Celebrate Spring - 5 things to do with £10

Inspired by the wonderful Learn Vest Daily which is an American blog I like very much I have decided to put together my version of their latest post.

Imagine you are putting away all your heavy, dark winter coats and getting out lighter weight spring jackets and jumpers, you check the pockets and, hey presto, you find a crumpled up £10 note.  So you now have £10 to spend, why not try a couple of these ideas.  Well after such a brutal and cold winter that seems to have really dragged on and on I have decided after a week of balmy sunshine, it is now officially SPRING.  Get a head start and try some of these slightly frivolous ideas - have fun!

1. Catch a breeze

Get yourself some pretty, sheer curtains to freshen up your room, great deal from this supplier, a real bogoff!

Amazon, buy one get one free

2. Paint a spring canvas

Pick up a medium size blank white canvas (ready made), you can get these for around £2.99 in most factory shops, pound shops etc.  Buy yourself 3 little tester pots of emulsion paint from any DIY store in bright, zingy spring colours and get to work.

Using a ruler, draw some faint stripes on the canvas using a pencil
Dont worry too much about how far apart each stripe is, just make
sure that it is straight and that each stripe is an equal distance from the last one.  Using a paint brush, carefully paint each stripe in.  Remember, sometimes the bolder and wider the stripes are the better the finished result.  Take the stripes over the edge and paint the sides of the canvas too.  Allow to dry (you may need to do 2 coats), and hang.

 3. Spice up your kitchen

How long have you had that thyme in your cabinet?

If the answer is, "Since forever," it might be time to restock, since spices can lose their potency after a few years. Luckily enough, you can replace most of your favorites in one ten pound swoop.

4. Try something new

How about learning something new?  There are a huge number of websites out there with fantastic ideas and inspiration, go on give it a go.

My favorite blog spot is Tipnut they are totally wonderful.  You can sign up to their daily updates and they always come up with some fantastic things, cooking ideas, gardening tips, thrifty way of making your money last and some fantastic craft projects all gathered from far and wide.  Wow I would love that job, spending my days researching creative blogs to feature.  The one I want to share with you is from How Stuff Works.  Its a really simple but lovely baby blanket that is a real doddle to knit, even if you have never knitted anything in your life before.

How lovely is this? You can make this really easy blanket in no time

Did you know, knitting has had a real resurgence and is now seen as a very cool thing to be able to do.  How times change. When I was young and silly back in the 70s, it was decidedly uncool to knit. The only acceptable excuse for knitting during that decade was that you were "old" (meaning over forty). If you were a girl who knitted, you were automatically deemed a social misfit. You had no friends who were not absolute nurds, and it was set in stone that no one worth knowing would ever go out with you. You were condemned to woebegone spinsterhood complete with several cats. No one who was anyone dared to flaunt her knitting prowess back then. I exaggerate only slightly.  But now......  a totally different story.  The new  knitting craze seemed to coincide with the dawn of the millennium and suddenly young and trendy women were taking up their needles, starting knitting cafes and 'Bitch & Stitch' groups.  Whether its trendy or not, I don't care, it is very therapeutic and really fun, go on give it a go.

AND FINALLY

5. Chillax!

 I bet you thought this was going to be about soap?  Well, this is a soap free blog post for a change. Go on, relax, put up your feet and use your newly discovered wealth to buy yourself the nicest bottle of wine that you can find.................

Or in our case a couple of pints of the best beer in the world, from the best pub in the world -

 

The Bridge Inn, Topsham, Devon 

The beer from The Bridge Inn, Topsham is used to make the famous and now classic Naturally Made Soaps soap bar Bridge Inn Beer Bar

Thanks to everyone there for the help and support Naturally Made Soaps has received over the years - Oh and a few pints too!

There you see, I couldn't help but make one little soap reference in this post, you knew I would didn't you?

How about sharing with us what you would do if you found that elusive £10 that you didn't know you had?