Make It Monday Week 6, 2023

This is really a combination of week 5 and week 6, seeing as I simply didn't have the energy to upload for week 5. Good thing I keep a running tally of what gets done or I'd forget. 

Week 5 was a good week for crafting and getting things into the present box and crossed off my list.

It started with orange marmalade. Yum. Some for the pantry and some for gifts. I etched "orange marmalade" into the jars and cut orange gingham toppers. I think this lifts them above the regular jar of jam type gift; it only added about 30 cents to the cost of each jar of jam, but increased the sale value by a lot.  A jar of homemade or gourmet style marmalade sells for $10 - $16 for a 350g jar! It costs $2.10 to make six 350g jars and homemade is so much better than mass produced bought marmalade. If you have your own oranges, you can make six jars for $1.10!

​I made burger pickles using cucumbers from the garden. Again, some for the pantry and some for Hannah's pantry (she loves them on burgers, says the golden arches should use my pickles on their burgers and everyone would eat them) and some for the hampers. The hamper jars have "pickles" etched on them.  The cucumbers came from my garden so they are organic and just delicious.

​I picked so many cucumbers I was able to share a basket with the ladies at the card afternoon I went to. They were excited to get homegrown, chemical free cucumbers and made me laugh with all the ways they were going to use them. I was grateful to share them, the glut is typical for this time of year. 

I made a pavlova for Australia Day and used the egg yolks to make lemon butter for the topping. It was so good, and big enough for two desserts. I forgot to take a photo - I need to get in the habit of doing that, but I don't keep my phone on me, it sits on the desk. I'll need to rethink that too I suppose. 

I spent an afternoon with some lovely ladies and learned two new card styles and techniques. I love them both, but will definitely have to practice the water colour with ink! 

Beautifully Happy stamped Card using Stampin Up stamps, cardstock and ink

Scenic Garden watercolour card using Stampin Up stamps, cardstock and ink

​I made a new baby card, a sympathy card and a get well card. These were all made using materials from my craft room.

Sympathy card made using Stampin Up Roccoco Rose, Black and Very Vanilla cardstock and using Wrapped Bouquet stamp set and Wrapped Flowers dies.

​I took some little notepads from the cupboard and used some journaling cards from my stash to decorate the fronts for the present box. I love doing this, it makes an ordinary notepad something special. The journaling cards also strengthen the cover of the notepad, perfect if you keep it in your handbag or pocket, it doesn't get scrunched and torn so easily.

​Week 6, last week wasn't quite so productive, but a few minutes here and there and still things were done. As one was finished I moved onto the next thing on the list. 

It's no spending month over at the Cheapskates Club, so this month I really will be using up my stash and not buying ANYTHING at all to make gifts or crafts. 

Last week I made some more cards, fancy folds. I love the fancy fold cards, they make simple cards something truly special. These are the last of the February birthday cards, and are already written and addressed and even stamped, ready to pop into the post box. 

I made Valentine's cards. We don't usually do anything other than wish each other  a happy Valentine's day, but this year I just feel the need to make everything we do, every day, a little bit special so I made cards for Wayne and the kids and I'll make some treats to go into the little boxes I cut on the Scan and Cut to leave on their pillows on the 14th. 

​Every day I picked more strawberries, cucumbers and zucchini. I picked some lemons. Thursday afternoon we had a storm come through that blew over all the tomato plants, breaking some of the stems. We had to go out and tie them back up; there are too many tomatoes to lose, I'm counting on them to add to our pantry stocks for the coming year. 

I grated the very big zucchini and dehydrated it. Now its shelf stable and ready to use in winter soups and stews and zucchini bread and muffins.

​I made another batch of tzatziki with cucumbers from the garden and we have been snacking on this with cucumber sticks all week. 

I played with some acrylic blanks and the Scan and Cut to create some coasters for the craft room.

Acrylic coaster blank from HappyCraft.com.au and embellished with Oracal permanent vinyl in white cut on Brother Scan and Cut SDX1000

​I added orange peels to a jar and covered them with white vinegar to soak. I'll add more orange peels as we use the oranges this week, and then put the jar in the laundry cupboard so they can steep. After six weeks (I'll put a note on the whiteboard so I don't forget) I'll strain the liquid off and use it for cleaning the bathrooms.

What did you make, bake, grow or sew last week?