Good morning! It's Make It Monday and while I don't have a lot to share, I didn't waste travelling time while we were on holiday. The crochet hook was busy! Before we left home I packed a bag of yarn, a pair of knitting needles and my set of crochet hooks. And a pair of scissors - trust me when I say it is frustrating to need them and not have them in the bag. Lots of daisy dishcloths were finished, some for the linen cupboard, some for Hannah and some for the present box. I learned a new stitch for dish cloths and love it, thank you to my friend Rosanne for sharing with me. The test dishcloths have been added to my kitchen basket and now we're home, I'll get started on some for the present box. The little lemon tree had lemons on it ready to be picked, so I did that yesterday and juiced them and froze the juice straight away. I gave them a good wash and then zested the skin too, and put it on a sheet of baking paper on top of the fire to dry. The house smells lovely, and I have a nice little pile of lemon zest to use in baking. This week my plan is to sort, tidy and declutter the craft room. It needs it, there's a lot of piles of fabric, yarn, paper, stamps, tools, vinyl - you name it, it's probably in a pile in that room somewhere and needs to be put away.
Next on the list is the garden. It's full of weeds, they have grown very fast in four weeks. This week is going to be very cold and wet here, so I'm thinking 10 minute spurts in between rain showers will be my plan of attack. Gumboots, gloves, beanie and coat are by the back door ready to be donned to keep me warm. Now we are in the downhill run towards Christmas, it's time to really get stuck into the gift making, card making and baking (or at least planning the baking). December will be here in the blink of an eye and as the plan is to have everything finished and be ready to kick back and enjoy Advent and the Christmas season, I need to be a little more diligent towards getting the gift list crossed off. Even a few minutes each day can get a lot done in a week, let alone 4-1/2 months. That's my week, or three days for me. What have you been making, baking, growing and sewing while I've been on holiday?
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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. It is free shipping day!
Today only, May 21st, 2024, until 11:59pm, Stampin' Up! is offering free shipping on all orders over $65! I need your help! And I want to thank you for it.
I am so very close to moving to a Bronze Elite Stampin' Up! demonstrator and I would like to thank all my customers and followers for believing in me and encouraging me and helping me reach my goal in my Stampin' Up! Journey with a pack of handmade cards, all made by me. Each pack will have three unique cards in it, all made with beautiful Stampin' Up! Products. No two packs are the same. You can use them for inspiration or give them to someone special. To receive a thank you pack from me all you have to do is place an order totalling $50 or more (before postage) before the 31st May and I will automatically send your Thank You pack the first week of June. I'm excited to move to the next level in my Stampin' Up! career and share it with you. If you have things on your wish list, and you love the new 2024 - 2026 In Colours (because they are just gorgeous) or you are new to card making, scrapbooking and paper crafting or even new to Stampin' Up products (and you can read about how and why I became a Stampin' Up demonstrator here) then this is the deal for you - an EXTRA $144 of brand new products IN ADDITION to the $235 you choose for your starter kit! And all this for just $169 (with free delivery!).
This has to be the deal of the year: $379 worth of product for just $169 (and free delivery) If you are a card maker, scrapbooker or paper crafter and you don't have a Stampin' Up Demonstrator, talk to me and let me help you create your starter kit and your gorgeous paper craft projects. P.S. There is absolutely no obligation to do anything other than order your starter kit either. You can take the kit and create to your hearts content, you can take the kit and become a hobby demonstrator and enjoy 20% off your orders or you could take the kit and build a business - it's entirely up to you. Whatever you decide, I'd be honoured (and excited!) to help you with your Stampin' Up journey. You can see here what's included in the Starter Kit special (aren't those colours just beautiful): Hello! Doesn't a week roll around fast? Last week was spent mostly on getting things done around the house and garden. Make it: *Mostly cards this week for the Happy Mail project. *I've been busy making samples and kits for my Card Buffet at the end of the month, it is filling fast, and that's so exciting. Bake it:
*Brownies have been the treat of choice the last few weeks. With the price of choc bits and cocoa, they'll be staying a treat. You can get my super delicious brownie recipe here. *I made tortillas for lunches. *Potatoes were down to 60c/kilo so a five kilo bag was mashed and frozen for winter meals. Grow it: *Weeds were pulled and the beds put to rest until after we come back from our trip. No point in planting anything at the moment as we won't be here to use whatever it is. My plan is to plant some things just before we leave and they should be ready when we get home, or at least close to being ready. *Picked silverbeet, rhubarb, mint and rosemary. Join me to celebrate the launch of the new Annual Catalogue and have some fun at my card buffet trying new products.
. Event registration includes: *Three choices from the Card Buffet (six available) *Free annual catalogue *Free Make & Take *Displays with sample projects *The chance to try out new products *Entry into the Host prize draw with every $50 order *Bonus free product from me for orders over $100 How the buffet works: 1. Choose the project you want to create (6 to choose from). 2. Purchase the ‘kit’ containing the materials & instruction sheet. ($5 per card) NOTE - Your first three choices are included in your class registration fee. 3. Locate the tools basket for that project. 4. Get crafting - don't forget to show off your unique card creations! Come for a little while or stay the afternoon. Create one project or all six (three are included in your event registration fee). There's no obligation to spend anything more at all, just drop in and have fun creating. Not a lot of making last week, it was busy, busy, busy with lots of appointments. Lots of baking done though (it's rather therapeutic) and some crafting. Made up the kits for a shoebox swap for a retreat I attended over the weekend. Made pillow boxes for pillow treats for the retreat. Made double batch of scones and Cranberry Hootycreeks, and a quadruple batch of Brownies, some for home and some to take to the retreat.
Cooked a bulk batch of mashed potatoes for the freezer. Made focaccia. Made two loaves of bread. Made a batch of pizza dough for the freezer. What did you make, bake, grow and sew last week? Good morning! It's Make it Monday on Tuesday! Easter mucked up my days, I completely forgot that yesterday was Monday, having everyone home for four days threw me out. Last week was busy; aren't all weeks busy? But it was a good week. I spent a lot of time waiting, so I read, and worked on some new crochet patterns for different types of scrubbies. Hannah will be testing them too, to see which scrubbie is the most efficient and comfortable to use. I made some little baskets for our Easter table. Instead of eggs this year, I bought blocks of chocolate and put them in these cute little hessian bags I monogrammed with iron-on vinyl. I made hot cross buns and cooked most of our meals from scratch. As a treat, No. 1 Son bought tea one night and it was delicious - burritos and nachos that I diligently noted the ingredients and flavours so I can MOO them in the future.
What did you make, bake, grow and sew last week? Hello!
When I was a little girl, I thought being a mother and homemaker was the best job in the whole wide world, and I couldn't wait to grow up and get married so that could be my job. I still think it’s the best job in the whole wide world, even though our children are now adults. I still get to be their mother, and Wayne's wife and create a home for them. I get so much joy and pleasure out of canning corned beef for the pantry shelf or getting a load of washing out, dried, in, folded and put away. Filling the pantry with good ingredients to make tasty and healthy meals for my family makes me smile. Being able to pick apples of our trees, or rosemary from the garden not only saves us money, but makes my heart sing with joy. When I sit down to write a Make It Monday post, and think about what has been accomplished during the week, I tend to forget about the things that are habit: making the bread, cutting flowers from the garden, canning meat and veggies for the pantry, sowing seeds, because they are habit, I made another two tea cosies for the present box. The Easter decorations came out and the house was decorated and readied for Easter and the rest of Autumn. I covered candles for our Easter table. I repurposed some old jars to use as vases for our Easter table. This last week the kitchen was busy every day. All our meals were cooked from scratch, using ingredients in the pantry and produce from our garden. I made pizza bases and focaccia and canned 6 quarts of canned beef for the pantry. |
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