A home made afternoon...

I had a free afternoon this Sunday, the house was hoovered and dusted, the washing drying on the line. I decided to spend half an hour making some birthday cards in preparation for the run of celebrations that are coming up.

I love hand making cards and while none of these are particularly original and they certainly aren't going to win design prizes I think that they are pretty enough.  It's amazing what you can do with some washi tape, fabric scraps and tissue paper.

A thank you gift...

I wanted to take along a thank you gift suitable to the generosity of our weekend invitation.  I had recently been given some decorated biscuits at work and decided that they would be just the ticket.

Our hosts' two small boys are dinosaur mad so I thought that I would also make this a present for them too.  I bought some shaped cutters and a cake box and set to work.  I added a friendly looking Stegosaurus to the box and iced the biscuits to match.

I left some biscuits un-iced and bought the boys some icing pens.  I packaged this up with the cutters and the biscuit recipe and we finished them off together on Sunday morning.

Customised gift tags...

This weekend saw us celebrating the engagement of a very lovely couple.  And what better way to celebrate than with some bubbles?  I am not a big fan of the traditional wine bag and prefer something a little more personal.  I've seen lots of wonderful gift tags lately and they inspired me to make my own. This really is the easiest of DIY projects.

You will need:
- a plain gift tag or template
- scissors
- glue
- an old magazine
- ribbon

Simply find an avert or image that you like and draw a template of the gift tag onto the page.  You could add on a shape or leave a border but this time I wanted to cover it completely.  I opted for a sparkly Stella McCartney advert as it seemed to fit with my celebratory theme.  Stick the two together, thread through some matching ribbon and hey presto, you have a personalised and very pretty gift tag.

Long over due...

I haven't written a post for what feels like an absolute age and I have a million and one excuses.  The last month at work has been beyond busy, I was in Birmingham for nearly two weeks then headed straight off for a family holiday in Dorset.  So maybe not a million and one but valid excuses nonetheless!

So, to recap last month I set myself the challenge of not spending any money for the whole of November and I have to say that I was rather pleased with how well I managed.  I will admit that Spirit of Christmas proved rather too tempting for me and I was unable to resist a few purchases, but in my defence they were all gifts for other people.  I started my Christmas shopping early-ish and bought some beautiful presents.

I managed to stick to my guns for the rest of the month and didn't buy anything that wasn't on my allowed list.  Until that is I fell in love with a punch bowl.  It has a beautifully elegant shape and a glass ladle and is entirely impractical!  I will endeavour to take a photo of it for my next post, hopefully filled with a delicious festive tipple!

My bank account was noticeably healthier and I felt very pleased with my own restraint.  I may do the same in January, if only to make up for December which has been the polar opposite of a no spend month!

No spend month...

After reading about another Jess' intentions to have a month of not spending on her brilliant blog Knitting on Trains I decided to set myself the same challenge.

Today is payday so my month will be 28th October - 28th November.  I will admit that this month is a little, tiny bit of a cheat month as I am away with work from 19-28th November and will have meals provided along with a per diem for any other essentials. However, there are still 21 days of temptation available to me!  Days which include an invite to Spirit of Christmas.  I have no idea how I will manage to resist!

I have made myself a list of things that I am allowed to spend on and things that I am not:

Allowed                                Not allowed

Mortgage                             Clothes, shoes, handbags

Bills                                       Books

Food                                      Make Up & toiletries

Travel                                    Lunches

Planned socialising          Knick-Knacks, specifically vintage plates!

                                               Cards & stationery

                                               Jewellery & accessories

I am hoping to see how much money I usually fritter away over a month and then put that towards Christmas presents next month.

I'll let you know how I get on, so wish me luck!

Home made Mothering Sunday...

Today we celebrate our mothers and I have to say that mine is pretty smashing!  I decided to put my new self sufficiency idea to the test and make her gift.


I picked Lemon Curd.  It is her favourite and can be made in small quantities easily.  And it has just 4 ingredients: lemon, eggs, butter and sugar - what's not to like!  I used Delia Smith's recipe, bought a miniature Kilner jar and dressed it up with some ribbon. 


And the best part is that there was just a little bit left over for me!