Every year we give our kids a new ornament to represent a memory form the year. Sometimes its from a place we visited or can be from a fad they are into. For example this year my girls love Frozen. The problem is the demand and cost of frozen ornaments is ridiculous. I decided to make my own.
I started with buying this little wood rectangles from my local hobby store. They came with 4 to a pack. You can paint this if you want just make sure they dry all the way before moving on to the modge podge part of it.

Then I printed out the pictures  I waned on picture paper from my printer. Then I modge podged them on.

The wood  was so soft I just used a screw driver to punch a whole in them and string them. My girls loved them! They were so excited to hand them on the tree. The other nice thing is that there was plenty of room to put their names, the date and a little story on the back.

One of my easy go to gifts for holidays or kids birthdays is a coloring book or printed coloring pages with homemade crayons. It's a great way to get rid of some of those nasty, old, broken and sad looking crayons you have laying around.
Step 1: Break up pieces of crayons into muffin cups. If you have bakeware in cool shapes you could do it straight in them, but I don't so this is how I do it.

Step 2:Put them in the oven on the lowest setting.
Step 3: When they are liquidey then pull them out.

Step 4: Then I pour the muffin cup carefully into the shaped container. These are ice cube trays I picked up at Ikea for a dollar. I have used jello jigglier molds as well, but they don't pop out as easy, but are great for seasonal gifts.

Step 5: Let them cool down.

 Step 6: Then just pop them out and voila! cool crayons!

One thing I do in my spare time is volunteer my time to work with the 8 and 9 year old girls in my neighborhood. The LDS church has a program for 8-11 year old girls called Activity Days. Twice a month I get to work with these amazing young ladies. Last time we decided to do something for Mother's Day. What could I do that would be easy, nearly free or ridiculously cheap and fun? We ended up making bookmarks.

The bookmark I made is meant to list 10 reason's why you love your mom on one side, and then do an acronym of the word "MOTHER" on the other. Then we tied a ribbon on the top and voila a great homemade gift. I would recommend laminating them first to help preserve the sweet memento.

Here are some of the fun things we did to celebrate Earth Day this week.
We made recycled bird feeders. When we were moving around a lot we didn't have a lot of room for toys. To replace that we did lots of coloring and crafts. This was one of our favorites when we lived in Louisville, because of all the beautiful cardinals.
You take this kind of carton, usually use d for whipping cream, half and half or milk. Then you cut out a square.
The kids paint them, we add bird seeds and hang them. Really easy, even for the non crafty type like me!

Another thing I have done every year for Earth Day is make what we call Earth Day Bars. I got this recipe out of Family Fun magazine when Kadan was younger, and I have hauled it around with me.

What you'll need

• 1 1/2 cups baking mix (I use Bisquick)
• 1 1/2 cups instant oats
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup softened butter
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• ADD-INS:
• Coconut flakes
• Chocolate chips
• Chopped dried pineapple
• Raisins
• Chopped Brazil nuts

I used raisins, chocolate chips and coconut for my add-ins this time. Here is some more information on the add-in ingredients.
Raisins: California, the only place in the United States that harvests the grapes used to make raisins, is the world's No. 1 supplier.
Pineapple: Thailand produces approximately 20 percent of the world's pineapple crop, surpassing the Hawaiian Islands.
Brazil nuts: The complex growing environment this tree crop requires prevents it from being grown on farms. Instead, it's harvested directly from the rain forests of Brazil, Peru, and other South American countries.
Chocolate: Africa's Ivory Coast is the largest producer of cocoa beans, the ingredient that gives chocolate its unique, irresistible flavor.
Coconut: The Philippines and Indonesia are the world's leading producers of copra, or coconut meat.
I planned on making these earth crayons, but didn't get around to it. For Christmas last year we made homemade crayons and gave them to the kids friends as gifts with coloring books. There is always next year.
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Just wanted to remind people that this Saturday is Home Depot kids craft. Nice thing about Home Depot is that you don't have to sign up in advance and you can show up anytime between 9 and noon (usually.)
This time they are making a bird feeder. Follow this link for more info.

Lowe's has fun free build and grow crafts every now and then. You do have to sign up for them in advance and they fill up fast. I try to do reminders on twitter when I come across things like this. Follow me by clicking my link on the right or look me up as @UtQueenOfChaos.

I was so fortunate to be a guest speaker on one of my favorite blogs Mommy & Me Creations.
You can read my post about Lego mazes here: My guest post.

When we lived in American Fork I made lots of new friends from my church. In our church we are given opportunities to visit other women in our neighborhood regularly. I got to know this one particular special lady because of this unique opportunity. She was very talented at decorating on a dime. I tried to glean from her what I could in the 4 years of monthly visits. I feel like I finally have the courage to attempt some of what I learned. Here are a few things I have done lately to add to our home on a budget.
In Yesenia's room she needed something for her books. She would pile them all on her bed at night, so I needed something close to her bed. She also takes books in an out so much it needed to have easy access. So I bought 2 spice racks from Ikea. They cost about $4 each. After assembling them they needed a paint job. The last time Ace Hardware had a free paint day I got a light pink for her room and my mom came along and got a darker pink to accent things. The only thing I didn't like was that it was a flat paint. When it's free though I really can't complain to much. After painting the spice racks I spray painted them with a clear glossy coat. That also only cost about $4. Then I hung them right by her bead and she loves them!


I have slowly been doing what is now Adrianna's room. Once my baby is out of the cradle in my room I will most likely move Adrianna in with Yesenia. I have a few months to worry about that and finish her room. I started with this little hook thing.

 It was left behind by the prior owner in the master closet so I took it down and painted it. It has an Ikea sticker on it, so if they still sell them I am assuming it is a good deal. I taped the nobs with painters tape and bought a cheap glossy purple spray paint at Home Depot. Really easy and now Adrianna's room has a pretty hook thing for her to hanng her coats and things on.
I also painted these picture hooks the same color. I bought them at the goodwill for $1.50 each. I really like it, and if my girls ever want different colors it would be really easy to re-paint.

I love free events! Anything to keep my kids busy, is free, or keeps them from messing up my home I am all in favor for! One of our favorites is the Home Depot Craft. The first Saturday of every month they have a free kid's craft. This month being February was a wooden Valentines holder.
Home Depot has donated a $15 gift card to giveaway. Please leave a comment below to be entered in the drawing. For more entries share this post on Facebook, Twitter, or on your own blog. Leave additional comments for each share. Giveaway closes on Sunday, February 10th at 11:59 MST. Winner will be picked at random thru random.org. Winner will be announced the following day.