Saving with Stitching

Can you believe I picked up this dress for a gigantic discount of 80%.  

Originally priced at £ 24.99 I paid just £3.75 for it at the till.

CaN you spot why? That tiny piece of the seam coming apart where the two little hearts touch. As soon as I saw it I knew it would take minutes to repair. So I wisked it away to the changing room to see if it fit.

And within an hour I'd paid for it. Returned home  Mended it and modeled it for hubby.

Those seven tiny stitches (on the reverse side) saved me almost £3 each.

Needless to say I will be watching the clearance rack in that store rather closely from now on. 

X x X

Frugal Frozen inspired playdough

I was hunting on Google for an easy, kiddy safe and frugal recipe for playdough. After all summer isn't summer without a lovely cool dollop of dough to shape into a thousand things.

 I eventually can across this recipe at The Imagination Tree. I chose to add a little blue food colouring to this batch along with a handful of silver glitter from the craft stash.

 By the time I'd finished kneading it together, DD was singing "Let it Go" next to me.

 I'm guessing snowflakes and ice castles will be featuring heavily in this doughs future.

Do you make your own playdough? 

X x X

Frugal Homemade Iced Mocha

 

Have you seen all the trendy sorts in town supping their iced coffee's this week? Each one can cost around £3 each! Isn't that crazy? While I admit they are a nice treat you can easily make them at home yourself at a fraction of the cost!

All you need to do is remember the rule of three.

3 tbs of instant coffee

3 tbs of Instant hot chocolate

3tbs of sugar (cchoose your preferred type)

Mix up the above with a splash of hot water. Dilute to taste with milk or water and enjoy.

I like to make up a pitcher at a time as it will last a few days in the fridge (apparently! )  

Asda's smartprice coffee currently costs just 47p and smartprice hot chocolate is 68p. So a small investment  should keep you going for the whole summer long

Let me know if you give it a go in the comments below 

X X X

Back from our jollys

We officially arrived home from our summer holiday at llunchtime.  We've spent the week by the sea at Paignton. 

The weather this year has been stunning,  and Baby D being a year older has meant we can do more things than last year.

We've eaten out all week in some lovely local cafes and pubs. A proper cream tea was of course mandatory. 

We had trips out to Paignton, Torquay and Brixton. 

We visited the local zoo, beaches galore and Cockington village.  

Even a boat trip accacross the bay.

Normal service will resume tomorrow. 

X x x

About a ... fish

   This is a fish. A rather lovely looking Sea Bass to be exact.

 And this is Peter. The fisherman who caught it!

  My dinner was swimming in the ocean while I was eating my breakfast! Isn't that a crazy thought?
 If I asked he could probably even tell me the time he caught it to the nearest five minutes.

 I love that I can support someone local who is running their own business, I love that my children can eat beautiful fresh local fish within hours of it being landed, and I especially love knowing the story behind my food.
 If you have always brought your fish from the supermarket I really recommend trying to find out if you have a local fisherman, and if they are on Facebook! I found Peter's Facebook page through the local Catchbox webpage.

x x x

First machine projects

  On Monday I was very kindly gifted a sewing machine by my mum. She then spent the whole day showing me how to thread it properly,  wind bobbins, change all the stitch types and length and goodness knows what else. We also made a cushion together from a mans shirt we picked up in a charity shop.

With some clever cutting and planning we used the button up front from the shirt to make yhe back of cushion. Such a clever and easy idea!

The next day I tried my hand at reverse engineering a sun hat that DD llikes. 

I'm pretty proud of myself! They aren't perfect but they taught me some important lessons in planning and pinning carefully.  

 Both have come out wearable though somewhere the size has shrunk slightly so DD can't wear them but baby D can so it's not a big issue.

Wondering what to try next. Any suggestions? 

X x x