Artsy-Fartsy Mama's Top 10 Posts of 2014

It's always fun to see what posts have been the most popular throughout the year. I have enjoyed sharing my recipes, projects, and free printables with you throughout 2014 and am excited to share even more in 2015!

Free Printable Budget Planner

It's the time of year to be thinking about new goals for the next year, and one thing on my list is to become better organized with our bills. Budgeting can be overwhelming, but if you use the right tools, it doesn't have to be so hard.

My husband is fantastic at keeping on top of our bills, but like everyone else, once in a while we'll both forget about one and have to pay late fees. No bueno when your budget is already tight. So, I created this free printable bill calendar and checklist/budget planner to be able to write in bills for each month to make sure it doesn't happen again!

There are multiple boxes for each month, so you can easily organize your bills. There's also a space for you to write when each payment is due with a handy checkbox next to it so you know for sure it's been paid. Plus, it's a great way to keep a record for the future. For example, sometimes we try to guess how much we pay for heating and cooling during the summer and winter months, but now we can easily go back and know for sure how much the bills were during those times of the year.

Download the Vertical Budget Planner

Since everyone organizes a bit differently, I created two versions of the printable: 2 vertical pages, and one horizontal page. The pages are split with January - June on one page, and July - December on the other. You can print multiple pages if you have more bills than can fit on the page. I bound my bill calendar & checklist with my weekly planner pages with menu planner so I can keep everything in one place and organized.

Download the Horizontal Budget Planner

The horizontal budget planner works the same way, but has the entire year on one page. This is easier for those who don't have a lot of space, or just want to hang it on the fridge for convenience. Just like the vertical pages, if you have more bills than what can fit on the page, just print more copies and staple them together.

Some things you should know before downloading:
*Artsy-Fartsy Mama printables are for PERSONAL USE ONLY.
*You may NOT modify, re-sell, redistribute, or claim the design as your own.
*Please do not remove the credits/watermarks.
*If you post this on the internet, credit must be given to Artsy-Fartsy Mama & linked back to my blog.

Best of luck to you in your budgeting this next year. If you have any tips for budgeting that has helped you, feel free to share them in the comments!!

Easy Kids Friendship Bracelets

My daughter has been having fun helping create handmade gifts for friends and family this year. Friendship bracelets have always been a fun and thoughtful gift idea, and these are easy for kids of all ages to make!

Free Printable Winter Bingo

We love playing bingo at our house. It's a great way we like to spend time together, and it has really helped my daughter's vocabulary! So go grab some cocoa and extra marshmallows, print out the Bingo sets, and get playing!

18 Hot Chocolate Recipes

Hot chocolate is one of our favorite drinks during the winter. Usually we just use hot chocolate packets for convenience, but there's just something about homemade hot chocolate that is SO much better and really isn't much work at all. Today I'm sharing 18 delicious hot chocolate recipes to warm you up!

1. Caramel Hot Chocolate from Cooking Classy

2. Slow Cooker Hot Chocolate from Princess Pinky Girl

3. Copycat Starbucks Hot Chocolate Recipe from My Frugal Adventures

4. Homemade Hot Chocolate (Dairy and Sugar Free) from Whole New Mom

5. Red Velvet Hot Cocoa from Heather's French Press

6. Coconut Hot Chocolate from The Crafted Sparrow

7. Pumpkin Spice White Hot Chocolate from No. 2 Pencil

8. Peppermint White Hot Chocolate Float from Your Homebased Mom

9. S'mores Hot Chocolate from Minimalist Baker

10. Peanut Butter Cup Hot Chocolate from Jade Louise Designs

11. Cinnamon Roll Hot Cocoa from Wine & Glue

12. Disney’s Frozen Inspired White Hot Chocolate Mix from Wheel 'n Deal Mama

13. Best Ever Creamy Crockpot Cocoa from One Good Thing by Jillee

14. Nutella Hot Chocolate from The Hungry Housewife

15. Gingerbread Hot Chocolate from Eat. Drink. Love.

16. Mexican Spiced Hot Chocolate from Gimme Some Oven

17. Easy Peppermint Hot Chocolate With Peeps from Three Loud Kids

18. Homemade Hot Chocolate from One Little Project

DIY Winter Window Clings

This post is sponsored by Elmer's. As always, all opinions are my own.

My daughter is at the perfect age to help with decorating the house for Christmas and winter, and loves when she gets to help create decorations all by herself. She really loves putting up window clings to help dress up the windows, but we keep losing pieces and they can get kind of pricey when we need to get new ones. Instead, we created our own winter window cling designs with some help from Elmer's glues and glitter glue!

"Create" Faux Pallet Sign

Sponsored by FloraCraft Make It: Fun®

I've always been a fan of pallet signs, but have never taken the time to rip a pallet apart (or convince the hubby to get one for me). I really wanted to add some decor to my new craft room, and with a little help from FloraCraft® Make It: Fun® Foam Sheets, I was able to create this faux pallet sign with just two foam sheets and a few other materials I had on hand! Using foam is a much cheaper option in the long run. Plus, the sign weighs almost nothing at all, which means no large holes in the wall!!

DIY Glitter Reindeer Art

This post is sponsored by Royal Design Studio.

Creating holiday art is so much fun! I also love that this DIY Glitter Reindeer Art can also be on display throughout the year, which makes it a great gift idea if you are looking to make something handmade for family or friends!

DIY Memo Board

This post is brought to you by Consumer Crafts.

Creating handmade gifts for family and friends for Christmas is a lot of fun, and you can be sure that they won't be receiving the same gift from anyone else! You can also save big when you make handmade gifts. I spent about $10 on this DIY Memo Board, and did all my shopping at home online at Consumer Crafts!