Frugal Christmas Ideas

Yep, can you believe it? We're at the halfway point in 2012! I can't believe it, and I've been crafting and quilting all year long for the family. It's almost that time of year again! Only 6 more months to go. Lets get creative! :)

I wanted to share some of my ideas with you all. Maybe you can save some money too.

Packages, Boxes, Mailing:
I mail to my family all over the world, and I mail early. I hate standing in line at the post office (a necessary evil, but still).

By nature, I love to recycle and re-purpose. By reusing I'm giving Mother Earth a Christmas gift too. I reuse mailing containers and supplies. I cover up labels with construction paper and a typed address packing taped onto the construction paper. Use kids scissors or scrapbooking scissors to cut the construction paper into zig-zags, waves or other designs. type out all your addresses on the computer, print them off and center them on the construction paper. Then just use clear packing tape to tape your label to the box (over the old label is fine!)

I've been known to wrap gifts in cereal boxes. If you've got something small or flexible, it can most likely fit into a cereal box. Why go out and buy boxes when you've probably got tons in your house already?

If you're looking for a creative way to wrap a gift, try unusual containers. A few years ago I made a quilt for one of my friends, invited her over for pizza and a movie, and had the quilt in a (never used) pizza box from our local pizzeria. I purchased the box from the pizzeria for $1 and it fit a twin size quilt.

I just wanted to share some of my ideas with you - hope they can help! :)

Progress on Mom's Christmas Gift

Making some progress on my mom's Christmas gift.  I figured that if I started it early enough it might actually be done by Christmas.

So, while Netflix was on and I had Magnum PI on, I pressed all the seams open on the back of these blocks.

Moms favorite colors are blues and browns.  Found the pattern in one of the "Easy Quilt" magazines - will look for the specific edition later.