Christmas Advent Calender Gift for Him, Her, and the kids.. Books and Favorite things!

I am a terrible blogger... all the promises I make fail! :( I am having a blast working on this series though! Let me tell you why I don't always blog.  I'm a single mom that takes a lot of my time.. plus I work full time.... and yes I have a part time job too! So I'm sorry! 

This week if fun because It's perfect for men, women, and children!

First: Books

Goodwill is full of books! Tons of awesome books! Hard covers at my Goodwill are $2.99! They can be purchased on $1 day which is my favorite day! Also on half off day! Paperbacks are mostly $1.99 but some are $1.49! 

You can easily score some awesome books for cheap!

I got these for me at Goodwill! I have a weak spot for Buffy... I just can't help it! I paid $1.00 for each book!

It gets even better... there's never a shortage of kids books either!

Sadly I don't have a picture of them! :( When I went to Goodwill to snap some pics my poor baby threw up! :( 

But back to the post..... Kids books at my Goodwill are $.99 or $.69... and here and there $1.49! 

Talk about cheap! 25 awesome stories?! We have tons.. Lion King, Bearnstain Bears, Dr Suess, and so much more!

 

Second: My Favorite Things! 

This one is fun! It can be uber cheap or crazy expensive!  Plus it's a variety of fun stuff.. a new surprise each day!
If I could make my own 25 favorite things....

1. Nail Polish ($2.00)

2. EOS Lip Balm ($3.00)
3. Thread ($1.50)

4. Eye Shadow ($3.00)
This is from ELF you can break it into a few days or leave it as 1... right now it's on sale!
5. Scratcher tickets ($1.00 each)
6. Hoop Earrings ($1.00)
7. 1 time use face mask ($1.00)
8. Craft paint ($1.50)

9. Glitter ($3.00)
10. Glue Sticks ($3.00)
11. Reeses Cups ($1.00)
12. Headphones ($1.00)
13. Panties ($3.00)
14. Book ($2.00)

15. DVD.. Wal-Mart has tons for ($5.00)

16. Pens ($1.00)

17. Bath and Body Works hand sanitizer ($1.00)

18. Fake eyelashes ($1.00)

19. Mod Podge ($5.00)

20. Mini Liquer Bottle ($1.00)

21. Fire Cheetos ($2.00)

22. Bobby Pins ($1.00)

 

23.  Cute Cup this cup is ($13.50)

24. Lotion ($3.00)

 

25. Cute Necklace ($5.00)

This one is on sale at Tilly's right now!

Grand Total:$64

That's not bad at all and I would be excited for all of them! 

Start thinking about you special someone... or mini someone.. this would be a sinch with kids! Seriously... $25.00 or less on the kids!

Get to shopping... Christmas is in less than 7 weeks! 

Advent Calender for Rockstar Him and Girly Her

I know what you're thinking where have I been!?  I'm sorry. :( I moved and had no internet for a while while everything was getting put together. more on that later though... 

I offer you another set of amazing Advent Gift ideas! Remember my goal is 25 gifts with the total cost being $100 or less!

For Him Guitar Picks!

Guitar picks are rad.. they have TONS of bad ass ones and can be purchaed for cheap!

These picks are from Ebay The cost is $4.25 for 12 of them! That's pretty cheap and if you only give 1 a day it's exciting and will only cost you about $10 for 25 pics!

 

For my crafting friends

 

This Pick Punch can be purchased on Amazon It's $29 and you can make your own picks! Use old credit cards, or used up gift cards! They do sell cool things just for this but really you can gets cards all over! Even Wal-mart has some cool gift cards that you can grab 1 or 2 of! Stores like Hallmark or Barnes and Noble sell sentimental wallet cards! Plus you can always order some online! 

Picks are an awesome idea! They are small and can be as cheap or expesive as you want! The can be generic or totally original!

For Her Nail Polish!

Girls love nail polish.. with Pinterest we get to pin millions of awesome nail ideas! Nail polish goes so much farther than just polish!

Starting with Just polish is a great way to start!  Make sure to include some nice solid colors, metalic, or neon whatever your lady is into! Don't forget a glossy top coat and a matte one as well!  There are magnetic paints and crackle paints too!

One brand I enjoy using for cheap is Pure Ice It can be purchased anywhere Wal-Mart has it forUnder $2.00! You can of coure always do OPI they have great polish but its more expensive at $9.00 at places like Ulta

After you get a good dose of polish colors you can add on fun things too!

On Amazon for just $6.00 you can get this set. It has 4 dotting pens to get some rad polka dot nails and 10 nail tapes! This alone can give 100s of unique nail designs!

Or you can get this Color Wheel for less than $2.00....

Ebay is full n awesome things too!  Like this stamping plate set!

 

You can away add in nail stickers, polish remover, files, clippers, and buffers too! They are cheap and during Christmas tons of CUTE ones come out!

 

I will warn men with this... Shopping for your lad is not like shopping for kids! Please don't but the kiddie polish sets.. No Nerds nail polish! Though cute they are terrible quality and she will NEVER wear it!  If you need more nail ideas leave a comment I would be glad to help!

Nail polish makes each girl happy! Freshly painted nails make me feel so much better and put together! 

Both of these ideas can be dirt cheap for 25 gifts or totally expesive!

Check back soon for another one! I promise  I'm back and with internet now!

 

Recent Thrifty Fun!

I got some good stuff lately. Thrift store clothing is the only ay to go especially for kids. My son just turned 4 but wears a size 5 and I imagine he will be in 6 by Winter. 

He grows like a weed. For that reason I thrift most of his clothes. 

Not only do I thrift but I load up his old clothes and take them to a 2nd hand shop. 

This is 4 shits and 3 pairs of shorts. They were free! I used my store credit!

I also scored these 4 awesome shirts for me. Who gets rid of a like new Darth Vader shirt?!

Then I scored this super cute and it great shape black leather bag! Also for free! The closure is so cute and I love the gold chain!

So thrift on! Also don't forget about your local 2nd hand stores that buy clothes. I got $40 in credit and the clothes are thrift shop priced (or cheaper!)

Ugly Frame to beautiful tray!

Welcome to Tutorial Tuesday. OK so there's no tutorial. Sorry. I forget to take during pics often!

 I found these beauties at my Goodwill! The frame was $2.99 and the glass bird was $1.99 so $5 got the both. 

I could see the pretty from these. Can't you already see it?

I could have picked up some of these instead. Seriously though... they are creepy! 

I slapped on a coat of spray primer. Then some bright spray paint. I even had scrapbook paper and a sticker added in the mix!

Beautiful right?! One mans trash really I another (wo)mans come up!

I can't wait to get these into my new room!

Advent #2 Him, Her, and the littles Sweet Treats and Undies!

This week the 2 options I have are prefect for men, women, and the kiddies!  One is useful the other is fun! 

First: Undies!

Who doesn't love new undies? I own LOTS of panties. I love them. I buy them as a pick me up! 

There are a million places to women's undies at $4.00 or less. 

My favorite is Charlotte Russe 

They go on sale often at 5 pairs for $12.00

For him:

These are cute right? They are $5.99 but that's OK. A few of this style and the rest of the in the bag 5 for $12.00 kind.

 

These are from Target!

For The Little Miss and MR:

 Littles love a selection of undiess too. 

 These Hello Kitty undies are from Wal-Mart

I just picked these up for my little man. He thinks he is sooo cool when he has them on! These are from Amaon

Kids undies come aren't too expensive. About $2.00 a pair. 

2nd Sweet Tooth!

Candy and treats is a good choice. The possibilities are endless. You could bake yummy treats if you have time. They have LOTS of sugar free options.  Plus it can be as cheap or expensive as you want.

Dollar Tree has plenty of options for just $1.00. Including sugar free! My son loves Ring Pops! I like cinnamon candy. 

 

For the adults you can buy some cool stuff. 

 

This kit it $30 for $64 pieces. They are pretty yummy. ) We get them around the holidays with my family. 

I hope you enjoyed this weeks Advent Calender ideas!

 

DIY Dollar Store Apothecary jar take 2!

My first apothecary jar was so amazing I made another one. 

This was cheap and easy and I love it even more than the other ones!

Supplies:

Candle Stick ($1.00 from Dollar Tree)

Glass Jar ($1.00 from Dollar Tree)

Mod Podge (On hand or $5)

Foam Brush (On hand or $.10)

E6000 (On hand or $4.00)

Glitter (On hand or $3.00)

Total Cost: $2.00

Now I'm sorry I didn't take picture during the process but I get messy and did not want to ruin m camera.

1. Paint the candle stick with Mod Podge in sections and dump on glitter

2. Let dry about 20 minutes and do the same thing again

3. You might do this 2 or 3 times.

4. Let dry another 20 minutes.

5. Paint over the glitter at least 2 coats of Mod Podge to seal it all in

6. Let dry over night

7. Apply E6000 to the top of the candle stick (which is not covered in glitter)

8. Apply that to your jar.

9. Place something heavy in the jar to keep it still 

10. I used marbles

 

It's amazing right! I'm using it for bobby pins. I have lots of those. When I do see them at the dollar store I buy a pack. I go through them like crazy. 

It's my favorite!

 

Thrift store score plus a refinished project!

I have a problem. Really I can't stop thrifting.  Shopping make me happy. I m an emotional shopper. Thrifting allows me to shop away my feelings and it's cheaper than going to the mall!

I found this cute cars lap desk. It was $1.50 my son is obsessed with Lightning Mcqueen. Good score I think!

I scored him 6 awesome shirts in size 5. $1.00 each! 

Thrifting is the best for kids clothes. I'm telling you. They grow like weeds and even at Wal-Mart a shirt is $3.00 each! I got 6 shirts for the price of 2!

Then I found this. I was SOOO excited. Since I am moving out of my house into a small apartment with a roommate I need a place to put mail. I had been searching for something and this is amazing. It opens up and holds keys! It was $3.00. 

A quick coat of red spray paint and stickers from Hobby Lobby. A for Ashleigh and N for Nick. This will help me for sure. I tend to just put things down. So having an exact spot to put mail and keys ensures they will not get lost!

Week 1 his and hers Advent Calender!

So it's here my week 1 post.  My goal is to give ideas for advent calenders. 25 gifts for $100 or less and most importantly don't suck! I would be thrilled with any of these for her gift ideas!

They all take some thought and that always such someone just how much they are loved. Also how well you know them! 

So without further ado here is week one!

For her: Thrift Store Jewlery (or yard sales?)

Starting early means you have months to take your time and pick only awesome things instead of being in a hurry and settling on pieces you don't love.

I reacently picked up these 2 necklaces! They were $1.50 each and I adore them!

The prices at my thrift store work like this. Most necklaces are $2.99. Bracelets are $1.99. Earrings $.99 Broaches $1.99. Watches $4.99. That is most of the prices. My store never really has rings. 

Every other Sturday is 50% off everything in the store. So I can score some cute stuff for pretty cheap!

Each Thursday is $1 day! All the tags of a specific color are $1.00. That's how I prefer to buy my work clothes!  But I have purchased some cute jewelry too!

Think about it... 25 peices or jewelry.. vintage, new, cheap, fancy.. it's all there!  

I would squeal with joy each day I got to see my new awesome jewelry. There are plenty of places to score awesome jewelry for cheap. Thrift Stores, yard sales, clothing stores often have $1 jewelry, and Claires has sales all  time 10 things for $5.00!

For Him: Thrift Store Neckties

My thrift store always has TONS of ties. They are $1.99 regular price. They have beautiful silk, satin, wool. Everything. I've seen Ralph Lauren and any other fancy brand you can think of.

This is an awesome way to find designer ties or unique print vintage ties for cheap. Sale days make ties $1.00 each. I've seen silly cartoon ties as well. They even have bow-ties and skinny ties. Most of the days look brand new!

Plus if you go only on sales days it's $25 for 25 ties! You can't beat that deal!

Come back next week for more!

DIY Advent Calender Tutorial

How to make  cute Advent Calender for Chrismas (and more)

Supplies:

Make it Christmas Paper Mache Advent Calender from Hobby Lobby It's priced at $15.99 I used a 40% off coupon and got it for $10

Winter Christmas paper pack $8.99 purchased half off $4.50

Mod Podge on hand

Red Paint on hand

2 foam brushes on hand

First I painted all the edges with the red paint. 

Next I made my template. I just traced the box on the paper.

After I cut them out I started Mod Podging them on! I don't have detailed pictures because I'm a messy crafter. In this process I also started putting the scrap paper on the large box as well.

 I laid them out to dry a little bit. Then I painted over them with the Mod Podge again. I did about 3 good coats to make sure everything was on there!

Cute right?! I love it. 

In fact I love it so much...

I had another one...

This one will hold my earrings! :) 

I can't wait to get my room set up!

So once a week I'll be posting different Advent Calender gift ideas for him and her. All cost $100 or less!