Block-O-Lantern

A few years ago my mom went to a Super Saturday for her ward. They did these glass block crafts and painted snowmen on them. Well one of them cracked when they drilled the hole so they gave it to my mom for free! Probably because she always spent the most. Seriously, we would be down there all day and not even finish everything. So frustrating! Haha

Anywho, so my mom gave me this glass block. Now I always had in my mind to do what they did and paint a snowman, but while going through our Halloween decorations I found a strand of orange lights and then I got to thinking... I'll make it into a Jack-O-Lantern! So here are the steps to make your very own Block-O-Lantern!

What you need:
A glass block. You can buy them at Home Depot, or even Michaels sells them with the hole already cut.
A drill
Tissue paper
black cardstock
Mod Podge (Click to make your own)
A strand of lights

First you will need to drill the hole if you bought it at Home Depot. I didn't have to do this step so I can't help you out. Just be careful so you don't crack it. Then stick your strand of lights inside.

Here is what it will look like... 

Origianlly I was just going to paint the face on, but I'm no artist and I really didn't have the right tools. Plus the wire of the lights are black so you could really see them and it looked horrible. (Sorry no pic)

Instead I decided to mod podge some tissue paper on to hide the wiring. I used white because it is what I had on hand. If I could do it again or when I make my mom one I would do orange tissue paper. That way when it is off it would still be orange. Also, maybe you could just do white lights and it'd still be orange. 

This is what it should look like. I just did a single layer, but you could do more if you wanted. 

 I cut out his face out of black blingy/ shiny scrapbook paper. You could really use whatever you have. Then mod podge it over the tissue paper.

And now lit up! I love it. I think it turned out so cute. Cost me nothing and took me like 20 minutes to make. The hardest part was cutting out the face. I used white tissue paper with orange lights. I'm thinking if you did orange paper than you could just use plain lights. That way too when it's turned off it will still be orange.

Let us know what you think, and feel free to email us your attempt at your own Block-O-Lantern!

~CJ

Halloween Countdown

The first Halloween post of the year!!! Halloween is coming and maybe your kids are excited already. My little bug is too young to feel the excitement of loads of candy approaching! To help kids know how much longer until they can indulge in chocolate goodness, I've made a Halloween countdown. Here is a Gibson original!

I'm so excited with how it turned out and I love that I came up with the idea all by myself. I even figured out how to print in a circle and everything. Here is a basic list of what you will need to make your very own Halloween countdown!

Orange paper (apparently some cardstock is too thick to print on so be careful)
Black paper
Stove burner cover (can buy them in a 2 pack at Dollartree I used the smaller one.)
Black Paint
Ribbon
Magnet sheet
Hot glue gun
Mod Podge (click to learn how to make your own) 

Sorry, I didn't take pictures along the way

First thing to do is paint your stove burner cover black. At first I just painted the edges, but it helps the paper stick if you paint the whole thing. It took 2 coats.


While that is drying you can print out your Days until candy paper. Confession, I made this a few years ago. I will work on getting a template up here.

Or you can make your own. In openoffice use the Fontwork gallery and type in what you want it to say, then change the shape to a circle. And mess with it until it's what you want it to be. Sorry I can't have it be easier for you!

Ok so print it out on an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of orange paper. Then trace the paper around the burn cover. Then cut. It helped to cut a little smaller than the actual cover.

Once the paint is dry you can mod podge the orange onto the cover. Here is where you may want to make changes. My ink smeared a little bit. I'm not sure if there is anything you can do to make it not smear. So you may want to just glue it on or something? Or maybe just do mod podge behind the paper and not on top. It's up to you. Or as you can see in the picture it's not that noticeable.

Next you can cut out your numbers from the orange paper. I don't have a fancy cricut machine so I just went to my local scrapbook store and used their die cuts. I did 1 1/2 inch numbers 0-9 and did 1-4 twice so you could make 11, 22 etc. (I only did #4 twice because it was on the same die cut. I don't see me ever counting out more than 31 days, but who knows.)

Next cut your black paper into squares. I cut them into 1 1/2 x 2 inch squares. Then glue your numbers to your black squares.

Cut your magnets and stick to the back of your black squares. 

 Then bunch a knot  around your main ribbon with multiple ribbons. There is a trick where you only tie one ribbon and just lay the others inside the knot.Hopefully I can explain it.

Lay out one ribbon down and lay the others on top of it. Then tie the bottom ribbon around your main ribbon.

 It will look something like this except around your main ribbon...

Like this.

Then when that is done hot glue your ribbon to the back of the cover. The cool thing about this is all the extra numbers stick to the back of the cover. I would suggest storing in a ziplock bag when storing over the year.

There you have it, your very own countdown!

 

Email pictures, I'd love to see how yours turns out!

~CJ

Summer Bucket List

Wow it has been awhile! Whoops! My new shop is keeping me pretty busy.

I just created a Summer Bucket List for my family. It will mostly be me and my little bug, but we'll involve Daddy when we can. 

This is our first year making an actual list. It should be fun and keep us even busier! We'll just cross things off as we do them. 

Mother's Day Coloring Sheet!

I love giving my Mother's a homemade card for their special day aka Mother's Day! Now that my little bug is older he is able to make it for them. Here is a coloring sheet so your little one can color their own. Click here.

~CJ

General Conference Coloring Sheet

What color is President Monson's Tie? This is great for little ones who are too young to really know what is being said. This can also be used for both days. Hope your little one likes it! Sorry it is not the best quality. Here it is!

Walking on Cloud 9!

Since I was able to quit working and be a stay at home mom I've been trying to come up with different ways to bring in some income. My best bet so far was making the car seat cooler. I am planning on selling them in a craft fair in November. However, since it is hot now I thought I'd give them a try on a facebook cosign group. A friend of mine saw them. and asked if I would want to make 100 of them. I thought she was kidding. She wasn't. She co-owes a mom discount website and they are in need of a vendor to sell carseat coolers. 

I'm accepting this challenge and am so nervous! I have NEVER EVER done anything like this! So I need your help in choosing the fabrics I do. Here are 14 that I have at my house right now that I really liked. Pick your favorite boy and girl one and the top 2-3 of each will be what I sell. (Boy is the Left stack, girl is the right 2 stacks, some are gender neutral)

Leave a comment with your favorites! And thanks for your help!

~CJ

Fabric Lables

I have been a crafting maniac right now! As you may or may not know I'm preparing for my first craft fair that will be taking place in November. Seems like forever far away, but I think it will creep up on me before I know it. It is a small show that is at The Fountain of the Sun Retirement Center. Sounds weird doing a show at a Retirement Center, but I figure they have to shop for Grandkids right? So I am selling kids stuff. Hopefully it does well.

To make me seem more legit I decided to give labels on my projects a whirl. I googled DIY fabric labels and there are tons of tutorials I'm not going to go through the process with you. Basically you just put fabric on Freezer paper and run it through your printer. 

I got one of mine wet to see if it will hold up through a wash, but really I don't think many people will be washing my products. So anyways this is how mine turned out...

Does it look familiar? That is my water mark I use on all my pictures! It's so exciting because it cost next to nothing!

And in case you are wondering what I'm making here is the final product... A car seat cooler! This is the one I made for my Niece Leah!

Want one for your self? I am pre selling them since it is HOT outside (atleast in AZ it is). If you would like one contact me craftsbycjg@gmail.com. For now it will be local orders only. Sorry.

I would LOVE feedback on this! I am going to be asking for a lot of opinions in the next several months. Between pricing, display ideas, and settling some nerves I need your help!

~CJ

Egg Button Art

Is it just me or is button art all over the place? I've mostly seen it with monograms and hearts. I wanted to incorporate it in my house someway, but wasn't sure how. I liked the monogram, but wanted something unique. Brainstorming upcoming holidays I decided to make an Easter egg.

What you need:

1 frame. I bought the frame from Michael's that they sell for a buck.

Paper cut to a little bigger that 4x6 inches. I went for a green to kind of act as grass...

Buttons- white for the outside and then different colors for the design. I wish I had a more variety of size, but I still think it turned out nice.

Glue dots to put the buttons on with (click to learn to make your own)

Paint if you used a wooden frame.

The first thing I did was paint the frame. I choose a pastel purple color because it is Eastery and it wasn't used in the buttons.

While the frame is drying cut your paper.

Arrange your white buttons in an egg shape and glue dot in place.

"Decorate" your Easter egg and glue dot. 

I did 2 coats of paint.

Then add your paper to your frame and display.

This would be a fun activity to do with your kids. And it looks so nice displayed! Love it!

Be sure to follow me!

~CJ

Sesame Street Party: favors

This will be the last post on the Sesame Street Birthday Party I threw for my little 2 year old. This one will focus on the party favors.

I pre-filled the loot bags with a couple of sesame street stickers. I bought them at DollarTree and then cut the sheets into more pieces. They also got a fruit snack. During the party (before I handed out the favors) I labeled each child's bag with an address label with their name on it. If you are going to have a loot bag label them otherwise you get kids crying over which one is their. Last year I prelabeled them, but then some kids didn't show up so I had a lot extra. So my advice is to take a few minutes during the party to do it.

After games I let them pick out a prize and then at the end I let them choose 3 more prizes. Here is what I had available.

- Cars
-Necklace
- Tops
- Slinky
- Glow sticks
- Plastic Snakes
- Wands

In addition to the little toys they got through out the party each child also got a piece of chalk.

The chalk was a summer product at Walmart. So in January I was able to get them $.50 for a 4 pack! The little baggies were leftovers from last years puppy party and the labels were free printables from On One Hand. She has different numbers so you can base it on the age of the Birthday boy/girl!

The adults weren't left out either. Each family got to take home a cookie mix in a jar.

Wow horrible picture

Here is the recipe for the cookie mix just add one layer at a time packing lightly to keep it from mixing.

• 1 cup - all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon - baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon - baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon - salt
• 1 cup - firmly packed Brown Sugar
• 1 1/4 cups - oats
• 1 cup - chocolate chips

I found that you didn't need to pack it as tight as other recipes say. The ones that I did pack had a lot of headspace. After that I just cut up from fabric from my stash and tied with ribbon.
I made the cute cookie monster label you can get print  here. On the back of Cookie is the instructions to bake. (For personal use only). I think these would be cute for any gift not just Sesame Street themed. Cookie Monster is loved by all!

Hope you got some ideas for your party!

~CJ

Sesame Street Party: Games

This is post 3 on the Sesame Street Birthday Party I threw for my 2 year old. You can see the invites and food on past posts. This will be the games that we played.

At first I was considering canceling the games I had planned because the kids were having so much fun playing on the little playground we have in our backyard. So I asked a few of the kids of they wanted to play some games and they enthusiastically said yes! Here are the games I had panned. Some we played, some we didn't. I had way too much planned. Parties go by so fast!

Zoe Necklaces- 

As guests arrived I gave each child a bowl that had stuff to make a snack necklace. We used fruit loops, pretzels, peach rings, and cheerios. To make the necklace I used embroidery floss and ties one end to a pretzel. The threading end I taped so it would be a more stable and act as the "Needle". Some kids made them so just ate them and other took it home with them to do later.

Big Bird Treasure Hunt- What you will need is Bird seed, prizes, blindfold and safety pins (Optional). Get a bowl or container (I used a plastic shoe box) and put the bird seed in it. Then either put the prizes into the bird seed or safety pins. I did safety pins because I didn't want the toys to get dusty with bird seed crumbs. Then each had a turn to see how many clothes pins they could find. Kids 5 and older were blindfolded. Then they got to pick out a prize. I had slinkys and spinning tops. The Slinkys were a huge hit!

Cookie Walk- This game was inspired by Cookie Monster. Growing up at the school carnival they would always have a cake walk. It was so exciting to win this huge cake to bring home. Then in high school years at Church Halloween Parties they would do the same thing, but make it personal and do a cupcake walk. I loved that idea. I wanted to incorporate it somehow into the party and so I did a cookie walk! If you don't know how to do a cake/ cupcake/ cookie walk here is the jist of it. Each player stands on a paper with a number on it. They walk around in a circle to music and when the music stops so do they. Then a number is drawn and whoever is standing on that number gets to pick put a prize. To make the game go faster I did colored paper so each time 2-4 kids would win. We played until everyone had a chance to win. We had several cookies for them to choose from.

Keep Super Grover in the Air- We didn't play this one, but I think the kids would have enjoyed it. I had a blue balloon blown up and drew a Grover face on it. Then we would have just tried to keep it in the air as long as possible.

Oscar Trash Toss-  This one is all over the internet. Basically throw crumpled paper into a trash can.

Elmo Says-  Simon Says, but Elmo style. You know since he talks in 3rd person all the time anyways.

Duck, Duck, Goose- In honor of Ernie's love for his Rubber Ducky we were going to play duck, duck, goose. Not enough time though.

I didn't want the grown ups to be left out of the fun. So I came up with some games for them to play.
Bert's Paper Clip Collection- 

My bug's favorite muppet is Bert so I wanted a game to honor the boring pigeon lover. Did you know Bert collects Bottle Caps and Paper Clips? He does! So I thought the perfect game would be to have people guess how many paper clips he has in his collection. What did the winner get? Their very own bottle cap collection... a box of Bottlecap candy. Love this? I have a printable for you...


I also, came up with a word scramble game. This is really hard if you aren't watching Sesame Street these days. There are a few new characters. Here is the printable, there is 2 on a page so cut it in half. And to make it easier on you an answer key:)


This was so much fun! Sesame Street is a great theme to have for a party. Really the sky is the limit! Hope you like my ideas. Next monday will be my final post and I'll share the party favor I did! Everyone loved it!

~CJ

Sesame Street Party

I just threw a Sesame Street Birthday Party for my 2 year old! He's getting so big. He had the time of his life. Unfortunately I didn't get the best pictures as usual. Here is the problem with planning parties I'm finding. Only I know what is going on so I have to do everything and I don't think about things like pictures when I'm doing a billion other things. No matter what, I never have enough done before hand.

So here are some pictures from the party. Hopefully I can explain enough without the pictures. This is the overview. I'll do a couple of more specific posts.

***Update- You can see games here.

Sesame Street Party invites

My little bug is 2 now! Time flies. I'll be doing a few posts on his birthday party. I hope you can get some ideas for your little ones party.

My little bug loves to watch TV. Don't worry I limit how much he watches. I don't just stick him in front of a TV all day. Some of his favorite shows are Blue's Clues, Curious George, and Sesame Street. I decided to go with a Sesame Street Birthday Party. I thought it would be the most fun and more people would get it. Not many people do Curious George.

So here are the invites I did for a 2 year old Sesame Street Party.

I found a printable online. However it was just a picture not an actual source. I just saved the picture to my computer and added the information using fotoflexer.com. 

What Sesame Street Party wouldn't be complete with out the party being brought to you by a number and letter? R for Ryder and 2 for 2 years old!

On his Birthday morning I took him and did a photo shoot. The boy wouldn't look at me! I'll post some other ones later. This one was playing with the R and 2!

You can find the overview post and the Sesame Street Themed games here.

Painting with Cars

(This weekend was my little bug's Birthday / Party so I'm pretty wiped out. Luckily I've had this in my drafts so you still get a post today. Check back next week for the party details)

I know this idea has been around forever, I'm not inventing the wheel here. I just want to share how easy it is and well worth it! A few weeks ago I was watching my Nephew. It was the first time it was just him. I've usually had his older sister too. So I wanted to do something fun and BOY! He really enjoyed it and so did my little bug! We painted with cars!

Supplies

Paint (I just did acrylic)

Cars (I didn't want to use our nice cars, so I bought a pack at DollarTree just for painting with [3 for $1])

Paper (just used plain copy paper)

We had aprons on just in case

Also we had a clear cloth down to protect the table. That was back when I wanted to keep the table clean. Now I realize it's his art table let him have fun with it. It is now colored in crayon.

Just let the kids dip and drive on their paper. It looks pretty cool and the kids loved it!

 What is your favorite thing to let kids paint with?

Want another idea, see the post of painting with lettuce.

~CJ

Chest Freezer Inventory

We just bought ourselves a little beaut! We bought a deep freezer off on ones of those facebook yardsale sights. It only cost us $60 so we are thinking if this lasts us 5 years we will be very pleased. I originally wanted a stand up freezer, but for $60 I couldn't pass it up.

I have participated in a freezer meal swap the past few months so once a month I'm getting 12 freezer meals. That doesn't include normal freezer things, leftover I freeze and things to stock up on. So my little freezer over the fridge was not cutting it. I finally convinced the hubs that we needed one. The next day we looked around at freezers. Stand up freezers were $600 (that was the cheapest I found) and chest (which I didn't want at the time) was $175. We left discouraged and I thought we'd put this dream of mine on hold. The very next day someone posted it and I was very excited.

One of the reasons I didn't want to get a chest freezer was because they are terrible to organize. Now I'm not the queen of organization, but I can only take so much. So in hopes of not forgetting what we have in it I've created this freezer inventory spreadsheet. Wasted food = wasted money!




Because I'm still getting use to having an additional freezer it is pretty bare right now, but I imagine it feeling up pretty soon. Now to spend the week finding ways to organize the inside.

~CJ

CTR-B Lesson #4

I gotta get these up earlier! Tomorrow's lesson is #4 Joseph Smith's Childhood. Here is a coloring sheet I made to go with enrichment activity #1. Also, Here are the word strips needed for the lesson. Either print in color or print in black and white on colored paper. Hope it helps! Oh and I would love to know if you used this so I know my sharing is worth it:) Good luck

~CJ

Crafts By YOU linky party: January 2013

If you read my post about my New Year Goals you know one of my goals was to have a linky party once a month. Well here it is! Linky Party #1! Here you can submit your favorite project of January 2013! This will be open until the last day of the month. On February 1st check back and see if you have been featured! Let's see how this goes.

(This is a text link, if I get a good response I upgrade to the thumbnail. Until then there will be no picture)

MLK Day

It's Monday already?!?! I can't believe it. Since the Hubs works for the school district which means he had a day off from work and school today! So we enjoyed a nice (long) bike ride! We biked to a park that is a little over 6 miles from our house, ate a picnic lunch, tried feeding the ducks but they wouldn't come close enough. Ryder got to play with his cousin on the playground and then we biked the 6+ miles home. It was tough and I am pooped! Luckily my little bug is taking a nice nap so I can relax. Hence the not so exciting blog post.

January 21st is always a fun day. It kicks of the Birthday's. My brother is turning 30! We'll be going out tonight to celebrate. As if that weren't exciting enough, my grandparents are celebrating their 68th Wedding Anniversary! I love that! We had a party for them Saturday, it's always fun to get families together to celebrate!

My little bug is turning 2 in less than 2 weeks! He is getting so big and is so smart. I can't believe how much he knows. He impresses me everyday. So in a few weeks I'll post party stuff:) It's Sesame Street! It's going to be so much fun!

10 easy Valentine's Day Ideas

My little bug isn't in school yet so Valentines aren't really needed. However, I thought it would be fun to have him give something to his cousins. Plus I teach a primary class in church that I would like to give a little something to so they will like me... So here are some ideas that I have come across that I LOVE!

What got me thinking about it was I saw these bubble gum party favors at Sams Club today for $10. They also had just fun colorful ones that weren't valentinesy. If I didn't already have the favors for my bugs upcaoming Birthday Party I would have gotten those. $.41 a piece, what a deal!

samsclub.com

These recycled crayons are so much fun. These are one of the first things I ever pinned and I'm so glad I did. I love the no candy idea.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/61951289@N08/5672821563/sizes/l/in/photostream/

This next one is perfect for school age kids. When I was in school I was always losing pencils

http://indulgy.com/post/exx28Vs6E1/love-this-diy-valentines-day-gift-idea-all-yo

Valentines don't have to cost much. Here is an almost free idea. However, I'm a little nervous about taking all those paint chips.


http://www.babyalerts.ca/valentines-day-diy-projects-kids/

I'm thinking of making the grandma's a photo bookmark or my little bug.

I love this boy valentine! Feb 14th is such a girly holiday. What boy wouldn't love this?

http://www.jacolynmurphy.com/2012/01/for-valentinesall-is-fair-in-love-and.html

How cute would these be to throw in your child's/ hubbys lunch? So fun!

http://www.coolmompicks.com/2012/02/last_minute_valentines_ideas.php

These ones can be done with staples or a sewing machine. Love that you could buy candy in bulk and divid between gifts.

http://irinascutebox.blogspot.com/2012/02/valentines-day-gift-idea.html

This brings me to a side note, can kids even hand out candy not package from the store? When I was a kid we would just buy a big bag of conversation hearts and put like 5 in each card. I think that is a no-no now right? So I guess the one above would be for non school kids.

I love this idea, maybe it doesn't fit into the easy category because it would be time consuming to make all the slits.

http://24-7-365.blogspot.com/2009/02/lavish-me-with-praise.html

Another sucker one. Seems easy especially if you had a cricut to help you. She does include a template.

http://www.quietfish.com/notebook/?p=3109

And last, but not least Fortune cookies. I think older kids would have a fun time coming up with the different fortunes to go inside.

http://celesterockwood-jones.typepad.com/designwashrinserepeat/2009/02/freebie-fortune.html

Valentines Day is in a month from tomorrow! Do you know what you are going to do yet? Now to get ideas on what to give to the Hubs!

~CJ

New Years: Blogging

Today is day five for my New Year goals and the final day. I'm already thinking I took on too much. That's why I need your support! If you are just joining my New Years Goals you can start here.

Today's goal I'm sharing is blogging. You may have noticed I've been slacking lately. Well this year that is about to change! How? I'm taking things slow. I'm having an official blogging day once a week so you should see at least one blog post every Monday! Something to kick off the week. Every once in awhile there will be some extra posts thrown in there. But for now I'm keeping it simple and once i've mastered that I'll kick it up a notch!

In addition to more blog posts with recipes and crafts and what not, I want to host my first giveaway! Also possibly starting a linky party (need to research that more) once a month.

Not only do I have Crafts By CJ, I also have a personal blog with my families fun stuff. I haven't updated that in awhile. It's sad to think of that. It is a journal for my family that I never write in. So I'll be doing that once a week as well to give updates on the family.

I'm hoping you will enjoy my posts in 2013, it's going to be a good year!

~CJ

New Year Goals: Organization

This is post #4 on my New Year Goals. If you are just joining the fun you can start here.

I'm embarrassed to say that our office/ craft space is a nightmare right now. it is out of control! This year is my year to get organized and stay that way. Hopefully in the next month or so I'll be posting a craft space reveal. Here is the little beauty that I bought that is getting me motivated!

Sorry for the poor picture, taken on my cell phone.

I bought this off of a local Facebook Yard sale site for $5! Does your city have one? It is so nice!  Before this picture was taken I had already removed 4 or 5 stickers. Let me let you in on a secret, when Goo Gone says let stand for a couple minutes they mean like 10+ minutes. At first it was not helping at all. Then I sprayed it and let it sit for like and hour and they came right off.

I am so excited to fill these drawers. Not just to teach my little bug to stay out of them. How is your craft space organized?

~CJ

CTR-B: Lesson #2

This lesson calls for badges that say "Heavenly Father Trusts Me to-" and then the Children fill in the middle CTR. I went ahead and made them for my class and figured I share them with my lovely followers. If you don't follow me already I would love for you to. If you already do, you are awesome! Here are the badges. Just print them out and cut around them. I couldn't figure out how to add a circle border around them, hopefully you can find a cup or something to trace that is about the right size. Need more handouts? Check back, I'll add them as I make them.

New Years Goal: Weight

This is post #3 about my New Year Goals. If you are just joining please start here to get the full scoop.

I make a loss weight goal every year and every year I am disappointed. Ever since I can remember I have always had problems with my weight, never happy. It's effected me in some ways and kept me from doing things at times. Now being married and having a sweet boy my weight is out of control!

So every year I make a goal to lose a bunch if weight, but it never happens. So this year I'm keeping my weight goal simple: DON'T GAIN WEIGHT. I know this sounds silly, but if I could just not gain any weight this year that'd be nice. It could be hard thought because we are trying to get pregnant.

We signed up for a gym membership and like 7 other family members (9 including us) go there too. So we'll have a lot of encouragement. In addition to that we are still biking every once in awhile. When it warms up a tad Ryder & I will probably bike more. Also, we inherited Wii Fit from a sibling and have been doing that about 4-5 times a week.

Food is where I need to make the big change. Chase & I get into really bad habits, especially when he is off from work. We've been staying up late watching Netflix and snacking on junk! He's done with his winter break so we should be better.

What are your keys for losing weight?

~CJ

New Years Goals: Savings

This is post number #2 on New Year Goals. If you are just joining the fun start here.

We try to save money every year, but some how we always manage spend most of it. I recently came across something called the 52 Week Money Challenge. Basically each week you put money into a jar. In week #1 you'd put $1 into it, week #2 $2, Week #10 $10. Week #52 $52. In the end you have $1,378!!! We have our chart taped onto a mason jar and cross off the week once we put it in.

Sorry for coloring, printer was out of ink...

The post where I found this didn't credit the original person so I have no idea who came up with this idea, but I love it! So simple and can be changed to fit your needs. My husband works with Schools so we have no income during the summer, we may be putting it on hold during those months or instead of increasing just do $20 a week. Is more than $20 too much for you a week? Just stick with $20 a week. You still end up with over $800.

I saw someone suggest doing it backwards so you don't have the larger deposits in December with Christmas. If you are like us we are still recovering a little from Christmas so we are happy it's just a few bucks. We also are thinking you don't have to go in order. For example, this is week 2 for us so we'd be putting in $2. We rarely have cash (going to make this a challenge) so I had to withdraw money from our account. Instead of putting in $2 we put in $5 and crossed off weeks 2 and 3. Now we don't have to worry about it another week, or finish a week early. I think the important thing is to put in something each week.

This is a perfect way to save up for something. Can you say Christmas?!?! My mom always said, "Why shop for Christmas only in December? I don't make any more money in December than the rest of the year." If anything you make less because of that days or week off you get because of the holiday.

Here is how I made mine. I took the chart I found here and adjusted it so it will fit on a quart size mason jar. You can get my adjusted version here. Look at the money building up already!

Do you have any money saving tips and tricks? What works for you?


Happy Saving!
~CJ

New Years Goals: Food Storage

This is goal #1! If you missed the intro you can start here.

I don't know about you, but I am really pumped about Food Storage lately. I just feel so strongly that it is something that we need to have. I'm not saying go out and spend thousands of dollars. Start small. Work on a 3 month supply and then build to 6 and then 12 month.

Our goal is to spend $20 bucks a month towards our food storage. Most of it will be going to the LDS Cannery and working there. It is the cheapest around because you don't pay labor costs. You do the labor. It's pretty fun to do.

I have a whole outline/ schedule of my plans this year of what I'll purchase. Ex. For January I'm getting 5 cans of canned ground beef and a 2 pack container of propane tanks from Walmart. This costs me around $16.50. Then I take the remaining $3.50 and save it for a month when I'm spending more than the $20 limit.

Now if you are like the 2012 me you have food storage, but not quite sure what you have. We recently went through all the stuff we inherited and threw away what was expired and organized what was left and recorded it.

Then I made a cool little spreadsheet. I'm hoping you can edit this to fit your family without me losing my original and everyone else seeing what the last person did to it. Make sure you type in the amount in your family in column B2. The amounts I got from the LDS.org website. I did not factor in kids because a lot of the Food Storage lasts 30 years so kids will be adults before it expires so I'm counting my almost 2 year old as an adult since he'll be 32 when this stuff expires.

Some stuff isn't on here, like meats. Also, I lumped all my beans into a generic category, I don't think I'll be purchasing lima beans etc.

Hope this helps!
~CJ

Happy New Year!

Wow I really slacked off at the end there. New Year= New goals! I love this time of the year. Yes I'm sad all the Christmas stuff is packed away and that cheery anxious feeling is gone, but in it's place is a new anxious feeling. The feeling of a clean slate. I'm really excited for my New Year goals this year because I feel like I am a lot more excited about them this year. They seem more manageable.

I've come up with 5 goals I would like to accomplish this year. I will share them with you next week (Monday-Friday) and the resources I have found to help me with them. I'm super excited and since I've chosen a few of the common Resolutions I'm hoping I can inspire and help you in your goals. The best way to accomplish goals is to talk about them and have support right? Thanks for being my support. Feel free to return the favor I'd love to hear about your goals this year!

~CJ

Quick Link to my goals:
Food storage
Savings
Weight Loss
Organization
Blogging