Use it or Lose it!!

2018. I just can't believe it's here already!! Here we are 8 days into the new year, and I am prepping for a show, and finding myself surrounded by STUFF. 

You know how it goes. The holidays are over, and you have cleaned up the trash, but now you have to find space for the new things. On top of finding space for the old things.
Well, at least I am in this position. 

My house looks rather like a bomb hit it. Or I am auditioning for "Hoarders" but am not quite there yet. 

So 2018 is going to be the year of USE IT OR LOSE IT. 

My place will never be magazine ready, but I would like it to be company - or at least friends- ready. 

That means, using up the piles of fabric all around the house. Finding places to put the craft supplies so we can use them. Get the sewing machines that are waiting to be fixed, fixed.

And get rid of all the stuff that is here that we never use. I don't have a pretty picture to share, and I am certainly not going to share one of my place right now, hahaha, but suffice it to say that this needs to be done. 

Big yard sale? Well, when it's warmer, definitely! 

Facebook yardsales? Already on it. Not getting any bites yet, so I need to put a time frame on those so I'm not having stuff sit forever waiting. 

Took 2 bags of clothes to good will, and returned 2 bags of bottles. Not much of a start, but it IS a start.

I bet, if you look around, you will find something you can use up or get rid of too!

January Challenge

January Money Challenge!

For me, at least, the first step in getting better about money is to figure out where it's all going! How many times have you gotten to three days BEFORE payday and thought, but what happened to the money?? I still need to get food/gas/whatever!

Yeah, me too.

So the challenge for January is to WRITE IT DOWN.

Get a notebook- any notebook at all. I grabbed one of Curly's spiral notebooks she hasn't used yet, but you can use anything. If you want something nicer that will make you want to use it, go for it!

Next, I got all the bills together. I went over the bank account for last month and wrote down every bill we paid. Then in separate section, I wrote out all the credit card payments, and the overall balances. Then I made a section for groceries, and one for everything else we spend money on this month.

You don't need to get that detailed, but it will give you a clearer picture if you do.

Then, just start writing down every single penny you spend. The idea is to just get an idea of where money is going. This is the first step to creating a budget and financial peace.

My guess is that - if you keep up with it, of course - your spending habits will change by the end of the month. You might think twice about that extra grocery store run (what can we substitute that needed item for?) or that extra breakfast/lunch purchase - my biggest downfall!!

Even if your spending habits don't change right away, you might see some things you want to change or patterns in your spending.

Ready to join me??


Happy New Year!

Hi everyone! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Did you have a good holiday season? I know I did but dang it was expensive!!

This is the time for resolutions, and while I am not good at them, I am going to try my best to get rid of some debt this year. Being better with money is something I have tried to do, and mostly failed at but starting again is never a bad thing.
After all, whether you start now or not, time marches on and wouldn't you rather have a few less bills a year from now?? I know I would!!

So. I have my 52 week savings jar ready! I have even added a few dollars in change to it, lol. 

The other thing I got ready was my notebook that I called "The State of the Union."
This is where I am putting our monthly bills, current credit cards - minimum payments, total balances, etc, as well as what we spend on groceries and everything else every day. I don't do well on a budget, per se, but I do really well with seeing the numbers in front of my face as to where the money is going. Here's hoping this will help!

Do you have any New Year's resolutions? What are you doing to try to achieve them? Remember to give yourself some credit every day that you make progress too! 

Instant Pot Chicken

Hi everyone! Sorry it's been a bit since I posted but the holidays and a new position at work have made things a little crazy ;) 

MERRY CHRISTMAS! Or as a friend likes to say, HAPPY LIGHTS!!

So, I asked for an instant pot for Christmas and lo and behold, I actually got one! :D I was given a 6 quart size which seems to be pretty perfect for the three of us. It's the Instant Pot Lux60 V3:

Yesterday, we tried it out with basic brown rice, and it was perfect! (The rinse and let it soak for 15 minutes thing is really, really important - who knew?? lol ) 

And today, because we tend to "go big or go home", we made a whole chicken. It is awesome! We made a chicken that was slightly over 6 pounds and it just fit in the cook pot. 

Here's the recipe we used:

Turn the instant pot to saute, and put a little oil in the pan.

Smear whatever rub you want on it all over the chicken ( we used a lemon pepper seasoning from Auntie Arwen's Spices called Lemon Sunshine Pepper blend. ) 

Sear the chicken for about 4 minutes on each side, and then take it back out and put in your trivet rack. 

Pour one can of chicken broth in the pot, and put the chicken back on top of the trivet. Put the cover on and make sure the valve is on seal. 

We used the meat/stew setting at 40 minutes - 6 minutes per pound, with a natural release of 10 minutes. 

It came out *amazing*.  It was falling off the bones - literally!! I'm thrilled we can make a whole chicken from start to finish in about an hour :D 

Braided Infinity Scarf

So I'm not great at pictures, and I have never written a crochet pattern before, but I loved this braided infinity scarf when I saw a photo of it, and just had to make it! I wasn't able to find a real pattern for it, so I made one up that seems to work pretty well. 

You will be making 5 strips to braid together. Each strip is really easy, just lots of counting. I did 303 chains, and then double crochet in the fourth chain from the hook and in each chain for the length of the strip. You can make this as long as you need to. At the end of the row, finish it off (a simple knot is fine.) 

Join one end of the strands with a chain stitch so that they are anchored to make it easier to braid. 

Here is a picture of how the braid is done. It takes a little bit to get used to, mostly because the strips keep getting tangled, hahahah. 

Then, join both ends of the scarf to make the large loop. This can be done by sewing it or crocheting with a chain. This will wrap around your head twice. 

Here is my first one!

I used Bernat Pop, Blue Blaze and a size K hook. I particularly like this style of hook: 

3 PCS Crochet Hooks Set w/ Ergonomic Soft Grip Handles - New Size K Hook a.k.a 6.5mm 7mm 8mm (L) - Longer Shaft Than Others To Allow More Yarn Loops - EXCLUSIVE ONLY - Perfect For Arthritic Hands because they are more comfortable for my hands. 

This one will be going to a friend at work who loves mermaid colors :) Best part is that it only takes one skein of yarn, and can be done in a day!


EDIT:
I made another from a size 6 bulky yarn, and shortened the pattern a bit so the finished project was almost exactly like the first picture. I did 253 chains, double crochet in the 4th from the hook and each chain down to the end for a total of 250 double crochets. It took 3 skeins of claret thick and quick wool-ease yarn:

5D Diamond Painting

So, recently my best friend showed me this cool craft called 5D diamond painting. It's really easy, but makes a pretty gift at the end, so I am giving quite a few for Christmas gifts this year.

You can find the kits on Amazon for under 20.00 and on eBay for even cheaper if you are willing to wait for them to come in from China. My experience with the shipments from China have been mixed. I ordered one kit that was lost, several I'm waiting on thru eBay that were ordered in October, and the one I ordered the most recently has already come in, which is nice since it's also the largest.

This is something Curly has decided she likes as well, so she is working on a snowman for Nana for one of her gifts.

What is this thing? Well, it's like a paint by number, but with little beads that are flat on the back and stick to the design. Curly is working on this one:

which has a small amount of the design done as the "painting' and the rest is a preprinted picture. It comes with everything you need, including -thankfully- more than enough beads to finish it.
I recently did this one:

and this is what it looks like finished:

Kind of like a cross stitch but so much easier!!

This one was a full drill design, meaning that the entire 16x20 design is beaded. Don't let that deter you though if you want to try it! It goes fast, much easier and quicker than you'd think :) 

Kits come with the beads, chart, and the "pen" and glue to put it together, but you will need to find a way to frame it when you're done. 

(Post contains affiliate links. I receive a small amount if you decide to purchase something from amazon using these links. And Curly would love you forever ;) ) 

52 Week Savings Challenge

OK, so it's December and like many of you, I am worrying about the holidays and the extra costs of winter in general, but January starts on a Monday and since 2018 is coming up fast, I am trying to think about our financial goals in the new year. 

For the past two years, I have tried to do the 52 week savings challenge and it has not worked. Still, I think it's a great idea to try because any savings is a good thing - it's easier to not put something on a credit card if you have money in savings to cover it instead.

Not sure what the original challenge is? The first week, put a dollar in to a savings account, jar, whatever. Second week, 2.00 and so on until you finish the year with the last week being 52.00. Yes, that means if you follow the challenge to the letter, you're putting the most amount of money into savings during December and that's hard. The goal is to have 1378.00 in savings at the end of the year. Feel free to skip around on the weeks, or start at the end and work backwards so that December isn't the highest savings months if you want. The point of the challenge really is to just start saving, not necessarily the need to do it in order. :D 

Imagine how much easier next winter would seem with that sitting in an account somewhere!

Here's a great graphic to print out if you want to join me in the challenge.

You can print it out and hang it up if you want. Mine is going over my desk so I think about it each week. I'll try to update weekly once we start as well. 

Please feel free to leave a comment if you want, and let me know if you are joining me! 

December Already??

Oh my goodness, how did it get to be December already?? I mean, yes, of course I know how, but wow the year went fast!

Today was a productive day in regards to Christmas/Solstice prep. I've been working on presents for a bit, but today I took a break from making them, and hit "the Mall." I hate the mall, but thankfully it was pretty quiet for a Friday morning in the month of December.

I was there because I wanted to go to The Children's Place. See, Curly has been asking what we can do for presents for her class. We don't normally do anything for the whole class- last year they did a round robin book exchange so all the kids received a book. I don't know what the teacher has planned this year, but Curly has been rather insistent for a 6 year old, so off I went.

Yesterday, I received an email from The Children's Place that they had kids hats and gloves for $1.00 each. Great, I thought, kids are always losing theirs, that could be a good gift. Then today I also got a 25% off your total order coupon. Well, that's it. The kids are getting hats and gloves this year, lol.

Of course, I could have just not done anything but I know that families are struggling. We have a lot of folks who have come here from other countries with extremely limited funds and yes, even some that are homeless, so I hope that this helps to relieve at least a little worry about cold heads and hands.

We also went to the tree lighting in the park, and came home with this year's tree. Ooops. I don't even have a place to put it yet! HA! It's in the back of the car until a spot is made for it ( we know where it's going, just have to move some furniture around. ) Tree pictures tomorrow, maybe. ;)

How are your holiday plans going? Have you started shopping? Are you one of those lucky folks who are done?

Ars Gratia Artis

So my friend Emily and I were discussing 2018 and the plans we have for the coming year. She has a beautiful post on her blog, https://riverandlakedesigns.blogspot.com/2017/11/be-still.html about her motto for the year and it got me thinking about what I want to accomplish during the year. 

One of my biggest issues is that I need to create but I usually look at making something with the idea of whether or not I can sell it, which isn't exactly a bad thing but makes me nervous about trying different crafts, artwork etc. 

So I have decided that my motto for 2018 is ARS GRATIA ARTIS. Art for the sake of art.

 To give myself the OK to just do something because it looks interesting, not just because it looks like it will add to my business or be something I can sell. I get burnt out if I don't try new things, and I am tired of feeling pigeon-holed in not having time to new things. 

So, for 2018 I am going FINALLY use my embroidery machine. The vinyl cutter. Try out the leather carving tools I have. Maybe I'll break out some paints (I'm a *really* bad artist, but that's not the point, right? ha!). Do more coloring with Curly - hey, those adult coloring books are pretty cool! Maybe try a pottery class. Or quilting. Or any of the million other ideas I have in my head of things I'd like to do some day. "Some day" never comes if you don't make time for it, and then you sit there saying, well, I wish I had tried that. 

I am going to remind myself more often that sometimes, it's fun to do something just for the experience of trying it. So that's it, art for the sheer love of creating. 

Thanks, Emily, for making me think on that :) 

Pottery at Work

Recently, I was looking over the checking account, as we do almost daily around here, and I noticed that my spending on breakfast and lunch has definitely gotten worse lately. I thought, hmm. How can I make it easier for me to bring leftovers or sandwiches?

Well, I was reminded that I have beautiful pottery from www.hughespottery.com that I love, and a desk at work where it can be used safely (and the company very nicely provides really nice break rooms, so I can also wash them easily) so I decided to bring a set of dishes in to work. I now have a plate, soup bowl and mug, and a full set of silverware at my desk and the spending has gotten better. It still happens, but it's much easier to bring in leftovers (or soups for my desk) when I know I have a way to eat them.

If anyone ever wondered, yes, it may look silly to eat ramen noodles or PB&J from such beautiful pottery, but it does make it easier to want to use it!

Thanks again to Charlie and Rowan from Hughes Pottery for my gorgeous dishes. I can't wait until I can add to my collection :D

Am I the only crazy one who has dishes at work?

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog! As you can see, I love castles, although I think it's probably good I don't actually live in one!

So, I'm Ascelinne, and I live in the North East with my husband, 3 cats and my 6 year old daughter, whom we'll call Curly. My eldest daughter, Miss B, is 21 and she lives out of state, so we tend to miss her all the time. This blog will hopefully be about all the crafting things I love to do, including crocheting, cross-stitch, sewing and my adventures in using my embroidery machine and my vinyl cutter. I've been making medieval clothing for about as long as my eldest has been alive, so I hope to have some posts that might be of interest to others. I am also trying to get my financial life back under control, so there will be posts about the trials of attempting to make more money and spend less! Anyway, I hope that you can find something of interest here and maybe we can share ideas with each other.