Make It Monday 10th June 2024

Good morning!

My apologies for being absent the last few weeks, I had a family emergency to deal with and as you know, for me, family comes first, ahead of crafting.

That means not much was done. Some I shared in the weekly Cheapskates Club newsletter, but when I had time to sit, I was exhausted and crochet or knitting, or card making just seemed too hard. 

Things are a bit better and getting back to normal, so I have been making and baking. No sewing, and a very little growing. 

And that's OK. We don’t need to be go, go, go 24/7, even when we are too tired to think straight. Part of being a responsible adult, as well as a responsible homemaker, wife, mother is knowing when to stop; when to say no; when to rest. Because often if we go down, the whole family goes down. So if you're ever feeling overwhelmed, take time to regroup. Get some rest. Turn off the unnecessary. Focus on yourself - it's not selfish, it's good commonsense.

This last week I've been catching up with cards for the Happy Mail project, and working on some for a future card buffet I'm holding, and it has been wonderful to sit at my craft table surrounded by paper and stamps and dies and ink pads and let my creative side loose. 

Some of the cards from the May card buffet have been used for happy mail. 

​
I had some fun playing with DSP and stamps and dies and cardstock making samples for the July card buffet. 

​Baking: not a lot! My One Bowl Chocolate Cake is my go-to recipe, and two batches were prepared and baked into little loaf cakes in my silicone mini loaf pans. I love these, $5 each from Kmart (and they're pink!), they make six little loaf cakes from one quantity of cake batter. I count one mini loaf as the equivalent of two cupcakes when I am serving them. 

Then there were some bananas getting too soft, so they became banana and choc chip mini loaf cakes. What can I say - the mini loaf pans were out, so I used them again. I sprinkled choc chips on top before baking, rather than having to ice them. They were a hit for morning tea.

We pretty much stuck to the meal plan; everything needed was in the pantry, and I didn't have to think about what to prepare for dinner, or what to tell anyone else to prepare. Having it on the fridge just makes life easier. 

Growing-wise, potatoes are coming up all over the place and as we don't have a planned garden this winter, I'm letting them go. The rosemary is still growing, and I've been picking oranges and mandarins from the fruit trees. The raspberries have been cut back. The rhubarb is going well. I cut back the hydrangeas so now they just look like dead sticks in the pots, but they will come back in the spring and provide beautiful flowers again. And the bees are still buzzing in the lavender. I really want to cut it back, but while the bees are buzzing around I'll leave it and hope it survives the winter. 

And the only sewing I've done is to mend a pair of track pants and darn the heels in a pair of wool socks for Wayne. 

It feels good to be back on track. We are officially on holiday, so I have a big bag of things to do as we travel around. I'll try to post again next week, although it may be a day or so late, depending on internet reception.

Please share what you've been making, baking, growing and sewing, I love to see everything even if I don't comment, and you all help to motivate me.