Getting Thrifty With Lemons and Limes

Let’s set the scene. You are doing your weekly shop, trying to be careful about your spending and you head to the reduced ailse to see what bargains you can grab. Once you have filtered though all of the stuff you would never eat, you notice a tray of reduced lemons and limes. You may use the odd slice but you will just be paying for the honour of throwing these away at home right? 

Upcycled Filing Tray with Ikea Magazine Files

Spring has finally sprung and I've got the cleaning bug; along with a desire to ensure that I really am organised! My new freelance business (Hello My PA) has a highlighted a necessity for a well organised workspace.

My desk is multifunctional with it being used not only for VA work but for crafts, blogging and a place to keep my household 'affairs' in order. I decided that the thing I needed most urgently was some filing trays; something in which to organise incoming work and mail before it is actioned and filed away.

I did find some lovely options for filing trays but the ones I fancied weren't quite in keeping with my 'thrifty living' ways at the moment. This led me to hunt around in my hoard to figure out what I already had that I could use. My search led me to a stash of FLYT Magazine Files by Ikea that I purchased a while ago.

Photo from Ikea.com

Homemade Individual Jelly Pots with Heinz Baby Pots

How many of you Mummies out there re-use the Heinz fruit/custard medley pots? We are a big fan. Rather than throw out (or recycle) the pots, we wash them out and use them for SO many things; they hold just the right amount of homemade pasta sauce for the boys, a handful of raisins for a day out, hummus for the lunch box and most recently, individual portions of my infamous chocolate cheesecake! More about that in another post. I also use them for paperclips and other stationery items, crafty bits and more; but I don't get them mixed up with the food ones!

How to Make Mini Muffin Pizzas

Today I am sharing a little something that is easy peasy for your Mini Makers to get involved in. Baby B loves making these for his and Littlest B's tea. They are really cheap to make meaning they are great for saving a few pennies. We often make more than required for a quick and easy lunch or snack the following day. They are also a great lunchbox or picnic item.

Mini Makers: Mess Free Painting!

My crafty workshops were always a quick turnaround. With a 40 min drive between two sessions, two little boys demanding my attentions as soon as I came through the door and the tea time/bathtime/bedtime routine to be done,  I had to be super organised. Especially with used glue sticks, paint brushes and dirty pots. My Little B's love to get crafty but when unpacking and clearing away after three workshops, it wasn't the ideal time. Then I discovered a cool activity.

When I finished my groups, whilst packing up, I used to throw all the paint brushes into a plastic bag for washing at home later. On taking this bag out on one occasion, I started squidging the paint around inside the bag (you're never too old). I took a picture and used it for a note to self for my next idea as 'Head of Home Entertainment' (I gave myself that job title, amongst others ;-) ). 

Upcycling Vs Recycling & Re-Imagining to Re-Create

It's all the rage. Sustainability campaigns, blogs, magazine features, its own publications, schools, stores, social enterprises, everyday craft projects and more, but what is upcycling really about? We have heard the word, seen the projects, been to scrapstores but lets break it down. What is upcyling? How about recycling? What does it all mean to us?

Mini Makers: How to Make Puffy Paints

Happy Friday! During the Easter holidays, I will be running some children's Easter crafts workshops in Cambourne followed by a 'Crafty Cafe' every Thursday thereafter.  I wondered what better opportunity to begin integrating my home crafting, my Crafty B's craft groups, my childcare business and my blog then to make sure I get some tutorials and crafty tips, ideas and activities on here on a regular basis!

So welcome to what will hopefully be a regular feature, #MiniMakers. This post is all about my little B's favourite crafty activity; puffy paints.

There are so many recipes out there for puffy paint, some of which require microwaving to make them 'puff' but this one uses shaving foam and we love it because it smells nice and saves electricity!

To make your puffy paints you will need:

- PVA glue

- Shaving foam (we use an own brand one which cost 26p!)

- Food colouring or paints.

- Mixing utensils

- Paint brushes or the like or just your hands!

Start by mixing equal parts PVA and shaving foam. Our mixture sometimes going a bit 'unpuffy' here but its ok, you can add a bit extra afterwards.

Add a bit of colour. These dishes contain different examples of types of colouring. The blue pot has a metallic poster paint swirled through it for a marble effect. The blue paint in the red dish contains finger paint. The green dish is brown poster paint and the yellow dish contains purple food colouring.

At this point, you can add a bit more foam if its looking a bit 'out of puff.'

Your puffy paints are ready to go! 

Baby B and I got in too much of a mess when we did this yesterday for the pictures so I didn't get examples of his beautiful artwork but I did manage to resist his hands in the pots in the beginning whilst I painted up these little examples for you.

Our projects with these have included a paper plate sunshine, a white fluffy cloud (just leave the colour out) and a hand print tree. We painted a trunk and used brown handprints for the branches and green fingerprints for the leaves. This would be a great seasonal activity to demonstrate the changing colours of the trees outside! These paints are best used on card or thick paper as they can make thin paper a bit soggy.

Early Years Foundation Stage

This activity addresses or can address the following areas of learning:

Prime

- Communication and language - Talk to your little ones about what they are doing. How does it smell? What colours are the using? How does the paint feel?

- Physical development - Using brushes, sponges or other paint applicators will help with motor skills.

- Personal, social and emotional development - Children can feel a sense of achievement from their creations.

Specific

-  Literacy - Controlled strokes of the paint all count towards practice for writing.

- Mathematics - Can your little ones counts how many colours you are using? Can you paint numbers? 

- Understanding the world - Is there a theme to your painting? Are you creating outdoor scenery? 

- Expressive arts and design - Allows little ones to be creative. 

I hope you give this one a go. Don't forget to share your puffy paint creations on the Mrs Crafty B Facebook page.

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Meal Plan Madness and Thrifty Living

Following my post 'Thrifty Meal Planning' which wasn't about actually planning at all, here's what we ended up having.

Monday - Chicken sandwiches for lunch and pasta bolognaise (with beef mince) for tea. I had to batch cook something that was easy to serve and reheat as we do a quick turnaround on Monday night. It's Crafty B's night!

Tuesday - After the suggestion from @bluebirdanielle we had chicken risotto. I used celery and half a bag of porcini mushrooms along with one pot of the stock and it was delicious. Such great comfort food. Definitely doing that again! 

Wednesday - Chicken and leek pie made with a block of puff pastry. I used the whole lot and made far too much. I was wary of reheating but this would easily have fed a family of 4 and then some! 

Thursday - I used another pot of the stock and the rest of the porcini mushrooms with some other mushrooms to make a soup. We also had chicken sandwiches for lunch. 

Friday - We ate lunch out and Hubby B ate tea out so we had 'podgy' for supper!  This is what Baby B I calls porridge and he is totally obsessed! 

There was still some chicken left over which the cat enjoyed. Although I haven't done the exact maths, I'm pretty sure there is something in this in terms of money saving and what I made in the week would have gone further to feed more people. I'm going to ask my hubby how he makes his celeriac soup too because that is delicious, cheap to make and it fed four of us on Sunday and me for two lunches. That was six (large) portions.

The planning of food and shopping lists at the moment has fallen by the wayside for the last couple of weeks. This is because, as I mentioned, we are big fans of batch cooking. We have several portions of homemade bolognese, pork and beans, chilli, sausage casserole, chicken stew and cottage pie in the freezer along with lots of fish and chicken portions. We tend to stock up on meals for ease during the week but once the freezer is looking a bit empty, I'll start meal planning properly with shopping lists. There are so many tools online which is a great help. Meanwhile I am trying to budget myself with a certain amount each week for shopping. I had to up it by £10 after my initial budget just wouldn't stretch. I did certainly cheat a bit as over the Christmas period, I took advantage of supermarket deals and vouchers and stockpiled things such as juice, cereal, washing detergents etc. I only have to get in fresh things in the week.

I feel this is just one part of my 'running an efficient household' that is well underway and I will of course keep you posted.

I would love to hear how you do your shopping. Bulk buy or buy as you need? Any thrifty meal ideas?

Get in touch!

Mrs Crafty B