I Think I'm Goin' Mad

I think I'm goin' mad. I have all kinds of food to prepare and preserve still, a whole bunch of class projects to get done, a house that needs cleaning and I can't believe I've started re-organising things in my craft room! What the heck am I doin'?

Yesterday I found myself sitting on the floor knee deep in reels of ribbon, buttons and punches. I seriously don't have time for this!

Even so I really enjoyed makin these cute tags. I may be disorganised for the most part but there have always been some things in my craft room that have always had a tidy home no matter what. That means that I don't technically need labels for some things but then it doesn't always equate that I put the right punches back in the right box for instance so they do eventually end up muddled.

I printed the text on my trusty 'puter' , inked the edges, added 'faux' stitching and stapled on some string. They are only plain ol' brown labels but I think they're cute. I tried adding flowers but it looked silly although I'm not ruling out the possibility of adding a few small buttons but I can decide that later.

I decided to put my punches back into the wicker baskets that sit on the shelves just underneath the cupboards. This actually works best cos they are at a good height and I have split them into several baskets so they're no way near as heavy to grab one down.

Thanks to the new labels I can now put the right one back into the right basket even if I'm in a hurry. I made labels for small, medium, large and specialty & favourite punches. This last basket holds my Martha Stewart and StampinUp! punches to name a few.

I have now put reels of ribbon in the lower white wire basket where I had previously moved the punches to. The drawer was so heavy with the punches I struggled to pull it open and these reels are no where near as heavy plus they're next to a set of baskets that house more ribbon just in jars so it's all together.

These are the wicker drawers (baskets) that Dave got me and built in to a unit under the desk. I have previously just had them filled with junk so I never made good use of them. I had to make a pretty big mess to begin with but I finally cleared them out. See how cool they look all labelled up?

While I like the idea of all the pretty colours and shiny glass jars sitting on a shelf when I put them up I end up wanting to pull them down again and tuck them away. Finally I can do that because these wicker drawers a a good size and go way back. I have bigger jars in the top and smaller jars in the bottom plus my lovely new mini button jars and there's even room for 10 more (if they still have them in stock).

I still have a whole bunch of labels and a whole more stuff to label up but I might get around to that another day. For now I have other things to do and I'm happy I'm a bit more organised than I was a couple of days ago. I like how they're looking but I'm sure it's just an illusion and that my mind is tricked into thinking I'm now super organised! Yeah right!

Bagged a Bargain (or two)

Over the bank holiday weekend Dave and I hit up several car boot sales. I don't imagine there'll be too many more good ones now that we're in September but we packed picnics and made a day or afternoon of it which was much needed of late.

Besides getting half a case of canning jars, a brand new griddle for Dave's BBQ and a few other bits and pieces the bargains of the weekend have to be these two beauties.

I could NOT believe my eyes when I saw this Vera Bradley bag lying on a groundsheet among a whole bunch of things. I have always wanted a VB bag and tried unsuccessfully to get one while stateside earlier this year. Even my colleague Pauline and her daughter settled for 'copy cat' bags when they went to Florida last year.

I played it real cool and casually asked how much they wanted for it.

I had to stop myself from knocking over Dave to push past and hand over my one round pound!

If you google Vera Bradley and see what her bags go for you'll know why I was so excited. It was only when we were a safe distance away that I informed Dave what had just gone down - the poor man didn't have a clue why I was gettin soooooo excited.

To further add to my excitement (it really doesn't take much honest) I found this oh so cute 'Hello Kitty' beaded purse in immaculate condition. I knew Maddy would love this so I was bowled over again when I asked 'how much'? and was told .20p with a shrug of the lady's shoulders - DEAL!

A Vera Bradley bag AND a Hello Kitty purse and all for £1.20 the lot! Needless to say I came away a very happy bunny.

Elbow Deep in Elderberries

For the past two days I have literally been elbow deep in elderberries. We have had our plot of land for about 4 years now and each year we say we'll do something with the elderberries but never do. NOT this year - oh no - my dear hubby decided we could make elderberry cordial after locating a recipe on the net for me - how kind!

After spending ages struggling to get to the top branches for the best berries - gotta work out a system next year or at least get a step ladder - we had a basket full of berries plus a ladybird that snuck in (upper left). That didn't go in the pot. I'm a veggie-tarian so I don't want no meat in there!

The process involved washing berries, stewing berries, draining the juice and squeezing the life out of the berries, then boiling the berry juice along with tons of sugar it seemed like and cloves. The end result was about 15 pints of cordial in some very unattractive bottles cos I wasn't prepared for this. Boy I sure hope we develop a taste for this stuff now. The recipe stated that taken with hot water in winter it was good for keeping colds at bay. I taste tested it already and it's sweet and yummy alright.

What I didn't like about the whole process was the amount of berry juice that went where it wasn't supposed to. This stuff stains unbelieveably bad!

I went to bed last night with purple finger tips and horrid looking nails despite giving them a good scrub. Thanks to several 'runaway' berries the kitchen floor needed cleaning, the counter tops got stained so need bleaching, the juicing bag is soaking in Milton as I type and the cupboards, tiles and stove top still needs more cleaning. You better believe I'm putting gloves on first instead of half way through the process next year.

In between all this Dave and I baked 7 loaves of zucchini bread (yes I make him help) and have several more to bake before the year is out. They freeze extremely well and the whole family love zucchini bread, sliced with butter - YUM! - but the darn things grow like WEEDS!

Earlier in the week it was freebie apples (from Vicky's garden) and freebie plums from down at the allotment. The kids helped her pick and believe you me they help us eat as well. I slice and cook the apples with cinnamon and sultanas which is just as good served warm over ice cream as it is with a crumble topping and custard and freezes really well.

In case you don't know I love kitchen gadgets - not the big electrical kind - anything manual. Vicky flipped over my handle crank flour sifter a couple of weeks back (must get her one). I finally had a chance to use my 'cherry pitter' even if it was on plums and boy did this make the job easier. We now have lovely plums in sauce in the freezer. Can't wait for winter and all those hot puds with custard.

Despite a lot of things being finished now like corn and beans and potatoes Dave just keeps on pickin whatever is ready next (bless him). So now I have the last of the rhubarb to freeze and a whole bunch of 'italian tomato sauce' to get makin. I rarely vary from one year to the next and usually make the same things. I like what I know and I know what I like.

This is actually the first year we had real success with tomatoes. Last year my sauce was made with reduced toms from the supermarket when we just happened to get lucky and be there just as they were marked down to silly money. Now when I see veggies reduced I buy them to freeze especially when they're still in good condition and if they're things like carrots which Vicky and the kids love.

Each year we learn something new about growing - we are certainly still very novice but we are beginning to make clear, educated decisions about our crops. Next year I'm puttin in a fruit patch for jam makin and next year I'm also recording what was ready and when so I can plan for all this extra work! Oh and darling Dave is gonna find himself building in new shelving into the closet in the spare room for a BIGGER store cupboard too!

I for one will be mightily glad when the growing season is over and I can have a rest.