The Tuesday Afternoon Club. A post by Alison.

Many of you will remember the earlier post we have from Alison and Rebecca that got  The Tuesday Afternoon Club started!  
If you missed that or need a reminder read that here.  It is really inspiring and since we are still early in the year there is still plenty of time to join in! 

Now are are having a catch up with what the girls are up to this year!  This week we have a post from Alison and next week from Rebecca. Then we will go back to some sharing here of what you all have been making especially for the ladies that do not have Facebook.
This group has grown and the ideas and work each week is amazing.  It motivates me heaps as I think how I better get moving or I won't have anything to post on Tuesday!  Right now I am about to go over and post my weeks work.  Anyone can share any time but we have a focus on meeting Tuesdays as deadlines are good, they get us moving! 

So over to Alison... 



Rebecca and I have started our year of crafting with a planning session. We looked at how our gifts were received, at the sort of gifts that other family and friends gave and received, and just kept our eyes open and made mental notes of ideas that we could use. We shared these ideas and have come up with an exciting range of crafts - some are old favourites that are always popular, and some new ones too. We're also getting so much inspiration from the Tuesday Afternoon Club that I think we need to have two Tuesdays a week to be able to make everything!

Candles with draw-string bags, petal box with lip balm

As Rebecca said, we're keen to make more soap, both for ourselves and as gifts. We were delighted to hear that our recipients were very happy with it, and we even had one report that it had helped one girl's eczema. I am continuing to look in op shops for additional moulds, and I may even enlist my husband to make a wooden mould for us. This would give us a more regular shaped bar of soap which would be easier to package attractively.

Hand-made soap with belly bands listing the ingredients. Another label on the back states the fragrance.

I have been using a shampoo bar from a local small business for the last few months and am keen to experiment with making them as well as conditioning bars to go with them. I'm keen to reduce our use of plastics as well as the use of chemicals.

Soup bowl cosy

Encouraged by Annabel's suggestion to look at what supplies we already have on hand, we are looking for projects to make with our fabric stashes, and my stash of cotton and cotton blend yarns. I have already begun crocheting a face cloth using a pattern that was posted in the Club pages. I have a good supply of this yarn so I will be able to make lots of things with it.  

Bargain tea towels from Kmart sewn into a lined swimming bag.

We're approaching this year of making with open minds - and also with open eyes. We both enjoy finding useful bargains at op shops and considering how such things might be used or repurposed in our homes or as gifts.

Tea lights in hand-made boxes

I feel that I am so blessed to have Rebecca as my friend, that we live close together and that we share similar interests and that we have a compatible skill set. There are some skills that overlap, and some unique ones that we bring together to share with each other. Rebecca is definitely the maths wizard of our pair, and when she does some fiendishly complicated maths all I can do is agree that “that looks right”. I think that Annabel has had a brilliant idea to create the Tuesday Afternoon group so that we can all share our ideas and encourage each other and maybe even make new friends whether we live close together or in another country.

Lined tote bag made from repurposed jeans

Candles with labels attached by wash tape

Thank you so much Alison!  All your ideas are amazing and everything you have made is so lovely.   I love how you researched to get your ideas.   Browsing some of the expensive stores myself lately I am seeing a lot of eco themed type gifts i.e. produce bags,  old fashioned wooden pegs, baskets, knitted cotton dish cloths, natural cleaning and skin care, fabric serviettes... heaps of things that Grandma used.  Many of these we can make!  Seeing the prices is really interesting too... and the presentation!

Next week we will hear from Rebecca.
I hope you all feel inspired! xxx