Just a couple this time but you can see the last lot HERE if you haven't already. (Click on them to read the commentary).
I'm busy busy busy trying to get the new studio finished so I can get on with running my business properly and blogging regularly along with it. So many ideas, no way near enough hours in the day!
I will be back as soon as I can with photos of the new "Drummbellina HQ" - can't wait! And thanks for being patient - I'm sure you're getting sick of seeing the same post sitting there whenever you check back :/
xxx
I've recently discovered how much fun it is to make up packages and send them off around the world! Participating in swaps with internet friends is one way to do this. A forum I post on just had a "Pringles Can Color Swap" - basically you scoff a pack of pringles, fill the empty can with randomness (handmade, purchased or found) in your partner's chosen colour and post it to them!
I sent this:
And recieved this:
You can click on the pics to find out more about the packages.
xxx
Just wanted to share a few pics of the copious amounts of Mario decorations me, my boyfriend Scott and my best buddie Linda all worked our arses off to make in time for my little boy's "Super Mario Birthday Disco" a couple of weeks ago! They're all still up since they make our rented walls of blah-ness look so much more exciting. Must get round to decorating...
I've been much more productive this week! Here's a work-in-progress/sneak peak photo of stuff I'm working on for the shop:
I've opened a Flickr account and filled it with loads of crafty photos. I'm really getting into photography the more I do it. And I'm obsessed with cropping everything on Picnik.com! It's fun so I think I'll be updating it quite often. Come and see my photos!
I'm trying to get my life more organised so that I have quality "Scott/Kids/Shop/Blog/Me" time. Trying to come up with flexible schedules, making lists, re-arranging the house, downsizing my "creativity studio" to accomodate growing liitle ones, actually using my geeky Master Shopping List that I wrote out months ago ...are all on my latest To-Do list.
I want to write some articles for you soon! Any requests? :)
xxx
I was so excited when I scored this big vintage picture frame for just £3! As soon as I saw it I imagined it painted up in a gorgeous colour and hung against a contrasting wall, like they do in those posh boutiques.
Now to choose a colour - I'm thinking some sort of Cherry or Rasberry shade...
Maybe I'll take a trip to the huge D.I.Y store and treat myself to a tester pot of some of that "designer" paint - in some fantastic colour that I don't even know exists yet!
xxx
You know that business I've been talking about starting for the last 2 years? It's finally open: http://drummbellina.etsy.com/ . It's so good to finally have it up and running! I sold the dinosaur bag shown above today so I'm bouncing around like an idiot.
I've been so wrapped up in my shop, taking photos, making plans, staring happily at my etsy page, etc. that I haven't had a chance to post here for a while. Which got me thinking about the future of Empty Purse...
Don't worry, im not killing it off!
..I've been contemplating whether to stop empty-purse.com and start a new personal/promotional blog for my etsy shop....then I thought about putting all the best articles from here into a zine....then I thought maybe I could keep empty-purse going and start a new journal....then I thought I'd want to put some of the posts from here into my journal....then I thought that my personal life and empty-purse life blend in together so I'd be cross-posting all the time....
So I eventually decided on this: I'm moving everything from empty-purse.com to drummbellina.typepad.com where I will continue writing about "life on the cheap" as well as making more personal posts about what I'm doing, things I'm making, things I like, what's going on with the shop and stuff. I'm even contemplating outfit posts, as I'm crafting and thrifting a lot of my wardrobe, but I'm a bit scared. We'll see!
Oh and I'm still gonna make the Empty Purse Zine! Making a zine has always been on my "massive list of things to do in life" and having the best articles from here in a portable format would be a good thing: I could give them away, sell them in my etsy, take them to craft fairs, post them through poor people's letterboxes....it'll be fun!
So bear with me while I sort out the new blog page and get all the content moved and tidied up. This website will be live for another month or so.
Thanks, Cassie xxx
(photo by White Rainbow)
Life on the cheap doesn’t have to be a life of misery! You don’t have to live in squalor on a diet of instant noodles and sit around watching T.V all day, bored out of your mind. It can be so much better than that. It's actually fun when you get into it!
Getting excited about being poor might seem like a silly idea when you've lost your job/can't find a job, have a family to feed, are in debt up to your eyeballs or just can't keep up the lifestyle you want. I totally get that. Having no money can make you feel miserable. The life you are used to might have involved spending money multiple times a day on things you needed and a whole load of things you probably didn't need but they bought you some joy anyway. It is hard to have that taken away from you if you've been "hit by the recession" and are suddenly having to cut back so much you don't recognise your life anymore.
Then there's the cloud hanging over you, the feeling of dread when you hear the post come through the door...it's hard to shake off.
But what else are you gonna do? Sit around moping, dreaming of the day you'll have money again? Well, yeah...you can do that for a bit. It's only natural!
But eventually you need to accept that you're going to have to change the way you live until things pick up again. You might as well make the most of it and do it well!
1) Fulfil your basic human needs.
I think it's really important to look after yourself during tough times. If you get your body and mind functioning at their best, you'll be able to deal with whatever life throws at you. If you're unhealthy you're more likely to feel stressed, get ill and not have the energy to be productive or creative - which you really need to be in this situation.
If you look your best (clear skin, shiny hair, healthy smile, toned figure, etc.) you'll have confidence in yourself - you're gonna be needing that too! Plus you'll spend less on make-up and other cosmetics and you'll look great in pretty much anything you wear, making those thrift store clothes a lot easier to work with.
2) Realise that creativity makes life cost less.
Life on the cheap is a challenge but it won't kill you. Rise to that challenge and enjoy the creativity that it brings out of you. Learn to make, mend and alter clothes, search out a bargain, grow vegetables, come up with cheap-but-yummy recipes and meal ideas, have fun doing free and almost-free things with your favourite people, learn to enjoy your own company, find interesting ways to make money, decorate your house thrifty style.....live a creative life!
3) F#*k off consumerism.
There is some good coming out of the recession: People are cutting down on crap they don’t need, using resources more wisely and becoming more self-sufficient. I’m seeing it all over the place. And they’re not only doing this out of necessity - they’re realising that we’ve been almost brainwashed into thinking “we need all this stuff and we need it now” for years. Everywhere you turn, on billboards, on T.V, in magazines and newspapers, on bus stops and on the sides of buses, inside buses and on the back of your bus ticket(!)…you are being persuaded to buy things and use services you didn’t even know you needed! But now people are catching on and I love it. It’s empowering! You can walk past advertising feeling all smug because you know what it’s trying to do but you’re not going to fall for it. You see beautiful things for sale and instead of automatically trying to make them yours, or feeling sad because you know they’ll never be yours, you enjoy looking at them and move on. They’re still in the world, no big deal! (You might even be able to make something similar yourself depending on what it is. You can always take a photo if you love it that much!)
"Stuff" is fun - but in the big scheme of things, it's not important. On you're death bed you're not gonna lay there wishing you'd bought those gorgeous platform ankle boots!
Focus on things that are way more fulfilling, like relationships, experiences, laughter and love!
4) Use downtime to sort your life out.
If you're out of work, use all that extra free time (between job searching) wisely:
5) Don't:
For lots more ideas and inspiration for a brilliant life on the cheap, visit the CONTENTS page.
