New Things Check in

It's been a while since I've done a Check in on my theme for 2011 of NEW things!

In my last post on the topic I hinted at a new shower cubicle!  Oh yes, hubby has finished that job.

There used to be a gaping hole there where we had had to punch through in a previous plumbing emergency.  Hubby pulled all the old tile and water softened (from the plumbing emergency) board out, put a new piece of aqua panel in and tiled over the top.  And now we are able to shower again!  Yay!

Another new thing is my sewing machine.  Hubby decided to buy me the machine that I had my heart set on, after we received a small sum of money in an inheritance.  I knew I wanted a Singer, but had my heart set on the heavy duty model.  The heavy duty models kind of fill the gap between their standard home use models and their industrial models.  For the way I sew, I knew this was ideal.  This machine will stand up to a lot of use.  I don't tend to sew that often but when I do sew I tend to do an awful lot over a few days, using the machine almost constantly during that time.  I knew this model would stand up to that kind of use.

Singer 4423 Heavy Duty.  I have no affiliation with Singer in any way I just love this machine.

Here's what happened when I got it out of the box.

I am still working on keeping up with my thankfulness journal. I might not write in it every day or even make a weekly thankfulness blog post but bit by bit I am working on that.

I am still moving forward with plans for a trip to Romania in the summer and may have some dates to share with you next week.

We have begun our garden for 2011 and I may post an update to my previous post tomorrow, showing you any growth in the various plants.

Finally I have a number of new books to read.  A couple of titles on prayer, a book called Chazown which is about finding your God given vision and defining it, a book about the Jewishness of Jesus and lastly the new Max Lucado book, watch out for a review on that next week.

Sooo, did you have a theme for this year?  How are you doing with that?  Is it going well?  Are you able to make sense of it or are you wondering what on earth is going on and how your current circumstances could possibly fit with that theme?

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Art AS Worship?

Well, that's the question, when art happens in a Christian worship meeting, is that art just happening DURING worship or is the doing of that art actually worship itself?  I honestly believe that the act of doing the art CAN BE worship!  Just as it can BE prayer, participating in the making of art CAN BE a means of communicating with God, whether that be worship, thanksgiving, repentance or request.

However, I have not done any kind of art in a worship meeting for a long time and certainly never done it since I began to believe in my ability to do art.

All that changed this week.  Easter Sunday 2011.

Late on Saturday evening I spotted an email from one of our church leaders, who had requested that people bring the tools of their creativity to church on Sunday to be part of the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  So, off I went and packed a bag of art materials.  I pulled a page out of a book on birds of prey, that I have been wanting to use for ages, my art journal, some paints, some stamps and ink pads, glue, scissors and pens.  And Sunday morning off we went.

We were a bit thin on the ground this year for Easter Sunday, a lot of people were away visiting family, and it soon became apparent that I was the only one who had brought stuff to use during the meeting.  However I am used to being a bit different and went ahead.  WOW, is all I can say about the experience, it truly was participating in worship, just WOW!

The rubiks cube has nothing to do with the art.  My son put it down in order to take the photograph of me at work.

Psalm 91:3

He will cover you with His feathers and under his wings you will find protection.

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Fancy Pants and Men's Hoodies

lfWhat I've been up to lately... my friend Boston is an AMAZING massage therapist in San Francisco, and he offered to trade me fashion for massage.  I've been wanting to work up a Men's elf hoodie lately anyway, and so here's the design.  I hope he likes it.  I sure do.  I wanna do a good photo shoot of it before it goes, so I can make more later.. but I really love the way it turned out.  It reminds me very much of Legolas the Elf's outfit from the Lord of the Rings movies.  Mmmm... yummy elf boys in fleece....

I also used the rest of the red and black stripey fabric from Happy Stop ($2/yard!  That place is AWESOME) and made a vest and pants outfit that is, if I may say so myself, Very Hott.  I was going to sell it but now I'm quite attached to it.. if I can find time to get back to Happy Stop and get more of that fabric, there will be more outfits like this.  There will probably be anyway.  Fun stuff.  I already made another top using the same pattern with velvet sparkly fabric.  I'm starting to build up a lil' backlog of stuff that needs to be photographed.  :)

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Living Thankfully

Here is my entry for this week's Thankfulness journey, in no particular order . . . .

341. HE IS RISEN

342.  Awesome Easter Party for the children at church on Thursday, with 3 or 4 non church families. 

343.  Raw egg smashed onto your head is actually good for your hair.

344.  Eggbert the egg went down well, and I only got tiny bits of egg on the children in the front row, ooops.

345.  The only true way of finding safety and protection is to Hide Ourselves in Christ.

346.  Eldest son who is home for two weeks actually went to young adults small group last week.

347.  A church leader who trusted what she was feeling and asked for people to bring their "creative things" to church for Easter.  

348.  Courage to go ahead and do art when I realised that since the email had been such short notice I was the only one who had come armed with supplies to use during the meeting.

349.  Art AS worship, not art during worship.

350.  Not the first time I have done creative things as worship but most certainly the first time I have art journaled as worship in a corporate situation like that and it was an incredible experience.  I will write a post later this week with a couple of photos.

351.  Lovely Easter dinner with a Greek theme.

352.  Fun trip to the bowling alley with family, paid for mainly by vouchers we were given for Christmas.

353. New Sewing Machine!  Oh yes, Hubby decided to buy it for me!  And after a mix up with a company taking our money who could actually not deliver for a whole month AT LEAST, we requested a cancellation and refund from them and paid £10 more to buy it locally!

354.  Our vegetable garden for 2011 is underway.

355.  Finally, this morning we are off to IKEA for breakfast on our way to visit family!

356.  

If you wish to participate in blogging about your list of 1000 gifts or in Thankful Thursday, you can do so by clicking on the banners at the top of this post.

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Eating Out

Yesterday I was telling a friend at church about all the different places we have eaten out over the last few years using coupons.  Mainly we went through the list of the places we have used vouchers that we get from a particular supermarket through points that we earn as we shop.

At the last count we have used coupons at a Spanish Tapas restaurant, a French style restaurant, an upmarket fish and seafood restaurant, nicer pizza restaurants, and others.  Of course those vouchers earned through points are not the only way of saving money on your restaurant visit or other purchases.  There are a number of coupon websites out there, and if you are looking to buy something it is always a good idea to check them out before you decide where to get your item from.  You can save considerable amounts of money if you do this on a regular basis.  And yes, even here in the UK!

It is true coupons and coupon codes over here will never be the same as in America, particularly in the area of groceries, but you can get good discounts on other items through them.  Check out the site linked to in this post, it is one of the best coupons sites for the UK.

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Sheridan Smith - Side Shave

I've long been an admirer of the hair fashion show by actress Sheridan Smith but she's outdone herself with this ultra-modern side shave which she's coupled with a blonde bob. Here's an after and before.

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Gardening 2011

Our vegetable garden for 2011 is well under way.
We don't have a big garden, but we still manage to squeeze a lot in there.  We have a raised bed, hanging baskets and various pots and other containers.

Let me take you on a tour of what we have so far:

As you step out of the back door, this is right in front of you.

In the left hand container there are peas.

In the middle container there are herbs.  Coriander (Cilantro), Marjoram, Thyme, Parsley, Purple Sage and Chives.  The containers are on an old veg rack we no longer use in the house, which also enables me to move them around if I wish to, really easily.

The right hand container has runner beans and one broad bean (fava bean I think).

Just behind those are2 more pots.  Last year's strawberry plant which need bringing out into other containers and splitting up and a rosemary plant which I had been searching everywhere for and finally picked up yesterday.

Just to your right in that first photo, to the side of the back door are the potato sacks.  We have 3 different varieties again this year but have got them in much sooner.  Pentland Javelin, good for boiling and salads.  King Edward, good for chips (fries), roast potatoes and baked potatoes.  Finally we have a variety called Rocket.  That one is new to me but is a very good new potato.

You can see that we are growing them in bags, which is the same method as growing them in containers, and we already have one growing, even though they only went in this week.

Up on the wall, above the potato sacks we have two hanging baskets with tomatoes in.  We've chosen the variety tumbler, which is a cherry tomato that gives plenty of small tomatoes with no need for staking, making it ideal for containers, hanging baskets or growing upside down.  We haven't quite gone the full upside down route, but these baskets should work out well.  Last year we tried to put 3 in each basket, but it was too much and they didn't thrive, so this year we just have two in each.

On the table to the left of the potato sacks and tomato baskets, there are a few pots.  Eventually these will go over by the rosemary, but for now I want to give them a chance to get established without the slugs interfering.  2 varieties of mint in one pot and two varieties of lavender in the other two pots.

Finally, the raised bed.  We use a square foot method and so far we have some plants that I bought as seedlings from the local garden centre, 2 squares of kurly kale and 4 squares of carrots, tiny round carrots that are cute as well as tasty.

I do all watering by hand (no need for a hose in a garden this size), and when I finish the morning watering I fill the cans back up and leave them out in the sun so that the water used for evening watering has warmed up a little.

Back inside there are some seed trays. I've already moved some of the plants outside, but still in the trays we have some peas, perpetual spinach, French Beans, Rainbow Chard, Pak Choi and various herbs, Beetroot, Chantenay carrots (red cored ones), Little Gem lettuce and Tom Thumb Lettuce.

I have to go through my seed packets later and see if there is anything I want to sow direct into the raised bed today!

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Helen Flanagan - Rosie Webster Blonde Haircut

Coronation Street's Helen Flanagan has opted for a super short cut and colour makeover as she takes a 3 month break from filming Coronation Street. Stunning makeover.

Before and after:

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Menu Plan Monday

Breakfasts are cereal with milk or yoghurt, or toast, etc
Lunches are leftovers, soups, sandwiches, noodles, salads, etc

This is going to be a different week.  No school, so youngest should be home all day, although I think he's in for a few hours the next 3 days for revision sessions.  Eldest is also home for two weeks starting today.

MONDAY

Sausages (from reduced cabinet this afternoon), with roast onion instant mashed potato and mixed vegetables.
Followed by Lemon Surprise Dessert. 

TUESDAY 

Pizza, Oven Chips (fries) and salad or veggies.
More lemon Surprise Dessert.

WEDNESDAY

Spicy Mince with Rice and Spinach

THURSDAY 
We'll probably go bowling and eat at the bowling alley, but that might happen during the day.  We'll grab something from the supermarket take out counters if not.
 

FRIDAY

Chicken, Lentil and Potato Curry.

SATURDAY

BBQ if the weather is right (which it looks like it should be).
So burgers, sausages, bread rolls, potato salad, other salad.

SUNDAY

Easter Sunday.  I think I might go a bit Greek with our Easter meal this year.
Greek Salad for starter
Lamb with herbs and garlic for main, served with baby roast potatoes and seasonal veg.
And finish with Baklava.
mmmmmmmmmmm

If you want to check out more menu ideas, go to Organizing junkie by clicking on the menu plan Monday banner at the top of this post.

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Lemon Surprise Dessert

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.  When life gives you a collapsed lemon polenta cake you have to do something else . . . .

 

Can you see that.  I don't think the photo looks as bad as it actually was.  The whole of the centre collapsed in a mushy mess.  Not sure whether it wasn't quite cooked enough or if I put too much lemon syrup on it while it was cooling.  Anyway, I cut that middle section out and disposed of it, but the rest of the cake was fine, just didn't look pretty.

So I decided to make a surprise Lemon Dessert.

I took the cake and crumbled it up.  I whipped up some cream and opened a jar of lemon curd.  Then I layered the 3 in a bowl.

You'll have to excuse the quality of the photos here.  The flash was just reflecting off the cream, but it was already evening and without the flash the photos have come out a little dull.  That's the first layer!

And when the layering was finished it looks like this:

Still not pretty but it tasted fantastic!

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My Alter Ego

I've been working through some creativity prompts that I found online.  The very first day, one of the prompts was to work on your alter ego, whether that be to draw her, paint her, or dress up as her. 

Here she is!  In my art journal.

My alter ego is not afraid to try new things.  She travels to far off places.  She trusts easily yet is not naive.  She lives for today.  She enjoys good food but maintains her health through portion control and exercise.  She is feminine yet powerful.  She carries such a sense of who she is and the God that she serves, that draws people in.

She is bright, colourful and knows how to express joy.

The dress is one I printed off.  It is by Desigual and I absolutely ADORE IT!  Wish I could have a dress like that, and hopefully one day I will!

I drew the head and neck using pencils.  I used the Crayola multicultural set, which is 8 colours of varying skin tones.  The background is two colours of acrylic scraped on, and then random stamping with a lilac versacolour and a silver versacolour.  The writing is in DoCrafts glitter pens and Kuretake metallic calligraphy pens, plus a Kuretake fineliner in black.

I want to be my alter ego!

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Fabric Stash

Remember the post about my craft room?

Well even though everything is much more organised than it was before I still wasn't sure what I had of what, particularly n the fabric section.  Yesterday a friend had enquired about getting a bag made just for her, and wondered what fabrics I had in hand.  To be honest I had some idea but had no way of describing them to her accurately. 

Today I have to tidy the craft room because eldest son is coming home for 2 weeks, and will be sleeping in there.  So, while I was working on that I decided to go through the fabric stash and catalogue it. 

For now I have not recorded how much I have of each fabric, but I have a rough idea.  I have put a 12 inch (30cm) ruler on each photo to give you an idea of the size of the patterns.

 

This WAS the old curtains in the craft room.  I already have 5 larger shopping bags cut out of the one curtain and have not yet cut into the 2nd curtain.  There is a nice quantity of this.

There's probably at least 2 or 3 metres of this, cut into 2 panels with hems at each end (it was curtains on a gazebo I used to use for storytelling), plus a bit spare.

This is a voile and so, not suitable for making bags, but I am sure I can come up with a use for it.  This also was curtains on the gazebo, so again, probably 2 or 3 metres or more, cut into two panels with hems on each end.  We have the same fabric but in a red colourway as curtains in our living room.

Another Voile, another panel from the gazebo curtains!  Again 2 or 3 metres or more.

Enough to make one large shopping bag, but the handles would have to be in a different fabric, or 2 smaller bags, but still needing handles from a different fabric.  I could also use webbing for handles.  This is a heavier weight fabric that is leftover from a door curtain for the archway between our kitchen and dining rooms.

A medium weight fabric.  I think I originally bought a metre and a half but have used some of it.

A lightweight fabric, Absolutely gorgeous pattern, quite a good quantity.

Fantastic dotty fabric, fairly lightweight, again a fairly good quantity.

About a metre or so of Christmas fabric, lightweight.

Originally purchased to make tablecloths and napkins, I have a large quantity of this.  Lightweight.

Matching fabric in blue, but much less of this one, seems I must have made the napkins and tablecloths in blue but never got around to making the green ones.

To go with that I also have,

There's a good quantity of this but not as much as the green one two pictures up.

A heavy weight fabric, weighted like a hessian but much softer.  It has one seam across it and a snap sewn on the sides.  It was a cape for a Gandalf costume.

And, finally a medium weight fabric.  I have plenty of this.  I believe I used a small quantity of what I purchased but more than that.  I believe that there is also a bag with large quantities of sheeting.  I THINK there is peach and another colour.

All in all, you can see that I have both fabrics that I want to re use from previous projects, and fabrics that I have never used that have been sitting here for years! 
So like I said . . .

"Hello, my names is Zoe and I have had a craft supplies buying problem!"

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