Hunting and collecting.

I think people get it into their mind that crafting is expensive and you need to head off to craft and paper shops and spend a fortune. But really women have been making things beautiful forever using what they had or could come by and their creativity.

One of the sweetest examples is when I see old jars or canisters that someone has painted then they have added a cut out flower to make it a pretty container for their kitchen. I could cry that is so sweet! Another is true patchwork when women turned outgrown clothes and the remnants from sewing them into gorgeous patchwork quilts. They way they did it the fabric was essentially free. They were making something from nothing really. How beautiful.

Things fall at our feet all the time that we can use. Just now autumn leaves are about to fall at our feet literally! Pressed these are so beautiful and have so many uses.

All year I collect bits and pieces that could be made into my card supply. Pretty images... these come from all over the place, catalogues, magazines, old cards, wrapping paper... then I find sheet music a help due to the aged paper, music notes, gorgeous vintage titles that sound romantic... I get books of music for 50c to $1 which gives you a dozen pages or so. This makes amazing wrapping paper too. (tied with a black ribbon)

Lace, ribbons, broken jewellery and here a discarded hair clip from my daughter...  I have used buckles from shoes, belts, bits from old hats, pressed flowers, stickers, glitter, leaves, feathers, fabric scraps...

Last night I dragged out my current collection and worked it into groups of colour and theme. As you do this it brings ideas together. 

I could just as easily be covering boxes to use as gift boxes or decorating gift bags. All the time you get things in gift style bags, if you make them over you have amazing free gift bags. I noticed to buy these they are expensive and gift boxes are too. You never have to buy these things at all. But lovely cards are so expensive. I go looking at them it seems each one I like is $8 or more...  Making your own you can give $10 looking cards to everyone plus you can use them very generously as thank you notes, I hope you are feeling better notes, use them to write your letters. We all just love pretty things in the mail! Mail someone a hand made card and say "I am thinking of you" or "thank you for your wonderful friendship" and see how you go! I buy packs of 6 blank cards and envelopes for $2 in cheap shops and these are the base of the cards. So mostly the end result is less than 50c per card. 

If you get really stuck into it you can make up packs of cards into groups of six or so and package them up. I use cellophane bags and tie them up with ribbon. I pack of lovely cards is a gorgeous gift. I make these for my Aunt knowing she loves to write letters and cards are so expensive that surely a supply is a very handy thing. When a birthday comes around she has some cards to use. 

When we go away for a few days I pack up a supply of cards and letter writing paper, stamps and my address book as sitting and writing is so lovely and I will have time to relax and write letters. I love that. Away from the computer and TV I will write and relax. Longing to do that!

Later in the week I will show you how some of these turned out and how they look packaged into presents. Just think if I made 50 they are worth close to $500 if I bought them. Isn't that crazy? So many things we make are like this, especially if we are using what comes to use or what's around us. Amazing! I love how abundant it feels to have a big box of cards ready to use.

I hope you are having a lovely Sunday and some rest and relaxation. xxx

Lovely lace and pretty collections.

I really have a free weekend ahead of me. So the possibilities...

I have dragged out my collection of old laces and trims. They have built up over a couple of years and I am going to use them! Mostly they have been trims on nighties and slips that I have found for 50c or less. Some of them are so beautiful!

The one on the left above is a baby pillowcase... gorgeous.

When planning projects if you work out the largest projects and start with those and work down to the tiniest ones and use the smaller bits and scraps from the bigger ones you tend to get a lot more bang for your buck. Even tiny bits will look beautiful on cards and gift tags.

Since I know lots of girls who love pretty things I have some lovely gifts right here. 

Many laces are net that will melt if ironed. I usually wash things, lay them flat while wet or hang them in the breeze and then there are no creases. Crumpled flowers do well if you use food tongs and hold them over a steaming kettle, the creases drop out. 

For large amounts of lace your best bet is old curtains. Even if you need gathered lace this can be cut from valances etc and you get so much so cheaply! But for smaller amounts of really pretty lace and trims baby linen, nighties, slips etc are great sources. Often petticoats etc are bagged up in op shops not hung up so you may have to ask to go through them. Oh my goodness there is gorgeous stuff! 

I will sit in the evenings and snip off the trims (unless I have found something I want to keep or wear) and add it to my collection for a weekend like this some time!

Sometimes I have found lace and trims in old sewing baskets, craft areas of op shops and also old embroidered items like table runners and so on, all with stunning lace, embroidery... gorgeous treasures.

I have a heap of things I want to make... covered diaries/notebooks, pin cushions, pin boards and cards and tags. In the past I have covered boxes, coat hangers etc with laces for some lovely gifts.

Another one is to take a plain longline cardigan and just add lace to the pockets. It makes it look so pretty and "designer" I saw this in Peter Alexander a long plain soft cardi had lace pockets...

I also would like to add luscious lace trims to some pretty pillowcases. Taking them from pretty to gorgeous. It's a matter now to see how far I can go with what I have. But I have a lot! 

Whatever your dream craft item it is amazing how inexpensively you can collect supplies if you hunt. Another source of luxury fabrics and laces is to just buy an old wedding dress. I once bought a wedding dress covered in cream taffeta roses and made it into cushions. The whole thing was $25 and had so many metres of stunning fabric with ready made roses which I placed in the cushion corners.  Many times the fabric in these is worth hundreds and the laces.... just wow!

Have a beautiful weekend. I can't wait to get into mine. I need to get cracking and get my work done this afternoon so we have a lovely Friday evening. xxx

Fridge organisation.

Yesterday was lovely! I had a beautiful day. The trip to the nursing home is quite a way so I planned it to incorporate a couple of things. One was a visit to Howard's Storage World where I got two new fridge baskets and the catalogue. I study those catalogues as if I am being tested later! They are so good. Just across from them is Provincial Living. Oh my goodness that was a creative excursion! My heart leapt when I walked in there. And I didn't buy one thing I just looked and got so many ideas! Exactly as a creative excursion should be I felt so excited and inspired! I still feel that way!

I found the nursing home and Kath was basically waiting for me in the foyer. She was knitting so we had a ton to talk about right away. Gosh she is lovely. It was beautiful and very touching. I will make it a regular thing now as I feel it is for a reason that we have met. I have to say there are mixed emotions too. One is sadness. Another is don't end up in a nursing home. Andy says this home is one of the best by far he goes into. Yet I found it amazingly dingy and terrible and thought it is dreadful people are put in places like this. So if that is the best he sees I don't even want to think of the worst. Isn't that terrible? :(  
The visit though was chatty and lovely, beautiful really. It was like meeting old  friends.

Now the reason I bought two new fridge baskets was I got four at the end of last year when I had a major fridge re arrange and re organise. Food is way too expensive to waste any. And I was. I was forgetting fruit and vegies that lurked toward the back and things like that.

So I had a massive clean out and made a whole new system and used these baskets on two top shelves. Now I've made that three. They are inexpensive the small are $5 each. The handles on them mean they work like drawers, you pull them out and can see everything. So things don't go to the back and get lost! You can see everything.

If you go armed with the measurements of inside your shelves you can get ones that fill the space just right. 

I am trying to show how they pull out like a drawer... it works really well.

This is the top half of the fridge and below are two deep drawers for fruit and vegies. 

Now when I shop I check everything before I go and avoid doubling up and make sure I use up vegies that need to be used etc. On weekends I will make things from left overs so nothing is wasted. It is much better than the mess I used to have some of the time!

A lovely blogger I follow The Home She Made put me onto a beautiful vanilla fridge spray. One purchase and I am sticking with it. It is called Vanilla Fresh from Safe 4 U. I got it at Woollies. It smells so nice and when you open the fridge you are greeted by this lovely scent. It makes me wipe out the fridge or just a shelf or two all the time and keeps everything lovely. 

Really I'm conquering one area at a time and the fridge was last year and it has worked. It's so nice! 

Our efforts to organise are so worth it. They save us money in the end too and make life easier. Today is grocery day for me and this system helps so much.

Also we have a really warm breezy day and rain is coming over the next few days. So the washing is out on the line, all the sheets etc. to make the most of it. Getting into bed tonight I know I will feel that oohh lovely sun dried sheets feeling. It's a beautiful feeling you can't describe, even the smell of sun dried sheets... who can describe that? But it is so good. Simple pleasures!

Pink frosting and Simple Abundance.

One of my favourite authors Sarah Ban Breathnatch wrote about finding time for creative excursions for yourself. This concept really stuck with me. Reading her book Simple Abundance is probably one of the best things I could ever tell you about! My friend Helen and I based three years of discussion and tips on a thread we wrote all on Simple Abundance. 

Essentially it is about the joys of simple things in our lives and how the routine, seasons, little things of life can be so exquisite and cost nothing or almost nothing. My heart burst the first time I read this book. If you are feeling less then 100% happy then read this book and put it into practice one step at a time. It is glorious. And that was the basis of the Indulgences under 50c thread that went all that time.

So one of the joys to insert into your life is to allow some time for yourself for inspiration in the form of a creative excursion. Now think about what are your passions and loves and what would you love to do that would possibly really inspire you? Some of mine so far have been to go to an absolutely amazing yarn shop and look at gorgeous yarns patterns and creations. Talk to the ladies and discover. Oh my goodness! I was way behind in what is available now. Stuff so divine I came out of there full of ideas and dreams! This little trip was great fun. It totally inspired me and motivated me. mmm this creative excursion thing is really smart!

Since then I regularly do it. Recently I did one to Country Bumpkin embroidery store. The fabrics, yarns, threads, patterns, displays of things others have made, beautiful magazines... I was in heaven. The feel of some of the cashmere wool blend blanketing... I couldn't wait to get home and start sewing. My head was swimming with ideas.

What ever it is for you plan some of these and see how you feel!

Another for me is just to go to Ikea or Howard's Storage World and absorb organisation ideas. Some of it is brilliant and I cannot wait to get home and try things. 

An alternative is to do something on your list of "that would be nice to do" things. I have a list I'm working through. Mostly I try to plan my week so I can fit in one of these things a week. It doesn't always happen, depending on priorities. One this week is to visit the ladies in the nursing home Andy visits. They are Wilma and Kath. They have been told I am coming armed with wedding photos! I have saved the afternoon for it and after thinking what could I take I decided on cupcakes. We checked they are not diabetic or anything so I don't kill them accidentally!

My shabby chic philosophy of imperfections add charm is coming into it's own here. I figure generous pink frosting is just yum!

I get glitter sprinkles from Spotlight in the cake decorating section. I just love this stuff. You are never too old for glitter in my opinion!

My recipe is 

125 g butter

125 g sugar

2 eggs

250g SR flour

1/2 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence.

Beat butter and sugar until creamy. Add eggs gradually. Add flour and milk and vanilla... beat but until combined and stop. Do not over beat. Use patty pans and it makes about 12 largish ones. Fill them about 3/4 to allow for rising.

Bake about 12 mins. (medium oven) Check after ten with a skewer.

Ice with your favourite icing. I use a tiny amount of pink colour.

To get height on your cake and icing place a marshmallow on top secured with a blob of icing as glue. Then ice over that so that your marshmallow is encased inside the icing. It becomes a yummy part of your cake and makes them look much better and gives this huge abundant look rather than a flatter one, to your cup cakes. It really makes them look sensational. And I wondered why mine always looked kind of flat. Friends with a cupcake shop taught me this trick! Now you can use a chocolate on top of chocolate cupcakes also.

Doing something special or a little creative outing add so much to your week. The variety is good for us. Something fresh and different keeps us from getting stuck in a rut.

I will let you know how I go and how the pink cup cakes go!

Sugar flowers and Shabby Chic.

One of the things I love about "Shabby Chic" is things don't have to be perfect. In fact that imperfections add to the charm of things. This is such a good thing. It goes in with what Flylady says about we must not let perfectionism stop us from doing things. She says that housework done imperfectly still blesses our family. 

There is a big message here for all of us! We don't do things for fear of not doing a professional job. We don't do things thinking we won't do it right. Just do things with love and do them! 

Happily this makes my life a whole lot easier. And more enjoyable. I always made the girls cakes and attempted ice cream cakes, dolly varden cakes, you name it. They were always thrilled despite some being wonky and interesting! Kids (and adults) care about love and are touched by your efforts. A cake is always a beautiful and caring gift for someone. If you don't know what to give someone for their birthday try making or decorating a cake for them and see the response you get. You will be surprised if my experience is anything to go by.

Yesterday it was Chloe's birthday and she came to dinner. I totally cheated really and bought a ready made fresh sponge. I just decorated it. I whipped cream with two drops of pink colour making it softest pink. I sugared some roses. This is so easy. You whip a couple of egg whites and dip your washed flowers into this, trying to get good coverage. Then let it drip away a little. You can use a paint brush for a finer effect making the egg white thinner.

Then dip into and sprinkle castor sugar to coat. You may need to do this a couple of times. Set aside to dry. Now you want to use edible flowers even though we were not eating them you don't want poisonous flowers with food. Roses and violets are fine. 

A violet you can cover in egg white and sugar and they will keep ages. But a dense flower you cannot hope to get the coating through every petal. Still these today look perfect still. They are as hard as a rock looking unreal.

I filled the sponge with jam I made from cherries. I could have used apricot but I wanted pink to match my theme! Cherries had made great jam, I did the microwave method I have explained before.

It tasted lovely! Such an easy thing to do and she loved it. When she arrived she took photos of it so I think that was a good sign!

The fresh roses here are the same roses. After sugaring they are much lighter in colour and I was pleased as I had been unable to get pale pink which I preferred.

As the flowers are still perfect today next time I could do them a day ahead. 

I am dreaming of doing this with lilac or cream roses! Maybe for Mothers Day this would be a possibility.

The thing is I am no cake decorator but soft cream, fresh flowers or sugared ones, or a soft ribbon maybe, transform a cake into something lovely. The other trick is to use a cake stand. It just looks so special. I used one of my DIY ones I made earlier (the instructions are in an old post) and this means you can have amazing cake stands for a couple of dollars each. Little cakes, desert pies, even chocolates look fantastic served this way. Sitting on the table you have an instant centrepiece as well. 

We had a lovely little celebration especially as it was a working day as well. I love to celebrate occasions even if it is in a little way. These little celebrations make life lovely.

Raining help and money.

I would say my love of rain comes from the fact that I lived on a farm and rain meant my Dad was mostly overjoyed with happiness when it was raining. He would be smiling and cheerful. He would say get out of the rain so it could hit the ground!

So to this day long soaking rain means peace, contentment and happiness to me. I am sure though without a farmer Father by now I would have figured out how much the garden (or farm) benefits, how the plants look, how the birds are thrilled, how things are lovely washed clean, the air is clear and fresh after rain. 

For me watering the garden is both hard work and expensive if I use tap water. So rain is like a day off and a massive saver. I know there are so many Australians who would kill for rain and are desperate, sadly. 

Last night rained steadily and this morning everything looks perky and happy. The lettuce I planted less than a fortnight ago is ready to start picking plus the rocket.

I'm hoping if I snip as much as I need that it will keep going for weeks. There is parsley at the back and I hope I will have that to add to soups etc throughout winter.

The basil is ferocious! I have picked heaps and still it looks like it's trying to take over the house. So it is time to harvest a big lot so it is used not wasted. I can make pesto for us and a jar each for the girls. Apart from over pasta it is so good in a burger or with a steak. My friend at a health food shop, he serves it on the side with eggs, tomato, mushroom and sourdough toast. It makes it into a fabulous meal. I love brunch... two meals in one.

His other tip was to use almonds in place of pine nuts. Pine nuts, here at least, are very expensive. Blanched almonds in their place are so much cheaper and that is what he did and it was yummy. Cafe owners are wonderful for economic tips like that. They know how to use expensive ingredients as the feature or sparingly, not waste, use substitutes, use what is cheap and in season.... there are so many tips to learn from them. Our local health food shop is also an organic cafe. In the past when my herbs have been prolific I have given them huge bunches of parsley, rosemary and bay leaves and been rewarded with free coffees! 

Pesto is such a power punch of flavour, vitamins and goodness so that is one of my happy projects this week that should mean we have this on hand for quite a while.

I am off to try and get my Monday really going. If I achieve lots on Mondays my week just seems off to a great start! 

The garden being soaked and happy is such a help. My newest rose has three roses on it which I have waited for, it's one of my favourites, Blue Moon. 

I have decided to plant some pink climbing roses over the front fence as I have a couple of spaces. Planting flowers, herbs, vegies, they all pay off in so many ways. Taking a little time to plant means you get to sow. It's a little investment in the future and there are so many possibilities. I am sure even a few minutes a day is good for us. Fresh air, nature, sunshine and being outside is so good I know it is like a medicine to me.

Snippets of time.

I noticed a long time ago that women didn't mostly get free afternoons to work on their craft projects so much as they would work on things in the snippets of time that they had. Mum would work on knitting or crochet (and for a few years tapestry) when she had a few minutes here or there and if she sat to watch tv she would work away. And yet her work was (and still is) prolific.

Nan was the same. Pa would sit to watch the news or the footie and Nan would spin or knit or work on something and her work was prolific!

I think when the kids are little we learn to use snippets of time like never before! When I waited in the car for the girls to get out of school I would write letters, knit or crochet. I might only write a few lines or knit a row but it added up. Over time I really learned how much a little here and a little there get things done.

Trying to make my presents meant planning things to make all year round. Just that alone helped so much rather than trying to make heaps of things at the end of the year for Christmas presents. Other things that have helped are to keep something I am working on right where I sit in the lounge. So if I sit down to watch tv it is there ready to pick up. At the moment I have two rugs going...

I don't mind handy work in the lounge, i think it looks kind of cozy and interesting. Even if someone visits they usually are interested in what you are making. I am going between these two rugs at the moment as I like the variety.

If we are travelling any distance I am amazed at how much I get done in the car as Andy drives. I have pretty much crocheted my way around South Australia this way!

Some projects get too big to lug around. Having some smaller projects that are a bit more portable means I get more done as I will take work with me.  I love makeup bags for handy work projects. Little compartments and zip pockets etc they are perfect! So usually I keep a few things made up as little "kits" ready to take somewhere with me. 

Purses and totes I don't end up using as handbags are great for craft projects. They are functional and kind of nice to take with you.

Last week in the city I noticed Typo store (which is cute and funky) featured so many crafts especially knitting. Oh happy day it is cool to craft and young girls are taking it up in droves. Like baking "Nana skills" are so fashionable again and there is a huge revival. I love that! 

I'm often amazed how much I did when away or out somewhere. You just do not have to have a designated time to make lovely things. It's the old wonderful saying of do what you can with what you have where you are.

My plan is to visit the ladies Andy has been visiting and to give them each one of my rugs (when finished). This week I am heading off to meet these ladies. One of them has been sending me little notes and they are up on everything it seems. This lady put in her note "I think Andy will look very handsome at the wedding" !! This cracked me up somehow, she obviously thinks he's lovely. (I think maybe he has a girlfriend?) So I will go armed with wedding photos and take my crochet as well. 

Handy work when waiting is another thing that is just wonderful. All my life if Mum was waiting for something, the doctor, in hospital with someone... out came the knitting. My friend Sue has many times waiting with her husband having medical tests and waiting on appointments and she will knit away. It seriously is a life saver when waiting could be so frustrating yet you are not, instead you are happily knitting away. Very wise I think.