Sugar Free Present

My Uncle turned 60 yesterday and his parish threw him a surprise party!!

I had no idea what to give him until I was in my favorite store... the dollar tree ~ and saw all the sugar free candy they have. 

He is diabetic.

I had a container that I bought for $.25 (actually I bought several of them) from Dollar General last Christmas

 

I covered it with paper that I printed on my computer and trimmed it with my favorite black ribbon

I also covered some microwave popcorn with this label that I created

 

I took all the candy out of the packages and placed them in pretzel bags and tied them with a personalized tag and curly ribbon

 I also covered the peanuts and nuts with personalized wrappers too

So far so good

 

It is really packed now!!

And here it is all wrapped and ready to go!

I hope he loved it ~ I am sure he will let me know soon!!

Wrapped Candy!

I belong to my library's friends group and every season all members bring in an item for a basket that is chanced off with the proceeds benefiting childrens programs. 

Because this was a spring basket I wanted to include some candy but thought just the ordinary boxes were well... ordinary. 

 

I bought 3 large boxes of candy (movie size) at the dollar tree

I had striped paper and a gift tag that I made on hand

 

Plain paper and a SPRING stamp with yellow scallop cardstock

 

I stamped the plain paper

Then wrapped each box and added a strip of the striped paper

 

Then added the scallop to identify each different candy box

 

Then added some ribbon and the tag

 

Thats all!

Embellishment Storage

I enjoy making things with little scrapbook embellishments BUT I can never find what I need when I need it. 

The other day we were at the dollar store (no, I don't live there)

My hubby pointed out a pack of baseball card organizers for another project that I am working on.
I picked up two packs and a binder and was on my way. 

When I got home I decided that instead of using them for the other project...  I would use them for storing and organizing my embellishments
I would buy another set for the other project!

Here are my embellishments all organized and pretty!

Finally

It works...

it really does work!!!

My friend and I ventured to JCP Outlet last Monday.

While we were there they were having an additional 30% off clearance sale.

I was thrilled because I was looking for small pates for my plate wall in my kitchen

You can see the wall I am referring to HERE

Here is what I found... 6 different white dessert and saucer sized plates in tone on tone white!!!

(please ignore the condition of my work table)

The price... just a whopping 70 cents each!

I knew I wanted to hang them on the wall ... but how???

Then I found Diane... and she has a blog and she designs and she shares...

So then I proceeded to add a hook on the back of each one using this AWESOME tutorial from Diane @ in my own style  ~ check her out you will be glad you did!

I used a sanding block... some hot glue sticks... hot glue gun and paper clips

Nothing beats a project that uses readily available stuff!!

WAHOOOOO

and here it is...

Let me tell you this is so CHEAP... and so EASY and so SECURE too!

I cannot show you what I did with the plates after adding the hooks YET...

but stay tuned and I will show you all on Sunday...

I am squealing over this project!!!

NEW YEAR BANNER

I am linking up with KIMBA and LAURIE today

Happy New Year Banner

I had the idea to  make a Happy New Year Banner like the Merry Christmas one I bought right before Christmas  at Maines on clearance

I used the banner on my tree

Since I don’t take my tree down until the Epiphany I thought the New Year Banner would be cute too!

I bought these assorted color foam disks at the dollar tree

I had the rainbow ribbon and the shelf liner already on hand

But you can also use other ribbon or jute or even package ribbon

Also instead of the vinyl you can just use marker on the disks to spell out Happy New Year

All I did was

I cut the letters for HAPPY NEW YEAR from white shelf liner with my cricut
I then found my favorite rainbow striped ribbon and coordinated the colors
I ended up using yellow ~ green ~ pink

I then  added the vinyl to each letter and then hot glued the foam disk to the length of ribbon

 

Super easy and inexpensive and fun!

Here is how the NEW YEAR banner looks on my tree with the Christmas one

Yes, I forgot to light the tree for the pic and Yes, I still have a bunch of presents under it too

Keeping it real!

Quick poinsettia makeover...

Our local Aldi store has some really nice poinsettias for 3.29 each

I ended up buying some for my tea party on Monday

I then stopped at the dollar tree because I wanted some of those wooden spiral things to stick in the plant

On my way to the craft area I stopped by and saw a plaid scarf

I am a sucker for plaid... hence the plaid runner under the scarf... 

DING DING an idea... Use the scarf to wrap around the poinsettia instead of a bow!

 

 I stuck a sprig of pine branch with bells in it too

I think it turned out cute and for around 4.75 each I could not go wrong!

A grab bag gift for $1.15

It seems like every Christmas I need a grab bag gift for almost every party we attend plus I like to have a hostess gift when we visit friends during the season

I am always on the look out for things I could use for gifts that are nice but also inexpensive

(Which lends to my problem of having too much stuff)

I ended up buying this scent set in the spring which included room spray, an oil burner and room diffuser for $.90 and after Christmas last year I got a bunch of these buckets for $.25

All these goodies were 90% off and they do smell wonderful...

(I bought myself a set too AND USED IT)

I always have ribbon and basket bags and dollar tree ornaments and filler on hand

I just bunched up newspaper and placed it in the bucket and then added the filler and arranged the goodies on top

Tied up a basket bag, attached a velvet bow and a dollar store snowflake and I am good to go!