Building a Family Economy - Selling Sweets/Food Cottage Laws

Building a Family Economy – Selling Sweets/Food Cottage Laws

This is the best time of year to make some extra cash by selling sweets and other baked goods for the holidays.  With busy schedules and so many people not wanting to be in the kitchen, it is the perfect time to strap your apron on and profit from people willing to indulge their sweet tooth over th

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Giving Generously – Soldered Jewelry – video

I LOVE this idea, let your imagination run!   Think of keepsakes, small pictures, lock of baby's hair, small map of a special place, special date, names, finger print, etc... Make them smaller for charms on a bracelet, to hang from a pin, or to attach to a ribbon as a bookmark. How about make them

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Selling Handiwork and Baked Goods?

A question from one of our readers: My daughter and I want to start a website that we would use to sell handmade items.  But I was also thinking about selling baked good locally. Can you offer any tips? Thanks so much! My reply: To be real honest, it is HARD to sell handmade items

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Crocheting with Plastic Bags

Crocheting with Plastic Bags

Several years ago I saw a tote bag that was crocheted with plastic bags, it was SO COOL!  My first thought was that it would be perfect for a beach bag because it could withstand getting wet and just shake it out if it got sand in it. It's one of those projects that I keep saying I'm going to do, a

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Some Simple Sewing Projects

  Thank you Angie for passing these along!   Throw Pillows made from cloth napkins.   Here is a great list with a BUNCH of easy to sew patterns. Be thinking Christmas gifts!   Another favorite site of mine to find ideas and tutorials is Sew Mama Sew!  

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Start Making Your List

  Now that the gardening is over for the most part, and cool weather is settling in, it is time to be working on some indoor projects; perhaps some sewing projects. How about making a list of people you can make gifts for rather than buying gifts?   Napkins made earlier th

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Making Jar Labels

  Last week we had an abundance of produce to can, in fact so much that I had to part with some of it to the Prittchet Family...I just didn't have time to get it all done.     Emma and I did get 21 quarts of vegetable soup... and 7 quarts of squash relish. I used this re

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How to Make a Photo Quilt

    This is a quilt I made for a friend at church, Beata. She is giving it to her grandmother for her 90th birthday. She e-mailed me 20 pictures in sepia tone, spanning five generations. She also bought the fabrics.   Here is a brief tutorial. I did not follow a pattern,

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Quilted Pillow Slipcover

    Choose a pillow front. Here I have chosen 2 Nine Patch blocks to match THIS quilt. If you are going to quilt a top you will need to layer it, top, batting and backing, (note that the batting and backing are slightly larger than the top) then stitch as desired. Here I am

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Making Bibs and Burpcloths

      At our church we LOVE families and we LOVE BABIES! Babies are viewed as blessings, not burdens. So very rarely do we have times with no new babies being born, Praise the Lord! I wish I could make a quilt or crochet a blanket for every baby born at our church and circle

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Quick Receiving Blankets

  You can make really nice receiving blankets for just a couple dollars. I found this fabric on clearance at Hobby Lobby (my FAVORITE store), although the clearance price wasn't as cheap as I wanted it, but I just LOVED the fabric, so I bought a couple of yards! We have FIVE babies due at our

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EASY Hanging Towel

      Cut a piece of fabric about 16 inches wide. Fold it in half, right sides together.   If you fold it as shown into thirds you can get three toppers made.   Cut your towel in half, across the width.   Fold each half into thirds at th

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Sewing Tutorials- Little Girl’s Dresses

  Here are a few easy tutorials for little girl dresses/skirt. Twirly Skirt   Sunny Day Dresses   The Shirt Dress (Made from a man's dress shirt) Button Shirt Toddler Dress (Also made from a man's shirt.)   Pick up some dress shirts from a yard sale or the t

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Your Gardening Zone

    Here is a site to tell you what zone you are in and what you could be doing garden wise. Learn to Grow           Go HERE to read what you need to do to be part of the From Seeds to Harvest Gardening Challenge and get in on the giveaways! It’s r

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Plant Markers

This is a great project for the kids. It will help with plant identification, they could even write the scientific name on the back. :o) This gives a real visual for the plant name and leaf shape/flower every time the kiddos are in the garden.   Break a clay pot, a great use for those c

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What about Worm Farming?

Have you ever thought of worm farming, or even knew there was such a thing?! I heard of this several years ago, and like all 'good homeschool moms', I bought a book about it. :o) We live on a lake and know dozens of serious gardeners so I thought this would be a perfect home business for at least

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Eager Hands- Giving to the Needy-update

Last night we met for our monthly meeting where we work on some sort of handiwork that will be given to the needy. We are finishing up our shawls and lap blankets to be given to the elderly. Some are beginners, some are more advanced. Mothers and Daughters The little ones enjoyed rolling

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From Our Inbox- Rag Quilt

From Our Inbox- Rag Quilt

When I receive e-mails like this one it blesses me beyond words!  Thank you Kim for sharing!       Ladies, take note of what Kim has done, even without all the fancy tools and new fabrics. GREAT JOB!!!       Hi Kathy,       Here are pictures of t

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Make It, Give It or Sell It - Rice Packs

Make It, Give It or Sell It – Rice Packs

You know those cold winter nights that you just can not get warm? Rice packs are the answer!All you have to do is pop them in a microwave for 3 minutes, flip them over and heat for another 3 minutes ( do not over heat). They stay warm a long time. I love to use mine when my legs ache or if I have a

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Make It, Give It, or Sell It – Receiving Blankets

We are blessed to have LOTS of babies in our circle of friends. I am always looking for ideas for gifts to make and give that are nice, yet not extremely time consuming. These receiving blankets are easy to do, and can be really cute! You could make several in a day or two to have on hand for gift

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Make It, Give It or Sell It – Rag Quilts

I absolutely love doing these! They are so easy and they do not need to be perfect. This is a great beginner's project. For a baby rag quilt you will need: a total of 2 yards of fabric   (for this project I have used 1 yard of each color). If you want to use batting you will need ab

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Make It, Give It or Sell It – Bottle Cap Pin Cushions

Bottle Cap Pin Cushions These are easy to make, pretty and useful too! They also make good little gifts for aspiring needlecrafters! Because we do alot of quilting around here, and hopefully we'll attempt apparel sewing this year, these are handy to have on hand...lol!!! I made several of the

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Make It, Give It or Sell It -Wooden Gift Tags

      We made a BUNCH of these last year and sold them.       We made wall hangings and gift tags from them. I thought they were pretty cool and next to no money in them! Some simply said Merry Christmas or Welcome, others had all the names of the family members. If you

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Make It, Give It, or Sell it - Snowball Candles

Make It, Give It, or Sell it – Snowball Candles

Lay freezer paper down, shinny side up to work on. You could also use wax paper.   Melt candle wax or paraffin wax in a double boiler on med-high heat. Do not melt on high. Cut wicks about 6 inches. If you are not using wicks that are already wax coated you need to dip them in your melted wax

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Make It, Give It or Sell It - Marshmallow Shooters

Make It, Give It or Sell It – Marshmallow Shooters

  Marshmallow Shooters    Gray Electrical 1/2" PVC Cut with a hack saw: ONE   6" ONE 10"  TWO 2 1/2" ONE 3" TWO 3 1/2"      Join with: TWO caps     TWO elbows TWO Ts  Do not gule them, they just slide t

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Make It, Give It or Sell It – Granola

Granola can be real simple with a few ingredients or it can be loaded with goodies! It is also good to make a big batch to keep in your emergency supplies. For this batch I used: Rolled Oats Oat Groats Coconut Oil Honey Raises Sunflower Seeds Pumpkin Seeds Salt Va

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Make It, Give It or Sell It...Bath Products

Make It, Give It or Sell It…Bath Products

      We are strong believers in the entrepreneur spirit! We are always looking for ways to make a profit from home, which is not always in the form of money.     We want our children to know about all aspects of business. Hopefully our children will have built their own bu

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Make It, Give It, Sell It – Crochet Trimmed Socks

  Little girl's socks trimmed in crochet are so precious. They are a cinch to make. You can use any stitch you'd like. Below are a couple of recommendations. You can use threads or fun fur type yarns. They are done with a steel hook, any small one will do, approximately size 7. Using a

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Make it, Give it Sell it! Bartering

    About 2 years ago several us women got together with our 'nitch' that we make or sell. We met at a friend's home; each of us set up a table, and gave a little 'sales pitch' about what we had to offer. Some folks had services, some had products, and some had nice ite

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Make It, Give It or Sell it!

Make It, Give It or Sell it!

Whether it be items to make as gifts or items to sell there are all sorts of things that can be made right from home, thus making money and saving money.   Today begins a new series called Make It, Give It, or Sell It! With the holiday season knocking at  our door there may some things yo

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Pumpkin Tutorials, Make Your Own Pumpkin Spice

MyFrugal Friday tip is the whole week of PUMPKIN RELATED information this week! Look back over the post from this week and read the comments,there are some neat ideas in there!           TODAY IS THE LAST DAY for our Pumpkin Potholder giveaway! Leave a comment

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