Pinata

Hi Everyone,

Dolly and I worked on TO DO craft project today. A Birthday Party Pinata. I was inspired by someones blog but I don't remember who - so forgive me for not linking. We used our memory, adapted their method and created our own mini version of a Pinata ready for filling with sweets and chocolate gold coins. It's supposed to be a crown - but I think it kind of looks like a castle. No matter, as kids have great imagination and itch to have fun. And this party will be fun :-)

This was our process:

Cut a cereal box down to size and shape.

Cut crepe paper.

Cover box in glue.

Paste crepe paper in layers.

Paste embellishments.

Cover any bits that you missed with crepe paper such as the top flaps and bottom.

And Voila one Pinata ready to be be filled and whacked.

So there you have it! This Eco Frugal woman has achieved one of her aims again. Using trash and saving money. The only cost was crepe paper we used 1/4 of a $2.40 packet and glue. So roughly 80 cents and less than 1 hour of our time for one Pinata in the shape to fit our Princess And Knight themed Birthday Party. (You could make these as an inexpensive birthday gift for kids or adults. Just fill it with trinkets or sweets).

We have more crafting to complete this week in preparation for the party in 2 weeks time. And.. cupcake making for the school classroom where I will attempt something I have never made before. This will be my year of challenging myself by making many things myself to save cash, be creative, include my daughter and prevent the buying of new or over packaged stuff.

How about you? Ready to Party in style but cut costs by being organised and making it yourself? Let me know any tricks or ideas you have..

Thrift Finds This Week

This week I went op shopping twice and spent a total of $7.50.

This is what I purchased:

• Trousers for work as my favourite pair is worn out and no longer suitable $1.00
• A fun pair of green trousers for weekend play $1.00
• A pair of gold metalic trousers (poor photo) for crafting or Dolly's birthday party (maybe for decorations) $1.00
• A pretty hair clip/brooch $1.00
• A silver tray for Dolly's birthday party food .50 cents.
• Free broken jewellery was given by the shop assistant as she knows we like to craft.

Amazing Stash for $4.50

A sweet white skirt for? I don't know - I just loved it too much!!! The lace, quality and sewing is beautiful $1.00
A pretty floral top for the fabric and buttons $1.00
A cute shirt for my market stall $1.00

Pretty, Pretty and Pretty for $3.00

Now I have to go and find the same or bigger amount of stuff to leave our home. I have some clothes that need to be ragged or tossed. They can not be on my clothes hangers anymore as they are beyond acceptable at work.

Did you obtain any thrifted, second hand or gifted goodies lately?

Gift Box For $5.85

This is a gift box of goodies Dolly gave to her friend for her 5th birthday. Dolly crafted the card and assisted with some of the bag construction organisation. Dolly also guillotined the scrap booking paper into small cuter sizes.

$1.25 Box made from Rubbish & Op Shopped Calendar & Book. (I'm wearing a thrifted $1 top purchased in 2011)

The library bag and box was made op shopped items that were reused. The plastic Doll was unfortunately new from a department store but will be much love.

French Seamed Bag with Different Fabric Straps.

I Love the Pretty Floral Fabric. It's a Beautiful Quality Too.

Total Cost of the gift was $5.85
My labour was more at 7 hours, some of it fun and some of it very frustrating!

Crafted Box $1.25 (glue and bits of an op shopped calendar and book).
Crafted Library Bag $1 (piece of green op shopped fabric and a girls dress purposely purchased for fabric) (Letters are a piece of old damaged fabric needing using).
Crafted Card 10 cents (scrap paper and picture from a damaged op shopped book).
New - 10 Pieces of different Scrap Booking Papers 50 cents.
New - Doll $3 (Purchased at Christmas time for this very purpose).

I felt very satisfied putting this gift together and hope to keep building my crafted gift repertoire and skills to create from used items. This gives me eco pride and frugal satisfaction (as you can see from my face).

Have you made anything this week?

Do You Have Ideas For Men's Shirts?

My partner of 19 years, The Rambling Expat did a big clean out after I complained he was taking so much more clothes space then I did. In his sorting he found 12 work shirts he no longer wears to work because of ripped pockets, worn out collars or stains that will not scrub out.

Men's Shirts.

I don't want to be a hoarder and I am trying to declutter. However these are made of good cotton fabric. As many of my readers know, I'm aiming to not buy new and save more, spend less, so I'm having a hard time throwing these shirts out.

I'm thinking I will use some fabric to make 4 handkerchiefs for The Rambling Expat who often suffers from sinus issues and a runny nose. Now this will only use up 2 shirts. Then I was thinking I could make a 2 more shopping bags similar to the library one I made here for Dolly, so that's another 4 shirts, still leaving me with 6 shirts.

Do you have any other ideas for me? I'm looking for practical, easy to make stuff that we can use in our everyday life or even fun gifts for people in our lives. I don't need rags or cleaning cloths as I have many from other old worn out clothes. Come on, let your suggestions reign :-)

Sweet Homemade Chocolate Bars

On our arrival home I cooked quick angel hair pasta with a jar of sauce as we had serious business to get to. Dolly and I were on a mission to make decadent Rocky Road with macadamia nuts, rice bubbles, turkish delight, marshmallows, snickers, mars bar and of course good old cadbury milk chocolate.

This is the last piece for the major fancy gift pack as seen here and here that Dolly is giving her special person tomorrow. We did a little tasting along the way of course and at the end we both had a bowl each to lick and share. Ahhhh the Good Life :-)

Dolly Said This Looked Like Salad!

Mmmmmmmm, Chocolate in the pan ready to be harden in the fridge. We made 2 pans full = 16 generous chocolate bars.

Decadent!

When the chocolates were cut and wrapped in my new favourite style, they were so sweet and pretty I couldn't stop looking at them. I was inspired by a library book showing home made chocolate bars wrapped in pretty wrapping paper. I thought why buy pretty paper when there are so many super cute vintage books all ripped and damaged at the fraction of the cost, ready to use and preventing it from entering landfill.

Wrapped and Ready.

The completed gift is ready for tomorrow morning, being given as a Thank You from Dolly to someone she loves (and Drat - it's not me - I wouldn't mind getting this gift, I'll have to spoil myself and make a pack for me).

Crafted With Heart.

Break Down Of Gifts Costs:

• Rose Petal Sachets .80 cents each = $3.20
• Necklace = $1.00
• Bottle Top Magnets .5 cents each = 20 cents
• Chocolate $1.15 each = $2.30
• Vintage Staffordshire Plate = .50 cents.

TOTAL Gift Price = $7.20

I think the gift is very eco-frugal pretty and I'm feeling proud of my efforts. These 2 years has seen a big change in me from a buyer of regular stuff, to a buyer of discounted stuff, to a buyer of second hand stuff and now to a buyer of second hand stuff to recreate into other items. Many hours and lots of heart went into these gifts, which is a much nicer feeling then wandering around a department store looking for a generic gift like all the others.

Has your lifestyle changed in the past couple of years?

On The Mend and We Did Lots

Today was like a new me. So much better. Still a little trembly but nothing compared to last night. This is a long post of all the lovely things we did today.

Once Dolly arrived home this morning we headed to a FREE Christmas Family Fun Day. Dolly crafted at 2 of the tables from many on offer, sang christmas songs and met Santa. She didn't want to rock climb, go on the jumping castle or have her face painted which was unusual, but she may have been jittery from last nights fright. (The Rambling Expat has photos so I will add these tomorrow).

We then headed to the dreadful Spotlight where I spent money on new stuff which will help me use old stuff. I purchased pinking shears for sewing and mod podge for my earrings, magnets and other projects. I also purchased plastic storage boxes for our beads and other treasures. These I ahhhed and ummed about, for ages - however I purchased them as we currently use a million different bowls, tins and jars. I just want it in one easy area for Dolly's items and another for me in the aim to reduce chaos and clutter.

Dolly's Storage Box.

1 large box for Dolly and 2 small ones for myself. I now regret not getting the same one as Dolly as her compartments can be extended while mine can't. We started to fill them and I was able to empty 3 containers to relocate our goodies. Nearly all items are sourced from hand me downs (Dolly has a huge pile of 70's plastic beads in her box), op shop beads and broken jewellery, bottle tops and soft drink tabs from neighbours, buttons from old clothes and the list goes on. The only new item in Dolly's box is some pink wire and the only new item in mine is some of the earring hooks. Even my new in packet items were sourced from neighbours leaving town and op shops.

Started to fill her up with all of Dolly's treasures to craft.

My Box is half the size of Dolly's.

Sweetest Op Shopped Creatures. Dolly's Butterfly 10 cents, My Ceramic Owl .50 cents. 

After our quick shop we spent the afternoon at home on the couch sewing little rose petal sachets from chopped up old clothing, fabric scraps and a vintage sheet. I purchased the rose petals in a organic health shop a few weeks ago. I wanted lavender but the price was too high so opted for the much cheaper rose petals. They are used for cooking and teas, but crafting is an option too. I mixed 5 drops of geranium oil to intensify the aromas. This is what we made for someone special to Dolly (not saying in case she reads our blog).

60's, 70's, 2000 and 2010's Fabric. Pinking Shears Tested :-)

Pretty Pressie Ready to Give. Cost $3.20 - Time 2 hours with Dolly.

One Extra For Another Gift.

Our funky party animal neighbour Jacinta turned 50 last week. She likes to live loud, wears bright op shopped clothes and isn't scared of creative types. So we also made one rose petal sachet, added a earring stand and a pair of earrings for her. Dolly was so proud giving these home made gifts. Costs: Rose Petal Sachet .80 cents, earring stand $1.50, earrings .60 cents = Total $2.90, pretty cool on the pocket and not too hard on our time as it's so much fun making these items.

Jacinta's Pretty Gift Cost $2.90

And that was our day. As you see I'm on the mend. We kept our meals very simple. Lunch was tinned tuna sandwiches and fruit. Dinner was rice and fish fingers bringing out the kid in the 3 of us. Tomorrow will be a new day and lots of veggies for dinner.

Oh - And I decluttered by Offering on Freecycle, lovely Nadia picked up a milk crate of clothing, hand bags and other bits and bobs to rummage through. I also gave away to another Freecycler a long warm vintage camel hair and wool coat from my Melbourne days. I've been here in the tropics 7 years so it was time for it to go.

Did you enjoy your day today?

Home Sick Odd Jobs

Hello wonderful people. A reminder to my Aussie readers to don't forget to enter my Giveaway - a $200 Coles/Myer voucher! I know what I would spend it on... groceries. And then place $200 from my usual grocery budget into my mortgage.

I stayed home sick today. I should have seen it coming. The sore ears, unbalanced and all the sleeping I've been doing. My nose is like a running tap and my ears are so blocked I feel like I'm under water.

I spent the day feeling hot and sorry for myself. Drinking lots of water and taking a couple of Panadol to ease the aches. Luckily the fridge was full of cooked food so no cooking had to be done - just heating up.

While I had a small burst of semi energy I cleaned and painted 2 small vintage wooden frames that I had sitting around for over a year. I had purchased them them for about $1 each, maybe $2, but no more then that. I placed inside them pages of a damaged 1966 children's book I purchased for 50 cents at the op shop last week. I think they look lovely and will make pretty presents for Birthdays and new babies. At $2.05 a pop these revamped old frames are looking fresh and sweet with a vintage touch. Plus I have many more pictures left to use. Each prettier then the next. Swoon.

Pretty as a Picture.

One other job that caught my eye today was the stack of medicines we had. So I decluttered the fridge door compartment where they all live. 6 items had expired in 2010 and 2011. So out they went. However the compartment still looks just as full! How does that happen?

I hope you are well and keep frugally fantastic.

We Got Down & Dirty and Sowed Some Seeds

Gardening has been my project this year to get my shopping costs down, be more sustainable and have local organic produce.

While I garden The Rambling Expat usually tinkers at home or goes fishing for pleasure and food. However on this day he donned his fishing clothes and joined me to get my bottom plot more fertile for planting while Dolly played in the gardens around us.

The Rambling Expat Serious as Always.

We started off with an extremely thick layer of wood chip which I had been watering everyday for 2 months to aid the breakdown. We covered this with a 5cm compost soil.

Original Wood Chip

Raking with Style

We watered the soil and added a thick layer of mulch and we watered some more.

Mulched

We set up 2 tressels on each side of the plot. We planted a passionfruit plant at one side and 3 cucumber seedlings on the other. We also planted 3 capsicum seedlings, 1 chilli seedling and a lone pumpkin seed. Now I water and wait with impatience for the millimeter by millimeter growth.

A few days latter I went shopping at the dump shop... twice. The girl likes the shop if the product is good and the price is right :-)

Home Made Bike at the Dump Shop

Human Power Mowers at the Dump Shop.

I purchased a cage without a base ($2.50) to protect my pumpkin seed that has been growing beautifully. I purchased an old wooden clothes rack ($2.50) to protect the cucumbers and chillis. A lady came by and donated a few tomato seedlings for my garden plot. So I placed an old wooden table base ($5 - from the dump shop) to protect them from THIS. Those cheeky birds LOVE to dig up lovely rich garden beds and seedlings.

Your Trash = My Treasure

Once my seedlings are established and less vulnerable I will use the rack and base as tressels to allow my climbing plants to grow upwards. It's a slow work in progress as I learn the skill of gardening little step by little step.

And not long after Dolly and I made a lovely scarecrow to give our plot some extra girl power.

(I've been searching for a blog on a family in USA that decided to grow their own, buy local and become more sustainable. They wrote a book of their years experience. Do you know it? Can you point me in the right direction? I remember they showed their bountiful harvests in lovely photo's. I want to borrow the book at my library and I know they have 2 copies but because I can't remember the title I can't find it and neither can the staff. I think the family consisted of a mum, dad and 1 daughter.)

Thanks to Lisa's comment I found the book title I was after - and my public library has 2 copies!!! Can't wait to read it. Take a look. HERE. Have you read it? Did you find it informative, entertaining or not for you?

Happy Happy Happy at the Happy Yess

I had such fun at the Happy Yess Market. I loved the market venue and people!!! It was full of like-minded people who enjoy preloved stuff, worry about the environment and look different then a Target catalogue shoot.

I came home with 144$ after the 10$ fee. I had spent 145$ on preloved goodies. So I'm 1 buckaroo short. However I still have lots of lovely stock (for Ebay, Fishpond and Yess) so those sales will become my gravy money which I can place into my different projects and savings.

My Stall - sales were already made.

Now that I have seen and experienced the venue, I have ideas to make my stall look prettier next time as it looks poorly and sad-ish. I also want to prevent people having to bend down to look at my goodies. But it's all a learning curve and a work in progress, so stay tuned.

New ideas on how to spice it up.

What did we spend on, at the market? We bought a cup cake $4 and non-rum-ball .50 cents (Yum!!) and Dolly did a card making activity $1. Plus she did some free Hoola Hooping and ran around driving everyone crazy with her VERY LOUD shrieking happy voice.

Dolly and the Hoola Hoop Lesson.

In the background behind Dolly is I Love Lamp's stall with lots of lovely vintage gear, knick-knacs and jewels. A stall with a huge amount of style.

Wonderful Re-purposed trash.

My stall neighbour had the most gorgeous stuff made from trash. Bracelets made from bike tubes, gift bags made from newspapers, bowls made from old records. Click on image above to enlarge and see her talent. Very inspiring stuff.

New Happening Place for those sick of the usual.

Darwin doesn't have a preloved and local crafts treasure market. So I think this will work as people are sick of the usual unfair-trade stuff that fills the other markets.

And what a venue!!! Lots of grass to lie around in and enjoy each other company.

Are you a fan of markets??? Do you ever have a stall or boot sale?

Op Shopping Fantastica

I LOVE op shopping (thrifting). It's frugal, it's green and the chase is thrilling.

Many people think op shopping is "dirty and gross" but everything can be cleaned in some manner and re-used. There is always so much to go through to find your gems, but there is a lot out there and many wonderfully unique pieces too. Once you start op shopping regularly you will find you get used to running your eyes along the racks quickly and finding the good stuff.

I love being able to purchase items on a small budget and feel guilt free too. I see my purchase as saving stuff from landfill and preventing the over production of new stuff.

I op shop not only because it's frugal and green, but also because I'm Rubenesque meaning clothing shops with my size are ridiculously over priced and very limiting in range. So I'm very lucky I have Op Shops around me and even though I'm in a small town I still find many gems.

So don't be shy, go and browse your local op shop. My hints are; take cash as some op shops don't use cards, take a shoulder bag to keep you arms free for the items you want to check out, look carefully for stains and holes and have fun. 

Here is what I purchased in the past 2 weeks: TOTAL PRICE $14, all items in pics below.

• Novels in French for my partner: $2.50 for two.
• Professional development book for myself .50cents.
• A really cute leather headband for myself, $1.00.
• A book I really wanted last month but refused to fork out $45 for, and there is was... Urban Eco Chic only $3.00!!! I was so EXCITED... it's a beautiful book.

Books and Headband = $7.00

My Gorgeous Book!!! = $3.00

• Cooper Street dress with a teeny weeny burn. $2.00, purchased for sewing projects. (New Cooper Street dresses start at $159. The fabric is luxurious.)

Cooper Street Dress = $2.00

• A white wool beret for an up coming trip to France $1.00.
• Trial size make-up from Mary Kay $1.00 for a whole lot.
• Sewing hooks & eyes I needed for a sewing project, Lucky me! .50 cents.
• Salt and Pepper shaker by an Italian company $2.00.
• Maori doll for my daughter .50 cents.

Beret, Make-up, Doll, Salt & Pepper Shakers and Eyes & Hooks = $5.00

Do you Op Shop? What have you found lately?