My favourite things

As usual I am linking up with Wendy over on her blog for Handmade Monday. It's nice to see what other people have been up to, and I enjoy reading their blogs every week. It's like sitting down with old friends for a weekly catch up!

I've been thinking this week about making and selling (as regular readers will know already) and I have managed to set myself up with a Facebook page and a Folksy shop. (Links are in the side bar, although there's not a lot to see ....yet!) Whilst I was doing so, I pondered the name of my new venture, and whether I should come up with something new or stick with what I have. As you can tell if you visit my new pages, I have stuck with Raindrops 'n Roses. I originally chose this name because it automatically conjures up images of Julie Andrews atop a mountain, which means school holidays, but was also one of the first musicals I really remember watching as a child. The song itself means 'favourite things' to me (well, that's what it's about of course!) and that's what this blog is about - my favourite things, which are my family, (and being the best mum/wife/domestic goddess type that I can be to make our home life happy and comfortable and filled with good things and happy memories in an increasingly bad world) and the things that I like to do - making and baking, reading and writing, hoarding and reusing (or at least thinking about reusing!) There's a few things I'd like to achieve through selling my 'stuff'. Obviously it would be lovely to one day give up the day job, but even just earning a few extra pennies to spend on the kids would be fine by me. I really like making things, even if it's a simple card, or a cake, a scrapbook or a stew, and I really get pleasure making things for other people, and if my things can become someone elses' favourite things then how lovely would that be?

I have been kicking a few ideas around, ideas of things to make as well as where and what to source, as I would like to use some reclaimed materials in my makes, I already do this now, I'm forever trying to think of things to make with this leftover, or that remnant of fabric, or that spare ball of yarn, even if the procrastinator in me doesn't always do something about it! It's a bit harder when it comes to paper crafts, although I am quite fond of getting the 'scrap bags' often available in bargain bins or pound shops and the like, and I already have a fair stash of off cuts of paper, ribbons from cakes, and little bits and pieces, the origins of which I'm not too sure of now!. It will be interesting to challenge myself to recycle and upcycle more for cards and other papercrafts too.

So this week I have been busy making a variety of things. On the Domestic Goddess front there was 'Sunday Roast Leftover Potato Cakes' using the left over mash and vegetables from Sunday tea to make potato cakes for Monday tea (and Tuesday dinner!) and chicken and vegetable pasties, from the leftover chicken too.On the crafty front there were brooches.. I have a tub full of old buttons reclaimed over many years by mum and passed on to me, and I used a few to make a couple of button brooches, one of which is here:

It's not easy to tell from the picture, but I scuffed the edges of a silvery coloured button to make it look 'shabby'

I also made a little scrapbook for my mother in law as it was her birthday this week. I put in some photos of the girls, which I had taken with my new 'retro camera' app on my phone. I am quite fond of that particular app, I love the effects it gives. I didn't have as much time to spend on the book as I would have liked, but she was happy with it and that's all that matters really, isn't it?

Til next time!