An older cutting and sticking habit.

I was sorting through my enormous cookery book collection the other day trying to decide which ones to give away and which ones to keep. I had far too many and my shelves were bursting at the seems. I ended up wondering which one i would keep if I was only allowed to keep one. No contest. It was one I started compiling 14 years ago. It started life as a hardback " day to a page " diary. I decided to give it the respect it deserved and here's how it turned out.

12 x 12 paper wasn't wide enough to fold inside at the top and bottom but that's OK as I'm going to cover it with some clear adhesive plastic. It took 2 sheets, one for the front and one for the back.

I've spent years cutting recipes out of magazines and copying ones from library books.

I've used each month for a different category eg chicken, beef, cheese , desserts, food gifts, preserving, etc.

And another page. I'm looking at it now and wondering how on earth chicken soup ended up in the fish chapter, lol.

And if you're not drooling enough already here's a page from the desserts chapter. Unlike the rest of my cookery books, there is nothing in this book that I wouldn't like to make and eat.
If I've inspired you to start one of these yourself make sure you buy a decent quality diary and reinforce the spine with tape before covering it as it will end up bulging quite a bit.

I'll hit the publish button now but I'll find the links to the images which were freebies and add them later.

LINKS. CHEF by TLC. HERE
              VENDING MACHINES CAPTION by TLC  HERE
              LADY BAKING by TLC    HERE
              LADY WASHING UP by TLC  HERE.
              BON APPETITE by TLC  HERE.

Take Note. It's Friday.

I don't know about you but Friday always seems to come around quickly. That's alright though because i get paid on Fridays. Weekly, old fashioned in the little packet,lol. So easy to manage your money when you get paid this way.
Yesterday i had such a card making frenzy it was unbelievable. Speedy has a little pint at the local catholic club on the way home from work (cheap ale ), and they are planning to start a weekly indoor "local produce" market in the next few weeks. They said i could have a table for my cards so i need to get my act together. If they don't sell at least I'll have all my cards sets to give as Christmas gifts made nice and early. It's supposed to be on Thursdays which is my day off. I just hope some big git doesn't change the day or i'm stumped. I'm determined that these cards are all going to be made from stuff i would normally chuck in my scrap box and be dead simple to make and will be posting here regularly.
 Meanwhile here's some notebooks I've altered. I found them when scratting around for bits & bobs.

The digi image is from Meljens and i added the "NOTES" in Back to School font. I added a panel of paper on the back to match the front, mainly as i couldn't get the label off,lol.

 The coloured books were from Woolies and the black and grey from Wilkinsons all 50p each.

Challenges.. Pink Elephant,  Teacher Gifts.
                   Stamp something, Use a digi.

Target weight 9st 2lb. Today's weight 9st 2lb  :)

17p Stocking fillers!!

I've been out and about looking for bargains. I needed some beads so I went to Abakhan and got 3 packs of glass pearls, one packet of 3 toggle fasteners and a little storage box. It came to £16, not a bargain! Now I remember why I stopped the jewellery making, lol. Next I went to Primark and bought 3 long sleeved t-shirts and 2 vests for the same amount. Deffo a bargain. Then I went and mooched around Wilkinson's because I had a brainwave for some notebooks. These notepads were 17p each (29p in Tesco if you don't have a Wilkinson's), so i scuttled home to alter them.

I had the "Liszt" idea when i was sorting my den and unearthed the manuscript card I got from Payperbox months ago. Don't worry, there's loads of manuscript papers on google images. I printed the "shopping liszt" in curly cue font size 32 using My Craft Studio. They looked a bit bare so the peel offs came to the rescue. I thought these were all I had left but found more after taking the photo. As if these weren't enough of a bargain check out these for 11p!

Apologies for the not too brilliant photos but yesterday was so dull all day. (They look a bit clearer if you click on them). Still at least Blogger has made the uploading easier, must have had complaints.      Thanks for looking and see you soon. Di.xx

Target weight, 9st 2lb. todays weight 9st 0lb. Don't ask me how, I've not done anything different to the last couple of weeks. Yippee though, a couple of pound to play with at the weekend.

Bah humbug!

Christmas is on it's way again and it's time to make endless lists. I was mooching around Tesco yesterday and found some hardbacked notepads for 42p each. They were at the end of one of the aisles in those red boxes and there were only three left so i grabbed them and transformed them into these.

Perfect for all those lists.The image and sentiment are by Elzybells. The patterned paper is from the DCWV stack number 6 and is a border pattern which saves using more than one piece.

  A close up of the image, sparkled up with a bit of stickles.

On the back page i made a pocket from matching card for receipts. I'll be back in Tesco tomorrow hoping that there'll be some more. I'll give these to my mum and 2 sisters.
 Off to the kitchen now where i belong, lol. Beef and tomato casserole with olives and basil tonight, (small portion of course) with a bit of pasta on the side.

Things To Do.

Before good old Woolies closed down they were selling notebooks at 2 for £1, so naturally i bought quite a few. They were in loads of lovely colours never to be seen again anywhere else. I've found black and grey ones in Wilkinsons at 49p but none of the coloured ones.

They are about 4"x6", just the right size for a handbag. The patterned paper is from Papermania Clare Curds signature stack. The letters are done with a set of peg type stamps i bought from WHS a couple of years ago. I used a small square punch on them. The white card strips on the black book looked a bit stark and unfinished but i remembered a little trick that Helen from It's All Fiddle Fart uses a lot and filled in the spaces with a few dots . Thank you Helen. I may put a few tiny gems on the other one. The little frogs are actually wooden but you can't really tell in the pic.  I think they were "crafty bits", you know those which are on a twirly stand but as usual i've thrown the original wrappers away.
I've got to nip into town now as mother wants me to get her a pair of trousers, then it's off to the local to ruin the diet.  See you soon, thanks for visiting.  Di.xx

Stocking fillers.

Or stocking stuffers as they call them in America, not that many people actually use stockings anymore, it's more likely to be a big gift bag these days. All the more reason to make you own stuffers.

So i've had a bit of a post it note holder frenzy as you can see. The instructions can be found HERE. These are so quick and easy to make and are great for using up scraps.

The post it notes are a bargain at 25p and the stamp was free in the Creativity mag last year. I just used a plain and a scalloped circle punch. No colouring involved. I bought some self adhesive velcro circles from Aldi ages ago. I cut them in half  and stuck them under the flaps to keep them closed.
 Well, i'd better go and get ready for work now, love Di.xx

Altered notebooks.

I was wandering around Wilkinsons last week looking for bargains and came across these notepads for 49p each.

They are quite small, about 6"x4" and pretty boring.I bought 2 of each colour and plonked them on my desk.Yesterday i decided it was about time i made something other than a card so the books sprung to mind.The best thing about this hobby is the joy of seeing what a bit of paper and glue can do to brighten up the dullest things.

The tree stamp is from a clear set called spring garden by Kanban. The letters are a set of square "peg" type stamps. I got them from WHS when i first started stamping. I never used them until i bought a square punch in just the right size. The papers are Clare Curd (again).

I even heat embossed the trees which i'm normally too lazy to do.I may add a couple of gems to them. They've gone into my emegency gift stash.
   Best get ready for work or i'll be late!   Love Di. x

Friday weigh in 9st 13lb, one pound off, quite lucky as i was naughty at the weekend.If Speedy has his wicked way i'll be naughty this weekend too. Still if i can lose a pound a week instead of putting a pound a week on like i was i'll be happy enough.

shopping, every little helps.

These notepads were from Tesco 49p,a bit of chopping,folding and a Dolly Mamma stamp, et voila, shopping list extrordinare...well..shopping list ordinaire.
Not much activity tomorrow as i'm on my 11 hour shift.Saturday is only til 1.30 but saturday afternoon is the new saturday night so i'll be boozing with the beautiful one(hubby)who meets me from work. See you soon .Di.