One good thing about saving money is that you end up finding better ways to spend your time, that don't involve much money at all; I'm always making myself such time-consuming to-do lists, and in an effort to keep myself away from the shops last week, I did actually tick off all the lovely "chores" I'd set myself:
Lucy's Toasty mitts are finished, slightly felted and drying on the Aga.
I have a stash of button hair clips & earrings ready to sell
The oyster shells are scrubbed and awaiting their new lives as candle holders (the wicks haven't arrived, but the seller promises me that they're on their way!):
Little red bows of felt are lined up on the side to be stitched onto everything:
The craftiness did take a little longer than expected, but all in all I spent no money, had less "bored" time, and now have pretty things cluttering up my house ready to be sold, once I work out whether I'm going down the Etsy, Folksy or Misi route. I must say that even as a *huge* Etsy fan, I am veering more towards Misi, simply because it's UK based and has a smaller pool of sellers on there at the moment, but do let me know if you'd recommend anywhere else!
This week the boyfriend is away on business (well I call it business, he's entertaining customers on a corporate yachting week, so no chore there!), and so I'm on my lonesome as far as feeding and amusing myself is concerned. So this week I'm going to:
- Have a go at cooking baked onions. We have a glut of onions in the vegetable garden, and Sophie Dahl's recipe looks delish.
- Ditto cook myself some potato gratin. But more because it's comfort food, and it'll be perfect to nibble on whilst watching all my programmes while he's away...an entire evening of Project Runway, ANTM then BNTM anyone??
- Peruse Shazronnie's lovely blog Making Stuff. And then make some Belgian Buns from her recipe for my round of Cake Club for work on Friday... this isn't turning into a "to-cook" list, promise!
- Make a start on some crochet garlands, using my huge stash of vintage crochet cottons left to me by my great-aunt...perfect wedding decorations!
- Cast on a Slip Stitch Stash Hat (try saying that a few times!) for my middle sister Isabelle, in her favourite colours.
Have a great week everyone!
A Xxx
What a delicious post! I seriously want every single one of the foods you mentioned!! Thanks for stopping by my lil blog...I'm loving yours :)
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to see how those shells turn out! Sounds like such a unique idea.
Button earrings! So cute!!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear you are getting to spend so much time being crafty, I need to let those kinds of projects get bumped to the top of my list more often.
Chic on the Cheap
It's so satisfying ticking things off the to-do list isn't it? Re the shop question, I don't know anything about Misi, but I can say that Etsy has been much more successful for me than Folksy was. I only sold one thing in about 6 months on Folksy, but when I set up my etsy shop, I think I sold a couple of my brooches within the first couple of days! I have a new batch of brooches to list and some Christmas makes planned, so it will be interesting to see how things go in the run up to Christmas.
ReplyDeleteR x
Sounds like you have a very productive couple of days. I love the new button usage very cute.
ReplyDeleteI'm not planning for xmas yet...but I agree that relying on your own craftiness can def help save some funds! Love those earrings!
ReplyDeleteSounds like you have been very productive! I would love to see a pic of the finished candles, they sound interesting! x
ReplyDeleteLove those mitts so much I have just ordered the wool! I need a straighforward pair to start with> Thank you so much!
ReplyDeleteLove all the things you are making! Funny, I am seriously considering opening an Etsy shop soon, as well!!Just was browsing ravelry forums and thought I's visit via our blogging train!!
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