My creative cup, it runneth over

I've been on something of a crafting frenzy lately. May has been pretty quiet as far as sewing new things for the shop goes. Which could backfire spectacular as my dress and skirt stock are starting to run a little low. But I promised myself that as soon as my fruity skirts were finished, I'd focus on making a few things for myself before starting on anything new for the shop. Me Made May which I referred to in my last post came at the perfect time and while I don't have many handmade items in my own wardrobe (I'm always on the bottom of the priority list), I took the pledge this year anyway. I figured it would hold me accountable and keep me motivated. Also posting photos on Instagram acts as a record and I'm hoping that next year I'll have even more handmade clothes and will feel a sense of achievement when I look back and see the progress I hope to will have made.

So far this month I've been wearing my leopard print kimono, green Edie dress and my black and gold heart skirt. Although I forgot to take a photo of that last one so I'll have to try again next week. I've also made myself a lovely summer dress which I haven't worn yet because as soon as it was ready, the weather remembered that this was Britain and brought back the rain. So now I'm back in jumpers and the occasional blanket because I'll be buggered if I'm putting the heating on in May.
Next on my list of makes is a pair of pyjama bottoms and I found some fabric which I have fallen hard for. It's wonderfully kitsch, bright, fun and softer than I could have imagined. PERFECT! I can't wait to see the end result.

And once you start getting creative in one area of your life, it appears to spread in to others without you even realising it. It's like a tap that you can't switch off.

While playing with Alessi and her Hama beads (will her love for these ever die?!) I made a very bright garland for the conservatory window. This in turn prompted her to want to take all her bead creations out of the box and hang them on her bedroom wall.

Then there's the garden and we've been planting all sorts of plants in to all sorts of things. Sunflowers in my old wellies, Geraniums in Alessi's old wellies, a purple plant in one of Dan's old trophies, you get the idea.

I bought a jasmine plant from the local garden centre, stuck it in a hanging basket and hung it above My Spot. 

Speaking of hanging baskets I replaced the rotted and broken willow ones and filled them with the old strawberry plants. Some had died off over winter (that will teach me to leave them out) so I topped them up with new plants.

Now we're nearly set for the summer. All I need now is to work out exactly which herbs and salad leaves I want to grow in the raised bed and we're done. Maybe.

Oh and something else too! Anyone who knows me knows that I HATE cooking. Really, I loathe it. I'm no good at it and Dan will attest to this (I once gave him food poisoning with salad leaves).
Anyhoo our food shopping bill has been creeping up lately and we've been struggling to keep it to the £70 a week budget.  I'd heard of Jack Monroe's first cookbook and recalled that they had only ever been raving reviews. I took another look and before I knew it, I'd purchased a copy.

I don't regret it. It's amazing. Jack's kind of cooking is right up my street. I don't go in for pretentious ingredients and lots of faffing. Cooking still isn't my thing, but I want to be able to make decent, healthy meals for Dan and Alessi, without too much faff and without spending a stupid amount of money. With the help of this book I'm starting to check all of those boxes and I personally think that's pretty bloody impressive. Our last shop came just under our £70 budget and the week before that we didn't even come close to it! And yet we all ate well and enjoyed our treats.
We're in that stage of trying some of the recipes out to see what works and what doesn't for us, tweaking them where necessary. But no other cookbook I've come across has managed to inspire me to even try. So as you can tell, I'm a huge fan.

And as if that weren't enough, we've also been getting creative with the house too. We're focusing our energy on our living room at the moment. It hasn't been painted since we moved in ten years ago. Damp walls and a growing toddler all took it's toll. Earlier this year me and Alessi pulled down the wallpaper. The damp had been so bad that it just peeled away. So there were marks where the paint underneath had come away with the wallpaper. On another wall there were crayon scribbles for a certain someone. And on another wall there are still the greasy hand prints also made by a certain someone with her cheese covered mitts. On the one hand, I feel like these are memories that we'll be painting over and it makes me sad. On the other, I hate the fag-stained colour we currently have and that makes me sadder so I also welcome fresh, crisp white!

So, where was I going with this? Oh yes. Dan booked a day off with the intention of painting the whole room. He did one wall and then decided to rip up the living room carpet instead. I was at work. It could have gone so, so wrong. But luckily we love the exposed floorboards underneath. And they're actually in pretty good nick. All we need to do now is decide if we want to go down the sanding or painting route. Either way, the end result will look SO much better than our old, stained, BEIGE carpet. Beige. What on earth were we thinking??

There is so much more I could write about, but Dan will be back with Alessi any minute and this post is plenty long enough already. Well done if you've made it this far!