I put this under money saving, but it’s really not a tip. I figured it does have something to do with money saving though, and hopefully it will save you some time too. Several months ago I mentioned the product review blog was coming soon. Well, I got busy and forgot to post that it’s up and running. It actually has been since October. Mom’s Market features product reviews from family run businesses. You’ll find mostly products for kids and babies, but there’s also quite a bit for just moms. We have some strict policies on what we will and will not review, so you’ll only find high quality family run businesses featured. Within the next few weeks you’ll also see site and blog reviews as well. But for now be sure to stop by and see reviews on some really fantastic products! Read More →
Need some ideas before or after the holidays for home decorating? We’ve got a whole page of cheap home decorating ideas! There’s a few general ideas featured on this page, but a whole lot of wonderful tips that were sent in. As always, if you have your own ideas, please be sure to share them. While the ideas listed on this page are pretty good, you can never have too many ideas and tips. Read More →
A friend and I spend the entire day baking over the weekend, making cookie and candy dessert trays for our family, friends, and neighbors. While it was a lot of work, we made some pretty fantastic dessert trays. Here’s our list all the desserts that went on our plates: - Chocolate Covered Pretzels - Peanut Butter Fudge - Caramel Filled Chocolate Bars - Sugar Cookies - Cookies & Cream Truffles - Pumpkin Bars - Peanut Brittle Several of these recipes my friend brought over, while a few of the others I had on hand. I think just about everyone has a basic sugar cookie recipe, but the others you might have to look for. One of the recipes I pulled from the Chocolate Lover’s ebook was the carmel filled chocolate bars. The recipe for those are below, but I do have to warn you. I had my doubts it was going to come out good just from...
Somehow I managed to get all my Christmas shopping done…..except for stocking stuffers for the kids. I figured I’d make a quick trip to the dollar store, and spend $20 or less on both the kids. Easy right? Well I started looking at a few things on Amazon.com, and wondered if that might be a better idea. There are quite a few items that would make awesome Christmas stocking stuffers for kids, and quite a few are under a $1. Doesn’t get much better than that! They’ve got some really cute stuff, including holiday specific items like mini coloring books, pens, mini holiday cards, and lots more. You know, the stuff that’s small enough to fit in a stocking with other items. Usually in addition to the small dollar store items, I usually stuff candy in there as well. At a craft show I had found little chocolates wrapped...
I’m a sucker for ebooks. I just love them. They take up absolutely no space, and are filled with useful information. You can find ebooks for just about any subject online if you look hard enough. Cookbooks are no exception. You may have noticed that Idea Queen has quite a few ebooks, with the majority of them being e-cookbooks. What makes this collection nice is they aren’t just “general” cookbooks like you may already have in your kitchen. Instead they are by main ingredient. Which means there is a cookbook just on chicken, pork chop, chocolate, apple, and several others. Some of the other cookbooks you’ll find have a specific theme. For example, there’s one cookbook that just features recipes for sandwiches. Another is just for fun kid foods. The main reason I love these cookbooks so much is because they...
Don’t forget your kids teachers on your Christmas list! If you need something quick and easy, you might want to get them a fun gift basket. Just a little something to show them how much you appreciate how important they are to your kids. There are several ideas on Idea Queen specifically for teacher gift baskets, so be sure to stop by if you need a few ideas. Happy Holidays! Read More →
Since Christmas is almost here and you’ll soon have a few extra toys in the house, I figured this was a good day to pull up a craft we did quite some time ago. It’s been on Idea Queen for a good 2 years now, but it’s one of those crafts you can do as many times as you want. One of our smaller toy boxes I just happened to see yesterday, because it’s now being used for favorite books. The idea is simple – take any box and decorate it. Not only is it something useful, but the kids have something to do for the afternoon. This craft would also be great as something to do after Christmas while the kids are on their winter break from school. We use them for toy collections, books, and other odd toys that can’t just be sitting on the floor. You can make your boxes any shape or size to fit your needs. It’s...
Yesterday was a snow day for us. School was canceled as we knew it would be, so we had absolutely nowhere to be. It’s nice sometimes to be able to take a snow day, where you can just stay inside and do nothing. Or take the day to get all those things done you usually don’t have time for. Since our tree arrived the night before, we took part of the day to decorate. It was fun pulling out all the decorations we’ve made in the past (see the previous post about our ornament craft we do every year). I realized though I’m going to have to string up all the ornaments we made just last year because I ran out of time. I’d forgotten about that until I saw them. Now since I knew we weren’t going anywhere yesterday, I figured it was a great day to make a roast. I’ve had one sitting in the freezer for dang near...
This is my absolute favorite thing to do this time of year. I’m not real big on Christmas, but every year the kids and I make our own Christmas ornaments. It’s become a family tradition that we never miss. What’s great about this craft is you probably have all you need in the house, which makes this a perfect craft to do when your snowed in (like we are today!). First you’ll need cookie cutters and the dough recipe. That can be found on our Christmas ornament craft page at Idea Queen. Just make the dough and cut out your ornaments, then bake. We let them sit over night, and paint the next day. Since this has become a tradition, we also make sure we leave enough dough for each of the kids to make their own hand print. Then each year as we decorate the tree, we look at the hand prints from the previous years to see...
Here’s a quick idea for a cute handmade decoration. You have probably seen lots of sewing crafts for Christmas stockings, but how about scaling it down? Instead of making a full size stocking, make a smaller one to hang on the tree. All you need is felt or fleece in red and white, and possibly a pattern. Stockings aren’t too hard to draw, but it might be better to practice on a piece of paper first before you draw one on your fabric. Don’t forget to add a loop so you can hang your mini-stocking on the tree! Read More →
