Stretch.

Remember to stretch daily. Here's Aksu the Cat:

Spend less in September: Pancake revelation.

Ok, so this might not be a huge revelation in the sense of "a manifestation of divine will or truth" but it was certainly an eye-opener for me. I made a small batch of pancakes for DD and DH last night and realised there was no jam in the house. Rather than doing what I would normally do, i.e. put on my shoes and get some from the closest store, I asked, "hey is sugar ok since we have no jam?" and they said "sure". So, here is the revelation: we can do without.

Naughty me.

I had a fish burger for lunch. I did tell my friends that they better not ask me out to lunch next month because I seem to have little will power when it comes to junk food. Oh well, I forgive me.

Why oh Why.

Why is it that I cannot learn to close containers with lids? Having just spent 5 minutes crawling on the bedroom floor looking for eyelets, brads and other little objects you'd think I'd know better from now on...

Getting ready for September.

I feel good about the decision to spend less money next month. A lot of my purchases are for comfort rather than need so it should be interesting to see how I will react during the first days; will I catch myself almost buying stuff or will I end up avoiding shops as much as I can.

Bookmark.

Forgot to post this one yesterday; it's a bookmark I made for a swap. I decided I didn't want to make a tag-type of a thing, so I found a large paperclip, some fibers and beads. It's kinda cute!

Spending less.

I came across this. I'm doing it with the parameters that I will cut "luxury items" from our grocery list (no sodas or candy or anything we don't really need) as well as trips to the closest take aways and cafes. I will not buy any craft supplies during the month of September. I will spend less time watching tv and more time with my family (they don't know I'm doing this yet...). Let's see how it goes.

As to the why, it makes sense, doesn't it. I can live with less, my family can live with less. There are others who need more, so why not try to create some balance. If you think it's naive, then try it first.

Oh, and at the end of the month I will make a donation to Save the Children.

Wanna join the challenge?

Gratification.

Ok, I'm taking babysteps here. Finalising some swaps, simple stuff to give me instant gratification. Here's a little something I made this morning for a retro-swap, found the image online, the rub-ons say "those were the days..." and as a final touch I added a hairpin with a little ribbon tied to it.

Inspiration.

I'm in a rut. I've looked at my materials, I've tried a few things, nothing works. So I go and look for inspiration online. Here are my fav. blogs at the moment, in no particular order: Francine, Ali E., Violet, Breanne, Susanna and Elsie F.. Go visit these ladies' blogs and be inspired.

A Quick Present.

It really pays off to hoard things like little notebooks and pretty boxes, you never know when you need make a quick pressie for someone. This notebook is for a colleague. Sincere apologies for the lack of any photo quality, I took this one with my phone...





Supplies: cheapo notebook, thick handmade paper, ranger distress inks, flower stamp, some fibers and a cute little bead.

Perfection.

This is where I went on Thursday, an exhibition of the works of Fabergé. The details, the precision, the perfectness. They had two of the easter eggs on show; the Uspenski Cathedral one and the Alexander III Equestrian one . Fascinating stuff!

Change of plans.

I was supposed to get some "me-time" and scrap, but instead I'm getting on the train early tomorrow morning and meeting my SIL in Tampere. Might check out the local craftstores... So I bid y'all fairwell, see you on Sunday!

Back home...

...phew, we had one hot train ride today, the train was jampacked and the AC was out of order or running on superlow. Next week DH has promised to mind DD so I can do "something". I want to scrap!

Off to meet the Moomins.

This is where we are going this weekend... taking the train to Turku (almost 8 hours), just to spend a day with the Moomins. DD has been waiting for this trip for almost two years now, so hopefully she will enjoy it...