Frugal Friday!

Being frugal, or "budget conscious", is incredibly important to us at A & B. We pride ourselves on not limiting creativity or style because of a smaller budget.

I want to make a point on Fridays (and probably other weekdays as well!) to share some of the different ideas we have and/ or links to others' great inspirations to show how easy it can be to make beautiful gifts, cards, or other creations on a budget.

Last year I wanted to come up with an updated version of the "cookie in a jar" gift. I wanted to make something that was vintage inspired (of course!) but that also

looked stylish and like care had been taken in making it.

We love this gift idea because it's low cost, can be adapted for any occasion, doesn't take many supplies, can be made pretty quickly and it's something that people can use over and over again.

First, you need mason jars (or any other jars for that matter) you can get them for free on your local Freecycle pretty frequently and Goodwill and other thrift stores often have them pretty cheap as well. (Also, remember if they're missing their lid it's okay because you can buy those at the grocery store.) For my tags I used adorable Cosmo Cricket paper (you can of course pick any kind that you like, vintage newspaper, or book pages would be really cute too!) that I could write the recipe for my cookies on the back of.

Next, I picked a cute vintage inspired fabric from a local fabric store, and cut it into a square to go around the lid. This is another area where you can pick whatever fabric you like that will make it your own and best applicable to the occasion you're making it for.

Lastly, I used a ribbon that I liked and attached the tags that I had whole-punched and voila! All that's left is adding your favorite cookie, soup or

other dry ingredient mix and you're done!

Homemade/ handmade gifts are so personal and mean so much. I think it's always such a treat to get them (and make them!) and it's nice to know that you don't have to buy a ton of supplies, be Martha, or break the bank to make them in bulk and with your own style.

We hope you enjoyed this spin on a classic gift that can be used for all occasions! See more handcrafted items on our flickr account at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aandbcreative/