Photo ball ornaments

There are dozens of ways to get your favorite  family pictures on your tree. I particularly like this one.

Materials and cost:

One dozen clear glass ball ornaments - $5.99 at Hobby Lobby and 50% off that puts the cost at $3.00
12 photos - I use 4x6 prints I can get for $.19 each for a total of $2.28
One pair of scissors
One pair of tweezers
Elmers glue - bought at the back to school sales for $.20, 1/10 of a bottle used for a cost of $.02
Gold Glitter - $1.49, 50% off for a cost of $.75 and half used for a final cost of $.37
Red ribbon - $1.99 per roll, 50% off for a cost of $1.00, .25 roll used for a cost of $.25
Hot glue gun
Glue Stick - $.17, I used half of one for a total of $.08

Total cost - $6.00 or $.50 an ornament

Directions.

Cut the photos to fit inside the glass balls. This takes some trial and error. My later ornaments had a nicer fit than the first few.

Once the photo is cut, take the top off the ornament and roll the photo to fit through the opening. Be careful not to crease the picture.

Once the photo is all the way inside the ornament, use tweezers to gently unroll the picture and get it into place.

Once the photo is where you want it, place the top back on the ornament. You can use glue if you want it permanent. I did not.

Now, I suppose you could get really tricky and put a photo facing the other way as well. You could also use cotton, feathers, etc in the back of it to add a decorative flair and cover the back of the photo. I chose glitter. I wish I had gone with silver to match the ornament top, but I went with gold.

I put the glitter into a shallow plastic container to contain the mess a bit. Using the glue, I put designs along the back of the ornament. You can use stripes, stars, dots, scribbles. I played around with a few different things. Then dip into glitter and tap to remove excess.

Once the glue is dry, cut lengths of red ribbon about 4-6" long. I didn't measure. They are about as long as my hand. Use the glue gun and put a dot of glue at the top of the ornament as a place to secure the ribbon.

Bring the ribbon around the front, and tie it once.

Bring one end around in a loop, and use hot glue to secure in center, as one half of a bow

Bring the other side around, secure with glue, and your ornament is finished!

"Gilded" walnut ornaments

These adorable little ornaments are a throwback to years ago when people would decorate their trees with gilded fruits and nuts. Inside these cute, simple little ornaments is a fortune to be found when the nut is cracked open.

Materials and costs:

1 lb walnuts in their shells - $1.99
Gold paint - $1.49 per bottle, .25 bottle used for a total of $.37
1 sheet of paper - $.01
Gold ribbon, $1.99 per roll, 50% off making it $1.00 for the roll, 1/3 roll used for a total of $.33
Hot glue gun
1 glue stick - $.17
Green ribbon, $1.99 per roll, 50% off making it $1.00 for the roll, 1/3 roll used for a total of $.33

Cost for 16 ornaments - $3.20 or $.20 per ornament

Directions:

Very carefully split walnuts in half using a sharp knife. Use a butter knife to pull out nut meats and clear the shells.

Paint the outside of both halves of the walnut with gold paint and allow to dry.

Cut paper into thin strips about half an inch wide and 1.5 inches long. Use a marker or pen to write fortunes on the slips. These can be as simple or as complicated as you want. I went with simple.

You could also use carefully folded money or small trinkets depending on how elaborate you want to get with it.

Roll the fortunes up into tiny scrolls, and tie with a short piece of gold ribbon. Tuck into the walnut shell.

Using the hot glue gun, place a dot of glue at the top of one half of the shells. Loop the green ribbon around and secure both ends to the shell with the glue.

Use the glue gun to run a bead of glue around the edge of the shell, and carefully seal both halves of the shell back together.  They are now ready to hang on the tree! On Christmas morning, let the walnut hunt commence and seekers can crack the nuts open to find their fortune.

Personalized Christmas ornaments on a budget

Post one of several

My holiday ornaments are in terrible shape. I have been using the same ones my entire adult life. They are scuffed and sad looking thanks to curious toddler hands and climbing kittens and gigantic dog tails. New ornaments are not the cheapest things in the world. To get a deal you really have to buy the same old colored glass balls.

Instead of having a tree that looks just like everyone else's, I have decided to make all ornaments that go on my tree. I figured I would share the finished product here along with a cost breakdown. I didn't think about it today, or I would have done a step by step photo series, but I can do that with tomorrow's project.

Today's project is snowman ornaments.

Materials for one dozen:

One dozen plain white or silver ornaments. I bought the shatter proof type specifically meant for making ornaments at Hobby Lobby. They come one dozen to a package for $4.99, but I got them for 50% off so a dozen ornaments for $2.50
Black acrylic paint - $1.49 per bottle, a few drops used so maybe $.05 worth of paint
Orange acrylic - $1.49 per bottle and the same amount and breakdown as the black at $.05
Black felt - $.50 per sheet, 1/2 a sheet used so $.25
Pompoms - $2.99 per bag, half off, so $1.50 per bag. I used 1/4 of the bag so about $.37 total
Glue gun - I don't have one anymore so a new one ran $2.77 I am not going to count it toward the price though because I will use it for many things
Glue stick - $3.49 for 20. I used one for a total of about $.17

Total cost for 12 ornaments - $3.39 or $.28 per ornament.

Not only is the cost per ornament low, but it is easy enough for kids to help with making an ideal gift for family, friends and teachers.

Directions.

Using black paint, paint 2 black eyes and a dotted (coal) mouth on each ornament. Follow with the orange paint to make a carrot shaped nose.

Cut the black felt into thin strips, and hot glue on top to make the band for the earmuffs

Cut a tiny patch off each pompom to flatten it out, then use hot glue to secure to each side to make the muffs.

The results are fast, easy and super cute :)

Ah ha!!

I couldn't remember how I took this blog offline, but I finally figured it out. Guess who's back!! Since I have started 3 other blogs I will organize things so that different types of subjects go on the different blogs. I will go back to money saving ideas for this one. My food photography blog isn't used much, but perhaps if I get back into it, it will be an interest. I have a daily 20 blog in which I answer the famous "what did you do all day?" question, and ramblings of a total headcase where I will post whaever doesn't fit on those. Feel free to read around.

I took my blog down initially after having a problem with certain people attempting to intimidate me with it, and use it against me. I have come to the conclusion that I have nothing to hide, and furthermore, I refuse to let people silence me. I will not give up that control of my life. I am so done with it.

I think moderated comments are on. I am still debating if I want to go back to open comments. I am not afraid of people disagreeing with something I post so feel free to comment however you wish. I will not be posting any comments that are hateful, nor will I be allowing my personal private business to be up for discussion. Anything else is fair game.

I missed my followers and hope to see you sharing with me again :)

We are here, and we are settled...mostly

I am not going into details just yet on the reason for our hasty move. It is a long, complicated story and I just don't have that kind of time at the moment.

Just posting today to show off a couple of pics of our new place, with more to come later.

We are in an apartment, which is close to 700 sq. ft smaller than the house. We also don't have the barn/garage anymore for storage, so it was interesting paring down to fit. No regrets. I am loving it. Most of the stuff we got rid of was larger furniture and crap given to us that we didn't use and just stuck in the garage waiting for a chance to sell/give it away. Half of our furniture we used for storage purposes because while the house was bigger, there were no closets. You have no idea how much I am loving the closet space in my new place. No more shelves, extra dressers, bins, etc. Closets and cupboards, oh my oh my.

So, to start out today, a view of my new LR and DR. We still have some unpacking to do (and are still using paper plates/plastic cups as much as I despise them, but it's not bad for being here less than a week.)

Sorry for the lack of posting

Life has taken a pretty major turn and it looks like we are moving. I will go back to posting regularly after we move.

Shopping Sales

I quit shopping sales for a while. I took it for granted that Aldi had the best prices and pretty much shopped there exclusively for a while. I started adding on another local store when I realized I couldn't get everything I wanted at Aldi. I still went with my meal plan and shopped around it. The problem is that it is hard to take advantage of sales if I have a strict shopping list. I don't get the paper, which means I don't get ads and never knew what was on sale.

My solution: Sunday Saver Most of the ads I will ever need are available online. I can now plan around what is on sale before I leave my house. I already know what Aldi's regular prices are so if I find a better deal I can get things elsewhere. I also keep an eye on price changes. For example, I used to buy 8oz blocks of cheese at Aldi for $1.49. Last time I went, the price had risen to $1.79. With that info, it is no longer cost efficient to buy cheese at Aldi since I can regularly find it on sale for $1.50. Would I drive out of my way for $0.29? No. However, since I usually have to make 2 stops anyway, might as well maximize where I can.