Tag Archives: home

July 17, 2013 · 2:01 am

Home for the Holidays

I couldn’t resist including a little typewriter love in this post – a packing list for last week’s holiday. To my old house. Sounds exciting doesn’t it!?

An odd list of holiday necessities it would seem. Secateurs? Boxes of cushions? Actually it wasn’t exactly a holiday. The purpose of our trip was to make preparations for our eventual return to our property and for the arrival of a special house sitter. There was lots of work to do.

But there were lots of sweet surprises to be had too. Like the abundance of flowers in my garden despite the fact that it’s winter. My resourceful preschooler set about collecting them (edible ones only) to make various exotic teas. (Nasturtium or calendula tea, anyone?) I showed her the delightful red pineapple sage flowers and hinted about their sweet nectar contents. Needless to say Miss L kept herself occupied with those for a long while.

nasturtium

Our old vintage rocking horse became a surrogate pet for the week. ‘She’ was lavished with various garden treats including nasturtium leaves and flowers, of which we have an abundance. Thanks to my nasturium planting method of throwing handfuls of seeds onto the general designated area and hoping they will eventually germinate. And of course now they self-seed quite happily. This could be a problem. But I’ve noticed that as the seeds are too large to be dispersed by wind (they’re about pea size) they tend to fall close to the parent plant rather than spreading all over the garden. Which is very good of the nasturtium. (In contrast to the lemon balm which I mistakingly planted in a front garden bed and now discover popping up anywhere there’s a bit of soil.)

While Miss L was busy with plants and animals I found myself taking pseudo-holiday snaps in between wiping out the kitchen cupboards, unpacking boxes and blindly assembling the timber bunks which I bought second-hand on ebay. ‘Blindly’ refers to the fact that the bunks came minus instructions…so it was a joyful exercise. As you can imagine. (And thank you, Mum, for your amazing dedication, perseverance, and skill.)

The sunny calendulas below were shot in a hurry – those little feet were getting into a suitable position for flower-picking. I had to be quick!

This bright but delicate fungus was growing on a timber log that informally edges the front garden. It was quite tiny. But look at that colour! Nature is incredible, isn’t it?

And this beauty was in a pot amongst the other orchids that were given to me by my mother-in-law a few years ago. Living in absolute neglect. What a perfect welcoming gift from my home itself.

Nasturtiums: a Kid’s Party Treat (cookingmagicforkids.wordpress.com)
Tuesday is Herb Day – NASTURTIUMS! (lilithsherbgarden.wordpress.com)

Weekly Upcycling Inspiration: The Egg Carton

Welcome to your weekly serving of upcycling inspiration! Once a week I’m going to feature an item for which I’ll endeavour to list some upcycling ideas. They might be my own or they might just be little light bulbs of genius that I pinch from someone else.

Two Striped Cats: Egg Carton

This week it’s the egg carton in the limelight. What a cleverly designed bit of cardboard! Almost as impressive as the little parcels of goodness that they are meant to protect. I have trouble letting go of egg cartons because they are just so useful.

If you’re lucky enough to keep your own hens then the best and most obvious use is sorted. In fact at peak laying time you’ll probably be begging your friends and family for egg carton donations! Apart from re-using them over and over again for their intended purpose, here’s what else you can do.

1. Organise and store all kinds of goodies:

– sewing supplies such as bobbins, safety pins, buttons, thread, small lengths of ribbon;

– small craft supplies;

– stationery supplies;

– christmas ornaments, especially fragile glass baubles;

– decorated Easter eggs (real ones that have been blown);

Two Striped Cats: Decorated Carton Housing Dyed Eggs

– jewellery – ideal for kids. Here is a cute jewellery box project for kids, from B-Inspired Mama;

– hair accessories – clips, hair bands and bobby pins;

– a child’s rock collection;

– hardware – nuts, bolts, washers, screws, tacks;

– small plastic toy animals or dolls. This cute one over at LilyBean’s Paperie has been decorated to hold plastic farm animals for a gift.

Not only will the compartments keep small items safe and locatable, the cartons stack for easy storage into boxes, drawers or on shelves. You might like to decorate them first with paint or paper.

2. Plant seeds – fill each compartment with seed raising mix, sow the seeds, and water-in. Once the seedlings are large enough, cut the carton up into individual cells then transfer them to the garden, still in their section of carton. The roots will be protected from damage during the transplantation process and the carton will break down in the soil.

3. Make some play eggs (crochet, fabric, modelling clay, etc) and store them in an old egg carton. Or just keep an empty egg carton in the play kitchen.

Two Striped Cats: Crochet Eggs

4. Use to package mini muffins and other small treats that you’ve made for gifts. Decorate first by painting or covering in pretty or interesting papers.

5. Make a pair of goggles for kids play.

6. Use for kids craft.

7. Create these sweet buttons by Pretty Little Things.

8. Turn into a kids’ paint palette by placing a dollop of paint in each compartment (you might like to leave some empty for mixing colours). The paint will eventually dry up (but not before that masterpiece is produced) and the palette can be used again. Or allow your child to colour the carton with any left-over paint, once the other artwork is complete, and turn it into a storage container.

9. Make a colour sorting game for toddlers or preschoolers. Or an egg carton counting game.

10. Use as a favour bag at a childrens’ birthday party.

Check out these pics on Flickr for some more ideas!

Happy upcycling!

Weekly Upcycling Inspiration: The Bread Clip

This week’s star is the humble bread clip (or bread tag if you’d prefer). Gosh…to think how many of these the world produces and then waves goodbye to once the little plastic things have performed their intended function! And they can be quite harmful to animals or children who ingest them. It makes me shudder…so I won’t think about that. Instead lets ponder what to do with them after they’ve held our plastic bread bags closed for a little while. Be sure to store them in a handy jar so you can easily add to the collection or reach for one when you need it.

1. Use to hold short pieces of yarn or string. You know those pieces I mean…the ones that are too long to discard but too short to be wrapped into a ball. Keep the yarn/string-wrapped bread tags in a glass jar for easy location of that bit of string or yarn you need. (I actually came up with this idea a few days ago when I was sorting and tidying my yarn. I thought I was quite clever and original. Until I searched Pinterest and discovered someone else had already thought of it. Of course!)

2. My husband suggested this would be a useful way to store short sections of pre-made fishing rigs (eg, with hook, sinker, swivel and leader line) – wrap the leader line around in a similar way to the yarn above, and secure the hook in the ‘mouth’ of the bread tag.

3. Label electrical cords when you have multiple cords in the one power point or power board. This is particularly handy for computers and their associated paraphernalia…but I’ve labelled our kettle and toaster cords this way so I don’t get confused. Also use to hold single thinner cords together when wrapped in a bundle.

4. This fashion designer made her wedding dress out of 10 000 bread clips. Very clever. I’m not suggesting you do this…but these are the possibilities people!!

5. Store a collection of elastic bands or hair bands.

6. Make interesting mosaic-style artworks and use for craft – eg, bread clip figures, jewellery, and mobiles. Here is a sweet bread tag charm necklace for kids to make. (But please keep bread clips away from little ones who might be inclined to swallow them.)

7. Mark the end a roll of sticky tape…you know…the end that you can’t locate until you’ve turned the roll full-circle at least three times.

8. Clip a pair of socks together in the wash…so the sock fairy can’t run off with one.

9. Fasten opened plastic bags containing food. Close and label paper gift bags (perhaps after decorating with paint or marker pens).

10. Mark stitches in your knitting or crochet.

11. Label spare keys.

12. Fix your thong (if you live outside Australia read: ‘flip flop’!) if its splitting where the strap part comes through the sole. Simply clip around the base of the strap, on the sole side.

13. Use as a plectrum.

Going a bit too far with the latter? OK I’ll stop there…but I’m sure it would work quite well. And I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s thought of it.

What else can you think of?