries - Australia (April 23 - May 4)

I respectfully ask that you not pin pictures of my children to Pinterest. Thank you!

Shhh! Can you hear it? Quiet....... Ah, yes, there it is. The whisper of summer vacation soon approaching. We've got 3 more weeks to get it all done. It's going to happen, I just know it. :)
Here's what we did the past 2 weeks:

Math: We did things a little differently these past 2 weeks because the kids had standardized testing to do. Tenor got 5 days of math lessons (because I didn't calculate correctly somewhere along the way) and then a week with 4 days of lessons, while Soprano had no math at all the first week. I gave her the week off to help with some attitude issues and to allow time for her CAT test. This past week, Soprano only had 3 days of lessons (doing great with multiplication) and 1 day of computer math.
Reading and Language Arts: Soprano continued reading "The Little House in the Big Woods" from 'Across the Centuries'. She read through chapter 8, had a couple evaluations, wrote a bear story, did a sap to syrup worksheet, and colored a stitched sampler.

She's doing well in her third Phonics book and is almost done. She's working on prefixes and suffixes. In English, she's working on alphabetizing. Spelling and handwriting are continuing well. 

Tenor continued with his 'A Reason for Handwriting C'. He had 1 week off with his writing workbook to allow time for the CAT test. This past week, he cracked it open again and continued working on friendly letters and using descriptive words when writing.
After a half week off, he continued 'Helen Keller' from 'Across the Centuries C Level 2', with some reading and vocabulary word work. He also worked on a timeline of Helen's life and made a little book about how to be a good friend to someone who is deaf or blind. English (prepositional phrases) and Spelling (Rod and Staff Level 4) are going well. 

Electives:
Typer Island for their typing instruction and continuing with SOS Elementary Spanish.

We finished our last community helper, airplane pilots, for the year. We also talked about the PA state nickname and how PA is a huge dairy state.

Phys Ed.: Same as before... they're doing Tae Kwon Do each week but that's been about it. Although, Soprano has been all into her jump rope. She's getting really good at being steady. Rather than jump, jump, miss, jump, jump, miss. She can jump about 30 times in a row unless she's distracted. The weather has warmed up but it's been raining for the past few days. It's supposed to get a little sunnier this weekend. Maybe we'll actually have a real spring?? Nah, we live in PA, so probably not. :)
For My Father's World, we're off to a whole 'nother continent, a whole other nation.**(**Extra credit if you can name that cute kids' song. Bonus if you know all the words! If you need a hint or just want to listen, it's at the end of the post.)
G'day, mate! We made it to Australia.

Bible: The past two weeks included:
Reading about Papua New Guinea and New Zealand
Reading Matthew 26:17-27:26
Memorizing Matthew 25:36 and 25:40

Geography:
Things we did included:
Filling out our passports to travel to Australia
Coloring the Australian flag and writing down interesting facts about it.
Reading about Australia and its neighbors, Australia people and places, farming, and industry.
Talking about the different words Aussies use. Our favorite: smoodge (for kiss). I also found out online that they call the subject "maths", not "math" like the U.S. does.
Creating Australian lapbooks using resources from Homeschool Share (Australia and Coral Reefs).
Putting together a Sydney Harbor jigsaw puzzle. (A yardsale find for $0.50)

Illustrating notecards for island, seamount, reef, key, atoll, archipelago.
Playing the geography game doing the world traveler version.
Tenor did 8 of the Australia pages from World Geography.
Soprano finished the Australian Animal pages from The Complete Book of Animals.
Science: We had a few pages from the Living World Encyclopedia again these past two weeks. 
They read about coral reefs, islands, and island life, as well as, Australia's dry forests.
Trying a kiwi for the first time
Planting some kiwi seeds.
Of course, for school, we had to watch Finding Nemo. We also watched "The Silver Stallion" on Netflix (with Russell Crowe before he was Russell Crowe.)

Other MFW: 
Wee sing: Kookaburra (which I remember from my elementary school days) and Epo I Tai Tai E
Art: Yumbulul Story Design T-shirts and yummy Koala treats

We ate out at Outback, even though it's kind of a stretch as far as Australian cuisine goes. The decor was cool.
 
We also made the Australian Meat pie to go along with our Koala treats for dinner.
To supplement, we read other books about Australia and New Zealand, coral reefs, and Australian animals (kangaroos, koalas, tasmanian devils) and borrowed DVDs from the library. We also took a break from Kingdom Tales to read another YWAM missionary biography, Florence Young. After we finish that one, we'll go back and finish up Kingdom Tales.

Linking up at www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com and
at http://2ladybugsandalizard.blogspot.com.


Disclaimer: I'm an Amazon affiliate so clicking on links to Amazon and then purchasing items will put a few pennies into our piggy bank for future homeschool purchases. Thank you!
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