Landlocked Mermaid

'Tis the season for distraction, falalalalalalala. I am terrible for hoarding cards: birthday, Christmas, thank you - whatever the occasion, I will hoard it. I am loathe to throw them away (read: recycle them) because someone has gone to the effort of sending it to me and they are so often very pretty. So what can I do with them? Other than just hide them in various places to find in a couple years time and wonder how they got there. Someone actually offered me the solution ages ago. I shared a post about Christmas crafts in 2018 to Facebook and asked if anyone had any other Christmas crafts. The answer: make bunting out of cards. So, thank you Sharon Garforth! This was lovely and easy to do, therefore will be repeated for years to come. I am even tempted to make some out of my birthday cards too, if I ever find the stash from previous years. I know they are somewhere! Bunting! WHAT YOU WILL NEED Old cards Scissors Hole punch Pen Ruler Pencil String ...

When it comes to my clothes, there are some things which I am just loathe to throw away. Even with my sister giving me her judgey look while I cling to something which has not fit me for years. There is still hope that I may one day be able to say no to biscuits and slim down! I'll give you a minute, let the laughter die down. If the title wasn't a give away, I am on about t-shirts here. Over the years, between Qwertee and gigs I have amassed an impressive collection of t-shirts which have a weird amount of sentimental value. However, I am very good at shrinking shirts and they don't always sit on my frame well at the best of times. And, they get old. So when it came to gutting my wardrobe, this seemed like a great way to weed out the ones I don't wear anymore. Except, I really didn't want to throw any away. While they may not sit right on me any more, the t-shirts were still in good nick. I managed to wrangle a few by "demoting" them to pjs. Sti...

I am not very good at sewing. When doing one of those "easy" make your own bear kits, I managed to miss a section of the spine and give the poor thing spina bifida. I want to change this. As part of living better for the planet, I want to be able to make and fix rather than buy and throw. I so need to know how to sew. I already have a few projects in mind which demand more skill than I possess, so I thought I would start on something easy yet useful. Napkins. I have finally stopped threatening to make napkins and actually made some! I can sew a button back on and I can gracelessly sew up holes; but neither of these things use a sewing machine which is where my skill is sorely lacking. I hated textiles during school. Between The Grinch and the health and safety worksheets, I was terrified of sewing my hands into the machine. And our projects were nothing useful - a pencil case, a cube, and I don't think I ever finished my last project because I cert...