A little early V-Day Love

Okay, I'm going to fess up...I love Valentine's Day. Not the whole commercial, Hallmark deal but the fun red and pink hearts and giving presents part. I am a sucker for any reason to give a gift. This year, being extremely tight on finances I thought I'd just give my husband some cookies and a kiss on Valentine's BUT while trolling the web I stumbled upon this art gallery who sells prints by our favorite artist, Kurt Halsey. I figured for 8$ plus 3$ shipping, I could afford to give my husband an awesome one of a kind gift. Now, to find a frame was the difficult part. The nice ones are really expensive and the cheap ones are, well, pretty cheap looking. I figured I'd bide my time and save a little and get him a nice frame. Lo and Behold! My mom cleaned out her closet and found a really cute frame that she gave me. Unfortunately, it was a little too big, but I figured I could make it work. So I brainstormed a bit and decided to glue muslin in the frame to place the print on top of so the background would work with the vintage paper look of the print. I think it came out FABULOUS and now I can't wait for Valentine's Day to hand it over to my husband and see him smile!

Wanna see? Here it is, in all it's splendor.

Another example that you can give great, thoughtful gifts on a budget with just a little imagination!

Until next time,

xoxo Stacie

The Inevitable Christmastime Crunch

First of all, I would just like to say a big THANK YOU to the state of Maine for being 50 degrees in the month of December. It's making climate adjustment so much easier. Yet, we had snow in October? New England makes no sense (but we love it anyway).

So I've got 17 days until Christmas and way too much stuff to do. How about you guys? Three Christmas parties to cook something for, lots of presents to make or buy (and relatively no money to do so). I'm also finding it really hard to just buy things for people. I look at things and they are just so wasteful and such throwaway gifts. I wanted to go out on Small Business Saturday and get some holiday shopping done but instead went to visit my Uncle who had just had his kidney removed. Obviously a visit to a recovering family member was way more important than Christmas gifts. I'm thinking since today is my day off I'll make the rounds down in Norway center and check out the bookstore and yarn store. My mom wants this specific cable needle she can't find anywhere and the one thing my dad will NEVER complain about is a book. Or, even better, I'll check out the second hand bookstore. I have always been frugal (aka cheap) but being BROKE around Christmas time is making me really think about every single gift I'm purchasing. It's a big eye opener. I've also been trolling the internet for good DIY gift tutorials. If anyone has a good link, please post it in the comments. I'm thinking I'm going to try making soap as well to give away with some crocheted washcloths. I'm also thinking that this is going to be the most last minute (and least consumerist) Christmas EVER.

How about you guys? Are you making an effort to buy or make handmade or to buy local? Do you have any good tips? Or any great (and CHEAP) Christmas potluck recipes?

Until next time,

xoxo Stacie

A quick note

I just wanted to let everyone know about the awesome New Year's Resolution sign  up over at Frugally Sustainable. I already signed up for the 23 day frugal living challenge starting January 6th and I hope you'll pop over and join in!