Thrifty Gifty Santas Challenge 2014

mum2one

The shoes look amazing.

A quiet day... keep finding bit more of the ceiling coming down, once plumber got the part he reckons take about an hour to do... then the fun begins..... I have never looked forward to a holiday so much...

Being nice - having a family holiday to Blackpool (7 miles out) for mothers day weekend....... just wondering what miss hoodie is going to be up to it!! she forsees a sickness bug! x

We had a letter from school to pre-warn closed days! (spread out)

Day 1 - Teachers strike

Day 2 - Pupil development day - pupils do not need to go in!!

Day 3 - For polling day........

This is between Easter and May half term...... Yet you ask for a day off and NO... (although this head is really good for exceptional circumstances).

susan42

rufusdog52 wrote: »

Here are the shoes for YD, she is on her way round so had to put them away, they still need a few more coats of the glue and some varnish too but will do that another day xx

I love these .

Mum2one - hope you get your ceiling sorted soon and lol at the pupil development day without the pupil .
Blackpool sounds a lovely idea. Are you all going including bailey. Not long until your holidays ;-)

DundeeDoll

wow those shoes are AMAZING! were they easy to do? you've probs sed already but what materials did you use? I am very tempted to try a beano pair so any tips and hints gratefully received.

rufusdog52

DundeeDoll wrote: »

wow those shoes are AMAZING! were they easy to do? you've probs sed already but what materials did you use? I am very tempted to try a beano pair so any tips and hints gratefully received.

Thank you, they were really easy Dundeedoll. You want to go through the comic and cut out a few nice pics that are not too big, no bigger than 2cm square ish if you get me, cut out around the character's face or something. And cut out some of the words in the bubbles then you can stick these on afterwards over the top. The other bits to use to cover the shoes, cut them in strips about 1cm hig and maybe up to 2cm long. Some of them I had to cut down to even smaller, maybe 0.5cm by 1cm to make them lay flat around the curves. I also had to clip some of them, making small slits in the paper if it looked like it was going to bump around the really curved bits like the toe and the back heel.

Buy some Mod Podge glue, I got a really big pot off Amazon, it took about 2 weeks to come as it was sent from the US but it was worth it. I can remember how much it was but I have only used about 1cm deep out of the tub for the first pair of shoes.

Rub the shoes with sandpaper first to give them a rough area to stick on to, then paint a small patch of glue on the shoe and coat the back of the piece of paper with glue too before you stick it, then it will be more pliable. Stick the piece onto the shoe and paste more glue over the top. Just keep doing this all round the shoe until it is covered with the square/rectangle bits. These were just scraps that were not that interesting. Then I stuck the other bits like the faces and speech bits on the top.

Another tip is as you do about 2 inches worth of shoe, get a small piece of cling film, cover over the area you have glued and rub the area over the cling film with the side of the brush, this will make sure all the bubble have gone and all the corners are sticking down. Then remove the cling film and discard. Use a new bit for the next part.

Once they are finished and the mod podge has dried, start covering the whole shoe again with another coat of it. You need to give them 5 coats altogether. I am going to spray acryllic varnish (also from Amazon) over the top afterwards.

If you get stuck (haha sorry, that made me laugh) just shout xx

mothernerd

Mum2one I sympathise with you over the kitchen ceiling -mine did it last October. I had just scraped every penny together to have the damp proof course done and the bathroom leak happened at around about the time my builder was flying out for a two week holiday and I hadn't written down the number for the plasterer he used.

To add insult to injury the first plumber I got in touch with refused to come as he thought he was being done out of a big new kitchen job -my builder was to put the 'new' kitchen in because he was renovating another house and was going to bring me the old kitchen from that house(my old units were so damp they had to be skipped).

Work in progress here this week.A friend of DS3's has come to sort out the attic stairs -every time we need to look for something, I find something that will be useful for completing another of the many jobs that still need sorting.

DS3 is feeling poorly today so have sorted himwith a needle and thread to do some repairs (starting with button sewing) to the clothing we went through last week,which can then be re-hung in the wardrobe.Also found a length of narrow black ribbon to re-fasten his black shirt (cavalier type -it laces all up the front) as he rejected the boot laces I found last week as being too short.

DS3's friend is in bedroom 2 (stayed up half the night painting it before he came) so I am in the smallest bedroom (the bed is only a few inches shorter than the room). Spent some time in the garden at weekend so my back is aching. Keep doing short bursts of activity then retiring back to the bed for clutter clearing -started 2 new charity shop bags and have several bins - rubbish/ paper/ recyclables.When there isn't any room on the bed for me it's time to make a few quick decisions.

Just found an old part-finished embroidery which will now be mum's Mother's Day card. It's a 'stained glass' image of a peony type flower.All the outlining is done so I don't need a pattern - found a box of use up embroidery threads (was hunting in all the places wood glue (PVA) might be hiding) lots of pinks, small amounts but a range of similar shades and I know where the cards and ribbons are to finish it off.

Tulip and daffodils I planted before Christmas are putting on healthy growth so good chance of a bouquet for mum as well - doesn't have to be ready on the exact day as she will have other flowers. Sometimes it's better to get them unexpectedly (and maybe extend the life of the others if some have died but some still going strong).

Hoping your creative plans keep flowing - I'm just trying to get fit enough to go to exercise class tonight - not looking good at the moment. Is it worth wasting a no-spend day as I will need the bus back and might not have enough energy to crawl to the SM (worth paying a£1 on the bus if I bring back a bag of 10p bargains).

Oh nearly forgot -more stash busting than a real project. Have planted potatoes and red and white onions at weekend (all in 'potato' bags so that if the house sold quickly and I had to move, my home grown produce can move too). At the moment they are in groups and I thought if I used pea sticks and made 'flags' from patchwork scraps, each crop could have it's own identifying colour,the bags can be moved round in the garden and I would still know what everything is and the flags would look decorative. Am also going to use larger pieces to cover old shoe boxes to 'unify' my storage.

mrs-moneypenny

rufus those shoe look amazing!!!!
mothernerd you sound really busy and very organised
mum2one hope the weather stays nice for the weekend away havent been blackpool for years - it was BC (before children) when we last went. hope all work get done and sorted properly

sarahj1986

Hi guys


how are we all. I am joining your thread again I was in and out of the 2013 addition


Ive already started my xmas shopping, I actually started end of jan! I have so far -


Yankee Candles gift sets, normally £7 got them for £4.89. I think they are discontinuing that particular set but the candles are still good. I have got 4, I gave one to my sister because she was feeling sad, I might end up keeping one and then 2 as gifts please other votives I got in a set which I don't like.


Topman gift sets x 2, normally retail at £12 each but got them on offer £3 plus 20% off and cash back, price in the end I think was £2.25 each. This will do my fella and cousin for bday/xmas. Sets look really good


Philosophy cookie collection. Reduced in Boots last week, got 2 of them for £5.50 each instead of £22. The tin its in is really cute, I think my niece would like it so I will give her one for her bday and keep the other for xmas gifts.


Some hair items for 50p/£1 from Boots, again all reduced, will do nice gifts


so far that's it but I am pleased with what I have. I am saving my VO Boots vouchers for xmas, got £10 and nearly at another £10 I hope to get £50 by xmas which will pretty much cover my xmas points event day in there. It is quite early in the year so its possible some of these gifts will end up as bday gifts, however I will see how I get on through the year.

rufusdog52

Hi Sarah, nice to see you back here again, well done on the bargains xx

mum2one

Sarah a big welcome back, sounds like some brilliant bargains there, sounds like your organised with all the lists, and gd idea to save the vouchers, does make a big difference.

I miss Boots not doing points for topping up phones, that use to be a nice little earner for me

Been Taxi service tonight, Miss Hoodie won football tickets at school, so she took Grandad Hoodie - dropped them off came home, then went to McDonalds to pick them up... set of bit earlier incase there was a massive traffic jam... the only problem listening to the radio en-route they'd only just got to 10 minutes in 2nd half... So rude not to have a treat.......

Fingers crossed - pipe being fixed tomorrow - plumber rang - he has got the part and coming in the morning...... xxxx

mrs-moneypenny

welcome back sarah

hope you get the repair done today mum2one.

had sewing machine out again this morning, mums mothers day cushion is now finished

really please with how its turned out.