Frugal Fun with Crafting and Fast Food!

WHERE IS ALL THE TIME GOING?

 

garlandcannon (on hiatus) / Foter / CC BY

It's been a crazy month so far and we've only got to the 4th. I'm going round in so many circles that I'm getting dizzy from chasing my own tail - or tale, as the case may be. In fact, you could say that 'The hurrieder I go, the behinder I get!"

What with the car catastrophe, the launch of the Frugaleur Challenge, the arrival of a new month and the Moneyspermarket.com Secret Santa competition, the days are just flying past, like a rollercoaster ride that won't stop until 2013 arrives. Even at that, it's youngest member of the extended Frugaldom family's second birthday on Hogmanay (31st of December), so the celebrations will easily take us clear into the new year.

Festive shopping is always a bit different for frugal ruralites like us. For starters, we have no shops nearby, so it's always wise to plan ahead. This year, my plans have gone askew, as we now have no car to take us into town. It's very much a case of even more creative thinking and thanks, once again, to the glorious world of online shopping.

I've been trying to think what Frugal Queen would really like as her Secret Santa gift and am hoping that we have been so well matched in the competition that my thoughts may be similar to her's. This has given me free rein to shop like I'm in frugal cyber paradise, like the proverbial king (pardon the pun if you know me) selecting a gift fit for a frugal queen! As for the wrapping and packaging, well, that's another thing completely because I think I surpussed myself with the ingenuity of this! :)

Aside from this, I've been working hard at preparing the McGonks for their 2013 adventures, even managing to get as far as setting up the Frugaldom shop online at http://frugaldom.ebid.net  where the various little characters will be offered for sale. I completed 5 furry frugal pets and listed 4 of them yesterday, as a trial to opening the shop. I was delighted (and shocked) to discover three of the four had sold within 24 hours! Lucky for me, friends and fellow bloggers have pulled together and supplied me with a selection of bits and pieces to be recycled into more McGonks. I am honoured to associate with such a lovely bunch of people!

This morning, amongst the buttons, bows, ribbons and offcuts that have arrived trough my mailbox, I have set aside a lovely piece of  checked fabric that will be perfect for making miniature "Tam O'Shanters". (Scottish hats.) For those of you without the benefit of colour screen, the fabric is a combination of jade, wine, navy and yellow - I love it! Among the other goodies, a length of white trim from which I can salvage pompoms for adding to the hats.

Crafting is such fun, even when trying to develop it into work! I have been so busy 'playing' at working, that time slipped completely from my hands until well into the afternoon.

Food! Why do we always have to stop to eat? I sometimes feel like it's one mealtime after another with nothing in between! Speedy, hot food is a blessing in this house. Today we had wholemeal pitta sliced through and served with melted cheese and a spoonful of delicious chilli jam. Warming, filling, frugal and tasty! If you don't have pitta breads, use the outside slices from your loaves, tortilla wraps or ordinary bread rolls. The only reason we had pitta breads is because they are on offer at the moment, 3 packs for £1, and the spare packs got popped into the freezer. Frugal is as frugal does, we didn't even switch on the oven or grill, the filled pittas got wrapped in a bit of kitchen paper and popped into the microwave for a quick blast!

But back to the recycling and what's been dubbed my 'reco-arts' project. One tiny problem I thought I may have with recycling an assortment of 'stuff' into frugal pets (my clan of McGonks) is what I would do when mistakes get made. The solution to this, I am hoping to find out very soon, as just such a mistake got made.

Being a bit out of practice with the glue gun, as you already are aware, I inadvertently managed to glue my thumb nail to a pompom that I had just finished sticking onto a McGonk as a nose! (I can see the eyes rolling and hear the sniggering already!) Anyhow, it made a little bit of a mess trying to peel off the glue, resulting in the pompom growing, somewhat, as the wool was being teazed. Cue a hair-cut for the pompom to try and remove it and replace it... but that didn't go well, either!

I now have a pink McGonk with a shaved pompom for a nose!

'Wee Hughie' seems to have taken rather a shine to the missfit, leading me to believe that perhaps I should let her accompany him to his new home, a bit like a buy one, get another one free. I mean, LOOK AT THEM! I spotted the pair out in the garden just before dusk, snuggled up to one another by the heather that grows between the blueberry patch and the pond. And look closer... wee Hughie seems to have presented her with a beautiful bunch of flowers!

If anyone can think of a name for this little mop-capped misfit, please get in touch soon so I can get her 'birth certificate' completed, enabling her to accompany Hughie on his big adventure. I can't split them up, they're now inseparable!

Until next time,
Frugaldom.