Small Business Saturday is Here!

So, I didn't get to do half of what I wanted to with SBS this year due to all the insanity of getting our home ready for the holidays, taking care of the kids and traveling quite a bit. But that doesn't mean it's any less important. This Saturday, every single one of us have the chance to help make a difference for a small business owner out there, and in turn, the economy. The vast majority of jobs in our country are made up of small businesses, which means most of our friend's and family's livelihoods depend on the health  of small businesses. And they can't do business without customers. Pretty logical progression there.

As you all know, my favorite type of small businesses are ladies working with direct sales companies to bring income directly into their home. These companies now go far beyond just make-up and kitchen supplies; there is literally something for everyone nowadays. Which means you have no excuse for not shopping from one of your friends or family members this year for at least one person on your list.

I've done this many times before, but once again, here are just a few of the benefits of "shopping small."

• Better customer service
• Customizable  gifts for those on your list
• Direct positive affect on a family's income which, at this time of year, is vital. 

So this Saturday, and maybe even on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, shop small. Because you can make a big difference when you shop small.

Here's the list from the Small Business Support tab directly copied and pasted here for easier access. When you order something from any of these ladies, come back here and tell me what you got, so we can encourage more people to "shop small."

Altered to Perfection by Sherry Morales - hand-made, customized journals and vintage party decor
Avon by Ariel Lee 
Creative Memories by Catherine Morrison 
Jamberry Nails by Deanna Sweidel 

Lia Sophia by Ashley Judd
Kittangle by Marilyn Marie - Customized Jewlery
Lindt Chocolate by Monique Saucedo
Mary Kay by Kristen Lila
Missy's Musings by Missy Douthit - Crocheted hats and adorable bows for little girls and mommy's, too!
Purposeful Homemaking by Becky Zale - Healthy Living and Homeschooling blog and store
Scentsy by Missy Douthit
Simply Said Designs by Charity Guidinger

Thirty-One Gifts by Kara Wardell
Trendy Tadpoles by Melissa Borden - Kid's items from clothing to loveys to jewelry and other accessories
Uppercase Living by Kristi Balding
Usborne Books by Kristi Balding

Velata by Missy Douthit

Pumpkin Muffins: Another Fall Pin-Win!

We've all seen this pin over the past month or so: 

Source Link

I have really wanted to try it, since recipes with more than 5-6 ingredients cause me to break out in hives. Pumpkin is also one of J's favorite flavors, so I wanted to make something yummy for him as well. These seemed to be the perfect, no-fail muffins. Even if I mess up, I've only spent about $2-3, so it's all good :)

First thing I did was read all the comments under the original post so I could get the best results possible, and I'm glad I did. I ended up subbing out Spice Cake mix for the regular vanilla, adding 2 eggs and 1 teaspoon of Mexican vanilla (which I add to everything anyways.) I also sprinkled brown sugar on top of the muffins before baking.

So here's the recipe and process:

1 Spice Cake mix

15 oz. of canned pumpkin

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Brown Sugar to taste

Mix the first 4 ingredients together. pre-heat oven to 350. Line muffin tin with .... liners. (Aren't they called something else? "Liners" seems redundant...) Fill muffin liners. Sprinkle brown sugar on top. Bake for 20 mins. Consume. I mean, seriously. Does it get easier than that?! 

Mmmm...you know you want some! :)

I kid you not, before the second batch was out of the oven, we had already eaten half of the first, they are that good. A-bug broke down into tears when I wouldn't give her more, after she ate a whole one and half of mine... they are SO GOOD. J added cream cheese frosting on top because he's a sugar addict, but that's not necessary if you're trying to save on calories or sugar or whatever. Oh, and did I mention these are only about 100 calories?! Seriously?! Which is probably why I didn't feel guilty about eating 4. Yes, 4. Don't judge me.

Note: these can also be made with Devil's food cake and chocolate chips, but per my mother, the chocolate ones aren't as good as the regular Spice Cake mix ones. You can also add raisins if you prefer, which I may do for J later. I see a lot of batches of these in our future. 

Decorating on a Budget: Fall Decor Edition

So, if you haven't figured out that I absolutely LOVE Autumn, you haven't read enough recent blog posts. There are so many beautiful ways to decorate for Fall, and another bonus is that you can leave it all up from September till Thanksgiving. That's almost 3 months of seasonal decor done in one fell swoop, which is awesome for busy moms like me.

Before, when we were living in the apartment, we were so cramped, the extent of my Fall decorating was hanging a scare crow on our door, switching out the fake flowers in my kitchen's vase and setting out the Fall edition Reese's. Kinda sad. But not this year! This year I have a house to decorate! And I am so excited about this fact! My hubby (and his wallet)? ....not so much. So here's part of what I did in my living room for Fall this year to stay on budget while appeasing my inner Candice Olson.

The pumpkins are slightly unbalanced in this pic because
Aria had been playing with them right before I snapped this.

First off, I have an automatic advantage when decorating for both Fall and Christmas because my living areas are already green with pops of red. This was not intentional, but I will say it makes giving off a seasonal  ambiance for both of these major decorating seasons a lot easier. I got the candle holders at Ikea for CHEAP and couldn't love them more. They have a ton to choose from, and you can see all their candle holder options here. Mine are the dark brown finish, but they also have a white option that could conceivably be spray painted any other color you need. I also got the candles at Ikea for an awesome price - $10 for a 3 pack of the red candles and the white block candle was $5, I believe. I have not found another place on the planet where you can get candle holders and candles for that cheap. I got my pumpkins and faux leaf garland at Hobby Lobby for 40% off...I think I paid a total of $30 for all 3 pumpkins and the garland. The awesome thing about this is that I can just take the pumpkins and garland down, and swap out snowmen and twinkle lights for Christmas/Winter with the same candles and holders.

A lot of times, the key to budget decorating is getting great pieces on sale that you can use for multiple seasons (like the candles and their holders), and then buying clearance for the strictly seasonal items at the end of the season (think Fall decor in December, Christmas in January etc.) Investing in some nice silk flowers that you can swap out for the different seasons is a nice way to go as well. I get mine at Hobby Lobby when they go on sale for 50% off, which is rather frequently. Something else to invest in for ALL seasons is a set of glass hurricanes. They can be used for every season, and always look classy. They can also easily be moved around to make a nice centerpiece for a dinner party, or up and out of the way when the kids are having a play date. Here are some great examples of glass hurricanes filled for Fall. You should also check out this lady's Pinterest board strictly for glass hurricane decor. It's awesome. 

 See? Super versatile, and there are different styles for everyone. You can get them for cheap at places like Michael's, Hobby Lobby and sometimes even Meijer.

How easy is this? Leaf placemats from
Walmart that were stuffed.
Easy-Peasy.
Source Link

I'm really loving this page from the Better Homes and Gardens online magazine - pretty much all their ideas can be done for relatively cheap, some even for free! (A glass vase and branches with colored leaves? Does it get easier than that?!) Acorns are free if you can track them down at the park with the help of your kids (turn it into a game, they'll love it.) Baby pumpkins can be bought for about a buck from a farmer's market, and those can even be spray painted to match any non-traditional colors you're decorating with. And while twine and burlap may not be free, they can be used over and over again, so they're worth spending some money on.

Here are some other great Autumn decorating ideas that I'm loving from Pinterest right now.

These candle holders are
GORGEOUS, and can be
used all year long. The pillar
candles are mounted
right into the baby pumpkins,
which have been spray painted.

Again with the glass hurricanes -
unpopped popcorn, silk leaves,
twine and pillar candles. Bam. 

Finally, switching out the pictures in your picture frames can actually make a big difference. (Mine aren't up on the wall, so I will try and explain to you what I mean.) If you're like me, and try to get family pictures during every season, you'll notice a trend in the coloring of your pictures. Fall pictures usually have lots of browns, reds and golds. This is perfect if you're sticking with traditional colors for Fall decor.  This also applies for Christmas and Spring time. Swapping out color coordinated family photos is a simple way to give more of that seasonal feel to your home. If you don't have any yet, take some this year, and you'll be set for next year :)

Remember, you can see my entire Pinterest board for learning to decorate on a budget here! 

Fashionista on a Budget

Ok, so I'm not exactly a "fashionista." I have never been one who can walk into a thrift store (or any sotre for that matter, honestly) and just put together a fabulous outfit. Unless it's already on the mannequin. Then I am all over that! But I do love fashion and I do love to decorate. A lot. Which is hard when you have nigh unto zero monies. I felt like I did an OK job with what I had when we moved into the apartment, but now we're moving into a bigger home. That means more walls, more rooms and a lot more money. Especially since we'll be replacing the Leopard print carpet immediately. Carpet and flooring aren't cheap, ya' know. 

So, I've been spending a lot of time on Pinterest, looking for cheap ideas that look really nice. And since I'm pregnant and won't exactly be able to do a lot of painting or scaling the walls, I need to make it simple, or I'm going to freak out the hubby. I have never been so thankful for Pinterest than when I started looking at my decorating budget and everything that needed to be done. 

I thought I would share some of my "finds" on here for those of you in a similar predicament as myself. You can also find everything I've found and loved on my Pinterest board "Decorating on a Budget." Please note, I haven't tried these ideas yet, but plan to in the next couple of weeks. I'll update on which ones work well and which ones were a flop. (To see my post on "Productive Pinteresting" click here.) Another note, not all of these had working links on Pinterest, so I tried to add my own directions. We'll see how that goes lol.

What ideas from Pitnerest have you used to spruce up your home on a budget? Which ones were a bust? Which ones would you recommend? Would LOVE to hear feedback on any of these ideas that you've tried. 

I have posted this idea before and can't
wait to try it. She has a great tut on it so
so click here :)

This one didn't have a link or tut
attached, but the pin said it was simply
a piece of wood, padding, pretty fabric
and 4 chair legs you can get at Lowe's for
about $5 each. Sounds easy enough, right?

I'm so in love with this idea, and plan
to do it in our new living room.
Great tut here.

I'm hoping I can use the same concept
from the above large canvas idea
for this sheet music art to put above my piano.

Ikea lamp + sheet music = brilliance.

How to turn outdated laminate
counter tops into a chic granite alternative.
Step by step tut here.

Productive Pinterest-ing

Yes, I know. It sounds like an oxymoron. Most of us feel we waste way too much time pinning and repinnning things on everyone's new favorite site. But I am determined to make some of this work for me and turn into productivity. In fact, it was one of the things I "resolved" to do this new year (we're not a big "resolutions" family, thus the quotation marks. To see my post on this, you can read here.) So, as a brave act of accountability, I'm posting some of the things I've actually done from Pinterest (not as many as I had hoped before I started this post, by the way) and then post some things that I want to do by the end of this year.

As some of my readers now know, we are looking for a new home to move into this spring. My hubby and I have been scouring the web for good prospects, pinching our pennies, and looking for ways to turn a house within our budget into a home we can call our own. This is where Pinterest and I have become buddies. And there are so many ideas I want to utilize to decorate, revamp and customize our new home to my liking.

So, starting out with the ideas I have used as inspiration already...

I have started using these utility totes (available
though my Thirty-one website) to organize my
pantry, and I'm proud to say, it's getting there.
Note: this is not my pantry.
No Source Provided

This caramel idea is for real. And it's
truly delicious. Sweetened condensed
milk put in a crock pot with water for 8
hours. Refrigerate. Yum.
No Source Provided

I really did paint my knife block (although,
again, this isn't my picture.) It's simply
awaiting it's monogram now.
Source

I used this idea for dinner once, and made
egg, sausage and cheese biscuits. The
lovely thing is that they go in for the same
temp and time as the biscuits, so you really
can have dinner done in 15 mins.
Source

I want this on Aria's wall .
Source

There are plenty of other ideas I have put into use. For example, using a business card to reflect the light of your flash for better pictures, using a mason jar as a blender carafe (due to an unfortunate accident, I no longer have the original carafe, so this was genius.) I have also utilized an old skirt hanger (of which there are an over abundance of in my closet) as chip clips. I also purchased many over-sized ornaments on clearance this year after Christmas to decorate with next year. See? You really can get Pinterest to do some good things in your life :)

Now, for the ideas I have on my list to do this year. I will most definitely not be including in this post every single idea, recipe and shortcut I plan on attempting this year, as that would require a book, but there are several ideas that I really hope work out, and I have every intent of blogging about when they do become a reality. Also, many of my pins are for inspiration when we move and I get to re-decorate Aria's room. Not that I don't love her current room; she's just quickly growing out of that "nursery" stage and into the "little girl" stage, so I can't wait to give her a little girl room to match her adorable personality.

           

I have every intention of at least
trying to get a crayon art project
to work in Aria's room. I've seen so
many variations, and this may be
my favorite. Although the "rain"
variation is a close second.
Source

I have already started collecting
bottles of various sizes to do
something like this with. I would love
to put an installation like this in my
windows or on a shelf.
Source - 

I already have the vases, now I just
need to buy the string to wrap them with.
And someplace to put them
when finished :)
Source

Ok, when I looked this up, it was way easier
than I originally thought.
Definitely doing this for our living room.
Source added note: this blog is EXCELLENT
for those who like to decorate on a budget.
I just spent an hour reading
through her old posts.

To see more of the projects I really want to get done this year, you can find my board by clicking here. I would love to have you follow me, and I'll follow you back, so that we can inspire one another with more time and money saving ideas :)

What ideas are you wanting to try out on Pinterest? Which ones have you already tried? Did they work or were they duds? I'd love to hear your experiences!