Sparkly Stars

 An easy re-cycled craft using toilet paper rolls, some paint and a little bit of wire. I hope to do something creative each year and this was something easy and its great to use up things at home!
 Start with just trimming half inch slices off the flattened end of the toilet paper roll. Cut half way through the middle of each sliced piece. With two pieces in opposite direction insert the small slices into each other, to form your star.
 Paint the star white (or whatever) then with glitter paint when dry.
 Loop a wire through to hang on the tree.

Twinkle twinkle little star

Gingerbread Coffee

Coming in from the cold, I love to have something to warm me up. For the kids it is hot chocolate of course. Homemade is the best! (Mix 1 tb. of cold milk in a mug with 1 tb. of cocoa, and 2 tb. sugar until smooth. Stir in 1 cup hot milk. Easy:) For me... coffee.
I love coffee. Also I love the flavours that each season brings. For the Christmas/winter it's peppermint, chocolate, and gingerbread.
And again trying to not frequent the coffee shops to often, I came up with a gingerbread creamer, concoction.

Its very simple, here it is:
In a small microwavable bowl, mix: 2 tb. cream with 1 tb. sugar, 1/4 tsp. ginger, 1/4 tsp. cinnamon, and a pinch nutmeg. Stir well. Nuke (microwave) for 30 seconds. Then whisk in 3/4 cup of cream. Use a funnel to pour into a small bottle with a good seal. Give it a good shake before each use. Enjoy the warm cozy feeling.

Easy Advent Calendar

 Advent started this past Sunday. My family looks forward to this tradition every year. There are the candles. Five in a circle. The scriptures read. Different ones to focus on the Lord Jesus. Singing Christmas carols. Lifting our spirits and our voices in praise to God. A prayer to close. Sometimes something extra, like a craft or treat is fun to do. I wanted to add the advent calendar this year. Something fun for my kids to look forward too. I see the Santa themed chocolate calendar every year, but I just don't like that idea. I've seen so many neat ideas on line. But I really wanted to come up with something that would be thrifty and use what I had on hand. This idea is also very easy.
 I used a frame that had matting. I took the back off and cut to size, a nice piece of card stock and a piece of corrugated cardboard. Put frame back together with card stock on top of cardboard. Get out some more card stock and cut smaller sized rectangles to fit the middle of the frame. Twenty five of them. Punch a hole in the centre top of each. I hand wrote the numbers for each day counting up to the twenty fifth. I found printable activity ideas on line, for something fun each day. And glued them on the back of each card. I used an antique nail to hang the cards in the centre of the frame.

I know its late to start advent just now. But better late then never!

Am I alone here?

I am almost convinced frugality is a dying art! Frugal...Ew, that sounds so gross! It sounds so much better (to others) if you sound like your being "green" right? I'm "re-purposing" or I'm being "eco-friendly". Whatever. I just wanna say it like it is- cheap! But it gets a little discouraging when you are the only one on the block, who knows maybe a few blocks, that doesn't get everything pre-packaged, or dare I say it...re-uses, to save money.
I understand there is a load of people out there on the net that will agree with me. But I want to see some face to face. I want to look someone in the eye and say I reuse margarine containers, and that person say "SO DO I!!". Am I from another planet because I use hankies? You should see the looks I get.
I guess I just get so frustrated because this generation's culture has been teaching, through the media that whatever is different from what is displayed in the media is not OK. Oh of course there is the misconception that's being shoved at everyone that we need to accept everyones doings or beliefs. But this only means tolerance in ones choice to do what ever "feels right". No, I'm talking about: social status, clothing style, earnings bracket, home and vehicle purchases, hobbies, slang, Face Book friend tally, and hot list merchandise purchases, (etc).
So I am just gonna let it rip, and here I am waving my hankie in the face of the opposition...
I wont buy paper towels - use a rag.
Hello hand-me-downs - Never scarred me as a child.
Bake my own...everything- Way healthier. 
Easy to make laundry detergent- Its actually pretty cool to use homemade laundry detergent!
Re-use backpacks, duo tangs, crayons and pencils, it they are still decent- Its just so obvious to me...why not. (I told my kids to even use the excuse at school that they are just helping the environment:)
Use the second hand store as your go to, first stop before the retail store- Get over the fact that someone else used it. People spend loads of money on antiques, come on, whats the difference?!?BTW you can use the word "vintage" or "retro" you could probably even fit the word "epic" in there some how, when it comes to talking about used things. It sounds so much cooler that way :)
The elastics around fresh veggies- Save them.
Milk bags, and cereal bags- Rinse them.
Used clothing with defects (stains, small holes)- Use for small sewing projects.
Shoe boxes- Storage boxes, also useful in drawers for dividers.
Those pretty little ribbons attached to the inside of a shirt for hanging on store hangers- I snip them out and save for different projects and such.
Cracked or chipped mugs, that make you sad to throw out- Cute little planter.
Expensive canned cream soup- 1/4 cup margarine, melted in pot. Whisk in 1/4 cup flour. Immediately whisk in 1 cup milk, and 2tb. soup base. Simmer until thickened.
Scrap paper- Staple into booklets for the superfluous artist!
Mountains of Laundry- Probably could be whittled down if the clothes that were only actually dirty were in there... kids need supervision when throwing stuff in there. Briefly worn sweatshirts don't necessarily always need a washing.
Reduce shelf at the grocery store has lots of bargains- Think: over ripe bananas for bread, bruised apples for pie, various veggies for stews or soup.
I could go on, and there are so many cool, creative ideas for re-using but I'm just thinking practical here. I just don't see the point in wasting money on things that will not make a difference 5, 10, 20, etc.. years from now. Will I get points for sticking with some expensive name brand? Will I be remembered for being a loyal customer of ________? Will it make a world of difference what I wipe a mess up with or will it change my future if I didn't wash my bed sheets every week? NO! But I am doing my part in saving the world. Just funning with you! No, but this does do your wallet good. And using your noggin and not giving as much $ to the big time merchandisers.
Please don't mistake me for Caroline Ingalls though! I am constantly being persuaded by the cool new things that c o n s t a n t l y come out. (And I don't even have satellite/cable to see all the commercials) And tasty new things at the food businesses. So after I've given into temptation, like with, lets just say...Starbucks (gasp) I know, its a wack of money for a darn latte or scone! I will not allow myself to constantly be swayed and giving into temptation. I will make a knock off. Maybe even better than the snazzy, scrumptious pumpkin scones they have been luring weak scone cravers with- at Starbucks this time of year. And now, I can save some moola, and out do the coffee shop, thank you.

check out the "retro" tin!!



::::::Pumpkin Scones::::::

 

Preheat oven 425

Stir together:

2 cups flour,  3/4 cup sugar,  1 tb. baking powder,  1/2 t. each: salt, cinnamon, nutmeg,  1/4 t. each cloves, ginger

Cut in 1/4 cup + 2 tb. butter. Using a pastry blender, cut in until there is coarse crumbs.

In a separate bowl, blend 1/2 cup canned pumpkin, 1 egg, and 3 tb. whipping cream.

Stir this into the flour mixture. Use your hands to press it into one form. Not over working the dough though. Shape into a 9x3 inch rectangle. Cut into 3 squares. Then cut each square into a triangle to make 6 scones. Place on prepared baking pan and bake for 15 min.

When they have cooled, spread a glaze over each, made from 1/2 cup of icing sugar and a tablespoon or 2 of milk.

 

So there Starbucks. I don't need you. But I want you. But now I don't have to.

 

If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. James 1:5

Some times its hard to make the wise choice in everyday domestic decisions. But all the small wise choices add up. When your outlook is in the right direction, the greater good is more likely to turn out well.

"The master said, 'Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let's celebrate together!' Matt.25-23

 

Pounding Pansies

Pansies are my absolute favourite flower. They can leave a lasting impression when you put them face down, and pound them onto a piece of fabric or construction paper. So simple, so beautiful!

The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field: the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD'S love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children-- Psalm 103:15-17

The idea of something so beautiful being pounded for the purpose of getting a long lasting impression, makes me think about ourselves. The way life can be to an innocent child, or even a grown adult. The things that life seemingly pounds at us, can seem too hard to bear but the end result can, if we let it- leave beautiful, lasting impressions that don't kill us but surprisingly make us grow.

Celery Scrub Curtains

 Here are the scrubs

Here is the celery

I was able to turn gently used scrubs into curtain panels. I easily clipped cafe curtain rings on the top of each curtain. I then dabbed my celery bottoms into paint to print flowers on. I saw this idea not too long ago in a magazine and thought it was a really cool idea. I never noticed the pretty pattern of a cut celery bunch before.

I do love pretty decorations, and am fond of decorating magazines, especially a particular one from Britian. And sometimes I can get to thinking quite a bit about how I'd like things to look around my house, or changing things around, making things look fresh, and portray my style. (Don't think for one minute though, that my house is in order and in tip top shape, half  of the time). I thought, that's all nice but that will all be useless or doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things.
And so I do favor looking at new magazines with peoples ideal homes and decorations, it makes me see how important it is to look into Gods Word. To use it to see how I look, and how I contrast.
So what am I getting at? Maybe that pretty is nice to look at, but what really matters is that we work at keeping the heart, mind, and spirit beautiful. By using Gods word as what we use to compare how we live, what we think and say. I've spent the last year reading through the New Testament, with all study notes included. Now that I'm nearing the end, I find myself thinking where should I start again? Start at the beginning in Genesis or Matthew again? Is it odd to just loop back to where I started? And that's when it hit me about the importance of keeping myself in His Word. I don't know this book off by heart, and so I need to be in those pages breathing it all in daily so that I can keep adding to whats in my heart, to grow stronger in Him, that I might represent and reflect Christ through out my life. Maybe like a spring cleaning, Or maybe not. I can find that overwhelming. The Lord wants us to go to Him everyday, and ask for what we need just for the day. And He does provide. A scripture verse, a prayer in our hearts, a quite moment, a song, a loved one, a beautiful view...or outlook!
It is the same with my word.
I send it out, and it always produces fruit.
It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.You will live in joy and peace.
The mountains and hills will burst into song,
and the trees of the field will clap their hands!
Isaiah 55:11,12

By the way, I found this great list for doing spring cleaning in 30 Days here. Not so intimidating when its one thing a day. I'm thankful when the Lord puts things in our path that help and compensate. That helps me see how the Lord plans out even the small things to help His children.

Dundee Cake

In honor of my Scottish heritage, I thought I would give a go at baking a traditional Scottish cake, called the

Dundee Cake

I recently learned about it, from a British magazine. It made me think of the all traditional Fruit cake, but I love the look of the decorative almonds on top. I did some collecting of different takes on the recipe, and came up with my own version. And so I think it will make a nice addition to the Christmas baking being eaten and given as  gifts. Oh ya, one more thing, I did cut costs on different ingredients.

¾ cup margarine

¾ cup brown sugar

3 tb. Marmalade

3 eggs

1 cup flour

1 ½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

¼ cup ground almonds

1 heaping tsp. mixed spice ~~To make your own~~1 Tb. cinnamon, 1 tsp. coriander, 1 tsp. nutmeg, ½ tsp. ginger, ¼ tsp. allspice, ¼ tsp. cloves. Bottle up to use.

½ cup each of: currants, sultanas, chopped dates, glace cherries-halved

1 tb. molasses

1 tsp. rum extract

2 tsp. cream

½ cup blanched almonds

~~A Note about Blanched Almonds~~ I’ve been able to find whole natural almonds for a really good price compared to the blanched almonds that are sold in the baking isle. So I figured out an easy method to blanching my own almonds to get them pretty and pale looking for the top of this cake. Just bring about 2 inches of water to boil in a small pot. Place the almonds in, to boil for about 1-2 min. Remove with a slotted spoon into a bowl of cold water. The almond skin can now be easily pinched off.

 

Method à Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Grease an 8 inch round spring form pan. Beat the margarine and brown sugar, until light and fluffy. Add the marmalade. Add the eggs one at a time, beating in well after each one. Sift in the dry ingredients, and add the almonds. Stir to combine. Next, stir in the dried fruit. And then the molasses, extract, and cream. Once this is all well mixed, spoon into the pan, smooth the surface to place the blanched almonds in circles, all pretty like.

 

Bake for 1 ½ to 2 hours, until the cake is well risen and a toothpick comes our clean, when inserted into the cake middle. Cool for 10 min. before removing from pan.

 

Baking and Making Bunting

My Holly, Lake, Violet, and Honey were in the Parade this year!

Well the time of Christmas celebrations has begun. And to be honest I always feel like its pushed so soon in the beginning but then I get right into and miss it when its over. So last year I told myself just get into it right away and it helped a bit. But I guess the part that bothers me the most is the commercialism of Christmas. That's where I always notice it being shoved at me the most. Buy buy buy. I know that I don't need to "buy" into that but it still bothers me that that is the way society goes because of the commercialism.

 Part of my and my families stand against the buy buy buy culture of the eh hem "Holiday Season" is that we do just the opposite and keep spending to a minimum.
I love the bunting I see in many of the British magazines I look at. So I made some in Christmasy colours. This was made from cast off shirts, and pyjama pants. I stitched them into triangles and sewn onto a long piece of yarn.

I finished of my week with a bunch of baking of six loaves of bread, a batch of banana strawberry muffins, and I used up the last of my pumpkin with a pumpkin pecan bunt cake.
I plan on doing some baking for gifts and more sewing for that purpose as well.
Balancing this time of year is tricky, but when I allow myself the same amount of time in the morn. to spend with the Lord but allow myself to spend less time on the things that are not as important. Like the mess in the corner can wait, I'm making a gift. The dishes can wait we are doing advent. This works out so much more pleasantly. Because I don't want to be too stressed out to enjoy the true reason for this season.

Sewing a Zipper Pouch, for a Stranger

 I spent some time this weekend, creating a zippered pouch for someone I've never met, all the way in Brazil. This started by signing up for a Zipper Pouch Swap at this blog, just for fun. I got some tips about favourite colours and patterns. But other wise I had an idea pop into my head as to how it would look, and I went with it. Like most of my sewing projects I used saved fabric scraps, or material from previously used garments.
 I started off by cutting 2 rectangles about 14 x 8 inches. I used a zipper about 4 1/2 inches long. Fold the 2 rectangles in half and cut the bottom corners so they are rounded. I cut out 4 circles in different sizes. Zig-zagged the edges. Sewed on a button into the middle of each. Pinned them into place and sewed about 1/4 inch from the edge. Stitch the side edges of the pouch and lining but leave a 2 inch space on the bottom corner of the lining for turning right side out later. Baste the top edges of both.

With wrong side out, for the lining and right side out the the pouch, put the outer piece of the pouch into the lining so right sides are facing. Pull the basting threads so they are the width of the zipper, and with zipper un-zipped to make it easier to sew sandwich the zipper pieces between the pouch and lining and pin into place, and stitch.

Turn right side out through the hole in lining, and stitch hole shut in lining.

I used a 12 inch ribbon and sewed it in the middle of the ribbon, to the top corner of the pouch.

It could be used for a purse, for make-up, stationary, whatever. I hope its useful, and enjoyed. :) I can't wait to recieve mine!

Other happenings this weekend: roofing, and cleaning up around our big old place. My son was actively involved in the new roof being put on one of our sheds. He takes after his dad, helpful and handy at a lot of different things.

My Grandfather was a house builder, what a neat idea for my son. God knows, but its cool to see extended family traits sprinkled through out your children.

Snappy-Apple-Sauce

 Quite a few of my apples were not lookin too hot.

 
Look at this one...and he was one of many sad lookin apples.

 So I decided it was time to make applesauce. I have heard of making applesauce without peeling the apples and so I thought I'd give it a shot.
 Just had to wash up the apples good and cut out the bad spots.

 
Then I just used my handy apple slicing tool, to cut them up and get rid of the core. This was so quick compared to the usual process of peeling and cutting.

I added the juice of a lemon for flavour and to keep the sauce a bit lighter in colour.

 After I put my big batch of apples, lemon juice, and a half cup of water in a large pot, I put the lid on and let it cook over medium heat until the apples were all soft.
 I guess some would use a food mill to make it into the sauce, but I just poured the soft apples into my colander and used a wooden spoon to squish through to separate the peels. Very easy and it took much less time then if I had peeled all them apples.
 I do declare, I like the unpeeled applesauce version. Easy, Healthy, and Thrifty. I like this combination!

Readjusting our view of Blessings

 Here we are already more than a month has passed since my husband and I had decided to take up the spending fast challenge, that I mentioned back in... the beginning of October. Oh, here is that post. And it really feels life, no - mind altering. My life really doesn't seem all that different besides the fact that I spend a bit less time in stores. Not just because I buy less, but I don't want to spend any extra time gazing upon the things I have no intention to buy, plus then there is less temptation, right? But I feel so aware in my mind of the all the times I want to buy things. I also see how often I can improvise. Honestly I enjoy the challenge. But... not always, like in the moment, when I am trying to justify a good book I've wanted that has gone on sale or a cheap pair of cute little earrings. And this is sad but I was kinda excited with the thought of looking for winter boots for my son. Now what does that say about me? I just love spending money, Or is it the shopping around? I want to strive to always put wisdom into all my spending. And be CONTENT with what I have. Like food, shopping is a necessity of life. Sometimes this feels like an unfortunate thing when it is a struggle to keep it within its healthy boundaries. So how does one find a balance? To enjoy shopping is not a sin but to overindulge, is not healthy.
 1Timothy 6:6 Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth...v.8: So if we have enough food and clothing let us be content.
 Lord I pray you will continue to guide me in your ways with how I need to view and deal with shopping. Thank you.

 So here is the low down on how we are doing Our Spending Fast:
Got a note book and some paper clips.
On the first pages we Wrote down
*1 Our debts and their interest rates
*2 Why we are doing a spending fast/what we hope to accomplish
*3 Our commitment statement and signatures
Here is our example:
We are committed to fast from spending any money on wants only spending money on needs, with the Lords help... Signature
*4 How long we will do the spending fast for
*5 Write out the conditions. Our example:
*Write down every penny we spend
*Save receipts
*Improvise to save money
*Use up what we have before we buy new (no 3 bottles of shampoo in the shower, or lets buy some chicken when we have pork, beef, or I'm tired of this kinda cereal)
*In most cases buy the best deal, or the cheaper version, when it best applies. (we all have a couple things we wont skimp on, i.e. coffee, but do your best to be more frugal)
*6 Write out a list of Needs and Wants to really decipher what is important.
And so what is most vital in being able to save our money is that there is NO unnecessary spending. All wants like: eating out, drive thru coffees, corner store purchases, snack foods, clothing-unless it is a need. These are not purchased. Because there are so many things we are blessed enough with in spending money on our needs like: mortgage, food, phones, hydro, insurance, gas. We are blessed with just being able to spend money on these things, aren't we?

 Then after the foundation was laid out we use the rest of the pages to write out what we buy. Each page divided into 3. Date / Purchase Amount / Store and Purchase Category (i.e. Gas, Groceries). I clip the months receipts to the inside cover and I stashed all last months receipts in an envelope and filed it.
It is amazing how aware I am now of the spending that goes on. There is NO--"Where did all the money go?!"
I am so thankful that this was pressed upon my husband and my heart.