In celebration of our new baby girl...

In celebration of our new baby girl, Isabella Christiana born January 18, 2011 I am having a sale on diaper wipe cases and baby burp clothes on my facebook craft page.

"Like" my page and check it out!
M Lee Crafts

One of my FAVORITE Bloggers!

Mommoies Little Savers and Freebies is not only a great friend, but a great blogger!
It's geared towards moms, but is a great blog for ANYONE looking to pinch pennies here and there...
Here is a short description quoted from her blog-
"One of the best things about being a stay at home mom is the freebies I get in the mail.. Everyday is like a new surprise! I am a committed freebie hunter..I am a member to many sites so many I have had to save them to my favorites... I do surveys for $$, fill out forms for rebates, belong to a lot of mommy tradings site where we all swap stuff for points, And then there is the coupon site where everyone matches best deals with coupons or when an item has been marked down we all get the 411 on when and where. Come join me and get some freebies!!!"
CHECK HER OUT, follow her, and START SAVING TODAY!
For those of you that do not have a google account, she DOES have a Facebook Page you can "like" and get her posts through your feed there.

Quick bread for guests and more!

We were having some last minute guests over the weekend.  I made a roast and wanted to have som nice homemade bread to go with it.

Making a bread with yeast or making bread with my bread machine was just going to take too much time.
I have made Beer bread in the past but couldn't find the recipe so I looked it up on recipes.com and found one here.

The bread does NOT taste like beer and the alcohol is cooked off while baking.  You mix it together and bake in the oven for about an hour and VOILA!  Your guests think you've taken all day to make some homemade bread.
I also didn't weant to go out of the house to have to buy any special ingredients.

Well, this recipe called for two thing I didn't have-
1- Self Rising Flour
2- Brown Sugar
So again, I simply did a search using Swagbucks so I could also redeem points for gift cards.

Here are Subsitute recipes for both.

Self Rising Four
1 Cup of Seft Rising Fours equals:
-1 Cup All Purpose Four
-1 1/4 Teaspoon Baking Powder
-1/2 Teaspoon Salt

Brown Sugar
-1 Cup Sugar
- 1 Tbs Molassis until desired darkness

Now, back to the beer bread...it came out OK.  The taste was AWESOME but the texture not so much so...they would've been better of I had plopped them on a cookie sheet and made buscuits- THEN they would've been a hit!

Sorry about the lack of pics, I was busy busy busy.

Gotta share my news!

I decided that I was making so many crafts that I opened a store.  Please check it out and see what you think!
New items will be added- wipe cases, hair pretties and burp clothes are just a start!
If you want something you don't see, feel free to ask!
M Lee Crafts

20% OFF ENTIRE purchase at Jo-Ann's!

This printable coupon (Q) expires 3/2/2011 and INCLUDES SALE PRICE ITEMS!
http://dealspl.us/joann-coupons/212297p

Hair Pretties HUGE sale!

If you've seen some of the beautiful hair pretties I have, now's the time to get them!
20% off all orders AND
FREE SHIPPING on orders over $15.00
At the one and only Miss Priss Gifts!

Stylish Travel Diaper Wipe Cases

I LOVE to make these diaper wipe cases.  They are fairly inexpensive to make and don't take much time.

Here <-- is a quick and easy tutorial to follow that also has diaper holders.  There are many different styles and ways you can make these, so know that this is not your only option.

I hope you enjoyed this post and if you don't have time to make one yourself, so I do sell these at an inexpensive rate.
http://www.zibbet.com/MLeeCrafts As well as other craft items ;)

They make GREAT baby shower gifts or a holder for sanitizer wipes!

I now have a store where my items can be purchased at M Lee Crafts.

Homemade Oven Cleaner Review...

Since DH recently fixed my oven, it was time to clean it and have new beginnings.
I researched homemade oven cleaner recipes and found ----> this one.  I wanted to use things I had around the house and go the "natural route"
FIRST of all, I wish the directions were more to the point...I had to go through and underline the directions to skip over the "conversation" part.
It was a MESS!  Not ONLY did my oven NOT get clean, but it made a HUGE mess in my kitchen.
My sgguection- BUY oven cleaner unless your oven just needs a touch up job.

Play Dough

So I plan on making some polymer clay (PC) projects in my kitchen today.
My PC is expensive and not exactly something I want my alomst 4 year old twin daughters to be playing with.
We got them some play dough for Christmas and through lots of use, it is now at the dump.
So today, I decided to look up some play dough recipes to make so they have their dough to play with and I will have mine.
The most BASIC recipe for a salt based play dough is:
1 cup of salt
1 cup of water
2 cups of flour
1 tablespoon of cooking oil
There are MANY different recipes to include ones that are edible.  I didn't have the ingredients for all of them but found ther salt dough recipe to be the most basic and consist of typical things around the house rather than going out to buy anything.
You can find other play dough recipes on the right hand side of the page ---> here.

I made the dough and found that it stuck to my hands.  If it sticks to my hands- then it can stick to ANYTHING- so I added more flour as I went.

I divided it up into two pieces, put them in two bolws and added 25 drops of food coloring each.

I DEFINATELY suggest covering your work space and wearing gloves unless you don't mind your fingers and counter top to be stained.

I mixed each color and divided them up into two balls as I have two children that will be using them.

I put each ball in a bag and sueezed out all the air so they can play with it later when I'm ready.

I hope you enjoyed this post.  If you try the other recipes please let me know how they turned out!

Baby Food

What got me thinking about homemade baby food is my recent find of getting a whole case of bananas for $1 at the local flea market.

I packages and froze a bunch, made some YUMMY banan crumb muffins (see previous posts), and STILL had a bunch to use...so I thought, why not make some baby food?!
There really isn't anything more frugal than making your own baby food.  Baby food even with coupons is SO EXPENSIVE!
You can get a LOT for your buck AND know EXACTLY what is in the food.

Here <- is a list of some homemade baby food recipes.

Obviously I'm not going to be making food a la cart.  HOLY WORK!  So, the best way that I found was to puree the bananas, then use a ice cube tray to divide , freeze and store baby food.

I found that lining the ice cube tray was best to easily remove the frozen food.
That way I can take one cube at a time out of the freezer to use.  My first mistake was not ripping off enought suran wrap to do this so be sure that you do!

I put the puree in the tray and stuck it in the feezer.

On a side note, you could also put the puree in freezer pop molds (can be purchased from Tupperware FOUND HERE <---) and make some natural banana freezer pops.

If you can vacuum seal the bags, it would even be better, I don't have that luxery- BUT I have a bunch of portioned, organic and FRUGAL baby food!

Baby food can be kept up to 6 months in the freezer.

I hope you found this helpful!

What to do with those crayons?

If your kids are anything like mine, chunks and pieces of crayon are a part of everyday life.
I got really sick of picking them up- so I decided to do something about it.

I thought if I peeled them, seperated them in coordinating colors (ie red, orange, pinks together and blue, greens etc together), and melt them in my oven in silocone muffin tins they would be a big chunk of a "muffin" crayon- hader to break and no more pieces.

So I baked them @ 350 for who knows how long LOL

I THOUGHT that all the colors meshed until I turned them out and VIOLA!

FREE Redbox Movie Rental Code- TODAY ONLY!

Use the code FEB7MOVIE today to get 1 FREE movie rental!  Can't get much better than that!

Hair Pretties!

There, finally got some hair pretties done as well as a clippie holder!

It took me some time- measuring, cutting, heat sealing, lining and adding no slip grips...BUT I got a lot of them done!
Thought I might make some into lapel pins as well for the upcomming holidays.

If you need instructions, I would be glad to share "how-to's"...OR you could just purchase some from me and help this stay at home mom make a little extra spending cash!  ;)

I now have a store where my items can be purchased at M Lee Crafts.

Hubby fixed my oven- baking here I come!

I HAPPEN to go to the flea market today and got a WHOLE case of over ripened bananas for $1!!  WHOO HOO! 

Since my oven didn't work, I was going to just prep them and put them in the freezer.
Well, hubby fixed my oven so here I go!
I wanted to make something that I could bring to the nurses at the hospital in the labor and delivery section.
They were SO kind to me while I was there.
I did a search on allrecipes.com and came across this yummy recipe of Banana Crumb Muffins!
A quick SIDE NOTE for bakers....
I HATE that my drawer is full of dry measuring cups, spoons, etc.

Pampered Chef makes a few products that EVERY baker should have.  The first two are all in one measuring spoons.  They are adjustable to different sizes.
The second item is a plunger wet AND dry measuring cup.  Did you know that there is a difference in volume using wet and dry?  This plunger does BOTH AND it's great for things like butter and or peanut butter.

Made the muffins and they turned out GREAT!  The girls LOVE to eat their yummy banana muffins!

As you can see in the pic I used a simple heart stencil I cut out of card stock.  I don't have a sifter which is the appropriate method of applying the powedered sugar, but I just put it on with my fingers.
To be sure the heart was even, I just folded the peice of paper in half and cut out a half a heart.



Took a dozen muffins and put them in two layers of a box I had with some tissue paper to "pretty it up" and keep the tow layers from sticking to eachother.
Makes a GREAT gift for anyone!

This recipe was a BIG HIT in my household.  It was great for my twin girls because they are sweet and doesn't contain as much sugar as a cupcake would.

I was thinking of replacing the banana with carrots or apple sauce too.  If anyone wants to give it a shot before I get the chance, would love to hear some feedback!

Happy Baking!

Earn FREE stuff while searching!

As you can tell from my previous posts that I do a lot of searches on the web.
I found a GREAT search engine site that gives me points for searches as well as doing other tasks.
You can then use these points to redeem prizes.
Things I have redeemed thus far are:
-OVER $75 in Restaurant.com Gift Cards
-OVER $20 in paypal
-OVER $45 in Amazon Gift Cards
-$5 to frangrance.com
-$5 to alice.com
You CAN use your points to redeem gift cards like I have, or there are a lot of other items you can "purchase".
I downloaded their toolbar and use it for my primary search.  They use google as an engine.
ALSO when you refer people, you get a percentage of thier points in your own account!
There are SEVERAL other methods to earn points too- but doing searches in my primary method.
CHECK IT OUT, JOIN, and start earning your Swag Bucks TODAY!

GREAT Frugal Valentines Gift!

So I jjust noticed that the majority of my posts have been about having a baby or a girl...well, what about the rest of you??!!  LOL
So, in spirit of Valentines Day, what is better than a gift from the heart that doesn't cost anything (well, maybe a printer, some ink and paper)
I decided to do a search on Valentine's Day Coupons. 
Here is a link to one of them that I found helpful.
I chose all free prints because it comes up a lot in my searches.

Hair Pretty Inspired

Makinbg the fabric yoyos and geting some hair pretties from Miss Priss Gifts has inspired me to make some more hair pretties!

Afew items recieved from Miss Priss Gifts



I will also now need a new clippie holder to put all the pretties on.
I wwent shopping yesterday for the first time since my new baby was born (two weeks ago).  I happened to pick up some silk flowers to make flower clippies.

I also picked up some wooden animals to make a clippie holder.
Stay tuned for the next projects!

Yo-yo-yo Ya-yo-yo-yo

Project: Fabric yo-yos!

What can you use these things for?  Well, LOTS!
I, personally have thus far used them on traveling wipe cases and a few other projects to add a little PIZAZ.  If you can use an embellishment, this is a great one to use that will use up all your scraps of fabric.

I DID make a few yo yos tonight and took pics along the way with the intention of making my own tutorial- BUT, let's get real!  LOL
Here is a link to a yoyo tutorial.
I needed a project that did not require me to be up in my craft attic.  Yet, I DID need to make myself feel good about finishing SOME sort of project. 
I was inspired by my friends fabric flowers...

 ... and decided to make some yoyos and make my own flower clippie (in addition you will need to line an alligator clip to make one of your own).

I hope you enjoyed this post and it gave you another way to use up your fabric scraps.  I would LOVE to see YOUR ideas on how you use FABULOUS YOYOS!

I now have a store where my items can be purchased at M Lee Crafts.

Oh so yummy chocolate pudding!

I, like any woman, crave chocolate once in a while but don't always have it on hand.  Well, sort of.
There are SO many recipes out there for puddings.  I have tried many different kinds and have not found one as creamy and yummy as this chocolate pudding recipe.
I, of course, HAD to double the recipe as one batch NEVER makes enough.
Now, the recipe calls for semi sweet chocolate chips.  This is not something that I have around the house so I had to improvise.  I have a LOT of those chocolate wafers that you melt and pout into candy molds.  I had some leftover from a previous project that is dark chocolate with mint flavoring (Mmmm).  I decided to use those and put them in a ziplock bag and smashed them up with a meat tenderizer that my mother had made.

I wanted to be sure they were in small pieces.  After I was done I put them in a dish.  Now, the recipe calls for 4oz and since I'm making a double batch it calls for 8oz.  I'm sure this is be weight and not by volume.  Since I was too lazy to get out my shipping scale, I just used all that I had.

There is a GREAT product that I got from pampered chef that is an 8cup pyrex type measuring cup.  I use this for many projects to include this one. 
I first got things ready such as beating the eggs in the measuring cup and got the sugar, cocoa powder, corn starch and milk in a pot.

You HAVE to keep wisking it on high so it doesn't stick to the bottom until it thickens and looks like this...

Then I SLOWLY added it to the wisked eggs in the large measuring cup and added in the chocolate peices as I wisked until it was all melted.

Then VIOLA!  YUM YUM YUMMY chocolate pudding!  Give it a try and let me know how yours turns out!  Don't be scared to alter or add to the recipe!

Baby Wipes Recipe #2

I shared my post reviewing my baby wipes recipe review on facebook.  I got this reply and will try this recipe next.
"

Here's another wipes recipe you might try:
1 Tbsp baby soap
3 Tbsp baby oil (I cut this back a little)
21/2 -3 c. warm water
Roll of paper towels cut in half length wise (Bounty choose a size!)
...
Put roll of paper towels in a plastic containter (Rubbermaid 6 cup Serve and Save works well) Mix soap, oil,water together, and pour over paper towels. Let water soak into paper towels, then pull out cardboard center.

I've used this successfully for 3 kids now. It would probably work with your blanket cloths too, if you don't want to use paper towels."

Baby Wipes Recipe Review

So I used the wipes solution that I had made yesterday( found here).  It is SO SO SO soapy!  To the point where there are bubbles when you squeeze out the cloth AND you want to rinse your hands off of the slime.
I think this solution needs to be diluted. 
About half the solution is left in the tub and I'm going to add a cup of water and let you know how that works out.
ANOTHER issue is I had DH (hubby) change the baby's diaper last night.  We've been sunig corn starch in leiu of baby powder because I think she has a rash comming on.  Well, he didn't sqeeze out enough water and when I went to change her diaper next, there was a bunch of clumped, crusty STUCK on corn starch that I had to practically SCRUB off her bottom- NOT GOOD!
DH (hubby) was REALLY frustrated by it and went out last night and BOUGHT a tub of wipes.  So, that tells me that it was NOT to successful.
Will try deluting the solution before I totally throw this idea out and maybe try a different recipe.

Baby Burp Cloth

I wasn't really thinking when I was pregnant with baby #3.  I am in DESPERATE need of more baby burp clothes.
I did a search for easy burp cloth tutorials and again ran into several.
I chose to follow this one here because the pattern was nice and neat and not something that was hand drawn.
The things that I changed from the instructions are as follows:
1) After cutting out half of the pattern, I traced it onto a piece of card stock as a whole piece rather than trace a pattern made up of 4 tapes together pieces.

2)I only cut out half the pattern as I folded the fabric in half with the "good sides" together so I would cut down the cutting time (The fold in the pic is on the left)

This tutorial was VERY easy to follow and I like how it turned out.  The turquoise fabric is the flannel and the pink is the cotton.

If you are interested in PURCHASING any crafts I make, please feel free to e-mail me.

Follow my blog to see what I make next!

Re-usable Wipes

So not only do I enjoy being frugal, but at times like these I HAVE to be frugal.
I have a newborn that is 2 weeks old today. 
Well, today I've run out of wipes.  I can't so easily pack up my twin soon-to-be 4 year olds and a newborn to take them out into this cold weather JUST for a case of wipes.
I have heard that there are such things as reusable wipes with home made solution.
I did a quick search and found LOTS of results.
I took some old recieving blankets that I had passed to me and cut one up into squares.
I folded them up and put them in a plasic wipe tub that I have.

I did a search for solution as I COULD just wing ding it- but being that she's a NEWBORN, I didn't think that was such a good idea.
I'm glad I did because I've found that mose basic recipes also call for baby oil which I NEVER would have thought to add.
Baby oil is not a staple here, but I happen to have a bottle of baby oil gel.  So I will make the basic solution of:
1/2 cup baby oil GEL
1/2 cup baby wash
2 cups water
try it out and see how it works.  I'll LYK!
Got it measured...it's purple b/c all I have is lavendar baby wash...

Mixed...

And poured....BTW- as I poured it in the container I THINK that maybe there are too many wipes in there (I put a whole recieving blanket) and it SEEMS REALLY soapy...IDK I'll LYK how it turnes out as I use it...

Here is a link to differnt methods and recipes that I found helpful.
Homemade Baby Wipes Information

What is this about?

Not ONLY do I wish I was Marta in SO many ways, but I wish I was a GREAT housewife and mom.  Unfortunately, this is not the case.
Hi, I'm Monica, wife and mother to three girls.
I will be posting crafts, recipes, frugal ideas and whatever else suits my fancy that I feel fits under this category.
Please forgive my bad grammer, bad spelling and thoughts that are just scattered LOL