An Update and Some Gardening!

Remember that internship I got a few post back? Well that turned in a promotion! Which for me meant another new schedule. I have been working 5 days a week from 4pm to 12:30am. On a better note, another schedule should be happening any day now. I will be on a more normal schedule. I am also planning to take a class this summer and some more in the fall. I hope all of this will allow some time for blogging. Anyway, on to the fun Spring things we've got going on!

I wanted to share how I made these cute little seed starters. These little pots are super easy to make and you likely have all of the supplies on hand!

What you will need:
-Newspaper/or any other paper really
-Tape
-Scissors
-Dirt
-Seeds
-A spice bottle or another cylindrical object

Directions:
Cut your paper into strips. The width will vary depending on how tall you want your pots. My widths were about 5 to 7 inches and the length should be able to wrap around your spice bottle twice. About 12 inches.

Wrap the paper around the spice bottle. Leave some excess off the bottom. Tape the part you just wrapped around down (about where my thumb is below).

Fold up the bottom. This process is similar to folding up the bottom of a penny roll. You want to tape that part down too.

Pull the newspaper off of the spice bottle and viola! You have your very own little newspaper seed starters. Fill them with dirt and some seeds!

Here are our little flowers coming up! I planted Poppies and Johnny Jump-ups. The Poppies are not showing yet. These cups hold up quite well, even in the pouring rain.

What sort of things have you been planting this year? Share it in the comments!

Cute Cheap Business Decorations!

I saw this cute little thrift store when I was getting gas the other day and I just had to share it. How cute is that building? I just love the green and pink. Can you tell what those green circles and pink flowers are made of? Well, the green circles are those little plastic plates you stick under the not so sturdy paper plates to give them more support. The pink flowers are serving trays! I didn't have the time to stop in because we were headed to see our brand new nephew but I hope to check it out soon.

If you are in the area and want to check out Crystal's Closet in Richmond, Va. you can go to the facebook page here.

Xmas 2012!

Ok, so this should be the last post about Xmas until next year. Here are the rest of the Xmas related things we have done.

Here is our tree again! I LOVE the black and white but I think it might be time for a change. I want to keep a white tree. NOT this one thought. I HATE it. It is thin and leaning and the branches are ugly. What I really wanted was the white Xmas tree at Garden Ridge with the glitter on the branches. That bitch cost $200 bucks and apparently anyone else who wanted a white tree wanted that one too because my local Garden Ridge sold the last one right in front of my eyes. :( I was hoping to catch it on an after Xmas sale.

Hopefully I have made it clear at this point that I am a couponer! I love to coupon and also request free samples. What you see above are 3 gift bags for family members completely made of things I have gotten for free with a coupon or a free sample. I collect these things through out the year and at the end of the year whatever I dont think I will use I give away. These can include all kinds of things toothpaste, deodorant  hair brush, cosmetic bag, baby shampoo, make up and even socks. I never do this as the main gift but so far they have been pretty well received by my family. Last year because I was a bit more into couponing and less stressed about my job status and home buying, I was able to give a filled stocking to each person about 7 people. This year I did a bag per house.

So this is pretty random but I just thought I would share it. I could not think of a cute way to wrap batteries or to give someone batteries. I mean who wants to open batteries any way? Well, I decided to just tie them together with a little ribbon and toss them in on of the bags above for my brother in law and his wife. Nothing special but I think it looks better than 2 loose batteries. Come to think of it why the hell did I give them just 2 batteries? I mean that was all the toy need but still maybe I should have wrapped the whole pack with ribbon? Any other suggestions for batteries? Do you even give the batteries or do you just let the parents work that out later?

We also went to look at all the pretty lights in the neighborhood. I hope that we can do this every year! It something that is free (or mostly free becuase of the gas) and it is nice to ride around and listen to Xmas music and look at the lights. This was by fay my favorite house! You could see it from a few streets over and  all of the lights in the tree twinkled in and out. Look at those giant statues with glowing eyes! 

One of the most fun things Zoey and I did was make Xmas cards. Inside of each one I drew an Xmas tree and had her color the "ornaments" on or we glued different shaped sequins on for the ornaments. I had lots of fun being completely random and attempting to be creative. I hope the recipients liked them!

Label Maker OMG!

So for a few months now I have been eyeing a label maker. I have been searching for a great sale on one that included the AC adapter, apparently that doesn't exist. :( I was asked by my sister what I wanted for xmas and this was the first thing that came to mind! I am so glad she bought this for me (thanks sis!). Now I don't have to spend time choosing one and being super picky! So in celebration of my NEW label maker and my LOVE for organizing things I thought I would make this post about the things I have been organizing over the last week or so!

In August we moved into our 1st home and the spare bedroom had turned into a junky storage room instead of MY craft room (and our game room). Last week I finally got around to getting the moving boxes out of there and cleaning the room up! Above you can see the main storage for all of my crafty things. I used the new label maker to make it easy for me to sort all the bits and pieces.

I have a small 12x12 clear box to store my scrapbook paper and other little extras for paper crafting. (I'm not a scrapbooker btw, I did make my xmas cards this year though.)

So maybe this doesn't really relate but... I also moved all of my user manuals from the cute, little, overstuffed, annoying binder above to the perfect little file folder below!

In my daughters room I use a coat rack on the clothing bar to keep her gazillion pairs of sunglasses and a few necklaces. I am probably the only one in the world who doesn't hang up clothes. Well, maybe just a few things, but they are all in my closet.

Last but not least my "stockpile". As a couponer people always seem to think I have a huge garage filled with  20 thousand bottles of whatever that I will never use. Luckily for me that is not true. I do have more than most I am sure. You might be able to see the 10 deodorants and the 10 shampoos and the 10 body wash but by having at least that many of those items I don't have to worry about couponing every single week. Now that I have some items saved up I can take a coupon vacation! Ahhh just relaxing... Just kidding. I still try to use coupons at the grocery store but I don't have to try so hard now, because I have these items on hand.

How to Wrap a Present! (with scraps!)

So like most of us during this time of year, I am busy wrapping presents. One of the most irritating things about wrapping presents is the pile of useless paper that is left after everything is wrapped. YOU KNOW what I am talking about. Those annoying little scraps that you just can't find a use for. Too tiny to wrap any present but too large to just throw in the trash. Meet your resolution:

Take all the scraps and wrap another present. This would be super cute on the gift for the office party, for a gag gift or just for silly presentation for the jokesters you know.

Keep in mind you will want to have LOTS of tape on hand. 

I had so much fun wrapping these gifts. I cannot wait to see my relatives' reaction when they see their gifts! What creative ideas do you have for your leftover wrapping paper?