Post Comment Love 30 January - 1 February

Hello there, welcome to this week’s #PoCoLo - a relaxed, friendly linky which I co-host with Suzanne, where you can link any blog post published in the last week. We know you’ll find some great posts to read, and maybe some new-to-you blogs too, so do pop over and visit some of the posts linked, comment and share some of that love.

Please don’t link up posts which are older as they will be removed, and if you see older posts are linked then please don’t feel that it’s necessary to comment on those. If you were here last week it was great to have you along, if you’re new here we’re pleased you’ve joined us.

Last week I said routine was returning, and that’s continued. At my patchwork group I started to play with a new way of using up my scraps with the idea of making little houses. When it came to the first roof I thought I’d hit a roadblock that needed some brain power to work out, so instead of doing that straight away I decided to carry on with making the house part of the houses, and ended up with a charming set of buildings. I’ve since worked out my roof problem, which was more of me not reading the instructions correctly regarding trimming the blocks, rather than something more fundamental.

Phew, but in the meantime it’s great fun putting these scrappy houses together!

Have a great week.

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The Nectary, inspired by beekeeping

* I was invited to the Gardeners’ World Live show and provided with a pair of tickets to the show, therefore all my posts will be marked as 'Ad’ though as usual my views and opinions are very much my own.

I was reminded of this garden as I put together my top 10 posts of last year, as my roundup of the show featured on that list, and instantly I was transported back there and once again being intrigued by the seed swap cabinet, and more.

In fact I was so intrigued by this compilation of ideas that I abandoned my usual structured approach of reading and photographing the garden’s info first. As I discovered when I was editing the photos for this garden, that was the last thing I did - there was just so much to see!

The garden was designed by Kate Patrick, The Messy Allotmenteer and was awarded a Silver Merit Award, so it seems I wasn’t the only one fascinated with this space.

On the info board, when I read it, I learnt that the garden is a ‘sustainable space celebrating connections between skilled artisans, local businesses which features nectar-rich blooms, heirloom vegetables and UK-grown, wildlife-friendly plants.’

If you look closely you can see the stained glass in the greenhouse, which aims to blend colour therapy and plant growth while the handcrafted willow and recycled emphasises sustainability.

There were opportunities to learn about bees from the beekeeper along with a demonstration hive, watch the willow weaver creating garden art and the coppersmith making metal flower teams. That’s not all though the coppicing team were demonstrating cleft oak work and the moss balls held by macrame also had a demonstration area next to the garden.

There was so much effort and output in this garden, and if none of the crafts were your thing then you could join the discussion on how to encourage biodiversity and introduce wildlife habitats into small spaces. Or you could just enjoy the beauty of the whole space and take time to breathe.

I don’t know about you but a taking a look back at this garden was exactly what I needed on a gloomy January day!

* With thanks to Gardeners’ World for inviting me to Gardeners’ World Live, it was quite a show! I’ll be sharing more from my visit to this year’s show throughout the year - I hope you enjoy them as much as I did the show.

Recycling Christmas cards into gift tags

And without pinking shears in sight! Though gift tags made with pinking shears do of course have their own charm, but for the past few years I’ve been recycling my Christmas cards using my die cutting machine and a “luggage tag” type label shape.

I find it’s an afternoon well spent doing a task which is both mindful and productive - plus I get to use many of the cords and ribbons I’ve saved throughout the year too.

I find that often there’s more than one part of the card that can be reused, and the die cutters are a great way to test that.

This year to make the most out of the cards I used three different sized ‘label’ dies, the smaller ones will be especially useful on those smaller presents, which this year were engulfed by the larger tags! But I love the larger tags too, as they’re much easier for me to scrawl Christmas wishes on, as my handwriting gets messier the more I write, as like many of us writing is something that I seldom do much of.

With my labels cut, it’s time for the holes. A more typical hole punch would do just the same job, but I love to use the vintage ticket clipper I bought from eBay a few years ago.

Now I have the holes in place, it’s time for the strings. I only add short strings as we tape the labels in place. I’ve used a selection of ribbons and cords that I’ve kept from purchases or present wrappings, but I really love how they look together.

I’m not much of one for a coordinated Christmas look, and if you are then this approach is most probably not for you - but I love how these have turned out, and how my Christmas cards get another year of life.

With that task done, the remaining cards in the recycling bin and my gift tags all ready for use later this year, safely stored with the wrapping paper I had left over, I’m the most ready I can be for Christmas, even though it’s almost the end of January!

What do you do with your Christmas cards?