Something I Made!!

Well, Christmas is coming and it seems everyone is in the Christmas spirit, but much more cautious about spending. While many are hitting the stores, there are just as many finding ways to cut costs, and still enjoy the Spirit of Christmas. To me, its be a new, exciting challenge to see how I can create something new, spend less, and make it special. Photography allows for so many options and whether you print your photos at home, or send them out, there are special discounts for first time orders, free shipping, and more. There are three areas that I focused this year and here is what I did:

1) Holiday Office Party and Gift Exchange: I decided to make it homemade. I found a vintage style Candy pedestal for under $10. I was making holiday candies for family and friends so I made 2 doz to go along with the gift. All the candies were simple recipes using pretzels, oreos, peanut butter, rolos. For the recipes I used give me a call!

2) Christmas Cards. I made my own. The photo in this listing was a tree I found on my photography expeditions. A little photoshopping, a few snowflake brushes, a Word Art layer, and some other layers (all free, including the cardinal!!) and I am good to go! If you can't find any of the free things I am talking about, drop me an email or leave me a comment on this post and I will point you in the right directions.

3) Family gift exchange. This year, we are taking a cue from Just Something I Made and the gifts are coming from inside our house! Just go to her site and click on the Thrifty Gift Exchange Post on December 14th! We all have so much stuff in our house that we don't need, don't use, that someone else may enjoy. Why not give it a try. Our family is now on the phone, talking, trying to figure out what they are going to give up, or bring, and its really stirring up some humor, stories, and excitement.

I hope you will try to do the holidays and little different this year. You don't have to do it all, just pick a few things you can do and make it happen. You will be surprise how much fun it is!