Lesson #146 - You CAN Do More With Less (Guest Post)

I am always in such awe of those who come up with great DIY projects - and then are able to complete them! Tammy is one of those people who can look at something like a small silver trash can and turn it into a beautiful pink receptacle for your pooch's dinner! I wish I could complete even 1/10th of the awesomeness that Tammy has done!!


First of all, I am greatly honored to be asked to share with you some of my projects here on Lessons Learned.


My name is Tammy and I am the author of Not Just Paper and Glue. I am also a wife and mother living on a small farm in the heart of Texas where life is never dull! Not Just Paper and Glue is a place where you'll find everything from scrapbooking to cheesemaking, handmade cards to homemade soap, wild flowers to tame sunsets and cool crafts to fresh hot bread - because life is not just about paper and glue; it's a whole lot more!

I have always loved to create things and I have always loved to homeschool. Combining these two passions just seemed to be a natural blend.

Some of the “cons” of homeschooling is becoming a one income family. For us, that meant “cut backs” and “sacrifices” needed to be made. For each homeschooling family those sacrifices are made in different areas. For us, it meant we would become a one vehicle family and we would try to “do more with less”.

We started out on a small 3 acre farm and began raising dairy goats. This taught us how to make many different items from scratch and my boys were learning things they might have never learned in a regular school setting.

We learned to apply the subjects we studied to every day life. Think about some of these subjects and how they apply; you might come up with a few more that we didn’t consider.

White Butter





                           Chevre Cheese                                    {Utterly Divine} Sweet Chevre Dessert

Best Biscuit Mix                                                            Fresh Biscuits

Since we were relying on only one vehicle I could no longer jump into the car and go pick up what I needed. This helped my creativity grow since I needed to use things that I already had. It gave me the chance to look at things “differently” and create beautiful items for my home from some unlikely sources.

Lampshade to Bucket

Magazine File Holder Makeover and Ice Cream Buckets Transformed

This Blog Has Gone to the Dogs

Message Center

Thank you so much for having me over today! You can find more projects by visiting my blog, Not Just Paper and Glue.