Mike and Ally Sitting in a Tree...

S-A-V-I-N-G! I know, I know we're the worst. Grayfeet does not approve.

In The Mood For Love..

 

(Check out the Valentine's Day Challenge!!!! Lot's of awesome project ideas- just click the button!)

Howdy! Can you believe that today is February??? Now, we're not huge fans of going Valentine's Day loco, but we decided that our place needed a little decoration to fill the post-Christmas void. Specifically, our shantle. What is a shantle, you ask? It's the top of our all-purpose hold-it-all shelf in the living room that we decorate as if it were a fireplace mantle! You may recognize it from this little DIY gem:

Mike's Bookshelf Re-Do was so fun and awesome! It left us with a nice open shelf (heretofore referred to as our shantle) to decorate!

So here's what we did to spruce it up for Valentine's day!

We swung by our local Dollar Tree (endless resources for cheap DIY-ers like us!! For under $20 smackers, this is what we came up with: (oh and check back for the terrarium how-to!)



And on top of our long bookshelf, a sweet little framed photo from our engagement portrait session and another "snow" candle.



We plan to add a few more decorative elements- maybe some fancy teacups that are just hanging out in our cabinet filled with candy? Or some smaller tea light holders?

What about you??? Do you decorate for Valentine's Day?

The BEST Chocolate Cupcakes, Ever.

I decided, after a few days of being knocked out by a not so fun cold, that I would resume holiday baking today by making some cupcakes to bring to our family's Christmas Eve fiesta. After paging through a book of cupcake recipes, a few bookmarked websites and of course, The Joy of Baking, the lightbulb clicked on in my brain and I remembered a recipe I had seen on Tasty Kitchen a while back. It was aptly titled, "The Best Chocolate Sheet Cake. Ever." and it truly lives up to that name. Even the batter was absolutely delicious. We're topping them off with peppermint buttercream, but this cake would be just fiiiine on it's own. Enjoy!

Tiny Holidays: Cheapy Cheap Gift Wrapping

Howdy! We have just returned from the Arctic Tundra known as central Maine. We celebrated Christmas a little early with Mike's extended family in their beautiful home (hi Keefs!!) and then stayed the night in the gorgeous lake house of his second-cousin (hi Martha and Ron!). Anyway, we did quite a bit of gift giving and we thought we would share some of our favorite cost-effective gift wrapping ideas that deliver a big WOW for a little dough.

Add lots of texture for a big impact! Here we used some raffia, a little leftover 1-inch wide ribbon and a strip of kraft paper to create visual and textural impact. And guess what? Our gift was picked first for the Yankee swap! So there! Guess what we gave?

A cute coffee mug, a pound of java and some homemade snickerdoodles! Definitely a crowd pleaser, and less than $10! We found the mug at Marshall's for $3.99!

The family tradition at this particular party is to bring a little stocking stuffer for all of the kids. This is a tall order for a couple on a budget, so we tried to come up with bargain gifts that the kids would still love. For the little guys, we gave them a set of crayons and markers wrapped up in a plastic treat bag from the baking aisle at A.C. Moore. We jazzed it up with a bit of raffia and a homemade gift tag!



The 7-year old girl cousins got some sweet little nail polishes and a girly Hello Kitty notebook, both from the dollar section at Target. They older boy cousins got a puzzle and an art project. For gifts for 6 kiddos, we spent under $10!

Speaking of  homemade gift tags...

Did you check out Mike's post about making custom gift wrap?? Cheapy cheap and SO cute!

We made these geometric gift tags with leftover cardboard cut into a 2"x2" square topped with a colorful circle made with our 1" circle punch. Easy and fun!

Here are some fun gift wrapping ideas that we've seen round the Interwebs:

Sweet and unexpected wrapping ideas from Real Simple. Love this peacock feather!

Sweet wine labels from Better Homes and Gardens. If you follow the link, there is a how-to! This could really jazz up a bottle of wine for gift giving!

Super cute and FREE downloadable gift tags from Design*Sponge! These would look so cute with plain, brown kraft paper. Make sure you check out Julia Rothman, the artist's, website!

Let us know your favorite inexpensive ways to jazz up a Christmas gift in the comments!!!!

Tiny Holidays: Matzoh Crack

Guys. Prepare yourselves for trying this if you have not. We call it matzoh crack for good reason: you literally can't stop eating it. Crunchy matzoh, sweet brown sugar caramel and creamy, melty dark chocolate. Swoon. If you have any plans whatsoever in the next week, make and bring this. And then prepare yourself to become the most popular person at the party. This is THAT good..

Tiny Holidays: Gift Guide Round-Up!

Phew! We just finished up our Christmas shopping and this year, we are trying to veer away from the frantic stuff-grabbing that tends to happen when you have tons of people who you want to gift!

Since Mike and I both have large families and we are on a shoestring budget, we decided that we would give the best possible gift that we could afford to everyone- our time! So for our 'rents, sibs and close friends, we'll be gifting them with together time- maybe some sports tickets, dinner out or a little mid-winter pampering. Oh, and on my side of the family we are doing a Secret Santa, too, which is always super fun!

If you still have some shopping to do, here are some awesome gift guides (including our own!) to check out!

Tiny Wallet Gift Guides

• For the Ladies


• Art Gifts


• For Pets


• For the Kids


• Homemade Gifts

Other Awesome Gift Guides:

• Treehugger.com- Foodie Gifts


• Pacing the Panic Room- Guy Gift Guy


• HuffPo.com- Gifts that Keep on Giving


• Martha Stewart- Gift Guide for Crafters


• Design Blahg- Gifts for Girls under $25

Any other gift guides that you LOVE? Do you have a blog that features a gift guide? Let us know and we'll link to you, too!! Happy shopping!

Tiny Holidays: Holiday Decor We Heart

Hey y'all! If you're anything like us, this time of year consists of lots of oooh-ing and aaah-ing over all of the genius holiday decor showing up around the blogosphere! Here are some standouts that have us double-checking our decorating budget to see if there is a little extra room!

1) Sweet holiday vignettes

Tiny Holidays: Easy Shortbread Cookies

Guys. I awoke yesterday morning with a desperate need to bake 20 dozen cookies. Does that ever happen to you? I think it stems from the fact that my brain correlates Christmas decorations to baking cookies. As soon as the decorations are up, the cookies appear- just check out our "to-bake" list!! Our freezer, by next weekend, will be chock full of cylinders of dough waiting to be sliced and baked. If you want to get a jump on your cookie baking, here is my very favorite bake-ahead recipe- shortbread!

Tiny Holidays: Repurpose What You Have!

Howdy from the holiday decorating department here at Tiny Wallet Style. We l-o-v-e decorating for Christmas, so much so that Mike has to implement arbitrary rules as to when the decorating can commence. If these rules are not in effect, Ally might just bust out the Christmas boxes mid-summer.

Tiny Holidays: Thanksgiving Wrap Up

Oh, hello. Didn't see you there from the haze of our food comas. We're finally able to waddle over to Tiny Blogging HQ to update you on our Thanksgiving feast, which was quite wonderful from all accounts. We enjoyed an afternoon of food and festivity with Mike's familia, including his absolutely adorable 90 year old Nana who continues to be the life of the party.

Here she is, pulling off leopard print better than anyone I know. And here is Mike, also trying leopard but not so successful.

Tiny Holidays: Easy Cranberry Sauce

This recipe is super quick and super simple. If you have time, refrigerate overnight. It lets the berries gel a little more and we like to serve it cold at the Thanksgiving meal, anyway. Enjoy!!

Cranberry Sauce

Tiny Holidays: PW's Pecan Pie

This is my first pecan pie, and I must say that it seems...terrifying bad for you. Which obviously means that it tastes fantastic. This recipe comes from the Pioneer Woman, who is an evil genius. Evil, evil, evil. But still a genius.  I'm not quite sure this pie is going to make it till the morning. If not, don't tell my family- okay? You can check out PW's recipe here.

Tiny Holidays: Turkey Day Decor

We did some last-minute crafting in preparation for our Thanksgiving dinner with Mike's family. I thought since we are not eating at home, we could make a few fall-ish crafts that would inject our personality into the meal. Also- I really wanted to make a banner, so I did! This could be easily adapted to any holiday/occasion with different papers, and it cost just a few cents to make! We bought the scrap booking paper on sale at A.C. Moore, and we had the white card stock, so it was really cheapy cheap.

First up, a Thanksgiving banner reminding us to Give Thanks for our many blessings. I look forward to hanging this up again next fall in our own home.

We started with some cardstock (we used size A2 flat cards from Papersource which measure approximately 4"x5"). I cut down some scrap book paper in a fun, sunny yellow pattern to size with scallop scissors. Note- I didn't measure at all for this project. If your banner is a little lopsided I promise you that the world will not end as a result. Glue to backing card stock- we use a glue stick and it works fine.

Tiny Holidays: Man's Best Friend Edition

You give gifts to your pets to celebrate various holidays and birthday...don't you? No? We're just weird? Well...that's hurtful.

Anyway!

We thought that we would round up a few ideas for gifting the pets in your life. After all, they are snuggly, loyal and never complain that your turkey is too dry.

1) Jazz up a run of the mill collar with these nifty little ID tags. At $10 (cheaper than the personalized ones at our local pet store), BowWowzerz has tons of cute options for your pooch (or cat, for that  matter!).

Tiny Holidays: Get In the Kitchen

Here at TWS Headquarters, the second that the thermometer drops below 60°, the oven goes on and the baking commences. I dream about what I'll bake through the entire summer. But, for me, there is no greater time to bake then for the holidays. It's become a tradition that we will deliver freshly baked treats to friends and neighbors instead of giving gifts. With an adorable box or bow, some homemade treats make a perfect (and cheap) holiday gift! Let's check out what goodies are in the running for Tiny Wallet Christmas Gift Boxes 2010:

Tiny Holidays: Art Gifts

Mike and I started a tradition after we got married that we would buy each other art for birthdays, holidays and anniversaries. That way, we will be able to fill our house with unique art and not accumulate lots of stuff that we don't have room for. Most of the time, the art we buy are prints that are super reasonably priced (think under $25)!!!

Some that we love from Etsy:

Tiny Holidays: For the Kids

Shopping for kids can easily become a mad dash into the Mega Toy Emporium to grab whatever plastic gizmo is flashing from the endcap. We believe in giving gifts that are nurturing and creative, not destined for the trash bin a few weeks after Christmas. Here are a few ideas for fun and engaging holiday gifts for the little ones in your life.

1. Art