Friday, June 12, 2009

What to do with old formula cans

I love formula cans, there are so many uses for them. You can decorate them to hold anything you want. I have cans decorated all over my house to hold pencils, craft scissors, craft hand punches, candy, cotton balls, crayons, and more! You are only limited to your imagination. They can also be decorated and used to give someone a batch of homemade cookies or candy. There can be a sharp edge around the inside so make sure that if a child will be using it you take precautions to cover the sharp edge with fabric or felt.
I made these little Halloween candy jars using fabric, felt and a hot glue gun. I made a little bag using some fabric I had lying around and glued the edge to the outside of the can. This is to be kept inside the can to cover the can. I then wrapped it with felt (to cover the edge of the bag) and added felt accessories. On the cat, I added wire whiskers. The other is made just using paper, glue and a few scrapbook accessories.

A great way to upcycle those formula cans!


Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Make Your Own Coupon Keeper

This picture is just another reminder that buying with coupons and store sales has its rewards. All of the items on this table cost me just under $25. Also, another reminder that the WIC program is a great way to be able to give your babies the nutrition they need. The items on the Lazy Susan in the center (cereal, milk, cheese, juice and eggs) were from WIC. To view my previous post about WIC and to see if you qualify click here.


Now... onto the coupon keeper....


Here is to all of you who say "If you haven't used something in 6 months, get rid of it." Well, I have a hard time following that principle because of days like today. I was in desperate need of a larger coupon holder and I didn't want to have to buy a binder and business card holder inserts. I estimated that to do so would have cost me around $10-$15 which would have defeated the point of all my coupon clipping these past few weeks.
So, this morning I went digging in an old drawer and found a picture holder from the 7th grade (yes, that would be 15 years ago). Thank goodness I didn't throw it out! There were a few crummy pictures in it and I hadn't touched it for years. I took the pictures out and created paper tabs (I cut my tabs using my Cricut but you can just fold over rectangles of paper) and stapled them to the inside. I then sorted my coupons.
Simple as that! They are now organized, easy to view, and easy to find. Now I won't be flipping through my messy stacks of coupons trying to find what I am looking for. It's a great way to reuse all those picture books you are not using.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

What to do with old cookie sheets

Here is an idea for what to do with an old cookie sheet. Mine were rusty and it was time for them to die. But since I can't just let things go I had to find a new use for it.

I made this one into a Christmas countdown calendar. I just painted the old cookie sheet red and glued on paper to create the design I wanted. I used mod podge over the whole thing to seal it up. The scalloped square is just a piece of chipboard I had laying around in my scrapbook supply box, I painted and decorated it and glued magnets (I used advertisement magnets that I cut up) to the back. This part moves from day to day. The last two days are glass magnets that I made (using cut outs from magazines), one with Santa and one with Jesus.
You don't have to just make advent calendars. Since they are magnetic you can create a message board, a picture keeper, a place to display your child's art for the day, a weekly meal schedule, etc. The options are only limited to your imagination.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Frozen Pizza Bagels - Under $3 a dozen!

After last weeks post about coupons my mother said to me, "What are you going to do with all that food?" Well, here is one thing I did with it - made Frozen Pizza Bagels!

For less than $3 for the whole batch I made a dozen pizza bagles. Here is my reciepe and how to freeze them.

6 Plain Bagles
1/2 can spaghetti sauce
1 c. mozarella cheese
2 mushrooms diced
about 15 slices of pepperoni chopped

1. Lay bagel halves on cookie sheet with insides facing up.
2. Coat each one with a generous amount of sauce (some sauce will soak into bagel).
3. Top with cheese and toppings.
4. Lightly press down on the toppings so some sauce touches everything. (The sauce is like the glue of the frozen pizza. If your toppings touch even a little bit of the sauce they are more likely to stay on the pizza when it is frozen.)
5. Place cookie sheet in freezer for an hour or so. Once pizzas are frozen you can take them off the cookie sheet and wrap them however you choose for long term storage. You can place them individually in sandwich bags, wrap in Saran wrap, place in Tupperware etc. Whichever fits you, your budget and your freezer best is what you should do.
6. When ready to cook. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and bake on cookie sheet for about 10 minutes (approx. time. Make sure you watch them carefully all ovens are different!). You can also place them in the microwave for 2 minutes.


This is a great way to stock up on foods you love and not spend a whole lot of money doing it. These pizzas took me less than 15 minutes to prepare and saved me lots of money! And besides... who doesn't love pizza?!?