Pizza from the post office

 Early last year I sent a pizza box, packed with crafty bits from the Typo Not Quite Right table, to a mini friend in New Zealand.Yesterday the box returned, refilled with mini goodness. 

The women at the post office thought it funny that I should be asking if a pizza box had arrived, and got quite excited when it did!

I couldn't wait to get it home and see what was inside...

 What was inside was lots of lovely crafty loot, including some more letter sets to make my box brooches with, scrapbooking paper, cutouts, stickers and bits of bling.

 My favourite bits so far are these plastic pieces which look like modern resin vases,

this badge (which my friend explained was supposed to be 'I spot Damien Hirst' - but decided that 'I spot dolls' houses' was also appropriate),

these cardboard cutouts in the shape of gates, 

and, finally I can never resist a daisy... 

So much inspiration to work with. Thank you, Sandra!

A conference, miniature-eyesed

 I've just spent a few days on the Gold Coast at the 2015 ProBlogger training event.

Although I'd checked to see if there were any miniature shops close to the venue, I realised that I probably wouldn't have time to see anything more than the inside of the conference centre and my room (I was right).

So imagine my surprise when the miniatures started finding me, even before the first session started!

Olympus was running a #SpectacularStories contest, and were giving away miniature cameras. Alas, more like 1:6 scale that 1:12, but a miniature is a miniature, right?

And then at lunchtime, I spotted these trays under some of the cakes:

And instantly thought 'miniature sink!' Which got me haunting the tables with to find any more that had been discarded. On the hunt I also discovered taller containers which had contained jelly: perfect for re purposing into large modern planters...

Sew over it...

And it is done. It's not perfect. And any thoughts I had of painting it to make it look more like iron and less like plastic have completely disappeared.

The (terrible appropriate) poster is one of Cider Teak's new business cards, which I snaffled off her at a bloggers' brunch on Sunday, for exactly this spot.

Sewing bee

Thanks to Judy, Susan and Fran, I think I might be on the right track this time (assuming my ancient tube of Polystrene cement isn't completely glugged up, that is...)

#Frugal15 Week nine

What a difference a plan and a shake-up of the routine makes!

I bought filo pastry, which was used in three dishes, which ended up covering six meals: my favourite potato and pea tarts, a vegetable filo parcel (with mushrooms and brussel sprouts) and filo triangles, which were stuffed with spinach and feta or leftover tuna mix from a salad niçoise I'd made earlier in the week. And lentils made their first appearance during the challenge, in a deliciously hearty lentil tomato sauce, served with pasta and cheese.

And I baked banana choc chip muffins.

It helped that I had breakfast out three times during the week. (As I said to a fellow frugalista at the last one, being frugal isn't about depriving yourself so you feel hard done by. It's about being mindful about how you choose to spend your money. And this week I chose to use my spending budget on catching up with friends old and new over breakfast. Twice. The third time I was lucky enough to be shouted).

And speaking of shouted, I was offered free tickets to see the new movie Holding the Man at Palace Electric, so shouted a friend a night out at the movies. It's the second free preview I've been to in as many weeks!

Sew frustrated

I was feeling so confident yesterday. Smug, even.

I'd found a large photo of the completed Chrsynbon sewing machine online and enlarged it enough to understand how all the pieces fit together. I did a dry run.

And then started gluing. Which is when I began to have doubts. Because the spots where things glue together are very very small. and many things need to be at different angles to many other things. Not to mention things that seem to need to be able to move freely.

I took a deep breath. And glued one end to the middle piece. Used a couple of blobs of blu-tac to hold the two pieces at 90 degrees to each other while they dried.

Then, before I went to bed I glued the other end piece on. 'Pah!' I thought. 'This is going to be easy-peasy'. And I drifted off to sleep planning the scene I'd make today with my completed table.

This morning it all turned to custard. I picked up the structure to start adding the treadle and the wheel. And the whole thing fell apart:

(There was almost a Saturday scene of a whole different sort...)

Finish it off Friday: Feeling sew-sew

This week's pick from the box of unmade kits is a bag of sewing machine bits from a Chrysnbon sewing machine I picked up for $2 at one of this year's shows:

It didn't bother me that most of pieces were missing, as the bits I needed to make a sewing machine table were still there.

But it wasn't until I unpacked the pieces this morning that I realised that maybe having the instructions could be useful.

I decided that I could wing it, with a mixture of staring deeply at pictures of the completed items from the kit

 and researching pictures of full-sized versions online...

Oh, and in case you're wondering: work on the caravan continues slowly but surely.

Ten tiny travel tips

(This post is part of the ProBlogger/ Virgin Australia Top Travel Tips competition. Because what miniaturist wouldn't want to be in the running to win enough air miles to travel around the world visiting famous miniature sites?)

1. Put your clothes in zip lock bags before packing them

• Your clothes will take up less room in your case.

• The bags will protect the contents of your case if it happens to get wet (ie: in heavy rain while it's being transported to the plane or if it falls off the wharf as your lugagge is being loaded onto your cruise ship).

• If customs want to see the contents of your case it'll be much easier to pack and unpack for them than individual items.

2. Pack a length of bubble wrap and a spare fold-down bag inside your case

• You'll probably buy a few things while you're away. Having bubble wrap on hand gives you added protection for getting more delicate items home. 

• And the spare bag will come in useful when you realise you've bought too much to fit into your main case! The bag I use folds completely flat but is robust enough to stand up to being checked in, and cost me less than $30. And because it takes up so little room, it's no dramas if I don't need to use it on the return trip...

3. Take a small roll of duct tape

It doesn't take up much space and can be a life-saver. Use it to:

• Tape up that bubble-wrapped parcel!

• Temporarily fix your case/ shoes/ glasses if they break while you're away.

• Hold together the curtains in your hotel room or cabin so that annoying gap at the top doesn't let the morning light in to wake you up before you're ready...

4. Instead of locking your checked luggage, use cable ties to secure it

Although locks are permitted on luggage, you need to be aware that airlines are allowed to break the lock if they need to access your case: which means your case is unsecured until you buy a new lock.

Cable ties are cheap, lightweight and you can keep spares in the outside pocket of your case: so if your bag is inspected, you can replace the tie easily. (They're also a great way to identify your bag and are less likely to get ripped off than luggage tags.)

5. Pop a small pair of scissors in the outside pocket of your checked case

You can cut the tie when you arrive. (I usually keep my keys on a Swiss army knife: once I've removed it from my keys for flights, I add it to the outside pocket so I know where it is when I arrive and can reattach my keys).

6. For long flights with stopovers, pack a toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, pack of baby wipes in your carry-on bag, along with socks, underwear and a spare top

Trust me, there's nothing more wonderful that being able to clean your teeth, 'wash' your face and underarms, refresh your deodorant and change your underwear after being in the air for hours on end. And the baby wipes can be used to clean your tray table too, if you're concerned with what's been on it before you met it...The spare clothes can also be life savers if your checked luggage doesn't arrive at the same time as you do: you've got the basics so won't need to race out and find replacements immediately.

7. Don't put your home address on your luggage tags

Burglars are known to patrol airports, looking out for addresses of premises that might be empty. Use your email address or mobile phone number (especially if you'll have access to them while you're away), or a PO Box number or work address. Also remember to include contact details inside your case in case it gets lost and the luggage tags have come off...

8. If you're travelling with someone else, pack half your clothes in their luggage (and vice-versa)

You'll thank me if one of the cases goes missing...

9. Plan to send postcards while you're away?

Before you leave, print sticker sheets with the names and addresses of the people you want to send cards to. It'll save time writing them out, and will also make it clear if you forgot to send one. For long trips, take two or three sheets.

10. Take a folding water bottle

It packs down to nothing. Which means you can start your day's sightseeing and shopping with a full bottle and end it with an empty bottle and room in your bag for all those souvenirs you've picked up!

And just in case you're wondering why this post is titled 'Ten tiny travel tips', all the photos are of 1/12 scale miniature scenes...

Don't mind me

I'm hatching a mad plan...

'It'll make a good story for the blog'

That's what I tell myself if I'm being a fraidy-cat and worrying that I'll mess something up so badly I ruin it.

In fact, 'Look I tried this and it was a disaster' is probably a much more interesting read than 'Look, I followed the instructions and the end result was perfect!'.

And so, after a breakfast spent rereading the instructions, I ventured upstairs to begin work on the retro caravan kit.

I've spent the last couple of days dithering about how to finish the front hitch, and decided over breakfast that it looked like it could be glued on later (or possibly left off all together) so I could leave that decision for now.

Which meant the first step was gluing the sides to the base. The instructions confidently stated that 'Painting can be done after assembling' but I wasn't so sure, especially as once the roof pieces were on there wasn't much gap in the top to get to the inside.

 So I decided to be brave, ignore the instructions, and give the pieces a bit of an undercoat.

Which lead me to the next conundrum. The instructions on the spray-paint can said not to paint in temperatures under 15 degrees celsius. And this is what the current temperature (and forecast) is:

 (For my fahrenheit-using readers:)

If I took any notice of this, I'd never paint anything through the middle of the year (or would spend a lot more on heating, when I'm not feeling cold).

 So I took a deep breath, pulled out the spray paint and the baking paper and gave it a go.

(Fingers crossed)

...and in case you were wondering

There's not been much progress on the caravan. (Although I did read the instructions while waiting for the kettle to boil for my hottie on Saturday night).

 Sunday, which I thought I might spend getting started on it, ended up looking like this,

 this,

this

 and this...

#Frugal15 Week eight

The week's grocery budget was rather high: but justifiably so. Aldi had the dish cloths I like available for the first time in a few years, so I took the opportunity to stock up while I could. And a trip to Costco with friends resulted in a five-litre container of white vinegar coming home with me. If you don't factor those two cleaning expenses in, the total grocery bill drops to under $50.

I hadn't made a menu plan for the week, thinking I'd be mainly eating leftovers and finishing up items half-used in other dishes and waiting in the fridge to be finished. By Sunday I realised that this was an error, as the constant parade of things I'd eaten recently meant I hit Sunday feeling bored and grumpy food-wise: and it took quite some deviousness to stop myself from trotting off to pick up fish and chips or noodles from across the road.

The diversion that finally worked was trying to use the leftover risotto in the freezer to make arancini patties (balls were out of the question as I don't deep fry things).

I've learnt my lesson: this morning before I went grocery shopping I made a menu plan that included three dishes I've not made in ages, and which include ingredients I've not bought since this challenge started (almost three months ago! Can you believe it?!)

It was another busy week. I spent Tuesday helping prepare for the first Pop Up Small Business Fair, and in return was bought lunch

and dinner. (It was a long day...)

On Wednesday a friend and I went on a day trip to Goulburn to see the Rosalie Gascoigne exhibition on at Goulburn Regional Art Gallery and I budgeted to treat myself to lunch at a local cafe. As I explained to my friend, being frugal doesn't mean being a complete tightwad and having no fun: it means being mindful about how and where you choose to spend your money while keeping within your budget.

Friday was Cooking for Copyright day, and I'd arranged to guest post on a friend's blog with a $5 Friday meal. But I had other pressing appointments, so the post might just have involved a set-up photo and then some corn fritters out of the freezer for the final photo. Yep, a definite 'here's one I prepared earlier'bait and switch situation!

I suspected Friday was going to be another long day without a chance for a break and no easy access to any food except chocolates from vendors' stalls and cupcakes from the caravan cafe which was going to be in attendance. So, in a last-minute panic I grabbed various frozen packages out of the freezer and a couple of things from the fridge while making breakfast,

 which I turned into this several hours later:

Saturday morning a friend dropped in on her way home from the farmers' markets with some 'little extras' she'd picked up for me. Which were much appreciated, even though it's rather premature for food parcels around here.

And for lunch with another friend, we played a game of Freezer Roulette. She brought bread rolls from her freezer (a day-old bargain from one of Canberra's top bakers, she tells me) and I offered her a choice of soups from mine. She chose tomato. I went for pea and zucchini.

It was a good week.

Setting it up Saturday

Step one. Lay all the pieces of your caravan kit out on your worktable to get an idea of what needs to be done.

 Step two: Gather all your relevant reading material together. For research purposes.

Step three: Decide you need to make a miniature version of them in case you want to make a scene with them in.

Step four: Make and photograph a scene using a newly-made book..

Step five: Create a Pinterest board and spend an hour looking at options for what your end result might look like.

Step six. Get overwhelmed and decide to leave the decision making for another day...