Homemade Costume

Hi All, 
I am so sorry it has taken me so long to post this... life has become quite busy for Max and I... with work, school and clubs, it's hard to keep up.

Anyway, as I said in my last blog, I handmade Max's costume. It took me hours, but it cost me a grand total of around £8 and I didn't waste a single piece of fabric. I used YouTube videos for hints and tips about how to measure and fold the fabric but didn't buy or use a pattern. 

We both loved the outcome... we hope you like it too!!  xoxo

Step 1.... folding & pinining                                   



Step 2.... ironing & sewing

 

 Step 3.... flashes & sash done.

 

The finished article... modelled by my handsome boy.

Workshop 2

Workshop 2 

So, unfortunately I missed out on workshop 2 at the lovely Lakeside store. As a paramedic, I have to work night shifts every other week and this event landed on one of my rostered nights, and it was a busy one. From the pictures I have seen and the fabulous vlog created by Mohammed (I will ask his permission to share it with you), it looks like lots of fun was had by all. I know Max is also disappointed to have missed out on his visit to "meatball tower", I'll make it up to him when we go to buy his new PAX wardrobe.

 From what I can gather the focus of the event was on making a draft excluder from materials you already have... genius!! I am very very lucky not to have a problem with loosing heat under my doors at home. So I have decided to make Max and I wheatbags from some of his baby clothes. I have shamefully horded away all of his clothes in vacuum bags stored under my bed (I just don't have the heart to get rid of them), in the hope the I would make him a quilt from some of my favourites... I've just never had the time to sit at my sewing machine for that long, it's a mammoth project. So I have decided to put at least a couple of his babygro's to good use. Wheatbags are fairly simple to make, just material, whole wheat (which you can order online or get from a whole food store such as Holland and Barrett) and some good quality thread. I use a sewing machine so I have machine quality cotton already loaded nicely onto a bobbin ready to go. I will add a blog about how I get on with them. 

Also in the spirit of "homemade stuff", its History week at Max's school this week and I'm making his costume!! On Friday he has to dress as a historical figure, the school suggested a knight, king, or WW2 evacuee style costume to make things easier... Max is going as William Wallace... oh yes, back to Mummy's roots (who saw the Rugby this weekend? Great stuff from SCOTLAND, keep that up boys!) . I looked around at the price of costumes and/or kilt sets and let's just say it's more than any 4 year old's fancy dress costume should be!!! So I ordered some material that cost me £5 (blackwatch tartan, one of my fav's) and I shall be attemping to sew a kilt and sash... aaaghhhhh... wish me luck!!  

I hope you are all enjoying your workshops as much as the Lakeside group have enjoyed theirs and fingers cross I'll be at the next one!! xoxo    

Shopping 😍😍

One Friday evening in Dec, I headed off to IKEA armed with my shopping list and ready to get stuck in! We all met in the foyer (I was slightly late to the party, sorry everyone) and made our way to the Market Hall. It was lovely to see everyone again and to be a bit nosey about how they were spending their budgets.  I really enjoyed the shopping, silly comment really... £300 of someone else's money to spend on fabulous Ikea items for my home, who wouldn't enjoy it? But I had 4 clear goals in mind for my shopping list and I feel that I now have the tools to achieve my goals.  

  My Resolutions

1. To save energy around the home (gas, electricity).
2. To recycle more efficiently & to teach Max which items can be recycled etc. 
3. To waste less food & save money on the weekly shop.
4. To usage storage to reduce the amount of unused toys and clothing in Max's room

With all this in mind, here is what I bought...  

 

      

Lighting & Batteries (energy)... Our lovely home is now (almost) completely LED. The only bulbs I haven't been able to replace are the GU4s in the bathroom, bit of a long story but don't not ask for lighting advice in B&Q... not at all helful. The TIARP lamp is proving to be a bit of a 🌟... I have always used the "big" light in my room, but it feels so much more cosey and warm when I'm using the lamp... and it is on my bedside so I don't have to get up to turn it off haha. I now also have a little pot of charged LADDA batteries at the ready. Since Christmas it is somewhat depleted and I will need to buy some more so that we can go totally rechargeable and eventually get rid of all throw away batteries. 

Recycling... I bought 3 of the SORTERA stackable bins. We use one for the "pink" bag and one for the "black". Our pink bags are for all of our recyclable waste, the black goes to landfill. Separating the rubbish has been so easy and Max is very much involved. He knows what goes into which bin and has even corrected me once or twice. I'm so pleased to say that he is beginning to learn the reasons we do this and the impact it could have on his future. The 3rd bin was supposed to be for glass... but we don't throw away enough of it to warrant the bin... so I have repurposed it. I buy our washing powder in bulk, but the big cardboard box it is supplied in often falls apart... SORTERA to the rescue!! 

 

 Kitchen (food).... lots of gadgetry wahoooooo. Love the STABIL separators (which fit in my new Ikea pans and my current ones 👍🏻) and the pasta drainer. I haven't yet used the steamers, but I'm sure I will soon.   

The 5ltr UMBÄRLIG pot is the perfect size for my attempts at recreating "Granny's Soup"!! I then portioned it out into the ISTAD bags (which I dipped into cold water to vacuum them, top tip from Pinterest I'll try to find the link and attach it for you all) and stuck them in the freezer... perfect for a quick, hot meal on a cold nightshift. Having these homemade frozen meals ready to go has meant that I have saved money on buying meal deals and ping meals in M&S every shift.  

 

 

Vacuum Link.... http://content.jwplatform.com/previews/C6nqfP1z-ORnmBoDZ  

I have made great use of the BEHÅLLARE water bottles at work and at home. I have one on the go at home all the time and I have one in my work bag. As a paramedic, I work long shifts and often spend a long time in my car so having the refillable bottle has saved me a lot of money on bottled drinks (I would often buy a big bottle of water and a bottle of sprite on a shift), 2 bottles per shift, 2 shifts per week... it all adds up, and to think of all of the bottles I was just throwing away 😳.   

FÖRTROLIG, probably one of my favourite buys!! I have already made a lasagna and a cottage pie using them. I used the majority of the mince I cooked for the lasagna and separated some to make the smaller cottage pie. Being able to put the lid on both and freeze them was so handy. We had lasagna twice out of the larger dish (4 portions) and shared the cottage pie (2 portions) another time. Not a drop wasted!!! 

 

 We haven't used our lunch boxes yet, but will certainly be making the most of them when the weather warms up a bit and we can have salads instead of soups for lunch hehe.     

Max's Room... is still the bane of my home. He has so many toys and so many clothes we have no room to move and Christmas has only compounded that for us. BUT there is a light a the end of the tunnel... a friend is due to have a baby soon, so his nursery furniture will be re-homed. This will give us room to build his new MALM chest of drawers, which will help me organise his clothing a lot more easily meaning we can sort what he does and doesn't need/wear. I have already built his TROFAST toy storage and I think it is genius... we now have a pile of toys to sell on & pop some pennies in his piggybank. Though I have told him we won't be buying anymore toys for a while, he is learning to save his pennies for something he really really wants rather than something that will only give him 5 minutes of entertainment.   

I look forward to sharing our progress with you in my next Blog, xCx