Silly old basket!

Well, maybe not silly, in fact really rather useful... and now a bit prettier


I have had this pair of baskets kicking around for a long time now and I use them to store my buttons and beads and odd fabrics. I decided on a whim, that they would be nicer lined, so I had a quick rootle through my stash and found some nice strong fabric that I was thinking of making cushions with, but as I have more than enough cushions, basket liners it was!

They are surprisingly easy to make; 

1. cut a strip long enough and deep enough to go round the basket
2. bung the basket on the remaining fabric, grab a felt pen and draw round about a 1/2 and inch outside the basket
3. cut the oval out
4. sew a hem on one edge of the long strip
5. sew the unhemmed edge of the strip to the oval
6. sew up the seam
7. stick it in the basket
8. stand back and feel smug!
9. realise that using a pattern with leaves looks better when it is full as you can't see where the leaves go upside down on the inside

I did think about putting some pockets along the inside, but since these are big baskets, filled with either jars of beads/buttons or rolled/folded bits of fabric I figured I'd either never use them, or I'd put little things in them and forget they were there!

Fudge!

Last week I received a super parcel of goodies from Jenn at Rook No 17 and in the box was a jar of Fluff and on the jar was a recipe for "Never Fail Fudge" 

Today I made the fudge and it really was easy, basically it's a case of shoving the entire jar of fluff in to a pan with loads of sugar, some butter and some vappy milk then stir it all together and boil it gently for 5 minutes

It is really sweet and more-ish so I am going to take it in to work as I know the chaps there will save me from myself by devouring most of it!

It's a bit chewier than the English fudge I am used to, so I am guessing that is how it is supposed to be, either that or I have mucked it up a bit! I don't care really; it is far too lovely to quibble over little things like texture!

Busy day & a super surprise

It has been a great weekend all round; yesterday I went to Sherbourne and Castle Cary with my mum and nabbed myself a couple of nice charity shop bargains...

95p for the address book & £1.25 for a pair of brand new pillowcases

I needed a box to keep my receipts in so I saved an empty washing powder tablets box, glued a load of torn up pretty pictures from a freebie mag all over it, then embellished it with cartoon pictures from a piece of wrapping paper saved from my birthday

Yes, that is Sid James and Kenneth Williams in there... I adore Carry on Films so I was chuffed to bits to find them in amongst the cartoons and adverts

Today the sunshine came back... hurrah!! And filled me with energy; enough energy to tackle the spring cleaning of my teeny-tiny flat and bijou courtyard. In the midst of all this (almost unheard of) activity I went to put some more junk in to my already junk filled shed and saw quite a large box, initially I began to pile the junk on to it, when it dawned on me that I hadn't put it there, in fact I was sure I didn't have any boxes left. On closer inspection I realised that it was a new box, not just new but a PRESENT... a present for ME! 

I love parcels with shredded paper in, reminds of me of lucky dips when I was little

Squeal!

Look at all those goodies... some I've heard of and some I haven't

The amazing Jenn at Rook No 17 wrote about American Smarties a while ago and we got chatting about the differences between UK & US Smarties and then decided to send each other Smarties from our own countries and things kind of rolled on from there!

As you can imagine not all of those yummies are still here, good job I took photos as I opened it! The first casualty was Rocky Road.. oh my goodness it is lush, I only meant to take a small bite and suddenly found I'd eaten it all! I am being good and taking the Mary Janes in to work to share. The chick-o-stick has gone too, well it was all peanutty and tummy... the rest I have had to hide in a drawer! The jar of Fluff has a recipe for no fail fudge on the back, so next weekend I shall have a bash at that

Isn't blogland such a fabulous place? I am loving making new friends along the way and overwhelmed by the generosity of people 

First monthly make for May

I am still running up the odd pencil case as and when I get time

So far I have not managed to make any two alike as I always forget how I make each one, so they all turn out differently!

Maybe I should try taking photos of the process to jog my memory?

My crafting mojo left me for a while recently and I've been quite bereft of crafty ideas. Most unlike me, but I think it's coming back slowly... I've starting scribbling ideas in notebooks again!

What do you do if your crafting mojo ups and abandons you? How do you get it back?