Frugal gift # 5 ~ Matching game

Here is something that is extremely cheap to make and doesn't require much skill or abilities and doesn't take to much time but can provide a whole lot of fun! I have enjoyed matching (or memory) games for a long time. I think it is great for your brain!
This particular game we made for my nieces who are learning about their letters. I used old milk jug caps for the playing pieces.(We have to take them off when we recycle and I hated to throw all that good potential craft material away ~we don't get them anymore though as I now buy our milk from the dairy and reuse our jars.) We made little paper circles to fit inside them, decorated them with the upper and lowercase letters of the alphabet and with a sticker, little picture that we cut out of an old school book or with a little drawing and then glued them into the inside of the cap. We also used different colors, trying to find colors that started with the particular letter of the alphabet. This was great for using up odd scraps of paper from junk mail and the like.
Here are Aaron and Jonathan testing the game out before we send it off in the mail.

We have a matching game too, one that was given to Aaron that was store bought. We have had a lot of fun with it. Aaron gets super excited when a match is found. Jonathan is great at remembering where things are. I particularly like this game as I fairly consistently beat Ken at it!

Another way you could make it is with metal juice lids. That is what we used growing up. We made a set with old wallpaper scraps glued in and we would match the colors and patterns. I have also made them before with just stickers on the inside. Another thing I have done is to write one half of a memory verse on one side and the other half on the other to try to aid memorizing. Homemade memory games work just as well as ones from the store. I hope you have fun with this!

Christmas Decorating!

Tonight I had a lot of fun decorating our living room and entry way. I decided that I would share some pictures with you. On our piano top I put some silver net like fabric on it first (I had bought the fabric at Walmart for around 50 cents a yard and I used it before at the bridal fair) then I put some evergreen boughs that I had gathered from woods. I then added some pine cones that I have collected and some candles. I also put ribbon (recycled from a friends wedding) interspersed. It was fun just using what I had that were in Christmas colors all over to decorate. Mara and Jonathan helped me a little with the decorating and then we lit all the candles and called Ken and Megan up (Aaron had fallen asleep early) to see what it all looked like. While just in candle light we enjoyed some egg nog. The kids were super excited and it was fun for all of us. Ken then helped us hang up the stockings. These we bought on a after Christmas clearance a couple of years ago and then hot glued gold initials on them.

These two pictures are in the entryway.
Enjoying their bedtime story.

Megan went around trying to blow out the candles. (She is experienced from the birthdays this fall). She did enjoy watching them though.

I hope you are having fun this time of year. We even have snow on the ground outside, so that made everything even more perfect.

Frugal Gift # 4 ~Monogram bookmarks

Today the kids had fun making these bookmarks with a little help from me. (My sister Keren made the one below). I got the idea from Tara at Faith Acre Farm . She has some great instructions for making them. She used smaller beads and they look much more dainty. I want to try some like hers but for the kids the ones we used worked well.

These are very quick to make (I actually used hot glue to attach the ribbon on) and the cost is very minimal. If you know someone who loves to read, this could make a very fun gift.
For more gift ideas, check out "How to have a frugal Christmas."

Homemade granola bars

Here is a recipe for homemade granola bars that are family has enjoyed a lot. They are a lot cheaper than buying little boxes of individually wrapped bars. They are also quick and easy to put together. There only draw back is that they can be a little crumbly. Sometimes they aren't to bad I think it depends on whether they are baked for just the perfect amount of time. Crumbly or not they are very yummy! Yummy homemade granola bars

• 4 cups oatmeal
• 1 cup (or a little less) brown sugar
• 1 t. salt
• 1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts or 1 cup sliced almonds
• 1 cup coconut
• 3/4 cup melted butter
• 3/4 cup orange marmalade or Apple butter (I have also experimented with using some plain apple sauce or cooked squash)
• 1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Mix all the ingredients together well . Press into a 10" x 15" greased pan. Bake at 425 degrees for 15-17 minutes. Cut into pieces and enjoy!

For more Frugal Ideas visit Crystal over at Biblical Womanhood.

Frugal Gift # 3 ~Homemade stationary

I like making stationary for a gift. For one reason it is useful, as long as the person writes letters (and you probably know whether they do or not) it will be used up and not just clutter up someone's house. Another reason is that it is very quick and easy to make and then also it is very inexpensive. Just because it is inexpensive doesn't make it a "Cheap" gift as you can make it nice and if you look at the prices in the store you will find that stationary can cost quite a bit.

For this particular set of stationary (which I made for my mother-in-law, who loves to write long letters) I used some of the paper from a blank pad of paper. The pads of paper had 100 sheets each I and got them on sale for 2/$1 at Walgreens. I also got envelopes on that same sale and I decorated some envelopes to go with them. I used only one stamp for this set of stationary. Usually for stationary you don't want it too busy so you don't need much. I did use two different colors of green ink. If you don't have stamps you could make a cute set using thumb print pictures (this would be especially cute if a child was doing this for their mother or grandmother) or you could do a quick watercolor picture in the corner of each paper.

Something that might be nice to add to this gift is a book of stamps. You can tie it all together with a pretty bow or make a special folder to place the stationary in.

For more of my ideas for frugal gifts go here. Check out "How to have a frugal Christmas" at A call to Higher Places for more ideas.