Go! Right Now!

And print off this recipe from PickyPalate.com! It is DIVINE! I made it tonight for dessert and it was so heavenly and oh so easy! Chocolate and Caramel Apple Pie Galette. Mine didn't photograph as beautifully as hers did so don't let that sway you...what are you waiting for?!

So good you can't make just one.

Oh, and I doubled the number of Rolos she used. And next time, I will probably triple the amount. Just sayin'.

Calendar Art

We are more than half way through the year and I am seeing 2011 calendars all over the place now. I thought I would give you a thrifty tip for reusing your old calendars and creating some beautiful, custom wall art.

Several years ago, I used an old calendar that had different pictures of Christ for each month of the year. I picked out my favorites, bought a mat and frame during Hobby Lobby's 50% off sale, and put together my own pictures to decorate our house with. Here are a few of the results:

(This one is my favorite!)

How easy is that? And you still get the custom look of having bought expensive works of art by choosing big, chunky, expensive looking (but not) picture frames on sale. You can even find great frames at garage sales!

If you don't have an old calendar you like enough to frame prints from (aka - The Chick-fil-a calendar I have hanging up in my room right now... not exactly the art you would probably want hanging in your home! It was totally about the monthly coupons for free chicken sandwiches - not asthetics!), I found some nice 2011 calendars at Michael's for only $1. That's right, $1. You could get 12 pictures from one calendar for only $1. Now that is thrifty art! Here are some pictures of the calendar I bought for $1:

The front of the calendar.
They had a fairly good selection of all different calendars.

I liked the feminine, frilly look of this calendar with nice sayings printed on each page.

(Keep in mind that the beautiful colors are not translating very well through the computer...)

You don't even have to frame the whole page.

Cut out just what you love.

If you don't like what the page says, but you like the beautiful flower or bird, frame just the part that speaks to you.

This calendar would make some lovely botanical prints with just the flowers.

And you can conveniently see all the pages available on the back of the calendar.

If you need artwork for your walls on the cheap, consider this option!

I love all the possibilities!

Sprucing up my fall wreath

So my 50 cent garage sale wreath has had a bit of a facelift...

Here is the before:

Not bad for 50 cents huh?

But take a look at this beauty now!
For an extra $6 I "froofed" this wreath with pumpkins, pinecones, and more leaves from Walmart and Dollar Tree.
You can't beat $6.50 for a lucious, full, and colorful fall wreath.

Have you started displaying fall things in your home yet?

Football Food

Yesterday was the first day of Texas Tech football! Of course, to me, football means food so we had to start the season off right. I mingled in some of the tastes of fall as well, to give us that autumn feeling! If you are interested in any of these recipes, leave me a comment with your email and the recipe you would like and I will email it to you. I hope football season finds you enjoying good food too! Texas Tech won the game against SMU by the way... 35 to 27.

Pepperoni Pizza Twist

Apples with caramel dip

Peanut Butter Popcorn

Pigs in a Blanket

Touchdown Taco Dip

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

(modeled beautifully by my new $1 garage sale cake plate!)

My favorite cupcake shop here in town, Cake, makes the best Snickerdoodle Cupcakes. I was on a mission to find a good snickerdoodle cupcake recipe. This one is very good, and according to Jeremy, is better than the Cake one. I think Cake's is just a tad bit better...maybe its because I don't have to make the Cake version?

My Saturday Thrill

Saturday was a great day for some garage salein' ! The weather was cool, but the sun was out...perfect conditions. The pickins' seemed a little slim at first (we decided it was due to Labor Day weekend), but we finally hit the jackpot at one of the last garage sales we hit. Here are some of my weekend finds:

I think I am developing a chair fetish.

Seriously.

Like I need another chair.

Just look at my some of my previous posts if you don't believe me.

This baby had a price tag of just $3. I couldn't just not take her home.

I guess you can never have too much seating, right?

Other finds:

Fall wreath for 50 cents

2 Rachel Ray cookbooks for 50 cents each

Small scraper from The Pampered Chef for 25 cents

(this retails for $8.50 in the PC catalog in case you were wondering!)

3 red, white, and blue star mirrors for $4

(totally having buyers remorse about these... could have gotten a better deal.)

White Cake Stand $1

Various glass candleholders 25 cents each

I see some more Dollar Tree candleholders in my future ;)

This cute red bench $5

The top opens up to reveal a little storage area.

I plan to put this at the end of Spencer's bed when he finally makes the transistion from crib to twin bed. That should be happening within the next couple of months as he is outgrowing his crib :( .

Of course I will show you some of the makeovers I have planned for these items...stay tuned!

A Small and Simple Tip

My wallet had been taken over by cards. Membership cards, rewards program cards, punch cards, library card, etc. It was scary. So scary that people in line behind me at the checkout were shooting me death looks because it took me so long to find the card I needed.

To solve my problem I put a hole punch in the corner of each card and put it on a metal ring (is there a fancy name for them?). Now all my cards are in one place. No more death looks. Lots of time saved. It has changed my life. It can change your life too...

Ok, just one more...

...post about Dollar Tree candles, bad lighting pictures and all. Well maybe just one more...

Take my favorite hurricane vase from the Dollar Tree and use your trusty E-6000 glue to adhere a "universal top bottom candle holder" (or so it is labeled at Dollar Tree) to the bottom. Simple enough? It creates just a slightly different look than using a glass candleholder on the bottom as in my Pampered Chef party post. It looks a little bit more substantial maybe?

Not the best picture ever, but I wanted to show you the two pieces separately.

Add a colored, pillar candle...

Or some 25 cent garage sale fake leaves around a plain, white "prayer candle"

Instant Fall Beautification!

Close-up of the base


As I have said many times - the possibilities are endless!


River rocks or colored marbles nestled around the candle would be beautiful.
Stack some mini pumpkins inside for some autumn time flare.
Fill it with brightly colored Christmas ornaments for a thrifty yet elegant holiday table decoration.
Makes a great hostess gift too.


Oh how I love the versatility!