More homemade gifts for a small budget (for tween to teen girls)

Jingle bell earrings -- super-duper easy!

I was able to put the finishing touches on a few gifts this past week. If you're struggling to find an inexpensive gift or two for tween to teen girls, either gift may work for you.

In my sewing box I came across these tiny red bells. Cute, huh? I had intended to sew them onto the face of a Christmas pillow several years ago, but came up with something else, instead. When I saw the jingle bells the other day, I instantly thought what fun earrings they would make for one of my daughters. She's the jingle bell type, all the way! I rummaged through my jewelry box for earring pieces that I could hang them on and found these stainless ones. Perfect. It took me all of 5 minutes to put the bells on the earrings, and pinch the loop closed enough so the bells don't slide off (I used tweezers to pinch the tiny loop). Total cost of this gift -- absolutely nothing! Jingle bells come in many sizes and colors at craft and fabric stores. These would be a very quick and fun gift to make for any "girl" on your list! (If only my piercings hadn't closed up -- I'd be saving these for myself!)

Next up, for my other daughter, more the "pearls and lace" sort, I had picked up some basic long underwear that I had intended to embellish in some way.

In going through sewing scraps, I found this piece of lace that I salvaged from toddler girl clothing. (When I was sewing a quilt from baby clothing, I set aside pieces of lace, cute buttons and ribbon flowers.)

I hand-sewed the lace to the neckline of the long undies.

Then, I added a few pearl beads to the lace (leftovers from another sewing project). It was quick and easy hand-sewing, taking about 1 hour total. I think the top turned out nicely -- just a way to make something plain a little more special. I'll be adding a bit of lace to the cuffs of the long undie pants, too. (Photo when that's done.) These will definitely suit my "pearls and lace" daughter. My only cost was for the long underwear itself (WalMart, about $8 for top and bottom combined).

easy bangle bracelets -- I'll post a step-by-step when I'm done

I'm working on bracelets for each daughter this week, as well, using plastic rings that scarves came on from the store last year (I really do save a lot of stuff), strips of fabric, and some beads and charms. When I finish these both up, I'll show you how they turned out. The same idea would work for a small girl, using shower curtain rings as the bracelet base, or for an older girl, using plain plastic bangles. Here's how the denim one is looking, so far.

How are your Christmas gifts coming along? I've found that by just doing a little bit every day, I am making progress.

November meals -- easy for me, but still bargain basement cheap

Over these last few weeks, I've had some days where making dinner was all I could get done. I found that if I got a start before noon, chopping vegetables, making rice, or getting the dry ingredients for baking thrown together, then I could pace myself throughout the afternoon.

I managed to get a home-cooked meal onto the table every day, with weekend help from my kids. But I did find that I really needed to simplify meals. You'll notice some meals are very basic, or are merely leftovers from earlier in the week. And there are numerous repeats. If I found something super easy to put together, then we had that a couple of times. But we all survived!

Here's a sampling of what the 5 of us have been eating, and sticking to our budget of $170/month.

Monday

Lentil-vegetable soup (lentils cook up so quickly that even if I'm getting a late start making dinner, I can still pull it all together in under an hour)
toast
cookies

Tuesday

Turkey burritos, with beans, onions and peppers, in homemade tortillas
sweet potato fries

Wednesday

Vegetarian tamale pie
stewed pumpkin
steamed broccoli

Thursday (easy dinner, babysitting day)

turkey and dumplings, with frozen turkey in gravy, carrots, potatoes and chard

Friday

leftover tamale pie
garden vegetable medley (last of zucchini, tomatoes, Swiss chard, onions and garlic)

Saturday (family outing to fro-yo place after dinner)

nachos

Sunday

hot dogs (homemade buns in freezer),
baked beans from freezer,
carrot sticks and dip

Monday

lentil-vegetable chili
avocado and pomegranate salad
pumpkin donuts

Tuesday

homemade pizza (make 2), with green and red peppers, pepperoni
carrot sticks and dip

Wednesday

Turkey and gravy from freezer
roasted potatoes and carrots
leftover baked beans

Thursday

leftover chili
cornbread
caramel apples

Friday

turkey teriyaki
rice sauteed with kale, broccoli and carrots

Saturday

turkey-lentil burritos
winter squash
sauteed onions and peppers

Sunday

hot dogs wrapped in biscuit dough
cole slaw
roasted carrots

Monday

turkey and dumplings
winter squash

Tuesday

vegetarian chili
toasted cheddar sandwiches with apple slices
cole slaw

Wednesday

kale and onion frittata
brown rice
sweet potato fries

Thursday (easy dinner)\

pizza from freezer
apple wedges
leftover chili

Friday

bean burgers, topped with avocados and salsa
rice with canned tomato dices
pears

Saturday

turkey burritos
carrot sticks and dip

Sunday

hot dogs in biscuit dough
winter squash
oranges


My main goals these last few weeks have been to clear enough room in the freezer for frozen turkeys and hams, as well as use veggies from the garden, and the fresh produce that we have in store. I am saving the frozen fruits and vegetables for mid-winter meals. One of my favorite items that we've been enjoying is sweet potato fries. Yes, I do them the not-so-healthy way, in oil. And are they ever yummy! Thin and crisp is how I like them. With a sprinkling of salt! Oh not at all healthy, but one has to live a little, right? The other really delicious item we made were caramel apples. I made the caramel from scratch. It came out curdled looking, but nobody complained. I'll keep working on making good caramel.