Cheap And Creative Gift Wrapping Paper

 

Here are some gift wrapping ideas. These are all things that I have done. I don't like to spend money on one-time-use, disposable purchases, for instance; wrapping paper. Besides that, buying wrapping paper squelches my creativity. :) 

1. Brown Paper 

I save packing paper that comes in packages. It can be ironed to take out most of the wrinkles.

Most of the gifts that I wrap get wrapped in old paper grocery bags. These can be cut open and turned inside out. 

Brown paper can be dressed up in many ways.

(a) Ribbon or string.

(b) String with a paper doily or paper snow flake or leaves, as I have done here. You could, also, use pressed flowers.

One of my favorites: 

(c) Draw the Happy Birthday Song.

(d) Draw animal faces and glue on colored paper features.

(e) Use markers to turn your brown paper into wrapping paper.

2. Paper Maps

I think maps make interesting wrapping paper. I save outdated road maps for this purpose.

3. A Basket

Baskets are not always cheap. I always save baskets that are given to me. They make great gift vessels. You can look for inexpensive baskets at thrift stores and garage sales, as well.

Do you have any frugal gift wrapping ideas? Tell us in the comment section!

My Aged Pepper Hot Sauce "Recipe"

I call this a "recipe" in quotes, because it is more of a method than a recipe, per se. You can try this method with any kind of hot peppers you like. I like hot sauce that doesn't have a complicated flavor profile. When I buy hot sauce I like to look for a label that reads something like: "aged peppers, salt, and vinegar." The main flavors in the hot sauce I make are peppers and garlic. 

The first year I made hot sauce I made it out of habanero peppers. I didn't follow a particular recipe. I just made it up as I went. I took a bottle of the finished product to my Dad. My Dad is a hot sauce connoisseur. He has a couple shelves of hot sauce in the fridge. He eats food with his hot sauce instead of hot sauce with his food. He is serious about this condiment! My Dad loved my hot sauce!! He called me up and said, "I hope you remember how you made that hot sauce. The bottle is about gone and I am going to need some more!"

I was like, "Oh, I just fermented some peppers and blended them up."

My brother, Aaron, interviewed me to get more details. His questions helped jog my memory, and helped me figure out what I had done to make the hot sauce. Here is my method:

Hot Sauce

1 qt. Peppers

1 bulb Garlic

1qt. Water 

1 TBS. Kosher Salt or other Salt with no additives

Apple Cider Vinegar

Put fresh peppers and peeled, whole, garlic cloves into sterilized glass jar. Make a brine by mixing the water and salt together until the salt has dissolved. Pour the brine over the peppers. Keep the peppers submerged with a weight. I like to use a glass with water in it as a weight. Set the jar in a place out of direct sunlight and let age at room temperature for 10 days. If the brine level falls below the peppers just top the jar off with more brine. 

After 10 days blend the peppers and garlic in a food processor. Add as much brine as you would like. The hotter you want the sauce the less brine you want to add. Personally, I add all the brine and I think the sauce is plenty hot enough. Strain the seeds and skins out with a wire mesh. Add a little apple cider vinegar to reach the desired tanginess. You may, also, want to add more salt. I usually do add more salt. Pour into a bottle and store in the refrigerator. Enjoy!

Slime And Borax Solution Recipes

I have not made slime often enough to remember the recipe. Every time I have to look it up online, and I don't know which recipe I have tried in the past, or which one I should go with.

For future reference this is how to make slime:

Number 1, make sodium tetraborate solution, as follows:

Sodium Tetraborate Solution

Mix 1 cup of water with 1 TBS. of 20 Mule Borax. Stir until borax dissolves. 

Number 2, make slime:

Plain Slime

1/2 cup white glue

1/2 cup water

A few drops of food coloring (optional)

1 1/2 TBS. sodium tetraborate solution

Mix together the glue, water, and food coloring. Add the sodium tetraborate solution 1/2 a tablespoon at a time. Stirring in between additions. The more you add the harder it will get. Don't add any more if your slime reaches the consistency you want before you add the whole 1 1/2 tablespoons.

Fluffy Slime

2/3 cup white glue

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 cup water

A few drops of food coloring

2-3 cups shaving cream

1 1/2 TBS. sodium tetraborate solution

In a bowl, mix together the glue, baking soda, water and food coloring. Add the shaving cream and stir well. Add the sodium tetraborate solution half a tablespoon at a time, stirring between additions. When the slime starts to come together it can be kneaded in order to fully incorporate the borate solution and complete the transformation. This fluffy slime is really fun to play with. The fluffiness wears off after a day, but the slime stays good for a while if stored in an airtight container.

Do you have a favorite slime recipe? Tell us about it in the comments section! We would like to give your recipe a try! :)

My Friend's New Blog!

 

I have been helping my friend, Leah, start a blog! It is called Fluttering Towards Faith. She wrote her first post this morning! She is really new at this blogging stuff. Please go check her blog out and show her some kindness! Here is a link.

I met Leah on a recent stay in Pennsylvania. She is a true kindred spirit! Our personalities meshed right away! She is a sweet, generous, Christian lady. We share a lot of the same interests. I "ooed and awwed" over her beautiful garden. She showed me her chickens and her goats. I was really excited to see the goats! They were some nice looking Nubians. I grew up with Nubian dairy goats and dream of having some in the future. Leah sort of inherited her goats and she doesn't milk them or anything. She takes good care of them, though, their coats are nice and glossy! 

She has a rustic country home. Her husband built the timber frame structure and made all the cabinets. He has a saw mill and does a lot of wood working. Leah loves to decorate with butterflies. She has a lot of pretty butterfly art.

Leah does a lot of research about natural remedies and healthy living. She makes her own fermented vegetables and preserves her garden produce. 

I have really enjoyed getting to know Leah and I hope you will, too!

Proverbs 27:17  Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.

Finds This Week!

 Last Monday the children and I went for an early walk. Monday is Garbage Pick Up Day in our neighborhood. On a few occasions I have found quite decent treasures on the curb in the neighborhood where we live. One morning I found a box full of dishes; plates, bowls, and saucers. I liked some of them very much others were just okay. But, I kept all of the ceramic dishes because ours get broken frequently.

Some of my new dishes!

 Another day I was excited to pick up a cast iron skillet in perfectly good shape. 

A while ago I found a bread machine in very good condition with the manual and everything. It was sitting at the curb with a set of  4 upholstered dining chairs. I took the upholstery off of the chairs and am still waiting for an opportunity to recover them. The chairs are nice and sturdy.

Back to my story for this week,

I got the children dressed and put jackets on them. We took our wagon and went for a walk before the garbage truck came by. We went up and down 3 streets with no real success. I had only picked up a log that we could use in our open fire pit. I have had a fire a few nights recently. The weather has been just right for that sort of thing. 

At any rate, we were going down the 4th street on our way back home when we found a vacuum cleaner! It looked complete. It was really dirty looking on the inside, but it didn't look broken. I loaded it into the wagon and home we went.

"really dirty looking on the inside"

A few days later I cleaned it up. It was really quite nasty under the beater bar. But, after a little elbow grease with soap and water and an old tooth brush, I got it looking fairly nice.

 

Cleaning all the parts.

It works great! I am glad of that because my old vacuum was on it's last leg. You had to hold the handle just right to keep power running down to the head. The beater bar was always going on and off and on and off. My "new" vacuum makes the job much faster! What a great find!

My "new" vacuum!

We also went to a State Park this week and looked for neat rocks in the creek.

I found these two rocks that I thought were pretty unique.

This one makes me think of petrified wood.

And this one makes me think of reptile skin. I have never seen a rock like this. I am no geologist, though.

Have you found any treasurers scavenging or dumpster diving before? Tell me in the comments section!