❈Sac Thrift Chick❈

Things I learned this holiday season: People hang onto their Scrabble games and get rid of brand new, unopened Glee and Twilight games. At least that's what I found to be true at multiple thrift stores in Sacramento. When I decided to make Scrabble crafts for Christmas presents, I figured it would be easy to find an old Scrabble game at one of the many thrift stores I frequent. How wrong I was. I found lots of sad looking Scrabble Jr. games, but no actual Scrabble. In the end, I bought a new Scrabble game, paid for mainly with Shop Your Way points, so I still got a good deal. For my first Christmas craft, I made my mom a decorative picture, turning the Scrabble tiles into crosses. I used Super Glue to secure the letters into the cross shape. I immediately discovered that the glue bled onto front of the tiles, darkening parts of the light wood color. To remedy this, after gluing, I used a light peach nail polish to coat the tiles for a more uniform color. For the pic...

We had so much fun making Christmas gifts last year. For my family, we made everyone a totally awesome, super ugly Christmas sweater. A couple of the sweaters were hand-me-downs and the rest were thrift store purchases. We hit the cheap, ugly sweater goldmine at The Thrift Store on Greenback in Citrus Heights (at least half the price of the ones we found at Goodwill). For decorations, we bought a bag of Christmas trinkets for $5 at Goodwill and picked up a few stockings at other thrift stores. Fabric paint, bows and ribbons were collected from our hoard of craft supplies. We incorporated each recipient's name on his or her sweater. A couple of our creations close up: My mom knew were giving ugly Christmas sweaters as gifts, so she added to the theme with an Ugly Christmas Sweater Cookie Competition. Craft stores sell the kits with everything you need for around $10.

Talking about our charitable contributions is not something my husband and I do a lot of. For us, it's mostly a private matter, but we do like to promote the charities we support. When you don't have a lot to begin with, supporting a charity is not always as easy as writing a check. Giving to charity, however, doesn't have to be about money. Charities need physical items -- new and gently used -- and you can supply these with a little shopping savvy. My first tip may be obvious to most deal-hounds, but it wasn't always to me: Sign up for store mailing lists left and right and use those points and coupon offers to shop for charities. It's so simple, and I find, really fun and fulfilling. My husband and I favor women and children's charities, such as W.E.A.V.E. and the Sacramento Children's Receiving Home , both of which have wish lists of needed items. At Christmastime, they have gift wish lists . It's important to check wish lists as charities...

I will admit something. I was mad at my husband around Valentine's Day of last year. Why? I don't remember. I just remember that I procrastinated on making his gift because I wasn't feeling very lovey-dovey. But then I got over myself and wrote down 54 reasons why I love my husband and pasted said reasons onto a deck of cards for this simple DIY Valentine's Day gift. As I wrote each reason, I smiled more and more. I have one pretty amazing partner. And he absolutely loved my last-minute gift. If you want to make this gift yourself and add to the package, consider buying a poker set for your guy. I actually used the cards from the poker set I bought Aaron for our one-year wedding anniversary, so I really upped the ante on the sentimental value.  Warning: Sexy, hot strip-poker may ensue. 

I didn't do my annual baking this past Christmas, but I was still busy in the kitchen, making cocoa cups. I bought Dixie hot beverage cups and filled each one with a baggy of Swiss Miss hot chocolate, a baggy of mini marshmallows, and three individually-wrapped caramels. I attached a peppermint candy cane to punch up the flavor and presentation. Very simple and very inexpensive. I decided to go with the Dixie cups because they were portable, practical and affordable. I toyed with the idea of doing dollar mugs, but if my gift recipients are anything like me, they don't really need another mug taking up cupboard space. (I paid about $0.50/cup on Amazon, but later found the same 14-count package for about  $0.25/cup at Winco and Target! Target also sells a 26-count package for just $4.39.)

Exfoliate the skin with this super easy and super cheap DIY gift. You Need Granulated white sugar Extra virgin olive oil Peppermint essential oil Jar Step 1. Wash and dry jar. Step 2. Mix together 3 cups white granulated sugar with 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil. Almond oil also works. Step 3. Add approximately 10 drops of peppermint oil.  Step 4. Divide scrub into two bowls. Add food coloring to create desired colors. Step 5. Funnel the scrub into the jar, laying your color choices. This are just general guidelines. The scrub should feel soft but not too oily. I mainly used salsa jars and covered the lids with red Duck Tape. I printed the labels on the computer and added peppermint stickers for decoration. The only thing I purchased specifically for this project was the peppermint essential oil. I found it locally on sale at the Vitamin Shoppe .

At Christmas time this past year, it was jar-crazy in our kitchen and dining room. We had saved jars all year long for crafty presents. We made snow globes, jars of sugar scrub and jars filled with snowmen made of homemade no-bake cookies and fudge. You can turn any one of these thrifty crafts into a cute Valentine's Day gift. The snow globe, especially, is nice for a sentimental present because you can put your sweetie's favorite character, animal or place in the snow globe. Adapt it to the lovers' holiday by using red or pink glitter rather than white for the snow. Or, use heart-shaped confetti instead of glitter. Snow Globe Jars: Madame Alexander doll from a McDonald's Kid's Meal. You Need: Jar with lid Hot glue or other strong, water-proof glue Figurine Water Glitter Step 1. Pick a figurine to put in the jar and ensure the base of the figurine fits inside the bottom of the jar's lid and that the figurine fits easily within the jar wh...