And I'm back!

Thank you all so much for putting up with my absence!  Ma Bacon took a much needed break during this busy time of year.  With the holidays, kids schedules, Mr. Bacon's work and much more I had to put the blog on the back burner for a bit.  Also during this time I decided to finally do something for myself!  Why do we mom's put 'us' on the back burner all the time?  I have decided to make make myself healthier for the new year and I have started exercising. While there was not a ton to lose, the spare tire had to find a new home! I'm happy to say in my time off I'm already lost a lot of inches and pounds.  I'm quite happy with the progress in such a short time.  If you haven't done something for yourself in a while, do it!  It's an amazing feeling.

But I'm back to all my wonderful fans here.  Thank you for sticking around while I was away. Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas and Happy New year too! Sheesh I did miss a lot huh?!   I have to say I was shocked on all the new readers I've seen this over the past few weeks.  Thanks for visiting. I have found that a lot of you came view how we budget our groceries.  I love when my blog is shared. Hopefully soon I can post another shopping adventure and meal plan with everyone.   I'm also going to try to clear up some of the questions I found were asked about how it all works, I seem to find lots of questions about just what we eat! If you have a question you'd like answered feel free to email me! (please no spam or junk mail!)

So what else  have we been up to?  Well the in December my siblings and I decided to surprise our parents for a family Christmas.  It was a fun, busy weekend and one of the best presents our parents got.  One thing we decided to do was a white elephant (or dirty Santa if you call it that) present exchange.  Our limit was one $10 gift per adult to play.  That got my creative side thinking.  I decided to do up some candy bouquets to pass on.  I think they turned out great!  This is easy to make in a short time and a huge hit!  Now I know what you're thinking, Ma Bacon, I don't want to worry about Christmas for 11 more months. I know me either!  But hey Valentines day is coming and these would be a great gift for your sweetie.

Here is what you need:

Container- I found these cute metal buckets in the Target dollar spot!

bamboo skewers

assorted candy of your choosing

Tape

Green floral foam- I used 3x3 squares for this found at walmart

Tissue paper

Candy cane, red pompom & brown pipe cleaner

Start by taking your container and pushing the foam square into the bottom. 

 

Next take a skewer and some candy and start taping candy to them.

Next fold up a piece of tissue paper, be creative as you want.  Take your skewer and poke a hole though the bottom of the tissue paper.  Then insert it into the foam block in your container. I did this for 3 pieces of tissue paper. Securing them down with a skewer to help prevent them from falling out. 

I even placed a piece of tissue paper in the front as well as the back of the bouquet.  Once you have a few sheets of tissue paper in there, continue to tape candy to skewers and place them in the foam.  I used scissors to cut the skewers down to different lengths to create a full bouquet appearance. 

I taped a few small (mini) pieces of candy together too and then placed on a skewer.

 

And to add something else I added a few kiss rosebuds.  To make the rosebuds, first cut a piece of clear plastic wrap about 4 x 4 inches.  I rough guess when I cut them, remember Ma Bacon rarely measures!  Then place 2 kisses bottoms together in the middle of the plastic wrap and fold the wrap around them.  Secure the 'tail' of the rosebud to the secure with tape. 

Add on more than one bud by following the same steps.

 

 Keep placing candy in where you think there's a bare spot until the candy bouquet looks nice and full.  

 

Somehow my camera ate my reindeer pictures! No worries you can follow how to make them HERE.  I made them for the kids to hand out to their class room friends last Christmas time. Everyone loved the few I stuck in the bouquet!  That's it! You have  fun easy and cheap gift.  If you are having a hard time finding a container for valentines day (or Easter, get well, birthday present...)  I made these out of those popular reusable straw cups you can find everywhere too.  These ended up being teacher gifts for the kids to give this past Christmas as well.  They were easy to make as well and I got a good deal on the cups.

I took my foam block and cut it in fourths.  Take one pieces and place it in the middle of a few pieces of tissue paper.  Then push it down into the cup.

 

I tucked the straw and lid on the back side of the cup.  Then I followed the same steps as above with the candy and skewers.  They were a big hit!

So that was my creative Christmas presents!  Oh besides this last guy.  Mr. Bacon needed a gift for his white elephant.  So we made up some Beer Deer.  They are so cute!  And a big hit too. Perfect for that hard to buy for person on your list!  Save the idea for next year!!