Thrifty Meals

As you can tell from my last post, I love being thrifty. Don't get me wrong, I love to spend as much as the next person,, but there's a special kind of kick I get when I use just what I have.

On this occasion, it was last nights dinner.

I'm seven months pregnant and generally getting to the point where I can't be arsed to do anything. Add to that a busy weekend of visitors and a baby shower and the groceries just didn't happen.

All I had left in the fridge were three baby capsicums.

In the freezer, a pathetic portion of pork mince that didn't make it into dumplings... enough for a sad little pattie.

In the cupboard, I have random half to almost empty packets of all sorts of things, including rice.

Put 'em together in some desperate fashion, and you get:

Stuffed capsicums, with a side of steamed Edamame (because I had half a packet in the freezer).

I was pretty pleased with myself, not least because I'd had the epiphany for this while I was actually grocery shopping last week and fell in love with very cute peppers.

Mr Frog wanted sauce, or maybe the capsicum was bitter, and "Babe you can cook Edamame as much as you want"....

Tonight, I've sent the husband to pick up a few things from the shop... will be interesting to see what combo's he comes up with!

MC

New Life

Left to my own devices, the majority of my recycling bin would be saved "for something", some other use not yet thought of, but just a moments inspiration away.

Were it not for Mr Frog, I would be drowning in "crap" I could "use", "someday".

Yesterday, I got to indulge in the delight known as upcycling, or using -what- you- have- to- hand.

I made a delicious batch of White Chocolate, Macadamia and Cranberry Cookies (a Nigella recipe I bastardised) for my hubby to take to work... hey, sometimes I like to pretend to be a domestic goddess!

Now I could've just put them in a sealable bag or on a paper plate that could've been thrown away, or even in a plastic container that hubby would bring home for me to wash and been done with it. But No.

There was an empty, plastic ice cream container (actually frozen yoghurt) calling my name from the recycling bin....

So, after a bit of faffing, I made it pretty....

... well, added a bit of brown paper, the cookies, a journal tag I had, some string, and ...

Voila, a very cute package of biscuits.

This is me keeping it simple. It would've looked awesome with some fancy black ribbon, or even something other than brown paper... but it was just for a work day...

I'll save the glam for something special.



MC

Au Francais!

Last week, I finished the second canvas for bubs room. While sticking with the same colours, and papers, I went a little French this time... given I am having a tadpole.

I painted another canvas cream, along with left over letters from the  $3 pack I used for the alphabet. I splurged on the wooden Eiffel Tower, but already had the Fleur de Lys. The papers are from the pages I already started cutting up for the first canvas.

Using PVA glue sparingly, I arranged the squares in a somewhat co-ordinated fashion. If you look closely you'll see there's a bit of canvas poking through here and there...that's why I painted it first!!





Some artful arranging, some hot glue et voila!

So, next up there's a tissue box cover I couldn't pass up for $3, a cream lamp that was given to us is crying out for a new lampshade, and Mr Frog fell in love with a wooden tree when we visited Kaisercraft last week... I am yet to work out how to decorate any of these things but they do help to take my mind off the foot currently lodged in my ribcage.

There's also I chest of drawers I've had forever that needs some fresh melamine edging, some new handles, and hopefully a vinyl Eiffel Tower stuck on the front...

Then I really need to start arranging all this stuff and work out where to put what...

Yikes, good thing I enjoy doing this stuff huh?

MC



What a Card!

I love a good card, be it birthday, anniversary or just for no reason. The problem is, the nicest ones are at least $5 a pop. Add up all the lovely occasions that call for a card over the year and that's a lot of money spent.

Card making is one of the easiest ways to get your craft on. You can sit in front of the t.v at night and have one made by the end of an episode of NCIS. You can go crazy with all sorts of embellishments, or get into stamping, or even cheat and use a cleverly cut piece of scrapbook paper.

Here are a couple of cards I've been rustling up over the last week...

I cut out the butterflies on the scrapbook page, stuck a couple down flat, and left a few free to fly.





I still don't have a fancy stamp, so I very carefully hand write Happy Birthday and add a few more butterflies.




A sticker and some cut up paper...





A new stamp and creative use of the ink pads plus one more sticker.

Some paper, foam sticky dots, and some bling...

Some cut out hearts and my dodgy handwriting.

Now, a pack of 10, plain cards is $2, or I can get the pearlised pack of 6 for $2.50... when I use the supplies I already have, I call that free, but lets say I use $2 worth of embellishments etc. That's $2.20 a card. Plus, I get all the joy from making something for someone I care about with my own hands.... and that my friends, is Priceless!!

Here's to saving money, and having a good time doing it!

MC



Pretty Flowers

My fabric flowers turned out beautifully!

Although cutting out the fabric was a tad time consuming, it wasn't very hard, and the results are totally worth it.
You can find the how-to details here where I did. Just keep in mind that for really "full" flowers you'll need more fabric than you think. Also, instead of paper lanterns, I used Styrofoam balls, which is the cheaper option. ($2.99 for a pack of 12 or so, all different sizes)

Lots of hot glue and a little patience...

The finished product

These should look fabulous in bubs' room. They were really easy to make.... I was on such a roll I could've made more, but easy does it!

Now onto canvas # 2.

Back soon :)

MC

Not dead, Just Distracted!

Yes, it's been ages. Yes, I forgive you for thinking I'd just given the whole thing up. Yes, I've been a bit slack.

But I'm back!

And up the duff.

Well, I was the last time I posted too, just not so open about it. Now I'm huge there's just no denying it. And while it means that my cocktail bag making days are on hold for now, it doesn't mean I've been idle.

There's been some card making...

 A little something for hubbys' first day at work



There's been DVD cabinet painting... which I won't show you because it's just boring white, but let me just say it nearly killed me!

There's been a little present for me...

And now I'm all about the baby's room...

I'm in the middle of making hanging fabric flowers... pics coming soon.... yes, I mean soon, not in a few months!

Meanwhile, it's off to Spotlight for a few supplies :)

MC x

Keeping My Hand In

January has been all over the place when it comes to craft. With no major events coming up there hasn't been a pressing need to make anything... other than my itchy fingers and busy brain. I have a million ideas of things to make, some fabulous bag designs in my head, and a bunch of things that need doing around the house.... that is, as soon as Mr Frog goes back to work!

Don't get me wrong, being together these last few months has been great (mostly), especially given the horrendous year we just survived, and the wonderful yet crazy year we have ahead of us.
I just find it impossible to get anything done when he's here!

Anyhoo, here's what I've busied myself with the last few weeks.

A little sparkle to add to a special little girls bedroom door.



I made this door hanger, thingy as a christening gift because A) I'm spiritual, not religious and I think it's healthy to believe in Fairies, B) I usually buy books for kids, but I'm poor, and C) I like making stuff!

Please ignore the slightly dodgy handwriting, not the message!



I've totally gotten into making cards, so this was a great excuse to use more sparkle!

Meanwhile, as I've collected various utensils over the years, yet am running out of space to store them (despite Mr Frogs' attempts to organise the kitchen drawers), I took inspiration from my mums' purpose built utensil holder and "made" this:

A can of Milo gets a second chance at life



I didn't have a big enough piece of paper, so I used some of my favourite fabric.

Next week I have birthday cards and gifts to make... and Mr Frog goes back to work... can't wait to get may craft on!

A bientot!

MC