A Pretty Bake Sale: Fundraise with Style!

I was so impressed when i saw this gorgeous bake sale over at Swanky Tables. by Jill from the Bird and the Berry. She put together a bake sale in her small neighborhood for Bake for Hope. She did an incredible job for a wonderful cause.

no matter what the occasion for your bake sale... it's all about presentation! so get some tips and ideas from Jill's.. she sold out by three and earned a little over $300! 
you go girl.

my tips for a bake sale:

1. use Aldi's Cookie Dough....
Store Brand Name: Buehler's Cost: $1.89
they have a variety of cookies..but at our youth group bake sales we always sell out fast of the chocolate chip & the peanut butter with reese's cups. they are fast and easy too! we bake them in the church hall's kitchen while everyone is in church above us... it's amazing what a yummy cookie aroma can do for your business. ;) bake them a minute or so under the time given and they end up like subway cookies. we sell them in baggies (bought at aldi's) 4 packs of the small and 2 packs of the bigger ones. We ask for donations instead of pricing them out..usually earn more that way. most people pay $2-$5 per bag.

2. Have healthy options. Now we didn't think of this the first bake sale we did..
we tried to convince everyone that it was a healthyyy bake sale but I think the fact that we kept telling them that they were completelyyy calorie free cookies with a smile gave it away.
Some great sites for healthy recipes are The Sneaky Chef
Mayo Clinic Dessert Recipes
Better Recipes
One great way to bake healthy is by using sugar substitutes. Here's a book by Marlene Koch with 375 Recipes Low in Sugar, Fat and Calories. 


3. If possible have ingredients listed or at least available to see. You'll get a lot more customers if they know what's in it..especially those who have allergies. Here's a great site with recipes for different allergies: mallergies.com i am totally in the dark about all of that because sophia hasn't had any reaction to anything.. it's good to know though because we all know someone who can't eat something because of an allergy. now you have a site to go to when you want to bake them something yummy that they can actually eat. :)


4. Show personality at your bake sale.
We made signs for our youth group bake sale.... and the one i made that said "Jesus wants you to buy cookies" was the real money maker. ;) We also had signs posted on either side of our sophia who was running around with a donation basket. we have no shame. (haha it's horrible.) but she loved it. But really when i say show personality i mean be warm and welcoming! You are the lady with the cookies.. you should be happy! haha.

5. And of course...presentation is key!
 Sometimes things are thrown together last minute and you don't have time to make it all pretty.. it's a miracle if you just get the sweets out there on the table!
but.. if you do have time, having a pretty display goes a long way. you need to draw your customers in with sight & smell.

So busy this week with moving into our new place.sorry if my posts are a little sporadic. We are going from owning a huge house(flipped it) to renting a smaller one. (it is so liberating!!!)But i am learning a lot of tricks along the way to be organized and efficient with our limited space. So expect some posts on that soon. I am lovingggg decorating this place though. it's like a blank canvas waiting for some prettiness. hehe. thank goodness for a wonderful landlord ;) i'll post photos soon!

DIY-Homemade Halloween Costumes

all of these images and ideas are 
from the amazing marthastewart.com

they never cease to impress me over there. :)

Little Red Riding Hood and The Big Bad Wolf Hoodie Costumes.
Some easy crafting with felt and yarn and you can create these warm cute costumes! I think the pairing up is adorable.

Cowboy.
brown paper grocery and trash compactor bags and you got yourself a cowboy!

Glamour Girl.
Faux-Fur Wrap, Flea Market Brooches, grown up wardrobe and jewels and an elegant updo and your little fashionistas are good to go!

Pillowcase Pumpkin.
make with an ordinary pillowcase in an hour 1/2 tops!

Frog Prince and Princess Hoodie Costumes.
Perfect for those cold trick or treating nights! i love how this is put together..

Space Invader.
Egg cartons and foam cups bring this space age adventurer to life! 

Wind.
So cool. how fun to style this.

Flower Bouquet.
I think this idea would be so cute for a group of neighborhood girlfriends/classmates. Or have your kids dress as little flowers and one of them a bumblebee..cute cute.

Woodland Creatures.
Take your basic earth tone knit clothing and attatch with 

Cheerleader.
Love how they created the pleated skirt out of strips of yellow sponge cloths and blue tape. the pom poms are made from checkered mop heads!

Knight and Dragon
Everything you need for this knight costume is a visit to the baking isle!
 and the dino spikes are made from sponges. how clever.

Little Lambs.
I love the cotton hat with the floppy felt ears! They used wool batting, gathered and sewn to a sleeveless leotard.

Hope these gave you some ideas to create a fun budget friendly halloween costume for your little ones! Even if you don't have time to create one and end up grabbing one last minute at target haha.. it's fun to see these cute ideas!

New Baby: Personalized Hospital Visitors/Nurse Goodie Bags!

Hilary won this through my random commenters etsy gifting! I love comment love..and wanted to give some lovin back by creating something personal and fun. I picked a handful of winners last week. When i told her she was picked as a random winner this is what she requested. i love it. So happy you passed along these photos to me Hilary!

Look how absolutely adorable they are....

 so excited for them expecting their first baby! happy to be a part of their special day when they meet their baby girl. and because her husband is in ministry like mine, i feel a special bond!
Check out her blog. she's a sweetheart!

PS. Today is moving day!! we move into our place tomorrow morning. so excited to get settled in. picking out paint colors this weekend. hehe....

Stenciled Accent Wall-Quick and Easy?!

I love Accent Walls. I love stencils. And i LOVE what Patrice over at Lemon Tree Creations did!
I've created looks like this in my own home using supplies from Michaels.
(one was a stamp..one a stencil)
What a great transformation. a little detail that added such vavavoom to the room!
 It immediately looks more decorated. 

Hop on over to the full post here to get all the details. It ended up being an easy and quick project! She used a stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils: Allover, Hourglass Stencil. Great job Patrice!

Fall DIY Project: Leaf Carved Pumpkins

I love this project that they posted over on marthastewart.com 

(one of my favorite sites..get at least 3 e-mails a day from them with ideas!)

All you need for this project are some pumpkins, fallen leaves from your yard & a carving tool! You could line them along your mantle..or your front porch steps... very cute and charming!

directions and photos via marthastewart.com

Step 1

Cut a hole in the pumpkin's top or bottom, and scoop out the insides. Tape leaves to pumpkin and trace around each with a grease pencil; remove leaves.

Step 2

Instead of cutting out the entire leaf shape, use a linoleum cutter with a narrow blade to peel away the rind and expose the flesh, producing decorative motifs or realistic "veins."

Step 3

Alternatively, cut out the entire leaf shape. Using a long miniature saw, cut out part of the leaf to make thin details, such as veins. Reposition the embellished leaf, letting it protrude slightly.As soon as we get settled down we are definitely going to do this project in our house!

Home Tours: Fall Decor from Fellow Bloggers

Here are some lovely Fall decorating ideas from some fabulous fellow bloggers!
Have a look at how they decorate for fall...get ideas and create the look for yourself!

Simply Lovely decorations over at Our Humble Abode

Here's a great example of creating the look for less...by melissa over at 320 Sycamore. love her blog.
check out her post for a cost breakdown! awesome.

I love how hooked on houses shows how it doesn't have to be all orange! gorgeous.

Pops of Orange by with two cats i love that accent wall color! and the little pumpkins across the mantel are perfect.

have fun decorating!
would love to see what you work up in your home.. share links!

Moving with a baby strapped to you is tough.

but we did it!! We officially flipped our house and sold it for a profit...and were able to pay off a bunch of "bad debt." SOOO excited about that. Feeling really blessed right now..and at night ben and i pray for all those trying to sell a house because it is TOUGH. (stressfull...exhausting..you name it. haha.)

It was so funny because we moved out the day we closed...and went straight from loading up the truck to closing...sweaty, completely exhausted and pretty much not great looking haha... but our buyers who we loved showed up all cute and excited. on the way to closing we started laughing because they were in suchhhh a good mood.. and we...were not. haha. we were so tired. We are so happy a cute couple ended up buying the place. yay.

and thank goodness for my baby bjorn! this is the only thing that kept us moving forward packing up with a snuggler like sienna! :) she's my little koala. (excuse the un-showered tired photo.)

this is how i survived moving day.....
 i hid the rest from the photo so i didn't look like a piggy. haha.
not a wise tip from the busy budgeting mama....but a yummy one!! :)

i'll be back into the blogging swing soon..i promise. i miss you blog world! ;)
focusing on my girls right now and getting settled. we are in the transition time before we move into our next place (update: walked away from buying house...decided to rent....first place fell through..searching for plan b...didn't have a plan b before we had to close and move!) but last night as we slept in a hotel with our two snoring babies ben and i were loving our crazy life. enjoying this adventure....stress and all!
most of the time... hehe. pray we find the perfect place! (maybe not perfect, but perfect for us.) 
things are coming together. trying to trust in God and His plan for us.
soooo thankful for ben's fabulous brother & sister-in-law who are putting us up this weekend. sophia has been loving playing with her cousins.. at least she has some familiarity during the craziness :)