Wedding Crafts

 My brother-in-law recently got married. Everyone had a great day. I helped with some of the organisation as well as reading a prayer on the day, and I did quite a lot of wedding related crafting for the special day!

I helped the bride make this seating plan, using card, paper and stick on butterflies! The wedding was Disney themed, and so I helped to print off text using a free Disney font I downloaded, as well as a picture of Ariel from the Little Mermaid getting married, to match the couples' wedding invitations.

They hadn't set up a gift list as they had already set up home together, but I really wanted to get them a thoughtful present they'd appreciate. I scoured the internet for ideas and eventually hit upon this little gem; maps of where the couple were born, met and married. This particular couple love to hang sentimental items on their walls, so I knew they'd appreciate this. After finding a suitable frame I cut the maps into heart shapes and decorated with pictures of flowers. I used little slips of coloured paper to add names and dates. (Top Tip: Check the details with a family member, I got the bride's place of birth wrong and am going to have to edit their present. Good job they have a good sense of humour ;) )

A quick google search will show lots of other ideas and suggestions around this map theme for newly weds. I particularly love map-crafts at the moment!

I also decided to add the finishing touches to my wedding outfit myself. I crocheted the simple shawl using granny stripes. I'm not a very skilled crocheted so it wasn't shaped, but I sewed on pink buttons to hold it in place. I deliberately chose some beautifully soft yarns that matched my dress. I used Yarn scraps to crochet the flower in my hair too, which I attached to a clip.

Menu Planning

I've recently been watching The Box on BBC1. It's a cooking show where contestants are given a box of ingredients and challenged to cook a meal. On a recent episode one contestant was given a box marked "leftovers". In it was some cooked pasta, boiled potatoes, half a bell pepper, cooked salmon and the stalk from a floret of broccoli.

The contestant visibly groaned when he saw those ingredients. I felt a thrill of excitement. I can make a meal out of that! One of my greatest culinary achievements to date was learning from my housemate how to make leftover broccoli stalks tasty! No gourmet food in our house, but nothing ever goes in the bin.

I love cooking. I find it relaxing to prepare food, I love trying a new recipe or idea out in the kitchen. I love opening the fridge, seeing what we've got, and coming up with a bizarre concoction out of leftovers. My husband is a capable cook, but he is not the king of leftovers. He needs a recipe, and all the ingredients laid out in front of him. If he's not got something on the list he begins to panic.

Recently I've been all but banished from the kitchen. I get numbness in my limbs which means I can't tell if I get hurt, and my arms will spasm out of my control, causing me to drop or throw things (like pans of boiling water, or knives). My legs hurt if I stand for long periods of time. I manage to cook maybe one simple meal a week, and even then I probably shouldn't. So the burden of food preparation has fallen on my husband.

Suddenly, we found we never had the right food in the fridge. We were reaching for the takeaway menu more often than was reasonable (or affordable!). And we found ourselves arguing about food, about the cost, on a fairly regular basis.

So we sat down and planned a menu.

At the beginning of the week we write down 7 meals we want to eat. Then, based on that menu, we write a shopping list. We include one meal I can safely cook for a day when I'm feeling well, and one "easy" meal for a night we just can't be bothered, so something like a frozen pizza. If my husband hasn't cooked it before I will write out a simple recipe for him, or find him a simple recipe online.


We then ensure that we buy all the ingredients needed to make those meals, and not more (so there aren't any leftovers for me to fret about throwing away!). We don't designate a meal to a given night because my condition is so changeable. We never know when I'm going to have a good day.

We're three weeks into this new plan, and we've not yet had a meal out or a takeaway, which is a big step for us, and a huge saving financially!

It's been hard to let go of the control of the kitchen, but my husband is so much happier for it being arranged in a way he feels comfortable to cook. Not only has he started to feel comfortable with preparing our meals; this morning I was woken with pancakes for breakfast.