guest post: wreath craft with brittany from the denny buzz

Hi! I'm Brittany from The Denny Buzz! I'm so excited to be stopping by!  

The Denny Buzz is about our family of three and the daily buzz of our lives!  

From recipes, crafts, weekend adventures and more!  

Today I'm excited to share a fun craft that I recently made!
It's a super cute & easy burlap wreath! 

 I originally made this to hang on our front door for my daughter's first birthday party 

........but I had some secret plans in mind when I made it! 

I intentionally wanted to make it in black so I could also turn it into a Halloween wreath!

I followed this tutorial to make the Burlap Bubble Wreath and I found the tutorial off of Katy's blog!  Below are tips that I found useful while following the tutorial 

Supplies:

10" foam wreath 

(I found mine at Hobby Lobby in the back by scrapbooking not with the rest of the wreaths! Also, it's much smaller than you think so yes, you are buying the right thing!  (bc I sure thought I wasn't!)

1.5 yards burlap

Large headed pins

I found it was easiest to make it with someone else (aka super mom!) to help it go faster & to help you judge where you need to fill in empty spots!  Mom started ahead of time by being an angel and cutting our 4"x4" squares for us.  This was the most time consuming step....according to her! ;)  The next step is where the extra set of hands come into play!  My mom folded and stuck the pin in, handed it off to me, and then I placed them into the wreath.  We followed the steps from the tutorial and it turned out great!  

I attached the bumble bee for her birthday party to the burlap with super glue.  It was easy to pop off when I was ready to switch it out and if needed, you can always replace the one or two squares it was attached to!  I found the middle "Trick or Treat" decorative/oversized bottle cap at Hobby Lobby.  I attached it to the ribbon to where it hangs perfectly centered in the wreath!  I loved spending a fun evening with my mom making a craft!  Especially a craft for two separate occasions!       

Make sure to check out the awesome tutorial above and I hope my tips make it that much easier!  Thank you again Joni for having me here today!  I hope you'll buzz on over to The Denny Buzz and say hi!  Have a great week!  

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 joni - sixcherriesontop (at) gmail (dot) com | twitter | facebook | pinterest | instagram: sixcherries

his & her halloween mugs | guest post over at the denny buzz

i am a guest over at the denny buzz blog today sharing how i made these his & her halloween mugs. be sure to stop by and check it out!

joni - sixcherriesontop (at) gmail (dot) com | twitter | facebook | pinterest | instagram: sixcherries

DIY painted keys

i am over HERE today sharing a tiny toot on painting your keys with...nail polish. be sure to stop by and check it out! 

joni - sixcherriesontop (at) gmail (dot) com | twitter | facebook | pinterest | instagram: mamacherry

i'm over at a sorta fairytale today

one of my favorite bloggers, mandy over at a sorta fairytale, so kindly invited me over today to share a typical day with six cherries on top. 

come say "hi" and  and check out what goes on throughout a busy day with the moore family!

joni - sixcherriesontop (at) gmail (dot) com | twitter | facebook | pinterest | instagram: mamacherry

go check it out!

hello friends! 

i'm guest posting over at sunny with a chance of sprinkles today.



thanks to chelsea for inviting me over to share today. be sure to stop by and check out the fun i had making super easy halloween dirt cake cups for my kids this weekend.


joni - sixcherriesontop (at) gmail (dot) com | twitter | facebook | pinterest | instagram: mamacherry

big family, small budget series: saving on vacation

please welcome faith from over at simplicity as our guest this week for the big family, small budget series. thank you so much faith for sharing how your family saves money when vacationing.

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The days are getting shorter, school is starting again and summer is coming to an end and maybe you're wishing you could have taken that summer family vacation... but wondering how you can afford to take your big family on a nice vacation? Well, we have done it twice and I want to share a few little things that made a big difference.

1. I did my reasearch - sites like Expedia.com show hotel rates on an easy to view map. Using one of these travel websites I found less-expensive areas to visit. We might not be able to afford to stay at Jackson, Florida but we could afford to stay at Myrtle Beach, North Carolina.

2. We choose someplace nearby. Myrtle Beach is just a few hours drive. Savannah is another beautiful place I want to take the kids when they are older and not far away. By choosing to vacation in a city nearby we're saving a lot of money on airfare or gas and meals that a ling car trip would require.

3. We rented one larger suite with a kitchenette instead of two rooms. When you have a big family you often run into room capacity issues. For example on one weekend trip we took the motel insisted we pay for two rooms, even though we ended up only using one room and snuggling six people into two beds (it was wonderfully cozy - but then my kids are still pretty small). When I booked our hotel for our vacation I found one of only about a half a dozen places that had suites that allowed all six of us. It was worth it! Also because it had a kitchenette we were able to eat some our meals in our room, which worked perfectly for us since everyone was much too tired from playing in the ocean to want to go out for lunch.

4. We just stayed for the weekend. Since my husband has nearly no time off of work this made more sense for us. We left on Friday as soon as school let out on the last day of the school and came home late afternoon on Sunday.

5. We spent all of our time at the beach. There are lots of wonderful things to do and amazing things to see at Myrtle Beach but we haven't been to any of them. To us nothing is better than walking the beaches and splashing in the waves of the ocean and spending time outside and together as a family. Plus it's free!

6. We saved money on food by packing a dinner for our car trip on Friday and I also brought breakfast and lunch for Saturday and snacks for the trip home on Sunday. That only left Saturday's dinner and Sunday's breakfast to pay for. We always get breakfast at the Krispy Kreme on the main drag in Myrtle Beach. They have some pretty amazing doughnuts there and is a great way to end our vacation.

I packed a lot of fresh fruit (there's nothing like a big bowl of watermellon after a long day on the beach!) stuff for sandwiches, mac and cheese - the kind with the pre-mad sauce in a pouch, pop tarts (we almost never have these at home so it's  real treat to have them while we're on vacation.

A few other tips:

Rates are even lower if you're able to book your vacation during the week.

Look into staying with family - one year when I was a child we went to Disney World Florida and stayed with my great aunt - the day we spent with them was my favorite part of the entire trip! Anither year we spent a week with another great aunt at her dairy farm. I got to play with cousins, meet other distant cousins and we took a trip to the lake with my grandparents at the end, it was wonderful and only as expensive as the gas it took to get us there.  Maybe you have a great aunt of your own somewhere?

I'm saving for our next vacation by using a cash-rewards credit card to pay for things like gas and groceries. I have only had the card for a few months and I already have over $100 in rewards points!

I have also saved for vacations by putting $20 of my grocery money in an envelope in my sock drawer at the beginning of each month. If I've done really well with my budget I might even be able to add more to it at the end of the month! That is the equivalent of eating out or ordering in one time. We can eat out one time less each month if it means having a memorable family vacation!

Take LOTS of pictures and print them out into a photo book. (see mine here.) Even though I only have one day of photos they still are a reminder of a great time we spent as a family and brings a smile to our faces every time we sit down to look at it.

Another thing you could do is rent one big home and share with another family.

If your kids are not yet in school, or you homeschool go during during the off-season. There are wonderful places to go and things to see at every time of year and you'll get hotel rooms at a real bargin if you go while evryone else is busy with school!

Faith is the mother of five, blogger and online photography teacher - connect with her on her blog Simplicity and follow her tweets on twitter.

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thanks again to faith for stopping by today. and, remember that when planning vacations, it's not about how expensive and lavish the vacation is that is important. it is about making memories with your family that will last a lifetime.

joni - sixcherriesontop (at) gmail (dot) com | twitter | facebook | pinterest | instagram: mamacherry