Last minute end of the season cheerleader gift bags

If you are needing to put together a last minute gift for a squad of cheerleaders, or SUPER last minute in my case, you have come to the right place! I needed to do the same thing last week for my daughter’s cheer team and I only had a few hours to make it happen.

I knew I didn’t want to spend a ton of money, because I’m frugal like that, but I also didn’t want whatever I put together to seem cheap.

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

So off to Walmart I went. My youngest daughter and I trolled up and down the aisles of our TINY Walmart, which carries about 1/4 of the variety that a super center does, but we found some goodies that were perfect for cheerleader gift bags.

We went for a pamper yourself theme that the girls loved! And I only spend $60, not counting what I already had at home.

Here’s what I filled the bags with. Each girl got one of the following

• small tin of Nivea lotion (find it on Amazon here)

• clear nail polish

• nail file (purchased in a pk of 12)

• bath bomb

• coiled hair tie

• popcorn bag

• hot cocoa

• 2 mini chocolate bars

Other items I bought to make the gift bags

• roll of yellow ribbon

• roll of blue ribbon

• yellow tissue paper

• blue tissue paper

I already had these materials on hand

• brown paper bags

• vinyl (I used two different brands)

• Cricut cutting machine

• Cricut green mat

• Cricut Design Space

• Cricut Access

• transfer tape

• vinyl squeegee

• clear bags

To keep the bags simple, and because I didn’t know everyone’s name on the cheer squad, I cut out vinyl decals that said ‘ HUSKERS CHEER’ with a megaphone. I used Cricut Design Space and used my Cricut Access for this. Click here to find the link to my project in design space.

I made my decals 5” wide so they would fit perfectly on the gift bags.

I had two different brands of vinyl that I used (Oracal & Starcraft) but any colored vinyl, that’s not HTV, will work. What I had on had were matte and gloss but I would have preferred it all to have been matte.

I used my Cricut Explore and green cutting mat to cut my decals out. You can see how well loved both my machine and mat is lol! If you’re looking for a cart for your cutting machine I HIGHLY recommend the one in this pic. I absolutely LOVE it!

This decal was a little more work than I really wanted to do BUT it was sooooo cute! Each bag had 4 different vinyl pieces to put on the bags. But since they were all the same I was able to get them on the bags pretty quickly.

I used clear transfer tape and a vinyl squeegee to help get them on the bags easier.

I didn’t want to just throw everything inside the brown bags. I thought separating the items out like this made the pampered bags look a lot nicer and fancier. I put the nail polish and file in one bag. The edible treats in another bag. And the lotion, hair tie, and bath bomb in another bag. My cheerleader loved this.

Once I started getting the decals on my older girls and I made an assembly line to fill the bags. We were really pressed for time by this point lol. It worked pretty great. And they learned how to curl package ribbon.

These were so quick to make and had a lot of school spirit to show on the outside with the tissue paper and curled ribbons. The girls loved them!

I hope you enjoyed this quick and easy project.

Happy crafting!

Check out more projects made with my Cricut

Where to buy STENCIL MATERIAL for SIGN MAKING super cheap

SAVE MONEY ON ORAMASK STENCIL FILM WHEN MAKING PAINTED WOOD SIGNS

Making painted wooden signs can get expensive. The wood, paint, SVG files, transfer tape, stencil film, power tools, it all adds up. But, did you know you CAN save money on STENCIL FILM for sign making? I know a lot of people prefer to use anything but Oramask 813 because it can be pricey but you don’t have to compromise. You CAN use the proper material, ORAMASK 813, for the same price OR even cheaper than other materials that tend to be less expensive. The key is to find the right vendor. With prices varying so much from vendor to vendor it’s hard to know where you should order from. One may carry a 12”x12” sheet for $0.90 while another will have the same thing priced for $1.25. While the difference in price isn’t a lot it does add up when you figure some signs take several feet of stencil film just to create.

 Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

I have ordered through countless companies and I will tell you I have sent some stencil film back. Why? Stencil film is a sensitive type of material. If wound TOO tight it will not cut properly and will leave bubbles all throughout the freshly cut design making it impossible to use. If you ever receive Oramask 813 stencil film from a company and the stencil film is not wound around a large 3”-4” cardboard tube you will likely waste your time trying to use it.

A little comparison, the stencil film on the left cost me $0.66 per fo ot, the one on the right cost me $0.90 per foot AND I have to order a LOT or pay for shipping for the $.90/ft price one.

I haven’t always used stencil material to paint my handmade signs though. When I first started out I used shelf liner…please just save yourself the headache if you are planning on painting signs for a business and DON’T use shelf liner. For me anyway, shelf liner caused more problems than it was worth. I have made THOUSANDS of signs and that is a decision in my business that I do not regret one bit. It caused so many problems, too many to get into for this post but I will make one later about the pros to using professional grade stencil film vs shelf liner later on.

WHERE TO BUY ORAMASK 813 STENCIL FILM IN BULK TO SAVE MONEY?

I swore I would never order rolls of oramask 813 from Amazon again but…here I am telling you that's exactly where I order from now and where you should too if you want to cut costs on stencil making. After a lot of buying from different companies, Amazon and small business websites, I have found the LOWEST PRICE I’VE EVER SEEN FOR STENCIL FILM and they properly wind the stencil film around a wide enough cardboard tube. It saves me SO MUCH MONEY in my sign making business. That’s more money that our family can put into savings. More money for my husband and I to feed our four daughters. More money we can put back into the business. I couldn’t keep this little secret to myself because I want you to order from a good company AND save money too!

So here’s what I do, I order a giant roll of ORAMASK 813 STENCIL FILM that measures 24'“ wide by 10 yards (30 feet) long. You’re probably thinking ‘seriously, Megan, I have a CRICUT and it only cuts up to 11.5” wide thanks but no thanks’. If you follow me on here or any of my social media accounts you know that’s what I use too, for almost a decade now.

CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOUR ORAMASK STENCIL MATERIAL

Hear me out… IF you have a miter saw, have a family member that has a miter saw, know someone who has a miter saw OR happen to make a brand new best friend that has a miter saw, you can cut that 24” wide roll of stencil film in HALF so now you have 2 rolls instead of 1 that you can easily use to make stencils with any 12” deck vinyl cutting machine.

Let that sink in. I was kicking myself when I found this out! SO MUCH MONEY WASTED ON 12” ROLLS OF VINYL. But you live and learn and since I’ve learned I’m sharing it with you.

Your vinyl will likely come shipped in plastic to protect it. Leave it in the plastic until you are done cutting it. Measure in 12” from where your stencil film starts, NOT where the cardboard starts. Then make a mark.

Be sure your stencil film is still in the plastic, this will help keep the edges nice and clean. If it didn’t come shipping in plastic you can tape around the very middle where it measures 12” with wide painters tape, this will have the same effect. Then line your saw up with your 12” mark and cut. Wipe away any saw dust, you don’t want any of that when going to cut your stencils out with your Cricut or Silhouette machine.

I’m not a big math person but I can do simple math lol. When I buy these giant rolls of stencil film they cost about $40. $40 divided by 30 (number of feet in the roll) = $1.33 but wait it’s still 24” wide so you divide $1.33 by 2 (because you will have 2 12” rolls of stencil film after you cut it in half) = $0.66!

Yes, SIXTY SIX CENTS $0.66 per foot for oramask stencil film. Granted, prices go up and down so it may not be exactly this price when you go to buy but that is the price when I purchase it. And since I am a AMAZON PRIME member I’ve already paid for my shipping with my membership. Which is totally worth the super small fee in my opinion.

How to make beeswax wraps, reusable cotton saran wrap

Make your own reusable cotton food wraps

I gotta say I am impressed with these simple yet useful beeswax reusable cotton wraps. If you’ve never heard of these before you’re not alone, my husband had no idea what they were and I’m pretty sure he thought I was crazy when I told him what I wanted to make. You use these cloth wraps in your kitchen to replace saran wrap…genius I know! I had never used beeswax or pine resin before this DIY, I actually had no idea pine resin was a thing to buy until recently. But after seeing how easy this project was I am eager to try others that use these ingredients.

I read several different articles telling how to make them. They all basically used the same three ingredients: BEESWAX, PINE RESIN, JOJOBA OIL. Some however didn’t use the pine resin, or any resin at all, and what I read, and now agree with since I have made them myself, is that you won’t get that sticky saran wrap feel unless you use the pine resin. Technically you can just use beeswax but I wouldn’t recommend it.

If you enjoy this money saving tip be sure to check out these reusable oil bottles for the kitchen.

DIY EASY BEESWAX & RESIN SARAN WRAP

Here’s what you'll need

• beeswax pellets

• pine resin

• jojoba oil

• 100% cotton fabric

• pinking shears

• chip brush

• sauce pan

• wide mouth half pint mason jar

• measuring spoons

• measuring cup

• aluminum foil

• cookie sheet

• cooling rack

• flexible squeegee

• preheated oven at 215 degrees

This is the recipe I used

• 1/2 c BEESWAX PELLETS

• 2 t PINE RESIN

• 1/2 t JOJOBA OIL

The first couple of wraps I made I only used 1 teaspoon of the pine resin and I did not like the way those wraps turned out. So I doubled the resin for the next batch and they turned out SO much better!

1.MELT THE INGREDIENTS

Preheat your oven to 215 degrees. Then mix 1/2 cup of beeswax pellets, 2 teaspoons of pine resin, and 1/2 teaspoon of jojoba oil. The BEST way to do this is to melt it all in a double boiler. I used an old sauce pan and a short mason jar for this. I put a small amount of water in the sauce pan because I didn’t want the jar to float and I knew since I was making a small batch it wouldn’t take much to heat of the jar to melt the beeswax. I used a thin chip brush to do all of the stirring.

2. CUT YOUR FABRIC

while my ingredients were melting I cut my fabric into pieces I thought would be good sizes for what I wanted to use them for. I cut a few small ones that would fit around the top of a jar. Several medium sized ones that would be good to wrap around food. And a couple of large ones that would fit around my larger sized mixing bowls. I used my grandma’s old pair of pinking shears on the edges of the fabric so that the edges wouldn’t fray once I start using the food wraps. Also, you want to be sure you are using 100% cotton.

3. BRUSH ON & BAKE

Line your cookie sheet with foil, shiny side down. Place a piece of your fabric on the cookie sheet. Use the chip brush to brush on the melted mixture. Then pop it in the oven for 5 minutes or so. Do not skip placing it in the over. If you just brush the wax mixture on your food wraps they will be stiff, the mixture won’t be on the fabric evenly and it will result in them not working quite right. Placing them in the oven allows the wax to melt completely into the fabric and giving you a nice even coat over the entire piece of fabric.

4. REMOVE EXCESS WAX

Remove your cookie sheet from the oven. Use a squeegee, here's the kind I used, and squeegee the excess beeswax mixture off of the fabric. I didn’t do this for the first couple of wraps I made and I didn’t like how they turned out, for two reasons - there wasn’t enough resin AND they were WAY TOO stiff and waxy. None of the tutorials I read said to do this step though. So maybe they know something I don’t. But I do know when I went to use the first two to try them out before I made more they were kind of blah and I wasn’t impressed at all with them. After I squeegeed the excess off it made all the difference in the world! I didn’t let the excess go to waste either. I scooped it up and placed it back into the mason jar so it could melt back down.

5. REMOVE & LET DRY

Immediately take them off of the baking sheet and place them somewhere to dry. I lined a cookie drying rack with a piece of foil and then placed the finished wax wraps on there to dry. It didn’t take very long at all for them to completely dry on the drying rack.

6. USE

Once your food wraps are dry you can start using them immediately. I was so surprised at how well these turned out! I’m even thinking about making some to give as gifts to family and friends.

Like with all of my DIY posts if you have any questions please feel free to ask. If you make these at home I’d love to hear how yours turn out!

Happy crafting!

Reusable oil spray bottles + FREE SVG file

The days of buying cooking oil spray bottles are over. I don’t know about you but I really dislike buying Pam at the grocery store, actually it’s never name brand because I’m super frugal and have a big family to feed lol! Buying that spray always feels like such a fat waste of money and in our house cooking oil spray doesn’t last very long anyway so we are always running out at the worst time. Yes, using a paper towel with oil on it will get the job done but sometimes it would just be one less thing to stress about when you go to pull it out of the cabinet only to find one of the oldest of the four daughters put it back in there with barely a squirt left in it.

So I got on Amazon and found some heavy duty looking spray bottles that looked perfect to hold our veggie and olive oils.

Even though you can totally tell which one is which I thought it would still be a good idea to label them. I figured it would at least save me from having the same conversation a couple times a week as to what one is olive oil and what one is vegetable oil.

I really like the skinny type fonts but since the labels are going on oil bottles I thought a thicker font would work much better. If a little oil gets under the vinyl decals of a thin font they will come off super easy. If you want to use the same SVG I used you can get it here in my FREE RESOURCE LIBRARY.

Watch my video on my YouTube channel or keep scrolling for the written/photo tutorial

DIY LABELED OIL BOTTLES FOR THE KITCHEN

Here’s what I used

• Cricut cutting machine (I have an older explore and it works perfectly for projects like this)

• Cricut cutting mat

• Cricut Design Space

• 651 black vinyl

• transfer tape

• xacto knife

• lint free cloth

• isopropyl alcohol

• vinyl squeegee

• food grade glass spray bottles (I used 2)

• olive & veggie svg file

1. Cut out your vinyl decal. I used my Cricut Explore set on the vinyl cut setting and the green cutting mat. I used Oracal 651, permanent outdoor grade vinyl, in black matte finish. I measured out the length of the spray bottles I was applying it to and made it a little shorter in length. I keep most all of my scraps of vinyl in a plastic tote just for projects like this. You never know when you’ll need a small piece of vinyl lol!

2. I like using an xacto knife to weed my vinyl projects. You can use a fancy vinyl picker like this one but I think these are a little more difficult to hold than a simple xacto knife. Be sure when you weed your design you are weeding out the background, not the letter themselves.

3. I completely forgot to wash the bottles before applying the decals but I was sure to wash them before I added the oil to them ;). You want to wipe down the area of the bottle you are applying the decal to with isopropyl alcohol. This will remove any dirt or oil and allow for the best adhesion of the vinyl.

4. Apply transfer tape to the front of your decal. Use your vinyl squeegee to remove any air bubbles then peel the paper backing off of your vinyl decal.

5. Place your vinyl decal where you would like it to go on your glass spray bottle. I like to hover it over where I’m thinking about placing it first. Once you place vinyl down, especially small decals like these, it’s really difficult to get them to come up without ruining them.

6. When you have your decal where you want it to go place it down gently starting from the middle and work your way out. This will help to keep the air bubbles to a minimum. Use your vinyl squeegee to remove any air bubbles you see then peel the transfer tape off of your vinyl decal.

7. Fill your bottles with oil and enjoy!

I know we are going to get A LOT of use out of these reusable oil spray bottles!

If you have any questions please ask away:)!

Starting a side hustle from home when you're a stay at home momma

SIDE HUSTLE I know so many mommas out there can relate to this. Whether you want to bring in a little income to make ends meet or you simply just want to feel apart of the work force again you are not alone.

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

Before I get too deep into this I want to clarify I LOVE being a SAHM {stay at home momma}. It fulfills me and makes me a better person. I have never resented the choice to stay home with our four girls and I know I never will but I also enjoy bringing in an income for our family and doing something that makes me feel like I’m apart of the workforce.

So you want to start a side hustle from the convenience of your home while still fully being a SAHM. How the heck do you do that in such a saturated online market space? I’m not going to tell you it’s easy but it IS easier than ever before to make money from home. Even just 11 years ago when we had our very first daughter there was no way we had the resources in our home for me to be in the online space. Heck, my husband and I didn’t even have fancy phones back then we still relied on our home phone to make calls. But now here we are in 2019 and I am not only doing a side hustle in the online space from home I am making a part time income that we use to pay actual bills every single month. As a mom of four this is SO fulfilling! I get to express my creativity, bring in money for our family, and live out my dreams.

I’m going to walk you through some things you should be doing if you too are a SAHM and want to start your own side hustle.

You need to decided what you love to do. Starting a side hustle doing something you love and enjoy will be far more successful than something you hate. For instance I love crafting! I’m pretty sure it runs through my blood stream so naturally I went that route. I don’t particularly love taking surveys or doing MLM {multi level marketing, think Mary Kay} although I have tried those types of things, they aren’t for me. If you don’t know what you love I suggest making a list of things you might be interested in. Start researching those topics, see if you can make a side hustle out of them first, then try your hand at whatever it is before you get too heavily deep into your hustle. Sometimes we find that we really like something on the surface but it isn’t till we get our hands in it we don’t actually LOVE doing it.

Research. Research. Research. I can’t tell you how many videos I watched, articles I read, and newsletters I subscribed to until I found the answers I was looking for. And I’m still learning every single day because the online space changes rapidly. I personally was looking into selling on Etsy but selling online was a bit foreign to me. I had never been a customer on Etsy before so I had no idea how that platform worked but I knew it would be a good starting off point for a handmade business from all the things I researched. I learned so much about things I didn’t even know I needed to know. If you do some research and want to open your own Etsy shop you can get 40 FREE listings. {that is an affiliate link where Etsy will give us both 40 listings for free when you open a shop}.

Block time out. This is a must and something I struggle with because I am a momma of four. I have learned over the years I NEED to do this. Multitasking in your business, for instance I would starting painting boards and while they were drying I would do house work. While this may seem logical it really wasn’t. I would move from one chore to the next because the housework needed to get done and before I knew it the day was over and school was letting out. Find a time that works for your family and schedule it. Remember though, you’re a momma so there will be times when your schedule gets all messed up and crazy, that’s life. Just go with it and if you try to make an effort to stick to your schedule the best you can and you will see bigger results in your side hustle.

Take it seriously. If you take your business seriously and don’t care what anyone outside of your immediate family {your husband and your kids} thinks your business will be successful. You can’t let anyone make you feel like what you are doing doesn’t matter or that you won’t go anywhere with it. That negativity is not welcome! If I listened to those vibes then I certainly wouldn’t be sitting here typing this for you to read.

Have a space to work. This is a must. It doesn’t have to be very big but you do need a space. When I first started selling online we were living in a TINY house with just 2 bedrooms for 6 people. Granted we could make that work because our girls were young, newborn-2nd grade, but we were still living on top of one another. I made my space behind our couch. I had a small 4’ table that I had set up that I only took down if we had company coming over for a party or holiday so we could make more room. Was it my dream space? Absolutely not. But it was a space where I could work on orders and I was grateful for that tiny little space.

Don’t give up. If you truly want to make your side hustle work you can’t give up the first time you fall. I have fallen many, MANY times but with each fall I learn something new that I can apply to my life and business. When I first started out we didn’t have internet in our house, no computer, no printer, so I would go to the library to print off my Etsy orders and shipping labels. Do you know how hard it is to take four kids to the library to try and work? But I didn’t give up, I pushed forward and I am SO glad I did. It wasn’t easy but I knew it could be done if I just kept trying day after day.

I hope these small tips help you on your path to finding that side hustle you’re looking for.

How to save money on cheese WITHOUT clipping coupons

Whether you have a big family or prefer to buy in bulk this is a cheesy good deal you won't want to pass up! {I know that was a terrible intro but I couldn't resist!}

I used to be one of those crazy couponing ladies...the real deal! I had the binder. I had the coupons. I had my trips planned out. I even taught people how to coupon. And I loved it! But once our online business took off I didn't have the time to do it anymore. I didn't have time to bounce from store to store, scour the sale ads for the best deals, and mindlessly clip coupons. So I had to explore other money saving options. That's when I found SAMs club!

Back in my couponing days I would stock up on shredded cheese when it was $1/8oz bag, $.12/oz. I would buy enough to last us till it was it's season to go on sale again {yes, this is a real thing but I'll save that for another post}.  Now that I'm not couponing I still try to find the best deal but not nearly as good as the deals I used to score. I am excited to say have gotten pretty darn close to that stock up cheese price at SAMs and I don't have to spend HOURS searching for the deal! Everything is bulk buy there, which is great for big families like ours. We go through cheese like a bunch of crazy cheese obsessed people! But it's just SO darn delicious!

SAMs sells a giant 5 POUND bag of colby/jack shredded cheese for about $12/bag, $.15/oz...seriously affordable! The bag doesn't come with a fancy zipper but it does have a sticky tab you can use to close it. I've found that if you have kids this doesn't work so great. Someone will move things around in the fridge, the cheese will fall over and the next thing you know you're sweeping $10 worth of cheese into the trashcan. 

Here's what I do. I buy gallon sized zipper bags from Walmart and divided the cheese into 3 different bags. We typically will go through a bag before its expiration date so I don't usually bother with freezing it. But, if your family won't go through all 5lbs of cheese in that time, pop a couple bags in the freezer and pull them out when you need them. Shredded cheese is perfectly ok to freeze. However, you don't want to freeze sliced or block cheese, it will crumble once it's thawed.

Then once you're done rebagging and storing you're done! Super easy and it's that price every single week! 

If you don't have a SAMs membership ask your family and friends if they do. I am sure you will find someone that would be willing to let you take a shopping trip with them. Then you'll see for yourself that getting one of your own is a GREAT investment for your family too.