Pine Cone Fire Starter Gift Baskets

My girlfriend, Paula, has once again proven without a doubt that she is the most creative person I know. I visited her in Hope, Arkansas last week. We had a great time being creative together once again. Paula was prepared with a fun and easy craft idea for the Holiday’s. We made pine cone fire starter gift baskets. The pine cones ended up looking like miniature Christmas trees. We were thrilled with the results. This is an easy, inexpensive, environment friendly craft project that works great as a gift for anyone with a fireplace. I have tried to summarize the process for you.



PINE CONE FIRE STARTERS

Add some color and sparkle to your fire! Pine cone fire starters are helpful when getting your fire started in the fireplace or at campfires. They will change colors adding a fun twist kids and adults alike will love.

Supplies:

Candle wicks

Coffee Can

Cooking Spray

Crayons

Epsom Salt

Glitter

Medium Sauce Pan

Muffin pans

Paraffin Wax (Gulf wax for canning)

Pine cones

Tongs

Fragrance Oil (Scent of your choice)


Instructions:

Soak pine cones in Epsom salt water (1lb of epsom salt for every gallon of water) for 24 hours. Ice chests work great for soaking a large number of pine cones.

Lay the pine cones out on a towel and let them dry completely.

Begin boiling 1-2 cups of water in medium sauce pan. (Just enough to fill about ¼ of the pan)

Make sure your coffee can will fit on top of the sauce pan.

Place coffee tin on top of boiling water (like a homemade double boiler).

CAUTION: Be VERY careful while melting and handling the wax.

Carefully begin melting paraffin wax in the coffee tin. Be sure to use pot holders or mitts to hold the coffee can as it heats up.

Mix in your crayons to create your desired color.

Add a little fragrance oil to wax mixture.

Once the wax and crayons are completely melted, remove from heat.

Use tongs to dip pine cones in wax mixture.

Dip pine cones several times to coat them thoroughly with wax. Be careful not to coat too thick. Just keep in mind; they will be used in fireplaces.

If desired, add glitter to pine cones before wax completely dries.

Coat your muffin pan with cooking spray.

Pour leftover wax in the muffin pan cups, about 1/3 full.

Place the candle wick and then the pine cone in each muffin pan cup to create a bottom for the pine cone to stand up and a wick to light.

Place the pan of pine cones in the refrigerator to harden.

When the wax has completely cooled, remove pine cones from the pan.

Your pine cone fire starters are ready to go.

Simply decorate a gift basket with basket fill or tissue paper. Insert your pine cone fire starters. Embellish the basket with Holiday flowers, berries and ribbon.

You will have gift baskets of pine cone starters for great holiday gifts that people will love for their beauty and functionality.


Helpful Tips:


Collect your own pine cones instead of purchasing them. We found over 50 in one, quick walk.

Find old, worn out crayons around the house.

Save your old coffee tins. Use them to melt the wax in and then recycle it when you’re done.

Lay paper (packing paper or newspaper) on your working surface for easy cleanup.

CAUTION: Be VERY careful while melting and handling the wax.

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Holiday Gift Ideas for Church, Neighbors, Office & School

The holidays are fast approaching. It is hard to believe Thanksgiving is only 2 weeks away. I, for one, really like to get my holiday shopping finished early. This year, I am way behind. I have not purchased one gift!

This leads me to think about how to get it done and fast.

My Best Advice: Consider party favors as a holiday gift option for your church family, neighbors, office colleagues and children’s school teachers. Large discounts are often available when you buy in bulk. For example, if you purchase 1 or 2 it might be $3.00 each. However, if you purchase in bulk, your price might be as low as $1.50 each.

Be sure to watch for shipping specials as well. Often, you can buy in bulk and pay a set flat fee for shipping. Beware of retailers offering big discounts up front. You may be in for a surprise when you go to checkout and the shipping and handling costs are added.

Religious and whimsical party favors are some of my favorites for the holidays. Key chains, bookmarks and wine stoppers are just a few examples of really great gift options available with party favors.

To sum it up, party favors make great holiday gifts and are available at affordable prices with huge bulk discounts and inexpensive shipping. Scratch most of the names off your holiday shopping list with one, easy purchase while saving big at the same time!

Hope you find this helpful. More advice to follow soon.

http://www.shopchristi.com/ is my online gift site and offers party favors with bulk discounts and set flat fee of $7.99 for shipping. I created www.ShopChristi.com based on my own online shopping experiences. I want the best price, shipping rates and customer service when I make an online purchase. So, that is exactly what you will find at www.ShopChristi.com, the best online options for gift giving along with great customer service.

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AVON eRepresentative

I started selling AVON today!  I love the wide variety of quality products AVON offers at affordable prices!  The beauty products and children items are my favorite.  I have personally used AVON products for 15 years.  Whether it is for my own beauty routine or a gift for special occasion, I can always find what I need within the AVON product line.  My goal is to provide you with high quality products at great prices while providing the best customer service!  Check out my new AVON online store at http://www.youravon.com/christithomas.

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Well my boys' are really siked about Halloween now!  The costumes, I had such a hard time finding, arrived today!  And yes, Mommy did keep the secret.  They were both surprised and thrilled to see their costumes.  There was so much excitement we could not find the claws for Wolverine... I was actually writing a complaint email to the vendor when my son found one of the claws.  Thank goodness he found it before I sent the email.  We found the other claw under the coffee table.  Who knew?  I guess when we opened the box they fell out and landed perfectly out of sight.  Oh the joy when both claws were found!  All thoughts of homework and karate were gone for a while since both boys insisted on wearing their costumes right away.  Blade and Wolverine magically appeared in our house.  Eventually, we did get the homework done and moved onto karate class.  I'm thrilled both my boys are so happy.  Now, I just hope we can keep the costumes in tact until Halloween actually gets here!

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This is a very good tip I learned from my best friend, Paula.

In order to keep your home smelling fresh and clean, without using expensive fragrance products, simply hide a small bowl of vinegar in each room. The vinegar will absorb offensive odors in the air, leaving your home smelling fresh.

One large bottle of vinegar will last for months. Simply refill the hidden vinegar bowls every 2-3 weeks. The vinegar is lot more eco friendly than the expensive sprays, plug-ins, candles, etc. Also, you will not overpower sensitive noses. Once the vinegar is in place, you will notice everyday odors do not linger near as long.

I use the vinegar trick in my home regularly. I love the low cost of vinegar vs. the heavily packaged fragrance products. Also, the plastic vinegar bottle is easily recycled and the bowls are reusable. It definitely helped with pet odors, cooking odors and bathroom odors. Even if I am not right on top of my house cleaning, I know my house will continue to smell fresh until I do get around to cleaning. (I know shame on me, but hey I want to enjoy life, as I'm sure you do too!)

Hope you find this information helpful and give it a try. I think you with be pleasantly surprised at how well it works.

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Halloween Costume Dilemma Solved

Good morning!

I am happy to report the Halloween costume dilemma is solved. After many searches, I finally found both costumes online last night. The problem, most costume sites are already out of stock, just like the stores. The Blade costume was very hard to find (at a good price). Helpful hint, if you procrastinated like I did, you might want to get it done now rather than later. Also, if you do not find what you’re looking for in the costume shops, try EBay.com. EBay had them both in stock and at the best price. I had to purchase them from two different sources. However, even with shipping, it was less than I would have paid elsewhere.

My boys will be very surprised when they arrive. I am going to try and not tell them, but they are so inquisitive. We will have to see if Mommy can keep the secret...! I'll keep you updated.

Well, I'm off to work on my website. Come on by and visit, especially if you are looking for a Halloween costume for your pet! You will find lots of options at the best prices with flat rate shipping of $7.99 per order... www.ShopChristi.com/Halloween.html.

Hope you have a blessed day!

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A good Saturday with my boys

Ok so I spent the day with my boys. First we went shopping for Halloween costumes. My boys want to be Blade and Wolverine. We visited three stores and found absolutely nothing. Of course, we will not stop looking. My boys are too strong willed for that, our search must continue until we find them. Oh joy! Next we went to the boys' carnival at school. They had lots of fun jumping around in the bounce houses (for hours, literally). We finally got them to move around to the games and hay ride. My fave every year is the cake walk. I have always loved the cake walk! I guess because I seem very lucky with it. I won the first go round. Johnathon and Jason won on the second go round and Anthony won on the fourth go round. We came home with lots of cupcakes and brownies. Love it! Cupcakes are my favorite so of course I picked those. All my guys picked brownies... I have to admit I love those too. So overall, the carnival won out over Halloween shopping and made for a great family day all around. Any day I get to spend good, quality time with my guys is the best!

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The Holiday's are right around the corner.  Are you planning a party?  This article contains some unique ideas I have never heard or read about before.  Make your Holiday party extra special by incorporating one or more of these helpful tips. 

Click here to read the article.

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Fast and Simple Costumes ideas for Halloween - includes quick list of main supplies as well as detail instructions with one click. 

Great information on how to do it yourself, possibly at the last minute, while saving money at the same time!

Click here to view a large variety of DIY costume ideas.

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This article contains good information on how to "go green" with your decor while saving money at the same time! 

Featuring Susie Coelho, host of "Surprise Gardener" and "Outer Spaces" for HGTV and a best-selling author on decorating, she designs indoor and outdoor décor for Grandin Road catalog.

Check it out for cost saving green decorating ideas from an expert... Click here to read the article.

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My First Blog

Yes, my first blog... finally!  I have wanted to blog for a while and just haven't gotten around to it.  So here we go, I am setup and ready to begin.  I hope you will find my blogs helpful and informative. 

As a proud mother of two boys, I love to shop, craft, cook, read, game but most of all I just simply love my computer! My passion is to bring you practical, money saving ideas to help you with the many different aspects of celebrating everyday life!

I am really looking forward to getting started... more to come soon, so go ahead start following my blog now. 

Also, I invite you to visit my site http://www.shopchristi.com/ for unique gifts, party favors and supplies for all occasions!

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