Merry Little Christmas Archives - Page 4 of 7 - Cha-Ching on a Shoestring™

Merry Little Christmas: Too, Too Fun Wrapping Idea #9 with Printable

November 26th, 2013 By Kaley
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I will make a small commission if you click and make a purchase.

Source: Nativity Sheet Music

I suddenly realized that my pre-decorating ideas all involved small boxes or bags. Hmmm…what about those larger gifts that won’t fit into pre-wrapped cereal boxes???

Aha! A grocery bag will work just fine and dandy, thank you very much.

I take cloth totes when I grocery shop, so Wegmans will give me a few grocery bags–print-free and beautifully flat and unwrinkled–if I ask for them.

For Wrapping Idea#9 I used:

This printable: Away in A Manger

Black and red paper for matting the print

Adhesive

Hole punch for ribbon

Ripped Christmas fabric to slip through the punched holes and then tie into a bow

And there you have it: too, too fun wrapping idea #9.

Check out more Merry Little Christmas projects.

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For those of you who haven’t met her, the Dollar Store Diva happens to be my Mom who has a special power. She can transform Dollar Store and other inexpensive finds into super fun gifts that would brighten anyone’s day!

Merry Little Christmas: Too, Too Fun Wrapping Idea #8 with Printable

November 25th, 2013 By Kaley
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I will make a small commission if you click and make a purchase.

When I saw this gift-wrap idea, I immediately determined to try it myself. And what fun I had.

In fact, I had so much fun that I decided to have even more.

So, I created this:

Since I can only draw smiley faces and clouds, my husband sketched the tree branches for me. But I added the drops of red paint for the berries and then the snow flakes using a white Sakura Pen-touch pen.

The font for the two cards is Jane Austen which can be downloaded for free here.

The lovely winter birds printable can also be used for tags and little paper ornaments.

And there you have it: too, too fun wrapping idea #8.

Check out more Merry Little Christmas projects.

Merry Little Christmas: Too, Too Fun Wrapping Idea #7 with Free Printable

November 24th, 2013 By Kaley
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I will make a small commission if you click and make a purchase.

Bulbs Music

Free Hark the Herald Angels Sing Printable and Wrapping Idea

–Wrap a cereal box with wrapping paper leaving the top open (This paper from the Dollar Tree is both sturdy and a shiny gold.)

–Pull out the cereal box

–Crease sides of bag and fold bottom just like a gift bag (Can cut a piece of cardboard to place in the bottom.)

–Print out Sheet Music: Hark the Herald printable

–Trim and mat with colored paper

–Adhere to the front of the bag

–Punch holes in the top and slip ribbon through to makes handles

And there you have it: too, too fun wrapping idea #7.

Check out more Merry Little Christmas projects.

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Merry Little Christmas: More Too, Too Fun Wrapping Ideas {Video}

November 22nd, 2013 By Kaley
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I will make a small commission if you click and make a purchase.

My Mom and I had another little chat today about some of her latest creative gift wrapping projects. Who knew that ripped fabric could be so lovely?

I love these ideas, don’t you?

Click here if you are reading this in an email and can’t see the video.

Check out more Merry Little Christmas Project posts.

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Merry Little Christmas Project: 3 Ways to Save Time This Christmas

November 20th, 2013 By Kaley
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I will make a small commission if you click and make a purchase.

Want to transform your Christmas with us? My Book The Merry Little Christmas Project – Five Words that will Transform your Christmas has helped thousands of women do just that. If you have ever wished that Christmas didn’t have to be so stressful, I wrote this book for you. Click here to learn more and begin simplifying and organizing your Christmas with me!

3 Ways to Save Time this Christmas

For the longest time I’ve wondered how Santa does it. How on earth does he fit all. those. toys. in that one little red sack?

Then lately, I’ve realized that I am a lot like Santa (minus the beard, of course). But it’s not toys that I’m trying to stuff into a sack.

It’s all. those. activities. that I plan to cram into my one little 24 hour day over the next month or so.

You know: the cookie-baking-and-decorating-and-Christmas-movie-watching-and-advent-traditions-and-Christmas-card-making-and–fa-la-la-la-ling of the upcoming Christmas season.

Not to mention those other frivolities like cooking and cleaning.

Here’s the thing though – I really do want to squeeze every ounce of Christmas out of Christmas. I just can’t help myself.

But something has to give.

Because my time is not nearly as magical as Santa’s little red sack.

So here are three ways that I plan to save TIME this Christmas – and make room for all the FUN of this wonderful time of year.

1. Pillowcases.

Yes, Pillowcases.

This one is a secret that my Mom passed down to me and I am forever grateful. You see, although my Mom loves to wrap gifts creatively, there is only so much one woman with six kids can do.

So my Mom used pillowcases to wrap our gifts.

She also sewed lovely gift bags and I managed to ~~steal~~ acquire a few of them through the years.

So wrapping is not only easy around here, but also happens to be very earth-friendly! (If you are looking for more inspiration on time-saving tips for wrapping, check out my Christmas Wrapping Station makeover from last year. It was the best $12 I spent all Christmas and a HUGE time-saver.)

Estimated Time Saved: 5 – 10 hours

Disclaimer: I still like wrapping paper and sometimes a present calls to be wrapped in it. So I do.

2. Stop Meal Planning

No, I’m not suggesting living off of frozen pizzas, boxed Macaroni & Cheese and cold cereal for dinner. (Although I’m not opposed to the occasional bowl of Frosted Mini Wheats for dinner!)

But I am suggesting that quitting meal planning will save you TIME. So why not try eMeals? It’s like paying a maid about $5 per month to plan your meals and shopping list for you. Plus they are now offering a FREE two week trial

p.s. Yes…that is my affiliate link, so I’ll get a small commission if you decide to sign up. I’ve been using eMeals faithfully for about 5 years now, so I’d recommend them even if you don’t sign up through my link!

Estimated Time Saved: 2 hours per week

3. Eliminate Christmas Card chaos.

As a reminder, I am a BIG fan of Christmas traditions. So, yes…I still write Christmas cards. But last year, I realized that for the cost of a stamp, I could have my cards mailed for me. No addressing, licking, or stamping envelopes involved.

I used Cardstore.com last year, which means I now have my mailing addresses all entered and ready to go. And I used the newsletter-style card, so I still felt like I was sending something with a personal touch:

Fun, right?

Cardstore Christmas Card Deal 2013

Plus this style means you don’t need to have any fancy family portraits taken. Just grab some pics of highlights from the year – even more time saved!

Estimated time saved: 3 hours

There you have it. Three ways I plan to save TIME this Christmas. How about you? What are your best tips for squeezing all those magical Christmas memories into your day?

Check out more Merry Little Christmas Project posts.

Want to save time AND money? Sign up for my FREE Christmas Deals newsletter and receive one email a day with the BEST Christmas deals I find each day!

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Merry Little Christmas: Too, Too Fun Wrapping Idea #6

November 16th, 2013 By Kaley
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I will make a small commission if you click and make a purchase.

Free Joy Printable and Gift Wrap Idea

Here’s another idea for wrapping around a box then removing the box leaving a nifty stand-alone gift bag – and I made free Joy printable tag to top it off!

For Idea #6, I used scrapbooking paper that I got at Michaels for 17 cents a sheet and a tall box I pulled out of my kitchen cupboard.

First, I wrapped the black polka-dotted paper tightly around the box and adhered it with double-sided adhesive.(Do not adhere it to the box.) Then, I cut a strip of the red dotted paper and wrapped that tightly around the black paper. Next, I wrapped some shiny red curling ribbon around the package a few times. The final touch was to slip in my Joy printable tag, then attach it with a black clothes pin. (Anything will do: adhesive, paperclip, brad, yarn.)

The final step is to pull the box out of your lovely gift bag and slip in a sheet of Christmasy tissue paper.

And there you have it: too, too fun wrapping idea #6.

Check out more Merry Little Christmas Wrapping Ideas.

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Merry Little Christmas: Too, Too Fun Wrapping Idea #5

November 13th, 2013 By Kaley
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I will make a small commission if you click and make a purchase.

Happy Holidays Free Printable plus Wrapping Idea

The secret to this gift bag is a box of macaroni!

–I wrapped the full box of macaroni (to provide firmness so it’s easier to wrap paper tightly around it) with black construction paper like I was wrapping a present, leaving the top part open.

–I found the lovely black and white lettering Happy Holidays printable. When I printed it, I increased the percentage of the size of the printable so that it filled a sheet of copy paper. I then adhered it around the box, wrapped some fun yarn around it and tied it in a wispy bow.

–The last step was to remove the box of macaroni and slip in a sheet of tissue paper.

Classy, indeed!

And there you have it: too, too fun wrapping idea #5.

Check out more Merry Little Christmas Wrapping Ideas.

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Merry Little Christmas: Too, Too Fun Wrapping Idea #4

November 8th, 2013 By Kaley
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I will make a small commission if you click and make a purchase.

Picture A

Another cereal box pre-wrapping idea.

These are my simple steps:

–I cut the lid off the top of the cereal box and put a couple of books inside to make the box firm while I wrapped it

–Just like I was wrapping a gift, I wrapped the box with shiny Dollar Tree wrapping paper and tucked the excess paper into the open top, taping it inside the box.

— Next I printed the lovely winter scene scene (source) on white card stock and trimmed it, leaving a white frame around the picture

–With a pencil, I free-handed a wavy line from one side of the picture to the other and then cut across that line.

–I adhered the two pieces to the box separately, leaving a slight space between them with the red paper showing through.

–Finally, I took the books out of the box and used four brads–one in each corner–to add a final touch. I didn’t have black brads so I painted them with black nail polish 🙂

But wait! There’s more!

Picture B

Did you wonder why I left the space between the top and bottom portions of the print?

Look at Picture A, and then look at Picture B. What do you see different?

Yup! A handy-dandy slot to place a To/From gift tag with a slip of twine to pull it out!

And there you have it: too, too fun wrapping idea #4.

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