creative shopping on a budget

photo by Nicole Tattersall

It's fair to say that I'm a bargain hunter. I love the thrill of a good hunt. Knowing that I've gotten a bargain makes my day. Not because I'm a cheapskate, but because I like to make our current single-income dollar stretch as far as possible. 

Once you reach "family" status, you are no longer free to just spend your hard-earned dollars on yourself. There's not much treating oneself to little luxuries and indulgences anymore. Not often anyway. There's more (picky) mouths to feed, bums to clothe and entertainment which would have never registered on your radar were it not for the addition of children in your life.

So I direct you back to the point of this story... Creative Shopping. Yes. We all need a little of this in our lives to help us balance our books AND so that we too can have some little luxuries from time to time. So here are three methods of shopping to get you thinking (and spending) more creatively.

There's online shopping. There are definite and obvious benefits to spending your dollars online. Online retailers overheads are marginal in comparison to brick-and-mortar stores, hence they pass on the savings to you, the shopper.  But with online shopping comes to daunting questions - will it fit when it arrives? Sure, you can return it. Most online retailers have fair return policies. But could you really be bothered with all of that?  That one completely depends on your patience and urgency.

Thrifting, Op-shopping, second hand store scavenging, flea market fossicking (whatever you prefer to call it) is a personal favourite of mine. Again, for me it's all about the hunt.  However, not knowing what you're going to find is both a pro and a con. One day you could visit 3 stores and not find a thing and the next day you find 3 things in one store. But the second-hand prices are worth the hunt unless you are looking for something very specific.

Factory Outlets are a treasure-hunters delight. They are full of current and recent trends, styles and overstocks. You can find things for a fraction of the recommended retail price within a retail environment which allows you to try things on, pick them up, touch, feel and smell them. You can find out if your favourite retailers have stand-alone outlets, or you can head to an outlet centre which houses many clothing, footwear, homewares and various other retail outlet.

I was recently invited to visit Uni Hill Factory Outlets to experience what they have on offer.  As part of a morning of events we were challenged to pull together a complete outfit with a time frame of 30 minutes.  Firstly, let me tell you how much fun it is to spend imaginary money.  No financial restraints, not that you need to concern yourself with that when you're outlet shopping, and all style inhibitions go out the window. You have a clear head and you don't second-guess yourself.  Plus there's no buyers-remorse!

I had such a fun time pulling together an outfit with my shopping challenge partner Nicole that I'm going to return to the centre to purchase a couple of the pieces we found including shoes from Tony Bianco and scarf and jeans from Jeanswest. 

Inspiration comes from all places, so hopefully I've inspired you to be a little more creative with your next shopping expedition and maybe even venture outside of your routine shopping destinations. 

Do you have a creative shopping tip?

preserving your kids memories

I had to think of another title for this post as I didn't want people to get turned away at reading the word "scrapbooking".  I totally get the connotations that the word is associated with. 

I am a scrapbooker from way-back. I'm talking old-school. Think early nineties. When I was still in primary school. I kept scrapbooks of stuff from school, camps I went on and places I visited. I still have them to this day. I cherish them.

I still enjoy scrapbooking things to this day, but I'm not your traditional scrapbooker who follows 12x12 layouts or one who purchases coordinating, seasonal kits. Nope. Not me. I'm a closet hoarder of anything paper-related which I like to cut, paste, staple and tape to make into my own embellishments. It's much more personal and unique than anything you could ever get in the shops.

I have made albums of our overseas trips which are like little pieces of artwork in book-form. They are great reminders of the adventures we've been on and a real treat to look through. But that's a whole other post for another time.

I want my kidlets to enjoy looking back on all the things they've seen, achieved, done and experienced. So last year, my son and I sat down and started a scrapbook filled with things that he's done. Mostly places we've been over the school holidays. He enjoys craft time with me as it's a way for us to bond and the scrapbook will serve as a great reminder of the adventures we've had together.

Scrapbooking can be an expensive habit, but it needn't be. Follow this simple little guide and you'll have a handy kit at the ready to record your children's' adventures too.

Handy supplies
My suggestion is to create a little scrapbook kit for the kids to have as their own. That way, they won't be touching (or losing) your supplies and will be more inclined to be proud of it. Grab an old shoebox and let the kids go crazy decoupaging it with some magazine cutouts or stickers. Use alphabet stickers to label it 'John's Scrapbooking Supplies Kit'. Then once it's finished, fill it with the following supplies. 

• scrapbook - this doesn't need to be anything fancy. It can be an exercise book, ring-bound notebook or a school-type scrapbook. You're only limited by your imagination. Try Typo for some cute options.
• scissors - get a pair that your kids can use comfortably. Faber-Castell do a great pair of kiddie scissors that are safe and easy for little hands to use
• glue stick - make sure to use a quality glue stick like UHU, otherwise you risk having things fall out of the scrapbook over time
• double sided tape or foam - some things are easier to stick down with double sided tape or foam. You can find some inexpensive tape in shops such as Kaisercraft
• pens - encourage your kids to write a few words to go with each entry. This is great in the case of my 7 year old who hates writing. Pick up some cheap and cheerful coloured pens from Smiggle or Target
• stickers - I'm yet to meet a kid who doesn't love sticking stickers to everything. Get them a few rolls of washi tape or some simple sticker sheets to embellish their pages. Typo is great for this.

Tips

• Collect lots of maps, brochures, menus, entry tickets/stubs, postcards, souvenir coins (you know from those penny machines) and any other memorabilia from places you visit
• Take heaps of photos and get your kids to select a couple to include on each page. Print them on your home printer or head to your local photo lab to have them printed for you
• Have your kids make a list of things from the trip they remember such as "fave animal of the day", "top 5 things to do at X", "highlight of the day" and include their handwritten notes where possible (get them to write on a separate piece of paper first if they're not confident writing straight into their scrapbook)
• Try to get the kids to record in their scrapbook as soon as possible after the event so that things are not lost or forgotten 
• Use leftover brochures or printed materials to cut up and decorate the pages. The kids can make a collage or just use single images as stickers or embellishments
• Use double-sided foam tape or dots to stick bulkier and non-flat things such as the souvenir coins to the pages
• For younger kids you can even collect leaves to stick in with their photos (they should be pressed flat and allowed to dry before being stuck into scrapbooks). Over time they can look at all the different types, colours and shapes of leaves they've collected from all the different places they've been.
• Make sure to include the date on the pages somewhere so that they can remember when they had their adventures.

Now let them have some fun with all their supplies and watch as they create their own memories.

Note: we recently had the pleasure of visiting Phillip Island to write a review for  Little Melbourne. The photos in this post are from my kiddo's scrapbook from that trip. If you're interested, you can read our review over here.

make this: deer head necklace organiser

I was recently invited to check out the newly opened Kaisercraft store at Uni Hill Factory Outlet. And frankly, how could I say no; Kaisercraft is one of my fave paper-craft brands. I already own a hefty supply of their stamps, papers, rub-ons and stickers which I regularly use in various craft projects.

If you're lucky enough to be within close proximity to this Kaisercraft store, I urge you to make a visit as you won't be disappointed. Upon entering the store, I was pulled in three separate directions; where I wanted to look, where my mister was looking and where my son was looking.  All three of us had found stacks of great supplies within minutes of entering. Each person with their own clear favourites (yes, we are a creative family).

My heart was racing. I was in paper heaven.  I tell no lie when I say that we had to leave the store to have a bite to eat and a whip around the other shops before returning to keep shopping in Kaisercraft. I had to have a breather as there was so much to choose from it was so difficult to make a selection. And lucky we went for a whip around the other stores as I picked up some cute washi tape from Typo and spied a pair of nautical inspired Keds wedges (shoes for those of you unfamiliar with the brand Keds) which are now on my must-have list.

So after some welcome distraction by other stores, it was back to Kaisercraft. There was so much to choose from and it was difficult to decide what to take home with me, but I finally settled on a fantastic deer head which I'd been looking at for a while. Obviously that's not all I brought home, but more on that later.

Oh, I have to mention, if you're a bargain shopper like me then you'll be happy to know that there are also plenty of clearance bins to choose from with items starting as low as 50c.

Although I do delight in the occasional scrapbooking session, I'm also a "beyond the page" kinda gal, so my mind was wandering as to how I could make this delightful deer head a functional piece too. With the antlers as inspiration, I decided to turn this raw beauty into a necklace organiser.  And here's how I did it in 10 simple steps.

1. Lay out all your pieces so that you know how much paper you're going to need and if you can double up any of your pieces on one page.

NOTE: I covered all of the head pieces (minus the antlers) in vintage magazine pages. I painted the two antler pieces in different colours. The mount (which the head is attached to) has been covered in 12x12 paper and the edges have been painted.

2. If you have specific prints, patterns or areas of the paper you want to be visible, line them up by holding the paper over the MDF piece and hold it up near a window so you can see the shape through the paper.

3. Glue your selected paper to one side of each piece of MDF and let it completely dry before proceeding to the other side. TIP: make sure you smooth out the paper after applying glue to your MDF piece. When gluing, remember that less is more. The more glue you use, the more bubbles you'll get in your paper - especially if it's thin.

4. Run your finger over the ridge of each shape so that you get a slight crease. It will make it easier to tear the paper away from the shape. It doesn't have to be perfect; you just want to remove as much of the excess paper as possible. Do this step before gluing paper to the other side. Repeat.

5. Using some sandpaper or an emery board, file the edges of all pieces so that the excess paper is filed away leaving you with nice neat edges.  If you are confident in using a power tool you could sand or buff off the paper using a Dremel or similar small power tool which comes with multiple attachment heads.

6. I used two different colours to paint the antlers. Two coats each, letting dry in between coats.

7. For the mount, I used a single 12x12 page from the 'Class of '87' range. Using a paint brush, spread the glue over the entire surface and stick the paper down.  Smooth it down and place it under a heavy large book to ensure it dries flat. Once dry, repeat the process as you did in step 4.

8. Paint the edges of the mount so that you cover all of the visible MDF, but be careful not to paint over the paper! If you're worried about this step, then I suggest painting the edges BEFORE you glue down your paper.

9. Paint your antler pieces. I chose to paint them in two different colours.  

10. Assemble all of the pieces, making sure they are pushed in and down all the way. I did not use any glue to hold the pieces together as the added layers of paper ensure a snug fit. Add a hook to the back, hang and admire!

If you're so inclined, you could cover one side of all MDF pieces in one type of paper or paint colour and do something different on the reverse so that you can flip the pieces over for a seasonal change!

Materials I used for this project:

Kaisercraft Dimensional Deer Head

Kaisercraft Class of '87 12x12 paper in 'Science Project'

Kaisercraft Paint in 'Spearmint' and 'Lime'

Vintage magazine pages

UHU craft glue

Now it's time for a little giveaway

Since I had so much fun shopping at the Uni Hill Factory Outlet store, I wanted to share some of the love.  Thanks to the lovely folks at Kaisercraft, I've got a little pack of goodies for one lucky person to win.  To enter this competition simply leave me a comment on this post making sure to include your email address (so I can contact you if you're the winner).  I'll randomly draw a winner on Friday the 18th of January 2013 at 8pm (Australian daylight savings time) - so you have until then to enter. 

Please note entry is open to Australian residents only.

Thanks to the lovely folks at Kaisercraft for giving me a gift voucher to spend at their Uni Hill Factory Outlet store in exchange for an unbiased post.

Christmas craft: paper chains

I'm just popping in quickly in between gearing up for the big day (3 sleeps) to remind you of an easy and fun Christmas paper craft you can set up for the kids.

I got the "what craft can we do today mum" question this morning. So with a roll of wrapping paper, some scissors and sticky tape we were set up in a couple of minutes.

Make it fun or turn it into a challenge by asking the kids to see how long they can get it in 10 mins or giving a prize for the longest chain in a set time.

Have a merry and safe one to you and your family from me and mine.

Christmas craft: Reindeer Noses

Your child has decided that they'd like to give their entire class a Christmas present. It's the last week of school. Could they not have thought about this earlier? WHAT are you going to do with limited time and minuscule budget? Reindeer Noses!

Get the kids to help with this one.

All you need is:

1. couple of bags of Jaffas (choc orange balls)
2. printer
3. paper
4. clear plastic lolly/treat bags
5. stapler

While you set up some lolly bag toppers in text editing program or a more fancy photo editing program, get the kids to bag up 8 jaffas in each bag. We happened to have self-sealing bags which I found in my craft stash, so the bagging and sealing was done by my 7 year old.

Using your software, create outlines of boxes to suit dimensions of your lolly bags - so measure the width of the bags so that your toppers match when they're attached to the bags (you don't want them being too short or having ugly over-hang).

Double the measurement of the height you'd like the toppers to be as you will have a front and back.  For the reverse of your topper, you will need to remember to flip your text upside down so that after you cut it, you will fold the centre to have a double-sided topper.

NOTE: There are lots of free festive fonts you can download - just search for "free christmas fonts" in google.

Once you're happy with your design, print and cut like a crazy person.

You can also get the kids to fold the toppers in half making sure to create a nice straight crease.

Staple those suckers on and you're set to go for a class delivery of festive cheer - no doubt earning yourself some brownie points with your kids along the way.

Christmas craft: bottle cap tree

Let's face it, Christmas can be an expensive exercise when you take into consideration gifts, decorations, lunches, dinners, travel and any other associated costs, so it pays to think creatively and save money where you can.

One quick and easy project you can do on your own or with kids (yours or someone else's) is a bottle cap Christmas tree for your wall.  Maybe you don't have space in your home for a real Christmas tree or you're just looking for an extra bit of festive cheer - like me.

We collect all sorts of reyclable materials in our house, so we have a bag full of bottle caps from beer bottles always calling to be used in some creative way.

All that's required for this project is bottle caps and blue tack and in a few minutes you'll have yourself an instant Christmas decoration that's cost you virtually nothing!

And don't forget about the pom pom wreath I posted about the other day. Another cheap and easy Christmas project with plenty of cheer.

Christmas craft: how to make a wreath using yarn

Rather than go hunting for a Christmas wreath that I'd be happy with, this year I've decided to make my own. That way I'm guaranteed to I get exactly what I want.

So with a little bit of thought and most materials already on hand, I set out making my handmade Christmas wreath. It's part of my pledge for a handmade Christmas - as much as possible.

Maybe you might like to do something similar and hand-make your Christmas decorations this year?

Here's how I did it...

Gather your supplies:

1. Yarn - choose as many or as few colours as you like
2. Large piece of cardboard (an empty cereal box will do)
3. Tissue paper
4. Pencil
5. Scissors
6. Sticky tape

Lets do this:
Using a large dinner plate or something similarly round and large, trace around your circle straight onto your cardboard.

Using a smaller side plate (or something else that is smaller than the first circle) trace around your circle making sure to centre it within your larger circle pencil outline.

Now cut on both lines and you'll be left with a cardboard doughnut. Wipe the drool off your chin and move onto the next step.

Cut some strips about 3-4cm wide from your tissue paper. Attach the first strip to your doughnut with sticky tape and start wrapping it around the cardboard so that you've covered all of the visible cardboard. As you run out of one strip, attach another with more sticky tape. Keep doing this until your doughnut is completely covered. 

Note: The colour of your tissue paper is completely up to you.  The reason for it is in case there are any gaps in between the yarn, you will see colour rather than cardboard.

Using your first colour of yarn and your fingers, you're going to wrap the yarn between 40-80 times around your fingers. When you can wrap no more, snip off the yarn, then cut another piece of same coloured yarn about 20cm long and feed it in between your fingers and around the middle section of the yarn loops on your fingers. Once you've tied the loose piece of yarn tightly, carefully pull the wrapped yarn off your fingers. See photos for visual instructions.

If your pom poms look a little messy, don't be scared to give them a haircut. And you can save all the lovely colourful yarnfetti for another project!

Now keep making your finger pom poms until you've made enough to cover your cardboard doughnut. Loosely arrange them on top so you can see if you need more.

Let's start attaching the pom poms to the doughnut. You can either glue them on or tie them onto the cardboard. That part is completely up to you. I tied mine on so that I could adjust the pom poms on the front and make them look a little neater. Plus I like the look of the coloured ties on the back.

Lastly, make a plait with some yarn and tie it into a bow. Attach it to the bottom of your wreath using more yarn or glue. Make another plait out of yarn and attach it to the top at the back so you have a method of hanging it.

Now, hang it up, stand back and admire your work.

Congratulations. You just made an awesome Christmas decoration!

housework made fun: make a dirndl clothespin bag

Let's face it, most of us don't enjoy housework, right.  The only time I do enjoy doing housework is when I am super duper angry.  I take my frustration on the dust-mites, fluff-balls and any unsightly mould-spots. It is therapeutic.

So why in the world would I name this post 'housework made fun' then you ask.   

Since I've turned stay-at-home-mum a couple of months ago (read maternity leave), I've been looking at ways to minimise housework time and maximise the limited precious day-time hours I have to spend with my newborn, my big kid, my husband all whilst looking after the most important person - me.  After all, a household won't function without its number one worker ant.

So I'll be bringing you a series of posts all about making housework a little more fun over the next few weeks.

Where I live in Melbourne, we've just started having the most glorious spring weather.  And with spring comes the urge to spring clean, spruce up decor and interior styling, get organised and get some fresh spring air (minus the hay fever for those of you who suffer).

In light of the beautiful weather we've been experiencing with the start of spring, my laundry has finally moved to being hung outside again (rather than inside over a heating vent).  And as we just recently moved into a new place, we have a clothes line again - something which I have missed for some years now.  So I needed a peg-bag for my new pegs.  Cue the first 'housework made fun' project: make a dirndl clothespin bag!

Who wants an ordinary clothespin bucket when you can have your very own clothespin bag fashioned to resemble a dirndl.

Dirndl 
A dirndl is a type of traditional dress worn in Germany – especially Bavaria – Liechtenstein, Austria, and South Tyrol, based on the historical costume of Alpine peasants.

And because I'm time-challenged these days, rather than create something from scratch, I found a fabulous and easy tutorial online at Made with Love by Hannah's blog.  All you need are a couple of fat quarters or smaller pieces of fabric, some ribbon trim, a printer, scissors, pins and a sewing machine.

So will you be joining me in an attempt to make the mundane a little more bright and enjoyable? 

Feel free to leave links to your own 'housework made fun' projects in the comments section and if you're on twitter or instagram you can use the #houseworkmadefun tag on anything you post which is related to this project. 

Let's get inspired to make chores less painful.

Keeping me busy

It's been some time between posts and if you don't follow me on twitter or instagram then you probably missed the news of our stork delivery.

Last Friday the 13th of July I gave birth to a healthy and rather squishily adorable baby girl who we have named Blyss.

As I write this post I am ecstatic to report that she's eating and sleeping like a trooper and is already putting on weight. That's my girl!

During the pregnancy I made quite a few things for her which I'll post about next time... Lots of baby crafts coming your way!

re-purposing thrifted finds

There are two things that I can honestly say really excite me in this life:

1. being able to make something by hand
2. finding great treasures whilst thrifting

To be able to combine the two is even more blissful. So when I found a few things at my local op-shop recently, I knew straight away what I was going to do with each of them. And it's not what you would think.

The total for these three items came to a whopping $4! And I have to say, I love a bargain just as much as the hunt itself.  Let me take you through what I purchased and how I've re-purposed those items into something useful...

Pressed drinking glass, 99c 

There's nothing special here really. They're a dime a dozen (so the saying goes).  And you might be wondering why I only purchased one. The answer is "no, it's not to complete a set".  I have been looking for a toothbrush holder for some time now. I don't like anything I've seen out in the shops, but this little re-purposed gem works well in the bathroom of our new place.

Yellow daisy soap dish, $1.99

Yes, this would make a lovely soap dish. But I don't like soap in cake form. Especially when you have children living with you. And I have a thing about shed hair. Even my own. So cake soap is a no-no in our household. Instead I'm using this little sweet dish to hold my garlic on the kitchen bench. And she looks mighty sweet in her new home.

Embroidered waffle hand towel, 99c

This, I have to say, was my most favourite find of all.  I adore thrifting things which others have hand made, but have somehow found their unloved way into a "random" basket at the op shop. So much time goes into embroidery and cross-stitch, so to just toss it away is rather sad.  But you need to have a vision of how it could be re-used or re-purposed into something a little more spectacular and even a little less nanna.  

So this little 99cent baby has been turned into a beauty case complete with kiss frame. I'm using it to put all my hospital toiletries into for the upcoming arrival of baby no 2. 

I think it's just divine to have something completely one-of-a-kind that no-one else in this world has. Makes you feel a little more special and a little less like you've just purchased something mass produced and over-priced which Mrs Jenkins down the road probably has one of too.

So, go forth my thrity friends. The key here is not to overspend and to think big. You can turn a humble unloved tea towel into a much-loved cushion, a crocheted doily into a panel on a children's dress or in this instance an embroidered hand towel into a toiletries case. Let your imagination run free!