I've been crafty - I promise

Holidays, you know, you just get so tied up in them! Well yes, I have been cooking and crafting and finding all sorts of deals. I'll share them soon. I've also done some soul searching. Too many things have gone "wrong" and I've finally come to realize that in order for them to turn around and head in the direction they need to I need to make room for that change. Kind of like widening the roads. So...it's that time.

Christmas Lights of the South SUPER DEAL!!!

If you live in the CSRA you surely have heard the radio commercials for Lights of the South! It's a really great light show put on every year, complete with a hay ride, hot cocoa, roasted marshmallows and of course Santa!

The Augusta Chronicle put out a daily deal today on the purchase of tickets for Lights of the South. Four tickets for $12.00! This is really an amazing deal, adult tickets normally cost $8.50 and children (3-17) $4.50.

This is a limited time offer, right now as I type this is shows 2 days and 16 minutes remain, so that means midnight on Sunday the deal is over. Get yours now, sign up HERE then click HERE for this deal! As a bonus you also get popcorn with this deal.

Crafty Mama tips! When you plan your trip make sure to bring gloves, hats, warm jackets and a heavy blanket (or 2) for the hay ride. You may want a blanket to sit on and one to wrap up in. Even though it does not drive fast the wind can pick up and chill right through your bones as it is about a 30 minute ride. Bring insulated mugs to pour hot cocoa into to keep your hands from burning. Check the weather in advance and be prepared! If your bringing kids stop at the dollar store first and find some light up items like glow sticks, they sell them on location (plus other neat light up toys) but they can be expensive and we're trying to save money right! While your at it grab a bag of marshmallows, the sticks are available at the location, I think one person will have to buy a bag to get the sticks but you can share, or add the marshmallows to your hot chocolate!

Dollar Store decorating!!!

Thrifty, thrifty, thrifty that's me! I started my holiday decorating this week, my first project was a wreath, all from Dollar Tree items. Today I made a cute hurricane lamp decoration, again all dollar tree items!

The lamp is something I have had for awhile, I think it is actually used for flowers, but when unpacking the Christmas ornaments I had an idea! It took me a couple tries to get it to look just right. I tried first with red and silver ornaments but it looked too empty, there were a lot of spaces that the ornaments wouldn't fit into. then I tried beads, like mardi gras beads but it looked too busy, finally I saw some garland, cut up into small pieces it worked just right!

What you will need for this project:
Hurrican lamp/ wide mouthed vase
Small ornaments
Tinsel Garland
Candy canes (real or plastic)
Santa Hat






This went onto my "mantle" (another craft project). I had left over ornaments and holly leaves from the wreath so I made holly berries for the cabinet door handles. The doors have square window fronts and I use the cabinets for candle and picture frame storage so I wanted to hide the contents. I used some very pretty "tissue paper" also purchased at the dollar tree, it gave the window a frosted effect with a red holly design, I liked it but I really wanted it to be less see through so I added plain white printing paper behind the tissue. I put 3 red ornaments on a twist tie and added the holly leaves, and voila!

The last project was small and simple, glass beads around the votive candle holder with a tea light inside. Super simple, very pretty. I'll be adding more to this area soon.

 

Teddy Bear Bento!

I am so in love with making Bento's for my little girl. In case I haven't mentioned it before Bella just turned 6. At the school she goes to she has a half an hour "lunch bunch". So this is my first year of making lunches for my normally picky eater. I have found ways around it though. She gets so excited to see what is in her lunch that she forgets to be picky, I swear it's a conscious effort for her to be picky as she really does like most foods.

Bento Boxes come from the Japanese culture, and they are not just for kids. They can be very ornate or just stick to the basics. They usually have a good square meal of food groups. They are not at all difficult to make, even thought they may look like it. They do take some extra time depending on how crafty you get with them, but it's fun.

For today's bento I tried to go with a Teddy Bear theme. It wasn't a very good theme but I tried. First Bella had asked for a fluffer nutter sandwich. Well my fluff had gone bad so I headed out to Kroger to pick some up. While there I checked out the clearance items, deal seeker that I am, I hit bento jack pot!!! A great lunch box made by Fit & Fresh called the "lunch pod". It's a deep square box with a removable ice pack in the lid. I always line her box with a napkin and I try to find cute or decorative ones. I can often get these on clearance too!

So back to the sandwich, on the "top" piece I used a teddy bear cookie cutter to cut out a window in the bread. I added the peanut butter and fluff and put it together, you could see a white fluffy bear in the window. For a little fun I sprinkled in some Christmas colored sprinkles, not a lot, just a bit. The bear that was cut out was covered with peanut butter and I affixed a chocolate graham bear to it. I use one of those cutters to remove the crusts and smush the edges together as well. This fit nicely in the corner.

I then got out about a tsp of chocolate whipped frosting and dabbed it into a silicone mini muffin form, added some more sprinkles then placed 5 more graham bears into it. You're probably thinking, "wow that's a lot of sugar." trust me it's not I rarely give her sugary items and when I do it is very little bits.

So then the healthy stuff, a cheddar mozzarella swirled cheese stick, 2 slices of granny smith apple, and a orange creamsicle jello/yogurt snack I make. It's probably about 2 oz of that. (Recipe below) Then I fit in her apple juice and a spoon, and there you have it!!! So much fun for me to make, so much fun for her to open and eat. I just wish I could affix a camera that would take a picture of her face each time she opens a new box!

Happy Lunch making!!!

Orange Creamsicle Snack

1 package sugar free Orange Jello dissolved in 1 cup boiling water. Add 1 cup cold water to this. Then add in 2 containers of yogurt. I use fat free Vanilla for creamsicle. Put into containers and chill 2 hours (less depending on size)

Another Variation of this that I like is to set the jello first, then mix just the jello up till is sorta liquid but with clumps, then add in the yogurt and re-mix. You can also substitute 1 contained or yogurt for 1 c cool whip. Some other great combos are :
Strawberry Banana jello + Pina colada yogurt
Raspberry jello + Cheesecake yogurt (I think this was weight watchers)
Lemon jello + Key Lime yogurt

My first Christmas deco of the season

I love wreaths! Nothing says welcome to my home like a Christmas wreath hung on the front door, or on all the windows as was done on my grandmothers old house. I've never had one though, always wanted to make one! The budget is very tight right now, this economy is not the best, but I don't have to tell you that right? I mean that's why you are here. I took my low budget self on a shopping spree at the local Dollar Tree. Being that it is the "beginning of the season" they were not totally picked over yet.




I scored a 12" wreath on wire, it was skimpy to I got a 20 ft garland to work into it. I saw some nice red scroll designed wire line ribbons, so added that to the basket. Some very pretty glittery berries, but I didn't like the leaves on them. In the same display were some velvety holly leaves with not so nice berries, so I picked up both, the pretty berries and the pretty leaves. For a little extra flair I saw some pretty glittery reindeer with small bells and then for the center piece a start shaped door knob hanger with gold bells. So Red and Gold were the two main colors.

At home I rolled out the garland and began cutting 8" pieces. I wrapped these around the pre-made wreath to fatten it up a bit. I then unwound one of the ribbons and worked it in and out of the pine needles securing it in place by wrapping in through the hoop. Next were the berries, as I said I loved the glittery berries but the leaves had to go. So I took apart both picks and paired the pretty berries with the velvety leaves. Since they were on wire sticks they were very easy to slide into place and secure with one of the new tied on pine pieces from the garland. Since I could not find my extra bouquet wire I pulled the ugly berries off of one of the left over sticks and used it to secure the door knob hanging star to the top. Last were the reindeer. I wont lie I wanted to get this posted so badly that they are not secured into place yet. I'll have to hot glue them I think.



Not too bad and all I spent was $7.00!

Tutu's are so cute!

My friend LaDonna texted me today asking if I knew anywhere locally to get a tutu for her daughter on short notice. I didn't but I had seen and pinned several on pintrest and figured it wouldn't be too difficult, so I said, "No I don't but I could make it for you, just pay for the materials." She was a tad reluctant to accept this offer because she was planning to have me do the pictures of her daughter IN the tutu, but I said, no problem! I can do both, in fact I wanted to. This was a perfect opportunity for me to try my hand at a new craft that I knew would only help my photography business as well!

So we started with a picture of what she had in mind, an oh so cute Rock star onsie with a tulle tutu, lot's of ribbons and a cute hair bow. For now all I have is the tutu, we also got a bright pink tank top that will have rhinestones spelling out rock star, some pretty black satin ribbon decor and zebra ribbon as well. She got a bright pink headband and a flower with pink and zebra ribbons with another rhinestone in it as well. Some of the zebra ribbon will be woven into the tutu as well, and he mom is going to add "Rock Star" in her own handwriting to another bright pink ribbon. It's going to be sooooo cute when we are done and then, oh I can't wait, and then they will come over next Wednesday for their photo shoot! It will be Rylee's 9 month shoot. I'm so excited!!!

Bella's Bento for Wednesday

I LOVE making lunch for Bella. I know she may not remember them when she gets older but it really is a lot of fun and hopefully she enjoys them now. Today's bento I have dubbed the Orange Bento, it includes;
Ham and cheese with honey mustard on a pretzel roll
Mandarin Orange slices
Cheddar & Mozzarella cheese stick
Annie's Organic Bunny gummies
Cheetos & Cheese fishies

It's all very orange, lol. And for good measure she will have orange juice to go with it. Do you ever make specialized or theme lunches? I'd love to hear about them!

More Augusta Deals!

I woke up this morning and checked for deals like always, and wow what a biggie! There is a coupon book being sold for $12. It has easily over 30 restaurants in it, plus golfing, laser tag and other amusement type vendors. Yes you read right $12.00! They are all for places in Augusta GA and good until November 2012, so a full year of buy one get ones! I love FREE food don't you?! Check out the page with all the coupons here, then use this link to buy yours! If I get 3 friends to sign up mine is free, buy yours using my link then get your own link to share and get yours free too! If your not already using Living Social here's another freebie for you, use this link and you will get $5.00 towards your first living social purchase!!!

.:sigh:.
I LOVE deals!

North Augusta DEAL!

Ok deal seekers, this one is for you if you live in or around North Augusta!

Today on living social I came across another great deal. Spend $8.00 and get $17.00 of food! This is what a friend of mine calls "tempting me with a good time". So the restaurant is Al's Family Restaurant, they have been in business for 30 years. The best part is it is locally owned and operated. I LOVE giving my business to a real family instead of the franchises all over the place. Don't get me wrong I love their food too, but it's just a really good feeling knowing you are supporting someone locally. Check them out on Facebook, they update their menu items daily so you can plan your visit if needed.

The deal can be found here, you can buy up to 2 for yourself and 2 for friends. I plan to use mine on a night when I just don't want to cook. As much as I love cooking, there are some times when I just don't feel like bothering, these coupons will go into my car coupon book for quick retrieval when the mood strikes.

Gingerbread houses for CHEAP!

I'm not sure if this is a deal or crafty, I think it's both!

Target currently has it's Halloween things on 90% clearance! (I'm a clearance shop-a-holic I know). I found among the items a haunted house gingerbread kit. I think it was Wiltons (it's already in storage so I'm not sure). It is exactly like the Christmas Gingerbread house kit except it has Halloween sugars and candies. I paid $1.00 for it and it has 5 houses in the kit. ONE DOLLAR! So of course I bought 2 of them and finding candies for decorating is not that big of a deal. You can even make your own icing to put the houses together too. So run out to your local Target and see if they have any left, at Christmas the same kit will cost you anywhere from $10 - $20.

Bella, Tim and I worked on the houses last year together for Christmas and it was a lot of fun. I love finding fun family things to do, which reminds me, I'll be posting some new fun crafty things VERY SOON!

More Cake batter!

Ever since trying Cold Stone's Cake n shake I have been in love with cake flavored items. I joined pintrest awhile back and started seeing other cake flavored items. Walmart also has an amazing cake batter ice cream. Anyway, tonight I tried cake batter edible cookie dough, dough that does not have eggs in it so you can eat it raw....all I can say is OMG!!!

Cake batter cookie dough:

cream together 1/2 c sugar with 1/2 c butter (I used crisco sticks butter flavored), add in 1 tsp vanilla until well mixed. Add to this 1 & 1/2 c flour and 2/3 c yellow cake mix then add 6 tbsp water, more till you get the consistency you would like (I used 9 tbsp water). For more cake like presentation add 1 contained or sprinkles and mix in.

This recipe makes 8 servings. I put mine into the small 1 c serving size zip lock containers and refrigerated them. (I'm sure they will be gone tomorrow!) 

I'm thinking you can make this more "healthy" by using splenda.

Awesome savings!

I don't know about you but I love to eat out, in fact my whole family does. Just the other day Bella said to me, "You know Mama we haven't gone to a restaurant in awhile." Eating out can be expensive though, what am I saying, can be? It is! Corner cutter that I am I use Groupon! It doesn't just give discounts on food though. Today I bought a $20 gift card to 2nd and Charles a really great store in Augusta where I buy books, music, even games for the PS3 (Christmas presents shh) at second hand prices. So I save on top of saving! When you sign up you even get a first time shoppers code to save $10 off your first purchase. I highly recommend signing up, it's free! You can even add the app to your phone, I know personally it supports android, I get updates with new deals daily. Groupon has deals all over the place too, so if you're headed out of town for say Thanksgiving, check the town your headed to. I usually start looking for deals as soon as I know I'll be traveling. I got some amazing deals when I visited Denver this summer, buy one get one on gellato, movie tickets for $4.00 each, I mean really great deals!

Check it out, I promise you will be happy you did! Sign up for your deals here!

Bento Boxes

This would fall under the "crafty" category I think. My daughter is 6 and in kindergarten. It's a half day class but she goes to "Lunch bunch" and then fabulous fives. Lunch bunch is just a 30 minute lunch time, but it is her favorite part of the day, typical kid right?! This year I decided to make lunch even more fun for her. I've ventured into making bento boxes for her. Creative little ways to put together healthy foods in a way that is more fun than a plain square sandwich.





Some of my favorite things to do so far are:
*Use cookie cutters with thick sliced ham or turkey and cheeses
*Cut up the sandwich into little bits and add them to a skewer 
*Cut up apples and string cheese and alternate on a fancy toothpick
*Use mini muffin papers/silcone shapes for frosting or peanut butter
*Write little notes with dot games, tic tac toe and stickers

Have fun with it, make lunch time and healthy foods creative and exciting!

There are a lot of great examples on the web, below are some links!
bento-logy
how-to-make-a-kids-bento-box
lunchbox lunches
Yum Yum Bento
Laptop lunches

QUICK Buffalo Chicken for the hubs

My husband Tim, adores buffalo chicken, I like it, but can't take it too spicy. I saw this Knorr rice mix and had an idea (as usual). Sure it tastes like buffalo chicken but that wasn't enough to make it a meal. So I picked up a 12.5 oz can of chicken (any brand will do I used Walmart). Make rice according to package, add the chicken in when you add in the rice. I use a fork and break it up in the can first. Mix in real good then cover to simmer. Now as I said I can't take the spice so for mine I add in ranch dressing, Tim likes the spice so he adds Texas Pete to his. This is great with nacho chips, or would probably be good on a sandwich. I recently had to have my wisdom teeth pulled so I experimented even more and put some into the food processor, it came out awesome, more dip like.

Anyway it's super quick and easy and YUM!

Cake batter mousse!

OMG I LOVE cake batter! It's my new chocolate. So here's my newest discovery/experiment.

1 Fat free vanilla yogurt (5-6 oz)
4-5 tbsp Fat free cool whip
4 heaping tbsp yellow cake mix

Mix it all together and enjoy, makes 2 servings. For additional fun add some sprinkles, it will change the color so take pics first if you're like me and like to share!