Crafty Things: Heart Crayon Valentines

In honor of one of my favorite holidays, I thought I'd show you the Valentines I made for a little party my daughter was invited to with her play group. I've seen these crayons all over the blog world, so I picked up the ice trays at Target for $1, and had the rest of the supplies on hand making this a super cheap project. I used the instructions here, and was really happy with the way it turned out! And with the kids in the group all being so little, I think this is better than candy! I'll post pics of the finished crayons all packaged up soon. Hope you have a Happy Valentine's Day!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Wishing you a joyful holiday.

image from here.

Holiday Gift Guide: For the Spender

This is the last of my gift idea posts. It's been fun putting them together, and I hope you enjoyed them.

One of the most memorable things I've ever taken away from reading Suze Orman's books was her idea that we should respect our money, right down to the cash we carry around every day. Her thought is that if we treat our money poorly, just stuffing bills in our purse or pocket or leaving money lying around, it will in turn slip away from us. If we respect our money, keeping it organized in our wallet, all bills facing the same way from largest to smallest, we will be rewarded with even more of it.

With that in mind, why not give someone on your list one of these fun wallets, to help them stay organized with their money? And if you haven't finished up your shopping by now, you'd better get moving! Merry Christmas!

Where to buy: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5

Holiday Gift Guide: For the Saver

I love browsing blogs for their holiday gift guides (my favorite every year are here), so I thought I'd join in. I'll be posting fun and economical ideas for gifts, all centered around finances! Here's my first pick. I think this would be great for a kid or teen to get them to start saving early, or the dream bank would be perfect for a couple who loves to travel. 

Where to buy: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4

Shopping the Sales: Christmas Stockings

I looked everywhere for Christmas stockings last year for my daughter's first Christmas, but wasn't able to find anything that I liked for the price I wanted to pay. I knew I wanted matching stockings for the three of us, and I wanted them monogrammed. So this year, I started the hunt early. Yesterday, I got the holiday Lands' End catalog in the mail, and it included a code for 25% off any order plus free shipping. And when you order 3 stockings or more, they take $3 off each stocking. And monogramming is free! So I just picked up three monogrammed needlepoint stockings for $18 a piece with free shipping, which I think is a fantastic price for the quality of stockings we're getting. My husband's family had stockings like this growing up, so it's nice to carry on the tradition. I finally found stockings I like for the price I wanted to pay!