Pantries and Preparedness. The first Bluebirds Swap.

Thank you to everyone who already wants to join in the swap party!  And for all the photos as these are very helpful.  I can already see this is going to take a while but it should be wonderful!  And if it is a success then maybe we can do it several times a year... we will see!

Here is how it will work.

In comments post if you would like to offer a swap to anyone who has posted pictures today.
Post 1.  What you have available to swap.
        2. What you are looking for in exchange or hoping to find.  If not sure say open to anything!
        3. What country you are in and if you want to keep it within your country or are willing to post internationally.  An envelope size restriction could work i.e. I am going to say I am willing to post up to size A3 envelope overseas.
        4. It is fine for someone to get multiple offers. They can choose the best one for them or divide their goods up etc.  No one should feel obliged to make a swap and no one should feel offended. If this swap doesn't work out another one will!
     
If you see someone if offering a swap "speak" to them by replying to their comment.
Watch your comments to see if someone has replied!
If a swap is agreed on email me at brinkzi21@hotmail.com and tell me who you are swapping with.  I will need email addresses to exchange.  I will then let the two parties nut it out and exchange postal addresses between themselves.

Most of the ladies here I already know or have corresponded with.  I have found everyone so lovely.  But I can't offer guarantees! This is a goodwill exercise.  Don't post anything of enormous value.
Seeds, food and plants cannot be posted into Australia.
Give me some time as I could end up with my hands full! 😊

I think that is it!

First we have Vicky.  She makes gorgeous little girls Tutu's.   She can make any size, length or colour.

Vicky does Tutu dresses as well.  She is willing to swap for lots of things!  She loves things to build up her pantry, gift cards, vouchers, items for her present cupboard.  So very flexible! Vicky is in USA but I think she can post anywhere if postage is covered.  She wants me to note she does the skirts and dresses, not the cape in this picture.

Next we have Belle.  Belle in in Australia.   She has a treasure trove of buttons,  handmade papers, organza ribbon, gift tags,  paper flowers...

There are a lot of amazing things in these pictures.  It might make it easier to make an offer for things by saying picture 1,  picture 2 cut outs etc.  

Next we have Tanya.  It is really Tanya who gave me the idea of a mail swap! Thank you Tanya!

Tanya is in Australia. She has hand towel and washers, Homemade Beeswax candle, pretty paper clips, handmade Christmas Cards, handmade scarf, lip balm in a little case, lavender soap, ribbon bag,  Trim Healthy Mamma Cookbook, spices, baby clothes, recipe cards.   Tanya is in Australia and offers to fill a 3 kilo bag of goodies. She would like to swap for fabric bowl covers, (she loved the ones Jane made me) pretty country flannelette fabric wipes (like we do in the miracle cleaner jars) and I think she is open to all kinds of suggestions too.  It was Tanya who sent me all the beautiful swaps I showed the other day and each item was presented gorgeously.
Update: I told Jane about this and she already made the blow covers especially for Tanya!

Barb has die cut shapes for card making. She has bird and teapot designs that are lovely.  She makes embossed papers...

Barb has sets of lovely sticker labels for craft items...

Also Nautical themed cut outs...

Barb is in Australia.  She would like to swap for handmade cards, soaps or Twinnings English Breakfast tea her favourite. I already struck a deal with Barb! 

Lorraine made six beautiful Christmas cards. She is in Australia.  

Ok, I am in love with the bird one! 

Thanks so much Lorraine! These are wonderful.

Rachel has knitting patterns.  She is in Australia.   She just wants them to go to a good home!

Vickie makes peg bags. She is in the US but says these are very light and doesn't mind posting anywhere.  

I think Vickie can make them in your colour scheme ...

Cookie is offering 100% cotton fat quarters...

Also patterns...  Cup cake oven mitts!   A gorgeous ruffle bag...

Quilts patterns...

Cookie is in the US. She doesn't mind swapping things individually i.e. you can pick a pattern or particular piece of fabric etc...

Holley has a whole selection including greeting cards, black cards, bookmarks, ribbons and she is including a bracelet...

Holley is in the USA.

Amanda has made gorgeous Christmas cards to swap.

Thanks so much Amanda! She says she doesn't mind posting anywhere as they are light. They are just lovely!

I forgot Jane's swaps!  Well I just didn't see and missed part of her message!  She has several key rings a trinket box and her handmade  heat pad which she says is about the size of a normal placemat..

She has beautiful hand crochet 100% wash cloths, scrubbier and make up remover pads...

I love these!  Sorry Jane for my mess up.x

My own current swaps are packets of organic Bayleaves from Mum's garden,  vanilla beans and sour dough starter.  I will post anywhere! 

Jane made me realise that dried rose buds are something I could be using as gifts and swapping!  I never thought of that so I am going to start drying lots more rose buds!   These will be ready for the next swap!

Be brave and jump in as you never know... your surplus might really bless someone else.  We might have happy spin offs too.... nice things in the mail,  maybe friendships formed, maybe pen friends! 

And obviously swaps will be taken up and they are limited but there is nothing to stop any of us from saying ok I will get to making some more, collecting some more and I will get back to you! 

If you agree on a swap please then email me at brinkzi21@hotmail.com and let me know who you are swapping with and either I can pass on your address to them or you can email them yourself... let me know which you prefer please.
Give me a little time too as this could be like unravelling a can of worms! lol!

As well all know craft and handmade items are expensive.  I hope this swap helps everyone along with their present cupboard or pantry in some way!

Have a great week.   Chloe is on her way home now!  It is warm and sunny and lovely. xxx

Feather your Nest Friday, 13 October, 2017.

This was a much better and more normal week!   I love Fridays when I have plenty to report.  😊

Friday night Chloe came over to dinner before flying out on Saturday morning.  It was a lovely night.
I made my super easy crockpot cheesecake.

We had leftovers for the weekend! 

During the week I made cupcakes for Harper.  I made them ballet theme!   I got these little decorations on Ebay and have a big pack of them.   

These were a hit!  She would eat a bit then put the ballerina back in what was left.

I made vegemite and cheese scrolls.  I love the sight of dough rising!  I made man sized ones and child sized ones...

We saved a lot of money!  Today we have cement being poured in an area in the back yard.  I have been waiting to get this done for so long!  It is too much for Andy to have done on his own.  We got a quote and considered it.  Then I used the local suburb newspaper and rang around for comparison quotes.   A guy came to look at the job.  Then we offered him cash.  Well, that had a magical like effect and we saved $1,100! 

I found several bargains at the store including Brie for $1.90 so I got several. 

I potted up the little succulents from the garden day.  These pots needed filling and replenishing so I started with those...

It must be succulent week as I had a road side find!   This time it was a case of having to ring Andy as there I was with two big Agave plants that I could fit into my car and one that I could not even lift! 

The big one in that tall bucket is taller than me!  I would love to know what a nursery would charge for that!  They are all for Chloe who is planting a garden that can handle times of no watering.  I showed her a picture and she is thrilled! 

I sat and packaged up Bay Leaves.   The packs in the store have five or six in them.  I make my packs about twenty each at least.  I got 21 packs.

I haven't worked out my Vicky Challenge but this will be a big one!  Bayleaves alone are worth 50c each in the supermarket.   Scrolls are $4.50 at the bakery!   So I better do my maths!

This week we have had beautiful days and soaking rain which is pretty much perfect!

By the end of today a messy area of our yard will be cemented.  This is an area Andy uses as a workshop, tools etc.  I will be so glad to have it done.

There are a lot of flowers coming out.  Things are starting to look lovely!

How did you build up your home, save money and get ahead this week?  It all counts!   I hope it was a good week for you!  xxx

The Christmas Challenge. Easy felt craft.

It's Wednesday and I haven't even finished replying to Monday's comments yet, I am sorry.  This week is flying by and it is probably because I am keeping super busy while Chloe is away.  That is what I do, clean and cook...

This week I am going to share a really easy craft that makes a good gift for a child.  When I was little we had Fuzzy Felts.  I loved mine!  It was a felt background and a collection of felt shapes and you made pictures from them.  I think mine was farmyard theme.  Anyway I loved it!
I went in search of some for Harper but without success.  So I decided to try and make a set and see how it went.

Our craft store had felt in a few awful colours so I looked online and found I could buy large packs of so many colours much cheaper!  You can even buy glitter felt!

As Harper is ballet mad I decided on a ballet theme. Not being too artistic I bought a ballet sticker book for my patterns.

I traced the ballerinas and some of the clothes onto paper and used these as my patterns.   The book then went into the present cupboard for when she can manage larger stickers.  

The sky is the limit here.  You can do any theme.  Fire trucks, horses, farm yard, zoo.... anything!   A book can give you the shapes, a colouring in book...  pretty easy as you just want basic shapes.

I wanted a base so I considered a large lid from a shoe box or a tray.... I got a plastic tray for $3 which is sturdy, light and has handles.  

I covered this in a larger piece of felt. This bit was from some you can buy by the yard rather than the little squares. EBay once again.

First I cut out the ballerina figures.

Then I started on the clothes...  

We went with subtle and understated outfits haha!  And handbags lol

The glitter felt was a hit.  I ended up adding a little glitter glue as well.   

I just kept on cutting out clothes, bows, tiaras and so on until I had a good collection and endless outfits.

Anyway it was a hit!  And I have a ton of felt to make more of these or other crafts.   Something like this is a good quiet activity to bring out when a child is not well.  Mum always had a stash of things that only came out when we were resting or unwell.  These provided hours of entertainment.

I settled on a snap lock bag to keep the pieces in when putting it away. 

The little ballerina loves it!

This is at class. Her teachers name is Princess Rose.  😊

Princess Rose is VERY popular. 

I hope your week is going well!   How are your Christmas gifts coming along?   

I am going to Aldi this afternoon and hope to then have all the dried fruit I need for my Christmas cakes.  Next week I will get them made! xxx

Pantries and Preparedness. Swaps!

I have always loved bartering!  There have been times when I have done lots of it and it's been wonderful.  I do think bartering is a way to build up your pantry, save money and build up other areas as well.

Recently I have been looking at how to do more of this and suddenly I have had several opportunities.  I am following a local group on Facebook that meets up and exchanges produce.  Then I had a blog reader write to me and ask if I would like to do a swap by mail!  This was interesting as I didn't really think of that due to the cost of postage but it led me to consider small things that can be mailed to make a very nice exchange.
Then my Aunt had a garden day at her home as she is a member of a garden club.  They get together and have a trading table.  And this was yesterday so off I went!

It was a beautiful, perfect Spring day.  An afternoon in a gorgeous sunny garden did me good. It was glorious.  My aunt is over eighty now and she does all this by herself after she established it from plain lawn...

She also has no car and rides her bike to the shops to get her stuff.

This is her front garden. The back and side gardens are full of plum, citrus and Quince trees.  The citrus were covered in blossoms and the scent filled the whole yard.  Honestly heavenly.

There was afternoon tea and endless cups of tea...

My aunts huge dining table was covered in china and homemade goodies.

I took Bay Leaves, homemade soap, magazines and four little potted herbs for the trading table.   This was covered in lots of lovely things.  I loved a tray of baby succulents...

And I chose Borage as this is a herb I don't have yet...

A day of sunshine and gardening was very nice.  I met some lovely ladies and one named Sarah who loves.... op shopping, knitting, gardening, making things...  so you could say we had a lot in common!

Last week I put together items for my postal swap.  Going on the things I knew Tanya liked and might need and what I had I put together a little parcel that wasn't very much to post....

And later in the week I received TWO parcels from Tanya.  One was the swap parcel and the other was gifts!  

There were beautiful handmade things all gorgeous.

And useful and practical things for crafts and cooking...

It was all really beautiful and fun!  Thank you so much Tanya. 

It often turns out that we have a lot of one thing and this gives us something good to barter with!  

There are endless possibilities.  You can swap a service for goods.  Jane mentioned how they look after the neighbours yard while they are away and get produce in exchange.  

You can have a clothing swap party,  a garden day like my aunt.  Bartering any kind of goods, produce or service is possible!   Turning your excess into something else can give you so many new ways to build up your pantry for free! 

Next week we are going to start a Bluebirds swap.  This will be a mail swap so we need to take into account the cost of postage and keep to small things but I just discovered this is much easier than I thought!   Also we will need to remember we come from different countries and take that into account. 

Another thing will be plant goods can not be posted into Australia. 

But still I think there are a lot of possibilities! 

So this week consider what do you have excess of that you would like to barter with? Smaller items could include fabric, yarn, sewing items,  seeds, cards, ribbon, paper crafts, lace, small books, recipe cards, baby clothes, buttons, labels, stickers, teabags, herbs, spices,  .... the list goes on and on!

We will get going next week but if you have items and a photo would be helpful (which is the case with colours and designs etc) then send pictures!  You can email me at brinkzi21@hotmail.com before next Monday.

I hope it will be fun, useful and maybe even will lead to some friendships and pen friends.  We will only exchange details like addresses between the two agreed "swappers" behind the scenes via my email so no personal details will be online.

I hope you have a great week.

Thank you everyone.... Chloe arrived to her destination some hours late (which was stressful!) and was pretty worn out after a seven and a half hour trip in the middle of the night so it was over thirty hours all up. All she cared about at that point was a shower!  But she is safe! xxx

Feather your Nest Friday, 6th October, 2017.

It was not a normal week!  I don't feel I achieved very much compared to usual.  I guess a quieter week is ok after the last few.
We also had a short week with a holiday Monday.  This always throws me out!

Spring has kicked in and the garden looks pretty with lots of flowers.

We had both warm days plus a whole night of rain which was lovely.

Chloe is settled living in the country now and loves it.  She packed up the last of her city things and I had bags of clothes to go through.  From these I ended up with some great fabrics including gorgeous flannelette in little duck and baby prints which I will make childrens soft handkerchiefs from.  This topped up my sewing supplies!

I made peanut butter biscuits as they are a favourite with a certain small someone. 

I made Greek Yoghurt then Vanilla flavour.

Last night I made a cheesecake as tonight Chloe is coming to dinner.

When I was helping Chloe with her things there were Galah's on the lawn.  This isn't a very good photo but I love these (being pink) and they are so funny too as they play around! 

This is why anyone here who is messing around or being an idiot is called a galah!  (that is the Australian lesson for the day! 😊)

I have a whole bunch of things going on that I can't say online at this time.  There are several areas that need prayer.  Hopefully soon I can explain.  Chloe is travelling and this is something I am not happy about so I would REALLY appreciate prayer over the next week and a bit.  It is not the travelling I am worried about it is the location and circumstances.

I think I need a weekend of quiet and thought!

How was your week? How did you save, get ahead, build up your home?  

Have a wonderful weekend! xxx

The Christmas Challenge. The mobile mending kit by Jane.

I have been looking forward to posting this!  Jane was sharing a project with me as she was making it.  The whole idea was so nice I said this better be a tutorial!

Over to Jane!

‘Grab and Go’ Sewing Basket.

I have been sharing with Annabel a project that I was working on for my DIL. Whilst we were all camping together in June, she saw me get my ‘Grab and Go’, little hand sewing basket to sew a button back on one of Tilly’s overalls. She was quite taken that I would have something in the caravan to mend clothing. In fact, she was quite taken with the idea that you could mend clothing. We did a bit of work together and she now feels she can mend using hand sewing.

This led me to think that I would make her a needle case.

I went on Pinterest and found some ideas and then I put this together. I didn’t have any felt for the needle pages, but I did have some flannelette. Inside the back cover I made a pocket. On the outside of the pocket I have used ribbon to tie on a needle threader. In the pocket, I have some embroidery scissors, that I have also tied in with ribbon.

The little needle case by itself, just didn’t seem enough and was the catalyst for the idea of making a “Grab and Go” hand sewing basket, just for Jo.

In my gift cupboard, I had a cane basket that I picked up at the Op shop. I painted this gold. It still looked ordinary.

  I decided to line the basket. I did this by tracing around the base and cutting that out. I then measured around the sides and cut out a long strip. Onto this strip I sewed another to form pockets.

I attached the sides to the base and then another strip as a gathered frill for around the top. Elastic was sewn to the underside of the frill. I used ribbon to hold the edges together around the handles. The entire lining can come off easily to be washed.

It was then time to fill the basket with simple sewing items...

Pins are required for most sewing activities. To keep these in check a pincushion is a good idea. I chose a pattern off Pinterest for a little bird pincushion. This was a quick and relatively easy project. I made it a little nest so that it would sit flat in the basket and not tip over.

 The next addition was some small, rice filled, pattern weights. These are just triangles formed up into little pyramids. There are lots of Pinterest patterns for making these. 

This little basket holds quite a bit. 

 Scissors, thread snips, Three basic coloured threads and two primary brights, three tape measures with one being retractable, Two thimbles, glue stick, pin cushion with pins, pencil, seam ripper, small cross stitch project and a needle case.

 I had a lot of fun putting this together. A lot came directly out of my supplies. I bought all the scissors from Aldi earlier in the year. Some are in the basket and some are still in the cupboard. I have priced this little gift as costing me about $5.

I had a lot of fun making the bits and pieces for this basket. I will add things as they catch my eye.

Thank you so much Jane!  This is not just a beautiful gift idea but something we can make for ourselves!   Also many of the components are beautiful gifts by themselves i.e. the needle book or the pin cushion!    You have given your DIL a great gift too in just sitting with her and teaching her things!  She sounds like a willing learner too which is wonderful. 

I am inspired!  I hope you are too!  

We are in October!  Christmas is in all the stores!  This is the month I make my fruit cakes, review my Christmas cupboard, make a list of what else is needed and get moving! 

I hope your week is going well!  I am off to Aldi today! xxx

Pantries and Preparedness. A printed copy.

We are in spring and just starting to think about preparing for summer. Many parts of Australia have had really high temperatures already which is very early.  So I am starting to worry this could be a hot summer.   Last summer featured quite a few blackouts.  No air-conditioning on days that are 44 (111) and nights that often stay above 30 (86) is not my idea of fun.   We have a generator and have practised a lot of things so that we can hopefully keep our fridge and freezer cold and at least one room in the house reasonable.  Something I have been working on now is having the information I need printed.  I realised, for instance,  that my recipe for homemade electrolytes was on the computer. mmm....  so this was the first thing I printed out so it is on hand, along with the ingredients I need.

Jess has a series in which important information is printed and goes into a folder so I began with this...

The Time to Come Preparedness Series.  I printed out my cover page and started a folder.

My electrolytes recipe was the first thing to go in!

Now I am working on printing anything else that is information I might need when the power is out. It is worth thinking about first aid instructions,  recipes, heatstroke and medial information and anything that you might reach for only to realise it is on the internet! 

The last power outages made me realise that I needed to increase my reading matter and things to do.  I often now print things that I think "I must read this when I get time" and have quite a few of these.

Years ago I experienced serious "not printing it" regrets  when Laine's Letters disappeared from the internet. Many times I had thought I must make copies and I didn't!  I was really upset.  So anything you truly treasure do copy!  Eventually I found the wayback machine copies and now have each and every letter in print.  This is great reading when the power is out.

Most of my recipes are in books and folders.  I have been trying to write out any that are not and also put the most used ones on the inside of my cupboard doors...

I need to get some more of these done.

Also I have my emergency plans written up and a heatwave plan that is written and also inside a cupboard door.   

Other things to always keep a copy of are all documents, licence and account numbers, phone numbers etc.  It is amazing how many people don't know phone numbers if they lose their mobile phone!  

I keep photos printed to as "the cloud" is not my idea of secure and memory sticks should be called "short term memory sticks" as they only last a few years!  

When we are busy and everything is ok it is really easy not to notice that if the power was out we can't consult our first aid app and Google what we might need!   Our battery charge is only going to last so long.  Even in a simple computer glitch or virus all our medical records could be lost.  I noticed at the Doctors and the Chemist is it all on the computer. Unless you have written down the drugs and dosages that your family takes all this information could be lost.  

I have some notebooks I keep with all the kind of information. 

On that note, in a power outage or without printed copies you cannot even prove you have a bank account let alone access it.   So physical money is all you have at these times. This is IF you can find a shop still open as most of ours just shut once the power went out. 

Once the power is gone for even a couple of hours what you have in the house is all you have!  There is nothing to buy.  It all sold out in the first few minutes before the shops shut their doors.   

So you can see why I am trying to think ahead! 

Our state suffered fairly severe electricity shortages last summer and we did not have a heatwave. WITH a heatwave I am not sure what to expect.  They knocked down power stations and now in a panic they are installing a large lithium battery that is not functioning yet.  But it is only big enough to power a few thousand homes.   They are also setting up a line of giant diesel generators for emergencies.  We don't know if these things will fix the situation or not!  I'm not counting on it!  To add further worry we used to import power from our neighbour state Victoria.  But they also knocked down one of their larger power stations and now they are unlikely to have spare power and now face the same issues themselves. 

We all have to assess what we need to be ready for in our own locations.  Having things you need printed is one thing to keep up on as so many things can cause a blackout or an internet glitch! 

What are your more immediate reasons to be well prepared and how do you go about it?  

Do you have information that really should be printed out so it is available when your devises are not working?

Have a good new week!  Today is a public holiday for us and is sunny and lovely! xxx