What would you do if you won a BIG gift card to Target? Well you're about to find out! This week, I will be teaming up with some fabulous bloggers and we're giving away a big gift card to Target! So be sure to subscribe to Carrie This Home so you don't miss out on this great giveaway! I used to be scared to paint with dark colors. I'm not now! Reading How To Paint With Dark Colors will help ease some of the fears you may have about painting in a non-neutral color! It's time for the Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop! Thanks for joining me and Jordan from Lily White. Designs, Amy From A Blossoming Life, Sara from Sneaky Spoons, ... read more
How To Paint With A Dark Color
Have you ever wanted to paint a room a dark color but were afraid of it being as dark as a dungeon? Yep. Me too. I've been so scared to paint with dark colors. Not anymore! Recently I gathered up the courage and painted my master bedroom a very bold navy blue color. Both my husband and I are really happy with the results and wished we had done it sooner! Through this experience I discovered a few tips on how to paint with a dark color but make the room feel like it has a lot of light. Is The Room A Good Candidate? What makes a room a good candidate for a dark wall color? A few little factors can really make a big difference. In general, ... read more
Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop 65
Earlier this week I shared one of my little secrets on Carrie This Home. Let me introduce you to Edible Cookie Dough for One. It's the perfect way to treat yourself without overeating! I love to eat this as a special treat when I have some time to myself! This winter we've had so many times of being stuck in the house. I've had to adapt and fight off cabin fever. So we had an Indoor Picnic and had a blast! Now it's time to start the party! Thanks for joining me and Jordan from Lily White. Designs, Amy From A Blossoming Life, Sara from Sneaky Spoons, and Katie from The Casual Craftlete. We had so many great link ups from ... read more
Edible Cookie Dough for One
For your convenience, there is an affiliate link to a kitchen appliance I highly recommend. See my full disclosure here. What do you like to do to relax? One of my favorite ways to relax is to work on my blog while eating cookie dough. I know. That sounds super healthy, right? Well, before I get into this not-as-healthy-as-most-of-my-recipes post, I will put out a little bit of advice: When you want to eat something unhealthy, exercise that same day and burn off some of the calories! I exercise because I love to eat. Doing that enables me to enjoy small treats like this with less guilt. Don't eat this all the time but when you do, ... read more
Indoor Picnic Activity
I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago. In all my years of attending public school in my adolescence, I can remember having one snow day when school was cancelled due to weather conditions. ONE. This year has been a totally different story, as you can imagine. I've lost count of how many we've had this year. Thanks Polar Vortex. Don't get me wrong--snow days are good. They make my hubby VERY happy (he's a teacher). All the snow days have given me extra time to spend with my family and for that I am which I'm thankful. But after awhile my patience starts to wear thin. Cabin fever really set in this winter! I've discovered that the key ... read more
Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop 64
Thanks for joining me and Jordan from Lily White. Designs, Amy From A Blossoming Life, Sara from Sneaky Spoons, and Katie from The Casual Craftlete. Before we get to the party I wanted to share my project of the week! I had so much fun doing a quick little makeover on some Goodwill frames. I shared How To Spot A Good Used Frame so that you can do a similar project at home! Here are my features from last week's party! A Box Filled With Words of Affirmation from An Extraordinary Day. Morganize With Me had some great fashion tips on wearing tank tops. Master Closet Makeover from My Love 2 Create Melissa from A Prudent Life ... read more
How To Spot A Good Used Frame
About six months ago the hubby and I went out on a date. Where did we end up? Goodwill. Bless my hubby's heart! Being married to a blogger means the occasional trip to Goodwill to check out some potential project pieces. This trip was well worth it. I scored two 8x12 frames for $3.00 each! The hubby didn't quite understand my excitement at such lackluster frames. I can understand because they were not pretty. But I could see the potential. I knew I could make them into something special. Here's what they looked like before... ...and here's what they look like now! They don't look like 3 dollar frames anymore! One of the ... read more
Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop 63
Welcome to this week’s Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop! I’m so glad you could join us! This week at Carrie This Home I shared an awesome recipe for Bacon Cheddar Chicken. This looks good, right? You'll have to trust me--this tastes even better than it looks! Thanks for joining me and Jordan from Lily White. Designs, Amy From A Blossoming Life, Sara from Sneaky Spoons, and Katie from The Casual Craftlete. Some of my favorite link ups from last week were: Greek Yogurt Banana Pancakes from Belle of the Kitchen. I really liked the Hello Kitty Birthday Party from Simply Suzanne's At Home. I could see my daughter loving this ... read more
Bacon Cheddar Chicken
It all started with a picture on Facebook. You know when people take pictures of their dinner and post it on Facebook? It's kind of annoying, right? Usually I could care less about what people are eating for dinner. Well the other week, one of my friends from high school posted a picture of his dinner that his wife made him and it looked AMAZING. That meal caught my attention. It was chicken wrapped in cheddar cheese and bacon. Chicken + Bacon + Cheese "Why have I not thought of that combination before?" I said as I kicked myself. I asked my friend for the recipe and he and his wife kindly shared it with me. Later the next week I made it for ... read more
Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop 62
Welcome to this week's Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop! As always I'm so glad you're here! Thanks for joining me and Jordan from Lily White. Designs, Amy From A Blossoming Life, Sara from Sneaky Spoons, and Katie from The Casual Craftlete. This past week was crazy. I was expecting a normal week. I should have known better. We ended up with a quarter of an inch of ice ALL. OVER. THE. PLACE. Ice all over means no school. So the hubby (he's a teacher) and my daughter were home from school for practically the whole week! Needless to say we had fun but I didn't get much blogging done! I did manage to share this post about ... read more
Valentine’s Day Activites for Pre-K Kids
Recently I was asked to organize some Valentine's Day activities for my daughter's Pre-K class. I think the teachers asked me since I pin a lot of stuff on Pinterest. Being addicted to Pinterest really isn't a bad thing...I've gotten so many great ideas there! Valentine's Day Activities for Pre-K Kids I wanted to provide a fun party for kids with lots of different activities to choose from but not have to spend too much money. I also wanted to think of the boys--they aren't as excited about having everything covered in in pink and red hearts. I wanted to think of some specific gender neutral activities for them. Valentine's Day Activites for Pre-K ... read more
Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop 61
Welcome to the Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop party! I'm so glad you're here! Recently I shared a recipe that is a family favorite around here. Tamale Pie is a hearty & healthy Mexican chip dip that you can eat as a meal. It's packed with lots of veggies and beans so it's super filling. If you can control the chip portion, it really ends up being a healthy and frugal meal. There's a great back story to this meal about the blessing of helping others. You can read the story here. Time For The Party! Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop is a great place to share your family-friendly ideas, DIY projects, recipes and more! We open up the party every ... read more
Tamale Pie
Tamale pie is one of our top 5 favorite family meals. It's a savory and hearty Mexican meal packed with plenty of vegetables and beans. It's also a hearty chip dip that you get to eat as a meal! But before I get to the recipe, there's a back story to this meal that I want to share. The first time I had Tamale Pie was during the worst time in my life. Within one week my father passed away and my first child was born a month premature. I was very overwhelmed. I was grieving the loss of my Dad, learning how to be a mom for the first time, and trying to fight off baby blues. I didn't have time or the energy to cook. My friends from ... read more
Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop 60
Lately it seems God is really reminding me that this time with my kids will fly by. I need to appreciate the daily ups and downs of mothering active, funny and spunky kids. One quote has really put things into the right perspective for me. "The days are long but the years are short" -Gretchen Rubin. Whoa. That is totally true! So I made some artwork to help remind me. I'm sharing it with you guys as a Winter Printable! Welcome to the Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop! Now it's time to share what you've been up to! Some of my favorite link ups from last week were: Hers and His Pillow Covers from One Krieger Chick Desk DIY from Brooke ... read more
Free Winter Printable
Do you get a little down and depressed when Christmas is over? Christmas is our favorite season of the year so it's always a little sad when it's over. A couple months ago I made a Christmas printable artwork for our guest bathroom. Seeing the lyrics from O Holy Night really helped me keep the focus on Jesus this Christmas. But Christmas is over. I don't know about you but just knowing that Christmas is a WHOLE year away makes me kinda sad. Clearly needed to make some new artwork for the bathroom. I didn't want it to be Christmas-ey but I wanted a winter theme. This is what I came up with: I love this quote from Gretchen Rubin. ... read more
Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop 59
My family has been drinking green smoothies like they're going out of style. I created an original recipe for a Green Smoothie with tons of veggies, lower calories and lots of taste. You can't taste the spinach AT.ALL. All you can taste is the strawberries and banana! Never has it been so easy to get my kids to eat drink veggies. Wish I would have discovered this years ago! Enough about me....now it's time to party! Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop has 5 hosts which means your posts will get a 5 times the exposure! Your posts will show up on my blog as well as Jordan from Lily White. Designs, Amy From A Blossoming Life, Sara from ... read more
Low Calorie Green Smoothie
I've seen lots of green smoothie recipes out there lately. They all look great but there's one problem. Most smoothie recipes call for a lot of fruit. I have no problems with fruit but it add a lot of calories. Then I had this thought: Could I make my own version of a green smoothie with tons of spinach, and lower calories but make it taste awesome? So I went to work. I tried some different combinations and after lots of experimenting, I found the combination that works. I may have been so excited that I jumped up and down in my kitchen to celebrate. Yes I am that dorky! By the way, BOTH of my picky eaters kids LOVE this smoothie and beg for ... read more
Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop 58
I hope you all have had a wonderful start to your new year! Our New Years Eve was quite interesting. We had some plans that were perfect. We were getting together with some good friends and totally looking forward to celebrating, eating, and joking around. Then all our kids got sick. So the hubby and I did a master bedroom makeover---for only $30! If we were stuck in the house we may as well get something done, right? Time for the party! Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop has five fabulous hosts which means your posts will get a 5 times the exposure! Your posts will show up on my blog as well as Jordan from Lily White. Designs, Amy From A ... read more
Budget Master Bedroom Makeover
What did you do on New Year's Eve? We painted our bedroom. No, I'm not kidding. We had plans to celebrate with our good friends and then ALL our kids got sick. I figured if we were stuck in the house we may as well do something fun, so we painted! After a couple days of decorating we finished our budget master bedroom makeover and I'm so excited to share it with you! Oh and the best part--it only cost about $30.00! I'll share some money saving tricks and the budget breakdown at the end of this post but for now let's get to the fun part! Before our room was beige, bland, and blah. The room was screaming for a makeover. It took me ... read more
Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop 57
Happy New Year! Just when I was getting used to writing 2013 on all my checks, now I have a new year to get used to! This week at Carrie This Home I spent some time going through Top Moments from 2013 and what a journey we had this past year! Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop has five fabulous hosts which means your posts will get a 5 times the exposure! Your posts will show up on my blog as well as Jordan from Lily White. Designs, Amy From A Blossoming Life, Sara from Sneaky Spoons, and Katie from The Casual Craftlete. We had some great link ups from last week. Here's some of my favorites: Designer Trapped in a Lawyer's Body linked ... read more
Top Moments of 2013
Happy New Year! Today I'll be sharing some of our favorite moments from 2013 through our photos. Enjoy! My daughter went to school for the first time in January of 2013. We were happy to discover that she LOVES learning. And her teachers totally rock! We discovered how much fun it is to make silly faces Throwing a big Nemo birhtday party was as much fun for me as it was for the kids! The hubby and I celebrated 11 years of marriage this year. Needless to say it's never a dull moment! Watching my daughter go horseback riding for the first time with no fear was amazing! The summer of 2013 was a hard one. We had to say goodbye to a LOT of friends ... read more
Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop 56
This week at Carrie This Home I shared some helpful tips on How to Keep A Baby or Toddler Warm At Night. I tend to obsess about making sure my kids are warm enough at night. I thought I'd share these tips to help others not be as obsessive as me! It's time for the party! Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop has five fabulous hosts which means your posts will get a 5 times the exposure! Your posts will show up on my blog as well as Jordan from Lily White. Designs, Amy From A Blossoming Life, Sara from Sneaky Spoons, and Katie from The Casual Craftlete. My Featured Posts From Last Week: Christmas sign--Old to New from ... read more
How To Keep A Baby or Toddler Warm At Night
Disclosure: this post contains affiliate links. I'm recommending these products because I've personally tried each one and LOVE them! If you choose to make a purchase through any link you will be supporting Carrie This Home at no additional cost to you. Thank you so much for your support! Do you have something you constantly worry or obsess about with your kids? As a mother I've found myself to be pretty obsessive about a couple of things. Making sure my kids are warm at night is one of them. I'm ALWAYS worried that they aren't warm enough at night as they sleep. This means as I'm settling down for the night under my warm blanket, I worry ... read more
Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop 55
I've been so behind this week. There's so much to do before the holidays and I feel like I'm running around like a chicken with it's head cut off. I'm not the only one, right? Let's take some time to relax and see some inspiring ideas from out there in blogland. Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop This blog hop has five fabulous hosts which means your posts will get a 5 times the exposure! Your posts will show up on my blog as well as Jordan from Lily White. Designs, Amy From A Blossoming Life, Sara from Sneaky Spoons, and Katie from The Casual Craftlete. Some of my favs from last week: One link up that took my breath away was this one ... read more
O Holy Night Printable
O Holy Night is one of my all-time favorite Christmas songs. This song really puts things into perspective for me. Christmas is about celebrating the birth of Jesus--my savior, my friend, & my life. Where would I be without Him? During this busy season I sometimes get distracted. Having these meaningful lyrics out on display helps me to put the focus of the season back where it should be. I've been making wall art for myself for a year now and I love it! It's a great and inexpensive way to decorate. Plus it gets my creative muscles going and that's always fun. I really love how these turned out. They add a touch of Christmas color ... read more
Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop 54
I can't believe Christmas is less that two weeks away. I think I have one present wrapped so far. Looks like I'll have a busy week of wrapping ahead of me! What about you? Are you all done prepping for the holidays or are you behind like me? This week I had tons of fun sharing two photo Christmas Card projects. Simple & Elegant 1 Photo Christmas Card How To Make A Photo Collage Christmas Card With Graphics Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop This blog hop has five fabulous hosts which means your posts will get a 5 times the exposure! Your posts will show up on my blog as well as Jordan from Lily White. Designs, Amy From A Blossoming ... read more
How To Make A Photo Collage Christmas Card
Disclosure: this post contains affiliate links. This means if you sign up for PicMonkey’s awesome Royale version, I will earn a small commission & you will be supporting Carrie This Home at no extra cost to you! We all know Christmas cards can get really expensive. To be honest most years I don't send any out. Good news--I found a solution! I made my Christmas cards this year for 12 cents each--and I'll show you how to do it! This post is part 2 of 2 in my series on how to make your own Christmas Card. Earlier this week I showed you how to make this simple and elegant one Photo Christmas card with text. But what if you have a ... read more
Make Your Own Photo Christmas Card
Disclosure: this post contains affiliate links. This means if you sign up for PicMonkey’s awesome Royale version, I will earn a small commission & you will be supporting Carrie This Home at no extra cost to you! Lots of people are choosing to make photo Christmas cards. Have you ever noticed how expensive they are? I've got a solution & I'm so excited to share it with you! I'm starting a two part series on how to make your own Photo Christmas Card for 20 cents each! There's two options to choose from: A simple & elegant one photo card with text Photo collage card with Christmas graphics Today I'm going to show you how to do option 1 ... read more
Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop 53
On Thursday we got hit with Snowpacolypse 2013 and ended up with a thin sheet of ice with about 10 inches of snow on top. Schools and business were shut down so we got to have some down time together as a family. Not too bad, right? Then on Friday my son turned two. My baby isn't a baby anymore. I think I might cry now! All the events this week are really making me hope for a slower week this time around. We'll see if that happens! Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop We have five lovely hosts at this party which means more exposure for you! Your posts will show up on my blog as well as Jordan from Lily White. Designs, Amy From A ... read more
Scentsy
Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. I received compensation to write honestly about my experience with Scentsy products. All opinions are 100% my own. Have you ever heard of Scentsy? I've heard of it but never had the chance to try it until recently. I wish I would have discovered this sooner! What Is Scentsy? Scentsy is a wickless candle system that is a safe alternative to burning candles. Scentsy consists of beautiful decorative wax warmers that plug in and spread amazing fragrance throughout the room. The warmers use a low-watt bulb to slowly melt specially formulated wax. With no flame, smoke, or soot, Scentsy is a safe way to enjoy ... read more
