Linky List

Well, after Christmas is drag financially. Even though I have a Christmas savings fund, the extra meals out, functions and unplanned events quickly add up to deplete the budget. Add that to birthdays on the 11th, 15th, 25th and 28th of December, it's easy to see how by the time school's back my poor bank balance is screaming for a rest!

I've decided 2010 is my year to find some breathing room financially & live more frugally. To do that, I figure one of my biggest expenses apart from ones you can't do without, is presents, believe it or not! With Jaynie at school, and Cameron & Poppy at Kindy, we are getting a lot of lovely (and expensive) Birthday invitations. School's been back three weeks and we've had three party invites. After deliberating - I've decided to try and scale back costs by making at least part of each present handmade. Cards alone can range from $2 to $11 - we've got lots here at home to handmake them.

My god-daughter Luci's 8th birthday was on Monday, so she was first cab off the rank for the handmade experiment. We bought $15 worth of Lip Smackers and then made:

a fabric basket

yoyo hair clips

headbands

a pencil roll

to make it a wonderfully full gift. Amazingly I didn't take a photo of the end result but I have included links to the tutorials I used for each part. The online crafting community is so generous to share ideas and tutorials, it's a wonderful resource.

I have been looking, coveting, dreaming around the interwebs (what was I saying earlier about being frugal?! A girl can dream can't she??!!) - just look at this eye candy from new blogs I've found:

Crocheted Pillowcases from Rosehip

Delicious cupcakes from Baking Addict

Fabulous interiors from Making it Lovely