As a mom of 2 young boys, I try to make sure that we are celebrating Easter for the right reasons. Although we give the boys Easter baskets, decorate Easter eggs, and have an Easter egg hunt, I want them to know that we are celebrating the fact that Jesus rose from the dead rather than the other things.

One of the ways that I try to reinforce Christ in Easter is by giving my boys a chocolate Easter cross rather than an Easter bunny. When I first thought of this idea, I was unable to find any chocolate crosses in the store (last year, they could be found in a few stores). So, I bought a chocolate mold from Ebay and made my own! For a couple of dollars spent on the mold the first year and a couple more on chocolate melts each year, I’m able to give my boys an inexpensive gift. As you can see from the picture on the left, my now 2 year old enjoyed his cross immensely last year!

If you’re interested in making your own chocolate cross this year, you can read my tutorial on making chocolates here. Believe me, the cross is very easy to make. You basically just melt the chocolate and pour it into the mold.

If you need a chocolate cross mold, there are many available on Ebay.  You can pick up chocolate melts at JoAnns or Michaels using the 40% off coupons that they always have in the Sunday paper.

I know that Easter is still about a month away, but I wanted to give you time to order your molds without the stress of hoping they came in time for Easter. I plan on doing a series on Easter ideas in about a week or so.

What do you do for Easter? Do you give your kids chocolate Easter bunnies or something else? How do you reinforce the message of Christ in your home? For more Easter ideas, visit Keeping the Kingdom First.

In my post last week, I gave some frugal ideas that we use at our house. One thing that I do each year, is make my own chocolates to give as a gift to my husband and boys.

Making homemade chocolates is really not that difficult…and they’re delicious (especially the ones with peanut butter filling). The picture on the left shows all the items that you’ll need to get started:

• Chocolate Melts (I’m using dark chocolate)
• Chocolate molds. If you want to have a filling in the chocolate (like pb or mint), you’ll need a deeper mold
• Paintbrush – you’ll need this for spreading the chocolate on the filled chocolates

Not Necessary:

• Chocolate Melting Pot – you can either use this, microwave the chocolate or use a double boiler on the stove
• Box for chocolates

Step One: I made my peanut butter filling.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/4 stick (2 tbsp) melted margarine or butter
• 1 cup powdered sugar

Mix together until it looks like the picture above.

Step Two: melt the chocolate. You can either purchase a Chocolate Melting Pro, like the one pictured (with a 40% off coupon at Michaels or JoAnns, of course), or you could melt the chocolate in the microwave or in a double boiler on the stove. It is very important that you do not get the chocolate wet or too hot (in the microwave) or you will ruin it.

Step Three: once the chocolate is melted, you can start spooning it into the molds.

Solid Chocolates – For solid chocolates (like the ones above), spoon some chocolate into the mold and then bang the mold on the table to level it. You will want to level the chocolate pretty quickly after spooning the chocolate in, so that it doesn’t solidify first. Once you have all the molds filled, stick it in the freezer in a level spot for about 10 minutes.

Filled Chocolates: In order to do a filling, you will need to spoon some chocolate into the mold and then use the paintbrush to spread the chocolate around the bottom and sides of the mold (to create a shell). You don’t want the chocolate to be too thick (or there’s not much room for filling and it will have a thick shell when you bite into it), and you don’t want it to be too thin. I usually pick up the mold and check for any thin spots where I can see the light through it. See the picture above for an example of the shell. Once you have all the shells complete, stick the mold into the freezer on a level spot for several minutes.
Step Four: pull the mold out of the freezer and add your filling. I usually take some peanut butter filling and roll it into a ball and pat into the shell. It’s easier to add more filling than it is to pull some filling out, so smaller is better. Once you have the filling in, add some more chocolate to the top, making sure that it touches the shell to completely enclose the filling. You can see an example of some chocolates with the pb filling and with the top on it in the picture above.

Step Five: arrange your chocolates in a container to give for Valentine’s Day. I reuse this box that I bought several years ago for my husband. You can see all the chocolates that I made in the picture above using only 1 bag of the candy melts.

The important thing to remember when you’re making chocolates is to have fun! It doesn’t matter if the chocolates turn out perfect…they’re homemade, right? It’s the thought that matters .

Have you ever made chocolates before? Any additional tips you’d like to add? Are you inspired to try making chocolates now?

For more frugal tips, visit Being Frugal and for more Sweetheart Treats, visit Life as Mom.

Although I like to show my husband and boys love all year around, we do celebrate Valentine’s Day at our house. I like to make them feel special, but it doesn’t need to break the bank. Here are some of my frugal Valentine’s Day ideas.

Make Chocolates for Hubby (and kids)

When I was growing up, my sister and I would wake up on Valentine’s morning, and we’d have a box of chocolates waiting for us…homemade by my mom. Those chocolates were more special than any bought candy could be, because we knew that our mom took the time to make them for us…plus, she only made chocolates we liked (maybe I’m just picky, but I don’t like every flavor of filling that comes in a box of chocolate).

I have written a tutorial on how to make homemade chocolates (pictures included), and I show you how to make plain chocolates and ones with peanut butter filling. Here are some items that you’ll need to make chocolates:

• Chocolate molds – I usually do some plain chocolate heart chocolates and then some peanut butter filled chocolates. You’ll need a deeper mold (like this one, as an example) for any filling that you want to do. You can find some molds at Michaels or if you have a local cake or candy supply shop, you could try there. Another option, if you can’t find what you want is to search on Ebay for some molds. Don’t forget to shop through a cash-back site like Big Crumbs (up to 36% back), Ebates (3% back) or Upromise (1% college earnings).
• Candy Melts – can be found at Michael’s or JoAnn’s – don’t forget to use 40% off coupons if they’re not on sale.
• If you want to get fancy, you can buy a chocolates box. I bought one several years ago in the shape of a heart, and I reuse it every year.

Make a Card Yourself for the Family

• If you have scrapbooking supplies, use some paper, a picture, and some embellishments to make a homemade card for your husband and your kids.
• Have the kids make their dad a card themselves with art supplies
• Use a digital scrapbook kit to make a card. Some of my favorite kits are this one and this one from the Shabby Princess. I add my picture in Photoshop Elements (you can use any photo program that has layers) and print it out.
• Here are some really cute “Love Coupons” you could use.
• Or, if you are handy at a photo editing program like Photoshop, you could create the card yourself using a free digital scrapbooking kit. The IKEA Goddess compiles a list of digital freebies that you can download each day.

Valentine’s for Classmates and Friends

• Your kids’ classmates won’t care if all the Valentine’s match, so use up any leftover Valentine’s from previous years.
• After Valentine’s Day is over, check out the sales to purchase Valentines for the next year (if you don’t have enough left over).
• You could make your own valentines also. I just got this great space-themed Valentine’s kit. Rather than wasting ink, you can print them as 4×6 prints for pennies.

Valentine Food Ideas

• To make the day special for the kids, keep the theme “red”. For example, serve strawberries, spaghetti, strawberry milk, red Jello, red velvet cake, etc.
• Cut up sandwiches in the shape of a heart.

How do you save money on Valentine’s Day? For more frugal ideas, visit Biblical Womanhood.

Photo courtesy of Plattmunk at stock.xchng.

Last year was my older son’s first year of preschool. I really struggled at Christmas with what to get each of his teachers. He was in 2 different classes, so he had 4 teachers, including the aides. I got together with one parent to purchase a gift certificate for one set of teachers, and I purchased cute mugs at Kohl’s and put together some Snowman’s soup. I purchased several packets of high quality cocoa, sewed some small satchels with Christmas material for marshmallows, and added some small candy canes. I thought that it was a really cute idea…until someone at school mentioned that teacher’s have a gazillion mugs from their students.

This year, I’m on a quest to give my son’s teachers a frugal gift that has practical use for all and doesn’t clutter up their house when Christmas is done. I know that I could purchase gift cards for them again, but those are really quite expensive times the 3 teachers that he has this year. I have decided that I’m going to create Jar Mixes with a fancy Christmas material covering and bow over the top of the lid. Over the years, I have saved jars when I have received mixes as gifts, so I don’t even have to buy the jars.

I haven’t quite decided what recipe I’m going to use, but here are some recipes for several different things.

• Brownie Mix
• Chocolate Chip Cookies Mix
• Peppermint Hot Chocolate in a Jar Mix
• Potato Soup Mix

There are many more recipes out there that can be found by doing a web search, if you’re looking for something specific.

What kinds of homemade gifts have you made for others? Do you have any jar mix recipes that you’ve used before that are great?

Since my boys were born, I’ve sent out a picture with my Christmas cards to long-distance friends and family. The first couple of years, I sent out “normal” Christmas cards and included a picture inside the card.

Then, I got the idea to combine the Christmas card and the picture into one item. However, I did not like the “standard” Christmas cards that you could order at Walmart, etc.

So, I decided to make my own card in Photoshop Elements. The first year, I purchased a Christmas digital scrapbooking kit and designed the card myself in Photoshop Elements. Last year, I couldn’t pass up some premade digital Christmas cards. With the premade cards (like the calendars in a previous post), all you need to supply is the picture. You just add it to another layer in Photoshop Elements (or other photo editing program that has layers).

The first year, I kept my card as a 4×6 print, so I could simply upload it to the place that had the least expensive cards. Last year, I fell in love with a 4×8 design that allowed for several pictures of the boys. That was harder to print, since I had to find a store that would allow me to upload the entire card (basically a blank template) rather than just a picture to add to their template. I could do that on Winkflash, and better yet, they had a sale on the 4×8 prints if you ordered before Thanksgiving. But, you can do a basic 4×6 to keep costs less expensive (that’s what I’m doing this year).

If you wish to design the card on your own, here are some of my favorite designers:

• Shabby Princess – here and here
• Design by Dani
• Sweet Shoppe Designs

Or, if you want to use a premade template, Shabby Princess has some great cards here and here. I’m including a copy of the cards that I used the last 2 years (I blurred out my last name, so that’s why it looks weird there). Also, here is a post that I wrote linking to a set of free Christmas card templates to keep the costs down (and they’re cute!)

What do you do to make Christmas cards? Have you found a great place to print them out, if you use photo cards?

With many people to buy Christmas presents for in my extended family, I have to keep my gift budget fairly low per person. One way that I try to extend the money that I spend is by making some of my gifts.

• I purchase a digital scrapbook calendar kit (see below for some ideas), although many of the photo printing sites have some cute calendar templates.
• I choose which pictures I want to display in the calendar. This can often be one of the most time consuming parts, so I start this early. I also ask others in my family for pictures of their kids to include in the calendar.
• I add my pictures in a photo editing program (I use Photoshop Elements).
• I print it out and bind it. In the past, I have had Office Depot print it and bind it for me, and I’ve printed it out myself at home using cardstock photo paper. I’ve had them printed at Costco for only $9.99 plus $4.95 for shipping, and I’ve used Shutterfly.

• The Shabby Shoppe – I buy from her every year, because her calendars are so cute.
• The Daily Digi has a GREAT list of the calendar products available

What kind of homemade gifts do you make for Christmas? Do you have any questions about the calendars? Let me know!