"Somewhere Else"

(by Travis) Somewhere



I hope I'm not sending out mixed signals with with contradictory song titles from yesterday & today! It sorta reminds me of Wilson Phillips' first two singles, "Hold On" & "Release Me" ~ it's like, Hold up! What do you really want?!

Anyways, I'm somewhere else today...

You can find me guest blogging about frugal gift ideas for my friend Laura @ Three Cups of Coffee Later!

Updated in July 2011: In case that post were to disappear some day, I decided to paste what I posted that day...


Hi there, Laura’s friends! I have been blogging for two years, but this is the first time I get to be a guest blogger! How fun!! I’m honored to fill in for Laura on a Frugal Friday. I like to think of myself as a frugalista ~ though as a stay-at-home mom whose husband has been either in the ministry or self-employed for a good portion of our marriage, my frugality has been out of necessity!

One area of our budget where we never seem to have enough money is gifts! Between birthday parties, Christmas & other special occasions, there are many gift-giving opportunities throughout the year. I love giving gifts, but my budget has never allowed me to give as I would like. So, I have had to be creative!

Several years ago for Christmas, I bought picture frames from IKEA for about $3 a piece for each of my husband’s cousins. I decorated each one differently, according to each recipient’s style. Some were painted & others were left their natural wood color. I hot-glued little accents to each frame ~ everything from crayons & bottle caps to rick rack & iron-on transfers. Some of the items were found objects, while I paid a little bit of money for others ~ but never more than about $1.

One thing I do quite a bit is shop the clearance section. I know that this is a no-brainer, but I had to post a picture of something that is too cute not to share! Recently, my daughter was invited to a birthday party for an 11-year-old girl. We found a little create-your-own fabric patch kit on clearance for about $2.50…

…and a messenger bag on clearance for about $3.50!

We added 5 or 6 Silly Bandz (from my daugther’s stash)…

..and we had a complete gift for about $6 ~ but worth quite a bit more!

I’m always analyzing items in the store or online to see if there’s an easy way to make them at home. There are a lot of things you can do with candles ~ & what woman {without fragrance allergies} doesn’t LOVE them?! They can be fairly inexpensive, & paired with a really cute stand, tray or plate (that you possibly found on clearance), they can be a great gift for a housewarming, birthday, Christmas or any occasion. One thing I saw recently that added a cute extra touch was a ribbon & bead wrapped around the candle. You could pay a little extra for this, but it would be less expensive to raid your stash & find something that will make it look like you paid a little extra!


These are just a few of my gift ideas, and there are numerous resources online that can really help someone on a budget! I hope this helped to spur your creativity a little bit!


Amy

Comments

Brooke said…
*runs over to see*

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