This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #WrapGiveRepeat #CollectiveBias

Okay, I have a confession to make. I’m a little ridiculous when it comes to the holiday season. Before this month even began I had all my holiday shopping completed for the season. Yes, I’m one of those folks who enjoys planning and gets all their gift shopping done the week of before Labor Day and to be honest, this savvy saver wouldn’t have it any other way.

Now despite my uber planning tendencies, there is one area that I generally wait to finish, my holiday gift wrapping. Now in years past, and before I began my journey into minimalism and zero-waste living, I would spend a good chunk of change on beautiful boutique wrapping paper so I could achieve that Pinterest-perfect holiday look for each present under my Pinterest-perfect Christmas tree! While each package looked lovely, it was a little bittersweet to see my family tear each package open, gingerly throwing my best efforts on the floor! Worse still, once Christmas morning came and went, my family was left with numerous bags of paper trimming that would rarely be reused or recycled.

This holiday season, however, I’ve made it my mission to become a more conscientious gift wrapper. So today, with a little ingenuity and a whole lot of zero-waste creativity I’ll be sharing with you five eco-friendly ways to wrap your holiday gifts this season. My secret to making this magic happen – Scotch® Brand wrapping products! I picked my supplies up several weeks ago at my local Walmart store and saved with in-store Rollback savings.

So what will you need? 

• Construction paper
• Butcher block paper
• Brown Kraft paper
• Black Scrapbook paper
• Three wooden skewers
• Scotch™ Multi-Purpose Scissor 8”
• Scotch® Magic™ Tape 3 Pack Caddie
• Scotch® Gift Wrap Tape 3 Pack Caddie
• Scotch® Moving and Storage Tape
• Markers (in various colors)
• Crayons
• Washi Tape
• Black permanent marker
• Pencil
• Chalk Marker
• Present Toppers (I used a $1.00 train set, wooden stars, crown ornament, and two play cars)
• Black floral wire

If you don’t have any of these things laying around your home, use can pick up your Scotch™ Multi-Purpose Scissor 8”, Scotch® Magic™ Tape 3 Pack Caddie, Scotch® Magic™ Tape 3 Pack Caddie, and Scotch® Moving and Packing Tape supplies at your local Walmart, right in-store on the Christmas 2016 Holiday Wrapping Paper Aisle! 

Also, if you are like me and prefer to do most of your shopping online, your orders may arrive pre-wrapped in brown kraft paper. So if your parcels contain this valued commodity, don’t throw that paper away, just grab a Scotch® Magic™ Tape 3 Pack Caddie of on your next trip to Walmart to go with what supplies you have on hand at home. 

For my first package, I’m making a classic teddy bear box. Wrap your box using brown kraft paper and secure it using Scotch® Magic tape. Now using a cup or mug, trace out a small circle onto your butcher block paper. Then turning your box to one side, attach your circle with Scotch® Gift Wrap Tape, centered, half-way down your box.

Next, cut out two additional circles of brown kraft paper using your Scotch™ Multi-Purpose Scissor 8”. Next, take your kraft circles and fold them into a cone shape, which should be turned on their sides, and attached to the top of your box, like ears, secured with Scotch® Gift Wrap Tape. Now, using a black permanent marker, draw on your teddy bear’s muzzle, nose, and eyes, and write your recipient’s name on top of your package behind on of your teddy’s ears. That’s it! Isn’t that adorable? 

Using butcher block paper, wrap your package securing it with Scotch® Magic™ Tape. Now using a cup or mug, trace out and then cut out two small circles out of your white butcher block paper and red construction paper, using your Scotch™ Multi-Purpose Scissor 8”. Then turning your box to one side (the side that has flap closures), attach your circles, first to come another and then to the box itself with Scotch® Magic™ Tape, first to each other, then pinched in half to create ears, and finally to the top third of your box (spaced evenly apart) to act as mouse ears. Next, secure your gold crown to the top of your package with three small strips of Scotch® Magic™ Tape.

Finally, using a black permanent marker draw on your mouse’s eyes and whiskers, and using a pink gel pen, add your mouse’s nose. For an added cute touch, cut a zig-zag strip of red construction paper using your Scotch™ Multi-Purpose Scissor 8” to create a tail for your mouse and attach to your package with Scotch® Gift Wrap Tape on the back of your box, making sure that half your tail is visible from the front of your box. That’s it! Again another awesome, quick, wrapping project!

Using butcher block paper, wrap your box securing it with several small pieces of tape from your Scotch® Gift Wrap Tape 3 Pack Caddie. Then you simply place five crayons on top of your package, first with a three-inch piece of Scotch® Gift Wrap Tape and then overlay with two small strips of washi tape, to adhere your crayons in place. Embellish your package using colored markers, writing color me on the box and your recipient’s name to your package as well.

Using brown kraft paper, wrap your package and secure your sides using Scotch® Gift Wrap Tape. Now taking a sheet of black scrapbook paper and your Scotch™ Multi-Purpose Scissor 8”, cut out two 2″ x 10″ strips. Attach your strips to your package using Scotch® Gift Wrap Tape. Now, take two 6″ pieces of black wire and attach both your toys cars to your package, placing your wire under your track and pulling upwards and twisting your cars in place above your lanes in opposite lanes and directions. You will then need to use a chalk marker to create road lane markers and to write your recipient’s name on the side of your box. And then you’re done! 

Using brown kraft paper, wrap your package and secure using Scotch® Magic tape. Next, lay out and center a 12″ square sheet of green construction paper to the top of your package and secure it with Scotch® Magic tape. Now, using a bowl as a guide, trace out a 6″ circle of blue construction paper and lay it on top of your green construction paper square, centered, and secure in place using your Scotch® Magic tape. Then cut out a 4″ circle of green construction paper using your Scotch™ Multi-Purpose Scissor 8” to create a lake. You will want your circle to be imperfect as you are looking to replicate the look of a small island in the middle of a lake, and not a perfect circle. Secure your island in the center of your blue construction paper lake using Scotch® Magic tape.

Now you’ll create your trio of holiday trees. Start by cutting out three triangles using your Scotch™ Multi-Purpose Scissor 8”, in descending size, from 3″-5,” from your green construction paper. Then you’ll need to fold your triangles towards yourself in an accordion pattern, making half an inch folds as you go. Repeat this for all three trees.

To assemble your trees, take a wooden skewer and pierce the center of each tree, working your way completely through your paper. Then unfurl your trees by pulling your accordion folds down starting from the bottom layer and working your way up.

Finally,  secure the top parts of each tree (the side that face away from you) with a half inch piece of Scotch® Magic tape behind each tree. Then using your Scotch™ Multi-Purpose Scissor 8”, trim the excess length of your skewers so that each tree is again 3″-5″ in length. You will attach your trees to the base of your center green construction paper island with small pieces Scotch® Magic tape. You can embellish your trees by adding a small wooden star to each tree, which is secured with Scotch® Magic tape on the back side of each tree’s star. 

Then using your Scotch™ Multi-Purpose Scissor 8”, trim the excess length of your skewers so that each tree is again 3″-5″ in length. You will attach your trees to the base of your center green construction paper island with several small pieces Scotch® Magic tape. You can camouflage your Scotch® Magic tape with additional shreds of green construction paper.

To finish up, embellish your trees by adding a small wooden star to each of the trees, which is again secured with Scotch® Magic tape on the back side of each tree’s star. 

Now for your train. Start by assembling your train set. Next, attach your train track to the center of your package, along with the outside rim of your blue construction paper lake. You will need to then cut four 6″ sections of black wire using your Scotch™ Multi-Purpose Scissor 8”. Then using your cut pieces of wire attach each side of your track and both your engine and boxcars to your package. Finish things up by writing your recipient’s name on the front of a larger wooden star with a pencil, and place your star into your open box car, securing it with Scotch® Magic tape. That’s it. How stinking cute is that?

So there you have it! Five Zero-Waste Gift Wrap Ideas for Kids! Now doesn’t it feel great to be eco-friendly and creative at the same time? I personally love the look of the finished packages, especially the train track package!

Moreover, the money that I saved this year on wrapping I’ll be donating to Fisher House, which is a charity that provides a network of comfort homes where military and veterans’ families can stay at no cost while a loved one is receiving medical treatment. This donation means a lot to me as my husband is a veteran of war himself. What’s really awesome is that Scotch® Brand is also donating $200,000 to Fisher House this holiday season too. Charity first, friends! 

So now friends, I encourage you all to reconsider how you all will wrap gifts for your kiddos this season, look for more zero-waste packaging methods and then be sure to pick up all your needed gift wrapping supplies, including Scotch® brand tape and scissors, at your local Walmart. 

Also, if you’re looking for additional gift wrapping ideas be sure to check out Scotch® Brand online on their Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest pages! 

Now, friends, I would love to know, what are your favorite gift wrapping ideas? Do you have any Zero-Waste Gift Wrap Ideas for Kids, I would love to hear about them below!

Please note, this post was made possible by iConnect and Old Spice. I was compensated for my participation in this campaign, but all opinions are 100% my own.

When it comes to the holidays I am always on the lookout for gift giving ideas to help to make my home feel more merry and bright during the hectic holiday season. Like many others, I grew up with the smell of Old Spice in the home. It was something my uncles wore often, and now as the maven of my own home, Old Spice is one of the staple items I make sure to pick up for quick and affordable stocking stuffer ideas for the men and boys in my family.

So this past week when we were sent a stocking filled with amazing stocking stuffers for the man in my life from Old Spice, I was excited to add them to my list of holiday stocking stuffer gift ideas and to share the selection with you, my readers, as well. 

Something else that is exciting this year is that aside from the classic Old Spice colognes and body washes, Old Spice is also offering the men in our lives an awesome new Styling products line. Products that can the guys in our lives, even the manliest of groomers, hair care items which can get them in and out of the bathroom in a snap this holiday season!

These hair styling products from the Old Spice line include the Old Spice Pomade, which gives you a moderate hold and a low shine finish, as well as the Old Spice Paste, which gives you a medium hold along with a textured finish, giving that natural look that can last all day. There is also the Old Spice Putty, a product that gives you a high hold, low shine finish, great for getting those textured, shapeable looks men and boys love as well as the Old Spice Fiber Wax, which gives you a flexible hold and shine, ideal for versatile naturally textured styles. Finally, there is the Old Spice Forming Creme, a product designed for natural hold and shine, great for more laid back styles!

What’s really awesome about this line is that all of the before mentioned products are all available in the hair care aisles of many mass retailers and drugstores nationwide as well as at OldSpice.com. They are also all affordably priced, between $6.99-$7.99, so you won’t have to break the budget to stuff your holiday stocking full of these awesome Old Spice products. These products make keeping your family’s Old Spice tradition fun and frugal!

Now for a little surprise: You can enter to win your own Old Spice gift pack! To enter, just leave me a comment below letting me know which product you would most like to try. Please note, this giveaway is open to US residents 18 and over, and current LadyPrefers2Save subscriber. This giveaway will end on 12/14/16 at 11:59pm CST. Good luck, everyone!

So, friends, I encourage you to check out this awesome new line of Old Spice Hair Care products this holiday season at a retailer near you, as well as on social media on Twitter and Facebook, so you can celebrate Happy Hairidays with the men and boys in your life, too!

So now I have to ask, what do you think of the new Old Spice Hair Styling products? Will you be picking some up this season, and what is your favorite Old Spice scent? I’d love to hear about it below! 

For as long as I can remember my family has always celebrated the advent season, the season that marks the beginning of the Christian year across the world, including many western churches in the United States. While the length of the advent season varies from church to church, ranging from 22-28 days, beginning the Sunday closest to Saint Andrew’s Day and ending on Christmas Day.

As a full-fledged maven in my own right, I’ve continued this tradition by creating an Advent Calendar full of activities each season for my own family, and this year is no exception. My new 2016 calendar is finished, and as today is the first day of December, the start of the advent season, I’m really looking forward to experiencing all of the memories this month’s calendar will entail. 

Now keep in mind that this year’s calendar looks a little different, as it reflects our family’s current transition to a more minimal, more zero-waste home. I modeled this year’s calendar on the less in more principal. Meaning there were fewer things to purchase to pull this calendar of events together for my family, but there will be far more memories to be made in the process, which is a total win in my book!

As well, in lieu of using resources to make physical calendars for family, or opting for either the pre-made wooden craft store versions of the vintage cardboard Advent Calendars with the less than stellar chocolate candies inside, I instead opted to create a digital Canva graphic calendar, which is set as our screen cover on all of our home’s electronic devices. This keeps our advent calendar fresh in everyone’s mind this season and saves our home a lot of unnecessary waste and clean-up. Simple, basic, and handy. 

So, without further ado here is our Fun & Frugal 2016 Advent Calendar:

So now I have to ask, what will you be doing this year for your own Advent Season? Do you have a special way of presenting your calendars to your families each year? I’d love to hear about it below!

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #ToPetsWithLove #CollectiveBias

Our pets are members of our family. If you haven’t met our band of rascally critters here on my blog before, let me introduce you: Roxie the West Highland White Terrier, Sassy the Shih-Tzu, Harley the Chihuahua, Shadow, our beautiful Bombay, and Boo Radley, an American Shorthair cat.

While we consider our motley crew of furry friends family, I think we love them all the more because each came into our lives as adopted pets, and as the old saying goes, who rescued who? I also like to think that our pets love us equally in return, and not just for the copious amounts of table scraps my family sneakily gives them during meals! 

With the holiday season soon upon us, I wanted to make sure that we included our furry friends in this year’s Christmas festivities, and what does any full-fledged member of the family receive each holiday season? Well, a stocking, of course!

Each year I make sure that our pets have nice stockings and stocking stuffers at Christmas. This year I wanted to mix things up a bit and include a few DIY pet toys among the presents they receive.

For our cats, I made a DIY Hanging Cat Scratcher. This scratcher will hang on a doorknob and give my cats a means to harmlessly indulge their natural instinct to flex their claws and scratch. This was a very simple project to make and cost only around five dollars to create, making this a very frugal pet stocking stuffer idea. 

Here’s what you’ll need to get started:

• 12″ section of 2″ x 4″ 
• 50′ package of sisal rope
• Wood glue (not in photo)
• Non-Toxic Kids Trim Paint 
• Paint Brush
• Drill
• Ribbon (optional)

To begin, make sure your board is smooth to the touch. Sand if needed. You will then need to pre-drill two holes so your scratcher can be hung. Measure out and drill 1 inch down and 2 inches apart from both the top and bottom of your board. After drilling, wipe away any dust or shavings left over with a clean cloth. You’ll now need to paint the top and bottom four inches of your board on both sides. Allow the paint to dry for 24-hours before moving on to the next step.

To create your scratcher, start two inches from the end of your board and spiral the sisal rope around the bottom of the board, gluing it in place as you go. Remember, wood glue takes a while to dry. Go slow in the beginning and gauge your work accordingly. Allow your board to dry for a full 24-hours.

Now you will need to cut a 1-foot section of rope for your handle. To make a loop, simply lace the two ends of the rope through the back side of your board and tying a knot on each side of the sisal.

Your scratcher is now ready to be hung and enjoyed. If giving this scratcher as a gift consider adding a ribbon bow to the finished project.  This will make your scratcher a bit more festive.

Now for my canine companions, I created DIY Doggy Doughnut sock toys! This is another quick and inexpensive project to make as they can be made from mismatched socks or from festive holiday socks. Either way, they’re awesome!

Here’s what you’ll need to get started:

• 1 Pairs of Holiday Themed Socks, per doughnut
• 1 Pair of thick socks, per doughnut
• Needle & Thread
• Ribbon (optional)
• Scissors

To begin, cut off the toe from all your socks. You want to have openings at both ends of your socks. Once your socks are cut lay them in lines and turn them inside out. Then place your holiday socks inside of the plain socks. 

To form your donuts start by rolling the plain sock inward towards itself until you form a ring. To prevent your doughnuts from unrolling, take a needle and thread and quick stitch around the hem of the underside of the sock roll. If you have a dog that isn’t an aggressive chewer, you can skip this step altogether. To finish off your doughnuts, simply stack them up and tie them together with bakers twine or ribbon! 

Once my DIY’s were done it was time to assemble my stockings. This year I decided to create two separate stockings, one for our cats and another for our dogs. 

The stockings were repurposed and embellished with DIY crocheted bands, bows, and glittered star ornaments.

Now for the fun stuff! I also included lots of fun and frugal treats for my pets. Here’s everything our cats and dogs will be receiving this in their stockings:

• Beggin’ Strips
• Busy Bones
• Chewnola Busy Bones
• Purina DentaLife Sticks
• Fancy Feast Purely Trays
• Friskies Party Mix
• Whisker Lickin’s
• Rope toys
• Cat Wand
• Stuffing-less dog toy
• Squeaker mouse

To finish everything up, I stuffed my stockings and hung them up for safe keeping on my vintage wooden ladder. This way I’m hoping to be able to keep all of these awesome treats safe in their stockings until Christmas!

Just like with my stocking stuffers, I also give my dogs the best food I can each day. I give them Beneful IncrediBites dry dog food because it has been reformulated to feature meat as it’s #1 ingredient and without any added sugar. I love that this newly reformulated recipe was created directly from the feedback of real pet owners, like myself, who demand wholesome, antioxidant-rich ingredients for their own furry family members.

As a pet owner, it’s important for me to provide my pets with foods and treats that are as tasty as they are good for them.

As you can see, Shadow and Boo really enjoy their Fancy Feast Purely cat food trays, which features real seafood, chicken, or beef, without any by-products or fillers, and the yummy Whisker Lickin’s Soft & Delicious treats. 

Roxie, on the other hand, loves her Busy Chewnola Dog Treats, which provide her with a long-lasting chewy treat that’ll keep her both busy and happy this holiday season, and maybe even out the Christmas tree this year! As for Harley, he’s always game for a Beggin’ Strip, as they smell and taste like bacon because they’re made with real bacon!

Since all of my pets really enjoy eating these awesome, affordable Purina products,  I made sure that I keep extra Purina treats on hand for them to enjoy for the entirety of the holiday season too! 

What’s even better? When picking up everything I needed to fill my pets holiday stockings this year, I didn’t have to go out of the way as your local Kroger store is always full of all of your pet’s favorite food, treats, and toys. 

From the newest Fancy Feast Purely formulations to delicious Purina DentaLife treats, you can stock up on everything your pet needs this holiday season right on the pet aisle in-store, making shopping at your neighborhood Kroger an easy way to show your pets how much you care. Even during the hectic hustle and bustle of the holiday season.

Did you know that you can help spread the holiday cheer to your furry friends with the help of Purina? Now through the end of November, take advantage of great savings on your favorite Purina pet products available at Kroger with this Coupons.com link, while supplies last. 

Well, friends, I hope these tutorials gave you a few ideas for creating your own pet stockings this holiday season. Also, be sure to be sure to click here for more #ToPetsWithLove pet gift giving ideas as well!

Just remember that when it comes to buying treats to fill those stockings, by choosing quality Purina products you’ll have all your pet’s nutritional and play needs to be met. After all, they’re family and family deserves the best! 

So from our furry family to yours, we wish you have a wonderful holiday season filled with lots of love and delicious pet treats from Kroger!

Please note, the above statements cannot be taken as professional veterinary advice. Please consult your veterinarian for recommendations and practices appropriate for your pet.