I saw a pinterest post about 100 meals under $5 but they were mostly processed foods and box mixes. would anyone be interested in compiling ideas for healthy meals under $5???

Favorite meals $5 or less From pinterest

Dried Pineapple flowers

recently I found the neatest idea to make flowers out of pineapples. when I went back to see how it was done, there were no instructions in english and when I searched google nothing came up except links to the same site.
Here is the site: http://www.duitang.com/people/mblog/20209417/detail/ and the picture:

So with a little experimenting I made my own...

Trim the pineapple

Scoop out the "eyes"

Very thinly slice the pineapple

Set slices in muffin cups (this ends up more like on them then once they are hot the slices will sink down into the cup.)

Bake at 200* for 4-6 hours till browned

Take out and gently shape till cooled (I let some of mine "Set" on a small object to have a more curved shape)

Decorate! :-)

P.S. I hope to post a picture on a cake we are making tomorrow 

Blogger's Quilt Festival

Thanks to Amy's Creative Side's Quilt Show I'm entering my first Quilt show. Online, so you can all enjoy it to. Be sure to check out the others!

 This Quilt was one of my biggest projects and BC (Before Children) 

The quilt was made for a dear friend of our as a wedding gift. It stared with the watercolor heart. I had just heard of water color quilts and wanted to try something small. Then I added borders till I got the size I wanted. The stars and flying geese were added to make the right bed size. I had a horrible time with the star points so I appliqued hearts over the centers and LOVE how it turned out! Through the process I learned a LOT about Quilting. Mostly about planning ahead. LOL I had lots of advice from my Mother-in-Love who is an excellent Quilter. 

Rustic Candle Votive

The house was in great shape and I really needed to do something crafty so here was today's project:
I started with sticks and small jars (jars of pimiento spread or cream cheese and pineapples spread)

Then a little hot glue and time, add candles, a cute bow, and there you go!

Wedding/Christmas Gifts

This year we have had quite a few friends get married. I would really love to make them all something but it has just been too much. So when I ran across this idea I just had to do it!

First you cut the wedding invitation up into readable pieces. slip them into the ornament. Then add a coordinating ribbon of fabric to keep the paper in place. The ornament will have their names, wedding date, location and any other information that is on the invitation. This will be a treasure with lots of memories. 

This one turned out the best. I used the ribbon that was on the invitation to tie on top.
This year our newlywed friends will be getting a christmas ornament and check for gifts.

Sticker Board

 I'm not sure where I saw this idea, but I loved it! Christopher loves stickers and they make great rewards for chores and anything I want to reinforce. :-)
The original one I saw was made out of a heavy poster board. however I wanted something more durable. So I just cut a square out of a large box and covered the edges with duct tape.  Then added foam stickers for his name. We posted it over his bed so his little brother couldn't get to it.

file cabinet save

We found this file cabinet for free. However it was rusty and didn't look that great. (sorry I don't have a before picture) after being inspired by several DYI blogs I decided a coat of spray paint wouldn't hurt! here's the result...

I can't wait to get into our newly rearranged office!