Building The Burrow!

Pearla*Merle

Another plod-along sort of day. Whizzed through some work stuff this morning, have a few more leads and things I want to follow up but that's a job for tomorrow. I've not yet started on the accounts, oops, think I'll push that into next week now.

Had a lovely lunch - baked potato (used up small ones kicking about the fridge), topped with a chorizo, posh cheese triangle & mustard mix, everything needed to be used up so quite impressed with my improv skills in the kitchen there.

Also have some mozzarella to use up, was going to bake Nigella's supper onion pie this evening, but might make that for lunch tomorrow. Mincemeat is on the hit list too, I was going to make mince pies but I think that ship has sailed so considering I have lots of apples I might make Frugal Queen's Apple & Mincemeat Crumble tomorrow as well.

Crashed a bit this afternoon but rediscovered coffee and in the end I managed a few lots of laundry, some serious kitchen cleaning and organised a few other odds & ends. Then sorted out more nonsense with my new CC again! Supposedly activating it online wasn't enough, pfft.

Tonight's dinner was the start of the Endless Packet of Sausages. We picked up a lot of 20 the other day, some are stashed in the freezer, tomorrow is casserole, Saturday is sausage sandwiches for brunch and this evening we had them in an onion risotto with some spiced apple jelly stirred in, scrumptious.

Mr M came home with this insane CrumbPet from Waitflower. Probably because he sensed in the ethers that I'd cleared space in the kitchen; as if we have room for more kitchen gadgets! He started with... "It was £10"... What The...! "Down to £1!" Ah ok. I suppose I'll let him off, he got at least £1-worth of amusement out of it.

littlegreenpeas

Hi


Love the sound of the crumble, I have some pancake mix I found in the cupboard and if I fill it with something healthy, that means we can have guilt free crumble. Well it works that way in my head.


LGP

Pearla*Merle

I said ages ago I was going to put together a post of handmade gift ideas, I could do with having something with links that I could easily refer back to... so here we go!

• Knitted Paper Chain
• Garland/Bunting eg. paper, fabric, patchwork, felt leaves or flowers, mini pom poms, gingerbread men, bows
• Jars! Fill with mini presents eg. badges, button magnets, craft accessories
• Decorations eg. salt dough, air dry clay (baubles, feathers)
• Bath Melts
• Puzzle Pillow
• Patchwork blanket, cushions
• Small bowls from air dry clay
• Fabric baskets
• Hairclips eg. knitted bow
• Paper fans, & tutorial here
• Animal topped jars
• Chalkboard paint on... nice wood? jars?
• Personalised stationary, card sets, envelopes (from wallpaper?)
• Painted stones... sets with a theme?
• Paper cut mini artworks
• Hanging decoration eg. nature, leaves, clay feathers, sea glass, paper & beads
• Purses, embroidered pouches or bags (small or laundry sized), screenprinted?
• Old style sweets in newspaper twists
• Candles

Pearla*Merle

littlegreenpeas wrote: »

Love the sound of the crumble, I have some pancake mix I found in the cupboard and if I fill it with something healthy, that means we can have guilt free crumble. Well it works that way in my head.

Lol LGP, that's my way of thinking about things too

Pearla*Merle

Think I might have been under the weather and not realised, my ears have been popping a bit, amongst a few other ailments. A steam bowl with olbas is a Must Do today, along with...

• More laundry omg.
• Complete several work bits
• Nip to shop & buy veg for casserole
• Onion Pie and Apple & Mincemeat Crumble
• Mend some clothes what need mendin'
• Change bed linen
• Think up some clever ideas for Mr M's birthday

...that's probably enough to be getting on with for now.

tootoo

I'm aiming to make a homemade christmas this year PM.
More for thought than money, I would much rather receive a handmade item.
I made a lot of pickles, chutneys and jam this year. Note to self is not to give them away and save them to pop in a hamper for christmas.

Have you thought about sewing as a hobby? I've been sewing for around a year and love it. Great for handmade gifts too

in_need_of_direction

Want some of mine too too? I also made loads of chutneys, put them in the necessary dark cupboard and then forgot to pass them out.

Pearla*Merle

Tootoo, I love sewing! But I hardly ever do it... (though saying that I spent an hour mending things this afternoon) I would love to be able to sew beautiful embroideries, I'm hoping the handmade gift ideas will spurn me into action on that front.

Whether they made it to Christmas hampers or not, you've both done super well actually managing to make chutneys etc - I had grand plans to make some which of course never materialised so you're already miles ahead of me. :rotfl:

apple_muncher

Love your list of things to make! Have you a target for the year? I find I'm spurred on by impending birthdays, despite knowing for weeks that they were on their way!

Am proud I still have mint fudge in the freezer - am aiming to do a sugar-free January, so can't nibble at it. Hope there's not a birthday that snaffles it in the meantime...

Happy crafting!

Pearla*Merle

Pretty much ticked off my entire list... for once. :rotfl:

A few Ipsos surveys done, found a penny while doing the laundry (into the piggybank it goes), and have ventured into the world of adpoints again. :money:

Rediscovered the free kindle bookstore on amazon; The Great Gatsy, The Secret Garden and some PG Wodehouse duly downloaded

Think I'll have a look for free events on the go locally and get them added into my diary, I always end up missing stuff anyway but at least if they're in there then they're on my radar.