Do You Make Christmas Gifts? Useful Links!

Yeah, it's November. With Bonfire Night and Halloween out of the way, my thoughts turn Christmas-wards. I always intend to make elaborate home made gifts for everyone, but sometimes time (and money) get in the way of creating complex applique designs or cards so complex they could be filmed for Grand Designs.

Often, if you're not amazing with the sewing machine it's those little stocking fillers which are best home-made. Gifts for work mates, neighbours, friends and kids. I find simple, low-cost crafting incredibly therapeutic and relaxing on a cold winter night. Working long days and often bringing work home, projects need to offer impressive results with either a quick make, or, if a longer project, small steps which can be split up over several evenings.

Also... they have to be cheaper than buying a (nice) example of said object from a shop. I am no longer a kid and people won't smile through gritted teeth "it's loooovely" if I present them with some chewed up can-you-guess-what-it-is-yet article; all the worse if it cost me a new mortgage via  Hobbycraft. Most of my craft materials are recycled, thrifted or scrounged from Poundland or - on a good day - Dunelm Mill.

I usually start searching for ideas in my old 70s books and online around now. Thanks to Pinterest (yes! I am on Pinterest! And I'm shamelessly plugging my boards!) I've rounded up and filtered out some of the best easy/thrifty/actually cool Christmas lists out there and am sharing them today (click the captions to link):

36th Avenue has the BEST range out there; it delivers exactly the level of thrift, ease and actual nice gifts I want. What is more, at the bottom they link to two further installments. So that's up to 75 gifts! now my family'sbig, but not that big...spoilt for choice.

This range of 24 easy projects from Tip Junkie has some nice bath items and paper crafts.They say they're for neighbours only... I'm gonna be a rebel and give them to people who don't live next door (but are neighbours in the metaphorical sense, I guess).

These ideas from How Does She are a little less 'hands on' but every bit as cute;printable labels and ideas for little baskets, sweets etc'. Perfect for making a simple little gift more special.

Finally - Cut Out And Keep is a great craft community with literally thousands of projects... if you want something specific, or want to search by material, it is the place to go.

See Felt Bows On Elastics and 1000's of others - or share your own on Cut Out + Keep

Don't forget to check out my Christmas Craft board on Pinterest for more ideas (including how to make sleighs out of 2 chocolate bars and some candy canes... genius!).

Retro Cookbook Corner: Quick & Easy Cooking

There is a magnet on my fridge. I says "If you are what you eat, I'm quick, cheap and easy". I wish I could say it was given to me by someone who knows me not, but it was a gift from my own twin sister. Quick, cheap and easy, that's me.

Aint No Party Like A Retro Party

Helllooo! Apologies for the recent lack of posts. I've been working hard (mid exam season) and haven't really done anything interesting to blog, hence the online absence.
Well Saturday night I did something very blog worthy. Whether you think so or not hahaha! As it's my birthday this week, I threw a party for me and my sister, with a full on 70s buffet. For all the trends and pinterest boards on classy snack stations, you just can't beat a cheesy old retro buffet with cocktails. I combined some older recipes with some modern ones off t'internet, and it went down very well.

Of course, some pictures...

Sweet little fella!

My old university pal brought a cheese-and-pineapple hedgehog. With a face, no less! What a garnish to the buffet that was. We could hardly bear to eat it. It was hard... but we managed - he was spineless by 10pm. Even the vegetarians had a go- for shame!

99p Garden Fun

After several hours of hacking, strimming, mowing and being raked by brambles last weekend, we got our new-ish garden looking like this:

OK, so it isn't the prettiest yet, and (you may note, by the G plan chair) we have no charming rattan garden furnishings either... but it's finally useable. So we've been using it, to dry laundry, to put out wee seedlings of herbs and small veg. Mainly, however, given the lovely warm weather, to sit about in.

Quick, Thrifty, Tasty

Yep that's me. Haha, no, I'm not that vain - I'm talking weekday dinners. Oh no, I hear you cry, not one of those smug 'much cheaper than a take-away' so-called easy weekday recipes that are actually nigh on impossible. I feel your pain; when I read features like that in magazines they drive me up the wall. This post reveals the truth behind my thrifty eating... the lazy, cheapo, truth. How to eat if you:

• Work 12 hour days;
• Also want to actually have a life;
• Want to save money;
• Don't want malnutrition.

Ouchy

Mr Bump was my favourite Mr Man; it must be empathy. I was going to sally forth and do some shopping and pub reviewing today, but I have been laid low by my own stupidity. Instead I shall post about my misadventures and give you a couple of recent accessory moments I actually remembered to snap.

Random Week, Random Post

Hello folks! I'm afraid this weekend's post is, well, a bit random. Being half term, I've done lots and lots of little bits and pieces worthy of mentioning, but nothing quite substantial enough for a full post in its own right. I blame the time of year. There are a lot of pubs and shops open at this time of year (as opposed to, say, midnight on a bank holiday) and I end up wasting time.

I know people like my 'beer swigging bride' photos.
There are plenty more where this one came from...

Vintage Recipe Cooking!

Oh yes, I've actually got round to cooking some of my vintage recipes in a manner worthy of blogging. I fully admit, I have played it safe this time and avoided such manifestations of 70s huite cuisine as 'jellied chicken towers', but this is a bit of a warm-up on this type of post. If you likes it, let me know, and I will make more.

Oh, and certain person reading this who thinks their vegetarianism will free them of the jelly towers... two words: 'agar' and 'tofu'. No one will escape my 70s cooking wrath...

Well Fit

I haven't been out much due to the dreaded exam season. Endless paperwork and evening/weekend classes... happily they are now completed, students feeling confident, staff sorted- so my social life can start afresh with this bank holiday weekend. Huzzah!

Being housebound with paperwork of a weekend, naturally I used my full reserve of intellectual and creative power to avoid anything resembling an Excel spreadsheet until Sunday evening when it absolutely positively had to be done. Bad girl. Rebelling against years of 'no TV until you can show me your homework' as a child.

Style Inspiration: The Good Life

Isn't the weather lovely (braces self for downpour)...

I love The Good Life. Both female leads have amazing wardrobes, both are confident and stylish in their own way: depending on what I'm doing I often envy either Margot or Barbara.

Style Inspiration: The Cat

For those if you who don't know what Red Dwarf was, you were evidently never a geeky kid in the early 90s. Which is a shame, because- as they say- The Geek Shall Inherit The Earth. Bagsy The Maldives. And I was well set on this path, bar the first bad influence in my Comic-Book-Guy-like catalogue of cult comedies who inspired my headlong dash into glorious vanity, vacuity and vampishness. Ladies and gents, may I present THE CAT:

Imagine this process with a normal person turning into me.

Busy doing nothing...

...nothing blog relevant, I mean. Hence the lack of posting recently; work, laundry, house-hunting and sleeping do not make ideal content for a 'fun at the weekend' blog (although they are pretty much tied up with the 'living on a moderate income' bit of the whole thing). And so, with only the moderate guilt I serve forth the blog equivalent of Findus Crispy Pancakes- filling, lowbrow, quick and tasty...but perhaps lacking the substance of a gourmet meal. Oh, unlike Findus Crispy Pancakes, I'm not going to pop over your gaff and burn the top of your mouth of with superheated plastic cheese. Which is a bonus.

Award and Handwriting

Handwriting, ah I remember the long hours spend perfecting neat, elegant handwriting. The moment the lessons stopped, I returned to a strange, scruffy school-marm-meets-urban-tagger style I am famed for (by 'famed for', read 'mocked for'). My handwriting is age-inappropriate. It looks like it should have little hearts over the 'i', and never, ever used to sign important documentation.

Lazy Sunday Afternoon: Socky Buns, Sticky Buns...

...No cream buns sadly.

A cornucopia of hair cheats today. Yesterday his Lordship took me out to a well known chain of red pseudo-French bistro, I chose a salad, thinking it would be 'light'. It was actually a big pile of chicken, bacon, avocado, mayo and cheese with perhaps one salad leaf in there. Yummy but I could not finish it and was awake all night in between cheese dreams of bizarre proportions.

Now sadly I am undone, and can only stare at YouTube hair and nail tutorials. Many of which I know how to do anyway. So I thought I'd share some of the tutorials I use to style my hair without too much effort, with some  tips etc'. Enjoy...

I blog therefore I am (a geek)...

The lovely Alex at 'Odd Socks & Pretty Frocks' blogged this fill-the-gaps post...I couldn't resist. Please do check her out as well as nosing at my answers to these probin and pertinent questions...


I am... a twin. I think some of my strangenesses stem from the fact. Indeed, Florizel almost daily reminds me that twins are eerie and bizarre. This may well be based on me being the particular twin he knows best. Strange twin behaviour:

Cheerful ramblings from His Lordship

Ah, that Friday feeling, dressing 'down', relaxing and having a few ales. In my case, dressing gown, bed rest and a lemsip. I've got the lurgy! Grrr. Hence, I am a little stuck for topics. Outfit post: 'wet flannel on forehead: the bathroom, thermometer: superdrug, hot-water-bottle: gift'? Charming vintage extracts from home medicine books? (Note to self- that's not a bad one). What about a product review- Beechams v Lemsip v Superdrug own brand decongestant? Would take a while, what with waiting 4-6 hours between doses. Nah. Instead I exercised my wifely perogative and offer for your reading amusement, here for you today, my husband His Lordship Florizel Of Tweed and his amazing performing drinks cabinet:

This is he, playing the fule.

This is the amazing performing drinks cabinet.

Deceptively Simple Luxury Supper

Thursday night, we went out for dinner (3 courses: goats cheese starter, mussels in cream sauce and ice-cream) with wine. I would review it but I was sadly under the influence and it might well turn into a rant about rude harridans who should watch their wagging tongues in restaurants. Friday night we went out for beer and ended up eating kebab (not dirty, dirty kebab off of a van, mind. It was from the finest of kebab houses in Harrow and has a proper waiter service, sober people eating there and proper wooden tables. But it's still kebab).

Saturday we were feeling rather full-of-tummy and empty-of-purse. So we took our kitty (literally a Hello Kitty piggybank) down to the local coinstar machine and got ourselves a little mini-wad to treat ourselves to a night in: a nice bottle of sauvignon blanc, some seafood for a yummy (but dead easy) dinner and some comedic DVDs.

Nunc est bibendum (Guest Blogger)

My darling husband, His Lordship, Florizel of Tweed, gave me a ready made blog post for Valentine's day. How kind! It's about Martinis, perfect for lunchtime posting. Please excuse the bits in rampant bad taste, I didn't write them...

Last Night A Blog Post Saved My Life!

Well not quite. But it saved me quite a lot of money and gained me a vintage-pretending-to-be-more-vintage suit (80s/40s). It might, therefore, go down in the annuls of history as the jammiest and most useful post ever to drift into my feedbox. It isn't even a new one! I was showing Lord Florizel some stuff Vintage Vixen had posted about her house and he was amazed by her fabulous bargain-hunting ability, so I showed him her post on hunting ebay items. Then I decided to have a go. Trying all the rules at once and seeing what happened...

Facebook?

Just a little 'one liner' to mention the blog now has a page on the ubiquitous Facebook. If you are a Facebooker and want to follow, click here.