Simple living Archives - Page 2 of 2

Sewing a capsule wardrobe for project 333- shorts 1

August 18, 2014February 18, 2015Craftie Jellie

Project 333 uses the idea of having a 33 item capsule wardrobe which you swap out every 3 month. I’ve found this a great challenge to do. I like the fact that every 3 months I get to shop my wardrobe to put together a new 33 capsule wardrobe for the next season. Then I find it very freeing only having 33 items in the bedroom closet to choose from. It makes life so much easier. I don’t tend to include accessories, underwear and shoes- I don’t often wear accessories or loads of different shoes anyway.

Over the last couple of years I have been teaching myself to sew with books and You Tube videos. I’ve finally got to the stage where I can sew clothes I’ll be happy to go out in! This means I can now start to sew my capsule wardrobe. Since starting the project 333 experiment I decided to only buy clothes and fabrics in specific colours which coordinate well together and I like. I decided to start sewing my summer wardrobe using quilting cottons- nice and cool for summer and the fabrics are designed to coordinate.

They contain several of the colours I had decided to focus on in my wardrobe- I like brights! Aqua, teal, pink, purple and berry are all colours I like to wear and you can see from these facrics that they feature in this range.

I wanted to start by concentrating on the pinks and purples with a few neutrals. I already have some pieces in my wardrobe which will fit into this scheme. The idea is that I’m sewing items I need to fill in the gaps. I’ll be trying to tweak my patterns so I get a good fit and can remake in different fabrics for autumn/winter.

Since this is a summer wardrobe I wanted to start with some shorts. I wanted to have an elasticated waist so they will last should I gain or lose any weight! I decided to adapt the trousers from Butterick B4238.

I traced the trouser pattern onto brown paper- shortening to the length I wanted for shorts. I used pink medallion material.

At the moment they can be worn with a pink t-shirt I already have.

Tomorrow I will hopefully be posting another top to wear with the shorts.

Can we have it all versus do we have enough?

September 12, 2012February 18, 2015Craftie Jellie

Lots going on in real life so sorry I haven’t been around much.
I’ve been pondering on questions raised by a change in lifestyle that has been somewhat forced upon me by health issues. I’ve gone part time and am trying to adapt to the change. As ever with most change there are mixed feelings- both positive and negative.
On a positive note I have more time to rest and take care of myself.
The main negative is the loss of income and trying to live more frugally as a consequence. This is not necessarily a bad thing but I must admit that at the moment it is a real struggle. I have been pondering the urges I have to buy things that are luxuries rather than necessities and the emotions and inner needs that I am actually trying to meet by such consumption.

Image from http://www.mountainpark.org/resources/sermon-library/i-want-it-all/

I came across this article which sums up nicely why rather than asking can I have it all? we should consider whether we have enough. The attitude of the writer gave me lots to think about and is really inspiring so I thought I’d share the link
What my sons disabilities taught me about having it all

Image from http://sivers.org/trust

Menu planning board

July 20, 2012February 18, 2015Craftie Jellie

I wanted to make a lovely menu planning board to inspire me to get back on track with menu planning. I only menu plan for main meals. I didn’t want to spend any money so this is all from stash. I made the backing paper with Craft Artist and stuck it onto foam board. I put a bulldog clip at the top so I could hang it on the wall.

I stuck a small hook for each day along the top.

I made small holders from card at the bottom for my main categories of meals- poultry, meat, fish, other and side dishes. I have small cards in each holder (colour coded!). I will write the meals we like on these cards. When we menu plan for the week I can make sure I have a balance of the categories.

Once chose I can hang the cards up so we know what we’re doing!

Hopefully tomorrow I’ll share the next stage of my menu planning plans, as with all the best plans there will be some crafting involved 😉

Spending wallet

July 19, 2012February 19, 2015Craftie Jellie

In my quest to live more simply I want to focus on cutting down my spending. I find it really difficult to keep a spending diary so I thought that if I made myself a beautiful way of tracking spending I might keep to it!!
This is the way I came up with! The papers I used for the project are First Edition- Hideaway.
I took two double sided 8×8 papers. I joined them by cutting a small piece of 8×8 paper, scoring it in the middle and taping it to the papers.

I then scored half way across each page and about 1/3 from the bottom. I folded the bottom section up to make a pocket and cut a slanted edge to each section.

The outside was made from an 8×8 card scored in half and then a small section of card taped to the end and also scored.

I sponged pearlescent green ink around the inside of the card. I taped the paged inside.

I made tags using scrap paper. I will use scrap paper to do this every month. I am going to record spending on these tags. I’ll keep a record of no spend days, essentials,
luxuries and money spent on hobbies. I use the no spend days challenge on Money Saving Expert as an incentive not to go near the shops unless I really need to!! I thought by recording essentials versus luxuries it will help me to think about what spending is related to wants and what is related to needs. Ideally I want to minimise wants and put that money towards the mortgage.

When closed I will secure the wallet with a ribbon. I used Soft Green Promarker to colour the ribbon so it would match.

At the end of each week I’ll record the spends in a spreadsheet and at the end of the month I will put the tags together with a ribbon. I’ve made a folder to keep the tags in and will also keep receipts in there.
I took a piece of green card and scored every cm and folded it like an accorian. I then put tape all along it and taped 12 envelopes in to it. (I always have tons of envelopes as I bought lots of card blanks with envelopes and then I make the cards too big to fit the envelopes!!) I alternated yellow and green envelopes.

This is the finished accordian of envelopes.

I scored a piece of green card for the cover and cut papers to stick on to the outside

and to the inside

I then used tape and book binding glue to attach the accordian envelopes to the cover.

I used magnetic tape to hold the cover closed and added a flower embellishment. I wanted to keep it simple as the papers are quite glitzy!

I used spray varnish on both projects to give tham lovely shine and a little added protection.
Hopefully with the lovely wallet and folder I will keep better track of my spending so I can analyse it and see where I can cut costs. It should also help me to think carefully about the things I want versus the things I need when I shop.

Project 333 for work

April 24, 2012February 18, 2015Craftie Jellie

In the last couple of years I’ve been gradually cutting down the clothes I have. I have done lots of reading on capsule wardrobes including reading about project 333. This is the kind of challenge I find helpful. The aim is to create a capsule wardrobe of 33 items to use for 3 months.

This would be a bit too drastic for me at the moment but it has inspired me to do a similar challenge to help me identify key items in my wardrobe and to simplify it. I decided to do project 333 x 2! Last week I selected 33 items for a work wardrobe and 33 for a casual wardrobe!

This was quite fun and very helpful.

Stage 1
I checked out the predictions for Spring fashion colours and had a look round the shops to identify the trends over Easter. The Pantone web site is great for this and this image from the web site summarises their Spring colours.

Stage 2
I then decided which colours I would use in my capsule wardrobes. Since I have some basics in starfish I thought this would make a good neutral to base the wardrobe on. I tend to favour brights and have several items in caberet and cockatoo. I also have a couple of pieces with the orange, dark blue and green in.

Stage 3
I then thought about the type of clothes I wear most to work and what would be the most versatile in a capsule wardrobe. I tend to wear dresses the most and usually team them with a cardigan or jacket. I wear separates less option but do like wearing trousers on chilly days when I’m tired and sometimes I wear a skirt.
In terms of versatility I decided to focus on the following

Pick dresses with more than one colour from my pallete (3 if possible allowing alternative neutrals such as black as one!)
Pick a jacket or cardigan for each key colour which will match with both dresses and separates
Pick a couple of skirts and trousers in neutrals (I look better with brights near my face rather than neutrals.
Pick a few tops with more than one colour in (at least 1 colour of which is bright!

Stage 4
Shopping my wardrobe. I took all my clothes out and put them on clothes rails I have (I took the opportunity to clean the wardrobe). I sorted them into clothes types. I then went through each clothes group and picked out clothes that matched the colour pallette and versatility rules I’d made. I then whittled them down to 33 and put them in my wardrobe.

Stage 5
Each time I wear clothes I turn the hanger round- this way every few months I can check if I have any clothes in my wardrobe I haven’t worn.

I’ve stored the rest of the clothes and if all goes well I will decrease their number a bit. However I am aiming to have 4 capsule wardrobes, one for each season and I want to create it from clothes I have or can make if possible.

Jellie wobbles toward a more simple, balanced life

April 23, 2012February 18, 2015Craftie Jellie

The last few years have been really interesting and have brought lots of changes for me. Looking back I’ve realised that there has been a bit of a theme to the things I want to achieve.

A more simple lifestyle
A home free from clutter
To learn to consume less
To focus on fulfilling needs and to spend less on wants

On the Money Saving Expert forums I’ve found lots of help, support and wisdom as I worked on being debt free and am now working on whittling down the mortgage. However, as a Jellie my life is pretty wobbly and I quite often feel as if I’m going backwards!! The accountability of charting my progress really helps so I’m hoping that by blogging some of the ups and downs in my journey fellow bloggers will help to keep me on track!

It’s been a tough year and my old spending habits have crept back with too much being frittered away on non- essential items. I need to rebuild some basic habits that have fallen by the wayside

Keep a spending diary to help analyse spending habits
Back onto a crafting stash ban
Where possible to pause before purchasing anything to think about whether I really need to buy it and whether I’m buying because of emotional reasons. If it is not something I need to wait a week before deciding whether to buy it.

Altered baking tray!

February 24, 2012February 18, 2015Craftie Jellie

I decided I needed more craft storage but I needed to keep it frugal. Having made storage for my Promarkers the next thing was storage for the Perfect Pearls. I bought a baking tray for a pound and everything else is from stash.

I used some plastic reinforcers with rivets from packaging and stuck them to the back of the tray. I then threaded ribbon through them to hang it up.
I made the background paper using Craft Artist and printed it onto pearlescent paper.

I added flowers and skeleton leaves to one corner of the tray.

I used punches to create this rosette with scraps of paper. I added a gem from a pin to the middle.
I coloured the edges of the tray using dabs of alcohol inks and pearlescent ink.

I cut and stuck magnets to the back of the Perfect Pearls.

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Corrosive Challenges – Another Dimension

Anything Goes Challenge – Altered Projects (anything but a card)

Papercraft Star – photo inspiration with lovely bright colours (I decided on turquoise and pink) for inspiration plus something from kitchen

Crop Stop – Include at least 3 flowers

The Crazy Challenge – Use a Die or Punch

One Stitch At A Time – Use a Digi OR No image

Turning envelopes to gift bags

February 8, 2012February 18, 2015Craftie Jellie

Although I’ve finished my stash ban I’m trying to stay on a stash diet!! I seem to have tons of envelopes left over from our wedding and they can be made into cheap gift bags that are perfect for small light items such as jewellry. I also tend to add so much to my cards I end up having to make a box with them so I end up with spare envelopes such as this pretty pearlescent one which became the bag on the right.

I used a paisley stamp to make a random pattern. I used a MS flower punch to make the top and then added some ribbon from stash for handles. Just to prove it is the envelope I’ve shown the back as well!

My second envelope started life as a white envelope. I used lavender and pink distress inks to give a light background colour. Iused a butterfly border stamp in pink all the way across the paper and then added a lilac circular butterfly stamp. I used a MS butterfly punch to edge the top and tied a pretty pink ribbbon (from the inside of a jumper….you know the annoying ribbons they use to hang things up in shops!). I used a MS punch to make the butterfly on a bit of spare pearlescent paper, curled the wings and added adhesive pearls.

I would like to enter the following challenges
Stamp scrap and doodle challenge- die cut or punches
Delightful sketches- punches and dies
Pixie dust studio pixie challenge- Girlie girl
The hybrid chick- all tied up (use ribbon, twine etc)
CES challenges- Give me wings!

Wobbly crafty storage

January 1, 2012February 18, 2015Craftie Jellie

I’ve been making some storage and I’ve finally finished the first 2 sections! Bearing in mind I’ve only been cardmaking for about 5 months it probably isn’t the best storage ever made and it is wonky in places. I’m really proud of it though and as I’m making it to suit my needs it is perfect for me. It is very MSE as I made it from mountboard and card from stash.
I made drawer sections from mountboard and then stuck them together. I reused some corrugated cardboard packaging and more mountboard to make an outer skin.

The drawers are for my Promarkers. I used the Letraset chart, coloured it in and mounted each portion to the front of each drawer. The drawer holds all the markers for that section of the chart and the drawers are colour coded for ease of use. The markers are in the right order in the drawer 😉

The drawers were made to measure.

The second section of storage is for my distress inks and perfect pearls. The drawers are colour coded again. I attach my blender pad to the ink pad using adhesive velcro. I also have a sponge dauber for each of them in the drawer.

This is the second storage unit.

The storage so far. I plan to make more tomorrow and play around with the layout!

More to follow!……

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