A Simple Christmas Tip #17 – Wrap Gifts in Brown Paper

December 17, 2012 By Anne Simpson

If you want more information, click here or on the graphic itself to take you to a full-length post on the topic. Click here to see all the posts in this series.

Come back tomorrow for another quick tip to help you simplify your Christmas by focusing less on spending and more on celebrating.

Find more inspiring and informative posts at Make Your Own Monday, Motivational Monday, Homestead Barn Hop, The Bulletin Board, Better Mom Monday, Natural Living Monday, Trivium Tuesday, Titus 2sday, Teach Me Tuesday, Hip Homeschool Hop, Titus 2 Tuesday, Delicious Dishes, Open Call Tuesday, Tiny Tip Tuesday, Healthy 2Day Wednesday, Frugal Days Sustainable Ways, Works For Me Wednesday, Real Food Wednesday, Whole Food Wednesday, Allergy-Free Wednesday, The Mommy Club, Encourage One Another, Thought Provoking Thursday, Simple Lives Thursday, Homemaking Link Up, Keep it Real Thursday, Frugal Thursday Rewind, Your Green Resource, Homeschooling on the Cheap, Thrifty Thursday, Fellowship Friday, Fight Back Friday, I'm Lovin' It, Weekend Bloggy Reading, Weekend Whatever, Snacktime Saturday

Leave a Comment Filed Under: At Home, Beauty, Home Tagged With: a simple Christmas

Upcycle an Oatmeal Canister

May 15, 2012 By Anne Simpson

I love turning trash into treasures. Egg containers, coffee cans, empty jars and bottles… none of them are safe from me! I love figuring out new ways to use them instead of just throwing them all away. Join me at Homemaker’s Challenge today where I show you how to turn an empty oatmeal canister into a toilet paper dispenser that will beautify your bathroom (really!).

Sharing at Frugal Days Sustainable Ways

4 Comments Filed Under: Beauty, Handmade, Waste Not Tagged With: repurpose

Happy Valentine’s Day: Make Your Reservations at Home!

February 14, 2012 By Anne Simpson

Happy Valentine’s Day!

One of the trends I’ve noticed – and loved – this year is dining in for Valentine’s Day. Due to budget and time constraints, my husband and I have been ahead of the game for a while now. Dining in is one of our favorite ways to celebrate a special holiday – or even just to spend time together.

I’m over at Intentional by Grace today, sharing how you, too, can turn your dining room into a dining destination and enjoy a gourmet meal together on a budget.

You don’t have to be a gourmet chef to re-create a fine dining experience from your very own kitchen. All you need is a little creativity, a little planning ahead, and a little extra effort to turn the moment into a special occasion.

Pick a night when you can afford to stay up late (on the weekend, maybe) and mark it down on your calendar. When the day comes, send the kids to bed (a wee bit early if necessary) and then get busy turning your dining room into a dining destination!

So go ahead: celebrate Valentine’s Day by dining in!

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An UNO Birthday – The Decor

January 2, 2012 By Anne Simpson

Last weekend was my Baby Boy’s first birthday, can you believe it? An entire year has passed since he was born! And as you can imagine, planning a birthday in the midst of all the holiday mayhem was, to say the least, challenging.

My friend Leigh Ann of Intentional by Grace came to my rescue with a simple but fun first birthday theme that she had come across on Pinterest for her own child’s first birthday. The idea was so charming, I had to steal it (my apologies to Leigh Ann, who had the idea first!). And many thanks to the awesomely creative people who come up with these ideas in the first place. I am totally in your all’s debt! (And so are my kids, because Mommy could never come up with such cool stuff from her own head!)

The birthday theme idea, of course, was based on the game UNO. You know, for the number one. (In case you were unaware, “uno” means one in Spanish. Just in case you needed to know that.) As it happened, I had an old box of UNO that was missing quite a few cards (not to mention that someone put a new box of UNO in my stocking!), so I took that as a heaven-sent serendipitous sign that the UNO party was just meant to be.

One thing I LOVE (L-O-V-E!) about this theme is that the decorations are so terrifically cheap (a good thing considering the state of our bank account right after Christmas!). I used random supplies I had around the house to throw together some fun decor that was bright and cheerful and just screamed “party!”. All the decorations were made with that same a-few-cards-short-of-a-full-set! Add to that non-investment, 2 paper plates, a long string of curling ribbon, a stick of hot glue, and some random pieces of tissue paper (oh, and 2 pieces of felt), and you have the sum total of the items needed for UNO party decor.

The other thing I love is that it has a built-in color scheme: red, blue, green and yellow (plus a little black). Easy peasy. No thinking necessary.

Oh, and by the way, this party theme is not just for one-year-olds! Any kid, or even adult, who loves games or numbers would have a blast with this party theme!

This UNO wreath was a last minute inspiration that I literally whipped up in 2 minutes. And then I still had a ton of UNO cards, so I whipped up another one in a couple more minutes. This one’s a no-brainer, people. Take a large sturdy paper plate, and fold it in half. Cut out the inner circle, leaving the outer ring to form your wreath shape. Knot a ribbon around the top, then tie it into a bow. Lay the plate flat on a table, and use hot glue to attach UNO cards to the plate to form the wreath. I tried to match up the top left corner of each card to the top right corner of the previous card, slanting each one at a slight angle.

I made these tissue paper pom-poms using up some tissue paper languishing in my present-wrapping-box. I will spare you my own garbled attempt to explain how to make them, and direct you to this great picture tutorial instead. I used the colors from the UNO theme – red, blue, green and yellow. Black would be a nice addition, but I didn’t have black. I could have hung these up individually, but my DH and I decided to hang them together in a cluster above the birthday cake to draw attention there. It was a great choice! The cluster had more impact than individual pom-poms would have, I think.

To make an UNO garland, you’ll need to start with a tremendously long piece of curling ribbon (I used red because it’s what I had.). To secure the cards to the ribbon, you’ll want to tie a knot on each one. To do this, start with a long piece of curling ribbon. Punch a hole in the top of an UNO card, and thread the ribbon through it, leaving about 6″ or so on the left for hanging. Tie a knot and pull it taut just above the card. Then thread another card through the ribbon, once again tying a knot. Keep adding the cards one at a time, tying the knot for each one, until you come to the other end of the ribbon, once again leaving about 6″ or so for hanging. Voila! An UNO garland!

Even the birthday boy was part of the decor! Check out his designer onesie:

I used two pieces of felt (Warning: do not try to use peel’n'stick felt. It doesn’t stick. Just so you know.), one blue and one white (you couldn’t tell that yourself, could you?!). I cut a rectangle to fit the front of his onesie out of the blue felt and attached it via the adhesive on the back of the peel’n'stick felt. Bad decision. I should have hot-glued it on, because it wouldn’t stay put once we got to the party. Lesson learned! Thankfully, the white felt was not peel’n'stick! I cut out a slanted oval to fit in the center of my blue rectangle and attached it with hot glue (And it stuck. Like glue.) I also cut out some mini little “1″s from the white felt and glued them to the top right and bottom right corners. Then I cut a larger “1″ (all of them attempting to replicate the UNO font) out of the blue felt and stuck it to the white oval. To this day, I do not know where it is. *Sigh* If you want a more permanent onesie, of course, you can skip all the gluing, and use iron-on backing and/or sewing it to secure around the edges. I was just going for the effect that day, so it wasn’t a really big deal that it wasn’t a permanent design.

Ain’t he a cute little model?!

Not shown (because I don’t have a picture) are the table decorations, which consisted mostly of black plastic table cloth, scattered with all my leftover UNO cards (yes, I still had more!). I considered running the UNO cards through our shredder to make confetti, but I ran out of time. It made more impact anyway, I think, leaving them whole.

Because, of course, there is no way Baby Boy will remember his first birthday years from now, we (all the guests at the party) made a scrapbook for him. Each person decorated one page and wrote a personal note to him for his birthday. The pages all have an empty spot where I can insert pictures from the party (I predict I will finish this in time for his 21st birthday party). I did the same thing for My Certain Little Someone’s first birthday, and I wanted Baby Boy to have the same special scrapbook.

Each piece of UNO decor was awfully QUICK, I can tell you that! The tissue pom-poms were the hardest part, but once I figured out how to make them, the process went more quickly. I made the garland while watching TV one night, and it was done before the show was over, so it didn’t take all that long.

Everything was super EASY, I assure you. OK, a slight learning curve on the pom-poms, but easier than other things I have done.

We’ve already covered how CHEAP these decorations were.

And HEALTHY as long as you don’t try to eat them.

Read the Rest of An Uno Birthday Series:

The Food

The Cake

15 Comments Filed Under: At Home, Beauty, Celebrations, Children, Handmade, In The Budget, On The Table, Save Much Tagged With: birthday

Another Christmas Tree Tray – Veggies This Time!

December 21, 2011 By Anne Simpson

Here’s yet another last-minute Christmas tray to bring to any festivities this weekend. Yesterday, I brought you a Christmas tree fruit tray. Today, it’s a Christmas tree veggie tray! Same concept, different produce.

Easy peasy.

This one I also found on Pinterest (naturally), originally from the Betty Crocker website. Here’s another Christmas tree veggie tray, also from Betty Crocker, if you’d like something a bit different, or if you have different tastes in veggies. And if you’re looking for yet another creative Christmas-tree-shaped appetizer tray, try this cheese cube Christmas tree from Cabot.

Veggie Christmas Tree

Ingredients

1 bunch broccoli
1/4 head of cauliflower
1/2 10oz pkg grape tomatoes
handful of pretzel sticks
1/2 yellow pepper, optional OR chunk/slice of cheese

Instructions

Wash all produce thoroughly. Trim broccoli and cauliflower so you have only the florets, with very little stem (just enough to hold on to).
Using an oval or rectangular tray, place a line of cauliflower along the bottom narrow edge to form the “snow”.
Place a handful of pretzel sticks, centered above the cauliflower, oriented lengthwise to form the “trunk”.
Place a line of broccoli across the tray, above the pretzel trunk, trying not to leave any white space.
Above the broccoli, and forming a slightly shorter line, place a row of grape tomatoes, touching edge to edge.
Continue alternating broccoli and tomatoes, creating shorter lines as you go, until you get near the top of your tray.
Form a star but cutting a yellow pepper into strips OR use a star-shaped cookie cutter to form a star from a slice or chunk of cheese. Or just go without, like I did!

Serve your Christmas tree with a bowl of homemade dip on the side. Unfortunately, I have no specific dip recipe for you (I was in too much of a hurry to take measurements), but I can tell you how I made my Ranch-like version of dip: I dumped equal parts cream/yogurt cheese (homemade from yogurt) and plain yogurt in a bowl and mashed it together well until it was creamy. Then I stirred in garlic powder, freshly ground black pepper, dill, parsley, chives, and a bit of salt until it tasted right. Then I refrigerated it for a couple of hours before serving.

Just as QUICK as any other vegetable tray!

And just as EASY, but with so much more presentation!

It’s CHEAPer than the fruit tray, because these veggies are cheaper than those fruits.

And it’s very HEALTHY, too, nothing but veggies! (Well, except the pretzel sticks, which I don’t normally buy, but didn’t have time to come up with anything more creative. Carrot sticks? Celery sticks? Right shape, wrong color. Let me know if you come up with something!)

Sharing with Real Food Wednesday, and…

7 Comments Filed Under: At Home, Beauty, Celebrations, On The Table, Sides, Snacks Tagged With: appetizers, entertaining, vegetables

Festive Holiday Fruit Tray

December 19, 2011 By Anne Simpson

I’m loving Pinterest this Christmas season! It’s given me some great ideas for Christmas presents, Christmas decorating, Christmas wrapping, Christmas baking, Christmas cooking… and Christmas celebrating.

Some of these ideas take a little more work, which makes me question if it’s a good thing or not. Or at any rate, it makes my DH question! Me? I love all the holiday craziness. Bring it on, people!

But if you’re really frazzled, and don’t have the wits or time to come up with a dish for the holiday party this weekend, I’ve got your back. This particular Pinterest-inspired fruit tray is dead easy and perfectly brainless. A little on the pricey side this time of year, but whatever. Totally worth it.

Christmas Fruit Tree

Ingredients

1 lb green grapes
2-3 Granny Smith (or other green) apples
1/2 cup blueberries
1/2 cup raspberries
1/2 Bosc pear

Instructions

Use an oblong tray for best results. Place a paper or towel in the middle of the tray, if desired, to drain fruit and help stabilize it. (You don’t want the edges of the paper towel to show.)
Core the apples, then cut them into quarters, then cut each quarter into 4 slices. Place in a bowl of lemon water (fill a bowl of water and splash in a TBSP or two of lemon juice).
Trim the sides of the Bosc pear so that it resembles a tree trunk (we’re not going for perfection here – just as close as you can get). Place it near the bottom of the tray, with the peel facing out.
Pile the grapes on the tray, above the pear. Shape them so that there are fewer on the top and more on the bottom, like a triangle.
Line the apple slices around the edges of the grape tree, forming the branches.
Place the blueberries and raspberries randomly among the grapes to form the ornaments.

For an extra touch, you can use a star cookie cutter to cut a star shape out of a pineapple wedge, or piece of cantaloupe. If you have a large enough pear or apple, and a metal cutter, you could use that as well. Place that at the top of the tree. (I just went without.)

This is so QUICK to put together. I washed all my fruit and sliced the apples at home, then brought it all to the function I was attending (my piano students’ Christmas recital). I formed the tree probably in 5 minutes or less.

Such an EASY, yet festive and creative, fruit tray to bring to any holiday function! Party-goers will love it, and you will have put very little effort into it (yeah, baby, that’s what I’m talkin’ about!).

It is NOT CHEAP this time of year! Unless maybe if you live in Florida or California. The apples aren’t expensive, but the grapes and berries. Oh my! I never pay that much for those fruits, since I usually only buy them in season. Oh well, totally worth it for a Christmas splurge.

It is very HEALTHY, though. Nothing but fruit!

4 Comments Filed Under: At Home, Beauty, Celebrations, On The Table Tagged With: appetizer, entertaining, fruit

Have a Cupcake: Birthday Celebration Menu & Decor

April 11, 2011 By Anne Simpson

cupcake birthday

You know what’s really kind of cool? My mother-in-law and my sister-in-law both have their birthdays on the same day! Since I am the only other adult female on this side of the family, it falls to me to plan their birthday celebrations, something I enjoy very much every year. In the past, I’ve had the whole family over for a meal, complete with cake and ice cream of course, but our current dining room is simply not large enough to accommodate everyone comfortably. The past few years I’ve had to get creative in finding ways to celebrate their birthdays, some years with more success than others.

My challenge this year was to:

create an easy but delicious menu
decorate simply but beautifully
find a fun excursion/activity that was inexpensive and enjoyable to both birthday girls
spend $30 or less! (I hope they’re not reading this. If you are, it’s not because I’m cheap, I swear! Just trying to stay in the birthday budget!)

I hope I can say without boasting that I do believe I was mostly successful in achieving all my objectives, and that both ladies enjoyed themselves, and hopefully felt special on their birthdays. Just in case you want some ideas to help you plan a birthday celebration, my next few posts this week will detail the celebration, including recipes, of course!

First off, the menu, a breezy, springy, lightly spicy affair:

Crunchy Chicken Salad with Cilantro Dressing
Fruit Salad with Honey Lime Dressing
Parmesan Crisps
Vegetables with Dip
Sweet Tea
Lemonade

There was no dessert on the menu… more on that later!

Most of the food – the chicken, dressing ingredients, parmesan and fruit – I either had on hand or purchased with my grocery budget money. I did spend about $5 extra on some of the vegetables, the limes and the lemonade, bringing my overall spending to about $35 for the whole birthday event.

I always feel that dressing the table is an easy way to make guests feel special, although I’ve learned not to go overboard because sometimes, for some reason, it just makes some people uncomfortable. (If the table is overdressed, they feel like they are underdressed.)

I kept it pretty and elegant but simple by using a pretty lacy white table cloth (which I should have ironed!), light green cloth napkins, my fine china, and drinking glasses. For an extra special touch, I accordion-folded the napkins, then arranged them in a circle on the plates and topped them with the salad bowl.

The center piece was equally simple, yet elegant: a unique silver tray (which I left unpolished on purpose because I liked the slightly tarnished look), 3 simple glass tealight holders filled with different colored tealights, set on another light green napkin, with some accordion folds on either side.

candle silver centerpiece

I added a fun element to the whole display with these adorable little paper cupcakes, inspired by Keri of Pressed Down Shaken Together. She calls them “popcakes”, which is just perfect and oh-so-cute!

I didn’t spend a dime on any of the party decor, because everything I used came from a closet or cupboard in my house.

Check out my cupcake-themed gift idea!

Find more ideas for entertaining here:

1 Comment Filed Under: At Home, Beauty, Celebrations, In The Budget, Spend Wisely Tagged With: birthday party, cupcake, entertaining

Guest Post: A Veggie Flower Garden

March 9, 2011 By Anne Simpson

Even though it’s early March and the weather still hasn’t officially decided yet if it would rather be winter or spring, my thoughts have already turned to gardening. My garden consists of pots on my balcony, but still. It’s my garden! I can’t wait to try my hand again at planting some veggies and herbs in the pots. I was only partially successful last year, but I have high hopes for this year’s harvest!

You don’t have to wait for the official spring, though, to enjoy some vegetables and flowers. My friend Sheila, from Alice and the Mock Turtle, shares with us how to make some gorgeous flowers out of … vegetables! Sheila is a wonderful real life friend that I’ve been privileged to know for quite a few years now. I used to work at the school that she and her husband started, and I was always in awe of her creativity as a teacher, as well as her mothering skills. You’ll catch a glimpse of both these qualities in the post below: I can’t wait to try these with my Certain Little Someone (*mentally putting peppers and spinach on the shopping list*).

That’s enough from me. Here’s Sheila, with her Veggie Flower Garden…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My children enjoy eating fruits and veggies, sometimes. When we plan for parties though, they often expect ‘tasty’ food. I have found if I disguise veggies in fun, they think it’s party food any day.

I also enjoy playing with food and don’t necessarily discourage my children from doing the same. I think this helps them not only to enjoy it more but also be more willing to try something they may not have otherwise.

So my suggestion to get kids to eat more of their veggies and even try new foods is to have fun with ingredients and have them help. Here is a quick and easy, cheap and healthy idea for a kids snack or party food~ a Veggie Flower Garden. You can do the prep and have your child help with the building.

Veggie Flower Garden
bell peppers
baby spinach
fresh herbs (recommend parsley, cilantro, chives and/or mint)
green peas

Rinse and dry peppers. Slice from bottom of bell into rings, thin or thick. If you want to build more elaborate flowers, use thin slices.

Working on serving platter (a butcher block works well, or cover a piece of cardboard with blue wrapping paper and then protect with plastic wrap for a bright ‘sky’ backdrop), make a cross with spinach leaves, snapping off long stems as working. Over lap four more leaves just inside two intersecting leaves. Lay pepper ring on top of spinach leaves. Add a few green peas to middle to represent seeds.

Or add another smaller pepper ring before placing peas. If you have a few rings stacked, you could put a small piece from the bottom of the pepper in the middle to hold a the peas together and up higher.

Select a few stems of fresh herbs (I used parsley) and place to look like flower stalks.

Finish off the bottom of the platter with short pieces of chives to resemble grass. Also, use some of the pieces from the bottom of the bell to place as fallen flower petals. Use the top of a bell pepper (after removing seeds) to serve dip in.

Here are a few ideas for more fun food~

Ants on a Stump
An apple, sliced into rings, then cored; dip in lemon juice to keep from browning. Drizzle a bit of honey around the top {sap, of course}, then add some craisins.