Home made play dough

We love playing with play dough, but as much as I love my little Kbug she doesnt do very well with always putting the lid on it after she is done playing. So it can get pretty expensive to always buy new stuff. I thought why not just make our own. It cant be hard, and I am sure it has to be cheaper then what the stores would do. Plus not all the harsh chemicals added as well. So here is our attempt to make play dough.. Super easy you should try it.. Its all over the internet so I am sure you can pull many different types of recipes from google this is just one way of doing it.

Get your supplies- Pot to place ingredients in, 2 cups flour, 2 cups water, 1 cup salt, 2tbs oil-- depending on how you want to color the play dough you can use several items.. Food coloring, kool aid, even fruit/veggie juice for a more Eco friendly dough. We used food coloring because that is what we had at the house. 1. Measure out your ingredients and place in pot. This is a great step for your little helpers. 2. Stir everything in pan before placing on low heat. 3. Parents only-- Place pan over the stove over low heat and continue to stir. This process takes a few minutes but its important that you don't put the heat to high and or that you stop stirring or your mixture will burn. The mixture will form into a mush and make it where you can hardly stir it. Sometimes it will form into a ball, others will look more like mash potatoes but harder. 4. Take off heat and scrap out dough onto wax paper. 5 roll into balls- This part you can separate into as many balls as you wish. We did 4 medium size balls. 6 place balls on paper and allow big helper to place thumb in middle of dough. 7. Drop food coloring into the thumb print. For a darker color you will need to add more coloring. 8. work in the food coloring just like you were mixing bread dough. this part takes a few minutes as well and my little helper was tired of doing it after a few mixes. Your dough is now ready for play!! The best part about this is it was super cheap, easy, and a fun project that the whole family is able to enjoy.

Great deal- Clothing

What can I say I am a woman who loves to shop and even better score great deals. I am still struggling to get motivated to loss my baby weight so none of my clothes fit right now. You would think that would be motivation within itself but its not. So I went out and about wasting time really until Kbug got out of school last week. Well one store I love to shop in is Ross. I hate the crowds that it brings and the messy aisle of the clothing and toys and shoes and pillows, okay so really I dislike a lot of things about Ross other then the fact that they have cute things and good deals. So if you can get past the entrance way and have a little time to waste its good. I was shopping for some new shirts and came across this one--

I thought it was super cute and figured hey why not try it on. After I tried it on and it was a little tight I thought I don't need another tight shirt so I was going to put it back. Then I happened to look at the price and it said this-

Okay for .99 cents I think I might just have to bring it home. I hope that my work out motivation comes back soon because I would love to sport my cheap but cute shirt around soon!

Love finding those great deals

Birthday on a Budget

One of my favorite things to do is to plan parties. Any kind of party is fun but especially when its for kids. I have always been one to go way over board on things for my little girls birthday parties. Well the older she got the more I was spending on just putting her shin gig on. Not including any of her gifts. I realized fast that I wasn't going to be able to go all out every year. That is when I started researching more and more online. I have really become addicted to reading blogs. With reading so many creative and fun ways to save money, I have gotten so much more frugal about parties. My plan is always to do a party under $100.00. This is including food and everything. Recently I volunteered to help a friend out with her little girls birthday party. She is turning four and wants a princess theme party. I am a big fan of themed birthdays but when it comes to a character party I learned that you don't have to go and spend hundreds on everything with that character on it. I am going to post several little posts on all the things that I will be doing for her birthday party for the next few weeks.

A big tip I have for planning parties is to always start way in advance! I love being able to shop a few months in advance for anything at the goodwill, dollar store, walmart, ross or just in general sale items. If you plan with enough time you can normally score some great items and or have enough time to create your own! I love DIY stuff, and on my blog I hope to post many DIY projects.

So the first thing that I did was of course go to the local Dollar Store. I love this store and have become a frequent shopper. I needed a few things and knew that I could save a ton of money on them here. What I wanted to share was how easy it is to take something from the dollar store and turn it into something super cute! 

 I took a simple basket, silverware, and napkins from the DS and ribbon I already had and made this cute little holder.

 A simple plastic wine glass from the DS with a touch of ribbon as a bow and look how cute it looks? I think any princess would want to drink out of it, what do you think?

Come back again to see more of my cute little decorations for a princess party on a budget!

DS-Shower Curtain-Map

What do you do on a rainy day? Well here in Bellingham we have many of them. So I have had to get really creative and do a lot of research in blog land lately. Winters are especially hard because it seems like it rains every day and the skies are grey. So while searching thru blog land I landed on a great site at filthwizardry.com and came across how to make a map out of a dollar store shower curtain. I thought this was a great idea and super cheap. You cant beat when all you have to spend is a dollar and gets you hours of fun. Kbug and I sat one afternoon while it was down pour raining and created our own little town. She wanted to draw her school, a barn, our house, chuck e cheese, and target. Girl has to learn, play and shop :-) She has so much fun putting all the little details on our map. The park had the most detail with monkey bars and a twisty slide. As well as chuck e cheese with an air hockey, ski ball, fish game and basketball hoop. We spent about an hour creating our map. She was pretty much over it by that time so we folded it up and put it away for another rainy day. Needless to say the next day, was a rainy day. We pulled it out and actually played on it. We had so much fun taking the animals to the barn, then to chuck e cheese for some fun and pizza.  It was a great project and super cheap!

What are your creative ways to use something found at the dollar store??

Welcome Blog World

Hello my name is Crystal and I decided to enter the new year of 2011 with blogging. I know its been around for years and I am a few years behind but hey its better to start now then never right? I am addicted to reading blogs and figured hey, what a good way to document your life and all some of your thoughts and ideas. So, here I am doing my first post and will continue to update it as much as I can. I am not sure if anyone will even read it and or if its even worth it but I figured I would try.

 

A little about me, I am a wife to an amazing man who I love dearly. I am a stay at home mom of two wonderful little people. Kbug 5 and Bubba 5 months (nicknames of course). I love photography, art, poetry, planning parties, always finding ways to save a penny, crafts, reading time with the kids, and much more. My hope for this blog is to allow my friends and family to follow on my journey as a mom and a wife and all the little bits and pieces in between.

 

Please know that all my posts and pictures are MINE, I ask that you have respect and please do not use them as your own. However, you may link up my page if you use any of my ideas. If you would like something please feel free to send me a message and or comment and I will be more then happy to get back to you.

 

Thanks for stopping by and continue to check back, its a work in progress! 

Crystal