Fashion Friday: Sweet Clementine Fascinator (with Tutorial)

I love clementines.

We eat about a net full a week.

You used to be able to get them in a box

but now they always seem to come in a large red plastic net.

Hmmm... not so VERY eco-friendly.

Come On Kids, Let's Upcycle.

 

Here's how to make a dashing winter fascinator!

Remove Clementines from net.

Gather your other supplies:

 a stiffened felt snowflake, 
(mine was from the dollar store, but you can make a greener one from felt, hand cut and stiffened yourself.) 
a felt heart, (cut myself) and a hairpin.

Cut two slits in the center of the heart and insert the hair pin like shown

Cut both ends off the net and slit the tube so you have a large rectangle of net. Then fold that in half the long way so you have a long skinny rectangle of net.

Gather the raw edges together like above. Your netting should be a semi circle.

Glue the heart to the under side of the netting so that the pin faces the back ( flat) part of the netting semi circle. Use hot glue and make sure all the gathers are adhered to the heart and that the pin on the underside can still open and close.

Adding more hot glue strategically to the back side of the snowflake so that it won't show apply the net and pin piece.

Ooooh! Smashing!

Fashion Friday: Buy Me Indy Gifts...

Personal Advent: Day 6

click on the pictures to go right to these shops.

 Okay, it is more blessed to give than receive...Especially if you are receiving mass produced goods from China because your loving family isn't as crafty as you are (Not talking about anyone in my family...of course.).

So, sometimes taking a few minutes to decide what you'd like to get can be practically altruistic. I mean, it will save the loved ones stress, better for our fabulous craft community, and 90% of the time these come with Far Less Packaging. So Go On.. Update your Etsy Favorites, email them to "Those Who Need Hints". They will be grateful and in one more small way,

You'll be a better person.

Silly Sunday: Back Seat Sun Dried Tomatoes

Hang on to your hats, Ladies and Gents... You are about to see why I am the unchallenged captain and mascot of the US Olympic Rationalization team.

Well, I had to get a new used car.
My old Honda Accord had lasted as long as it could. 225,000 miles was the tipping point where we had to decide if we loved it enough to pour money into it, or whether it needed to be donated to charity. We opted out.

I feel a little guilty. I know that the greener idea would have been to spend a few thousand to repair it and just keep driving it until pieces were literally falling off. When we took a close look it seemed environmentally responsible but fiscally irresponsible to keep repairing it.

I can lean that way: Planet>pocketbook. I pay more for organic, or handmade, or local small batch products... Eagerly.
But this time I made a different choice. I threw in the towel on that car because I really hate being broken down and that was what the next few years would likely entail. Me, stranded here and there. Irritable, late and likely as not with a dead cell phone and a smelly dog or cranky teenager. I am not that good of a person.
Being a libra, and always seeking a balance in all things, I decided to make adjustments to green up my choice. I picked a more efficient car. It isn't a hybrid... But it rates above average on MPG and emissions. I bought used and will keep it for many years...Until My electric plug in is ready and my solar panels installed

So, what else could I do?
The same inclination to do good by the environment had me planting veggies last spring and now my tomatoes are producing in spades. Too few to can and too many to eat fresh. I wanted to sun-dry them but wasn't too sure about my local humidity and how fast I could dry them without bacteria taking over. We are in the redwood forest and half a block from a rather large river. Hauling the tomatoes around on an old window screen for 4-10 days, praying for them to not mold? Hmmm... There are a couple of oven options... 8 hours of slow roasting (hot out already, thanks), or microwaving for 1/2 hour. Nuked tomatoes anyone?

1)Tomatoes are quartered, seeded, and drizzled with olive oil,
placed on a rack over a metal baking tray.

2) Season to taste with sea salt and herbs.

Or a recipe I found here that calls for Putting Them In Your Car. Using my car as a passive solar food dehydrator? That is just the kind of thing that would help me rationalize my luxurious new/used auto as being just a teeny bit greener. And of course it also indulges my infatuation with the sublimely ridiculous masquerading as the practical. Good thing I like the smell of tomatoes!

3)Put in hot sunny car window for 1-2 days. Remove at night.
Finished tomatoes should be similar in consistency to raisins (dry and leathery-chewy)
and stored in a plastic bag in the fridge.

Using My Powers For Good Whenever I Can,
Betty

Fashion Friday: Burda One Day-Day Dress: Green Edition

please click photos to enlarge and decrease odd blurring sensation

Here is a sweet green shift I made from Burda. Vintage fabric with green peacocks has made this little dress one that has come out of the closet time and again this summer. It's green and green becase all the supplies used were thrifted by me and my talented thrift fairy step-mother, Diana.

I think my favorite thing about this shift is the neckline in the back which is kind of a sexy little surprise.

The Burda magazine patterns are very simplistic but pretty wearable. They are also fairly easy to alter, which is good because they seem to be naturally on the boxy side.
Using the vintage fabric, this really seems to fit with the New Vintage Wardrobe stuff... But being a modern pattern it doesn't quite qualify as NVW.



I have several other summer garments to share... And I better do it quickly too because I am already itching to make new yummy stuff for fall.

What are you guys going to make?


Comically Yours,
Betty

Tutorial Tuesday: Vintage Suitcase into Mobile Studio

Once only a lonely lost piece of luggage
Now this cutie is full of gift tag and correspondence goodies...

I like a good vintage suitcase, but after you aquire 40 or 50 of these little darlings it might begin to occur to you that you can and quite frankly MUST give them a second incarnation of true utility, or buy them their own house or something.
While thrifting in my old hometown got a sweet little green case and I was reminded of of something I saw on Koreana's Flickr that she had scanned from a Cottage Living (I think) article.

So I gutted the little darling.
It was yucky, wear gloves.

cute on the outside...groddy on the inside. But for 2.00, who cares?

And now my step by step Tutorial on the vintage case upgrade.

You will need
a stripped out vintage suitcase
paper bag or large paper to trace a pattern. sturdy is better
fancy paper or fabric- amount varies by case size I used 2 large sheets of paper
foam core enough to make an insert for case lid and bottom
a large piece of poster board- enought to wrap around the sides of the case top and bottom
I used bias tape for an accent trim
flat elastic for tool loops

glues:
spray adhesive
hot glue

craft knife and scissors

1)Use a paper bag to make a template of the lid and bottom of the suitcase.
2) Use the template to cut the shape from foam core board or corrugated cardboard.




3) Lay out the tools the way you'd like them to hang in the case. Mark the back of the board where you will add elastic loops. (In the final design, the large pinking shears were too heavy for this lid insert.)


4) Cut the paper extra large round the board



and clip notches in the overhang, so it will lay properly as it's folded over.



5) Mount with spray adhesive. Fold over edges and let dry

6) Cut strips of the poster board to fit into the edges of the bottom and the edges the lid of the case. Cut paper to cover; enought to fold over the top and have 2-3 inched of notching clips on the bottom. ( Similar to lid insert.) Glue to cardboard, I used the spray adhesive.


7) Fit sides to inside of case.


You might need to slice 3 or 4 really deep notches to go around rounded corners.

Hot glue into place. Notched ends can be secured with white glue or more hot glue,

8) Apply bias tape as an accent and to hide little goofs.


9)Now lay out the tools and add the elastic loops to hold them in place. I pierced the paper and board witha sharp clean standard screw driver, and fed the elastic through from the front to prevent paper fraying. Mine are secured with knots and hot glue on the back side.



10)Hot glue in lid and bottom panels

11)Fill and thrill to the joy of your super custom stylish craft case.


12) Decorate the outside of the case as you see fit. Mine got a floral racing stripe decoupaged to it. But a stencil could have been really cool too...

Wanna be penpals? I got the paper.

Smooches dolls,
Betty

HAndMade Holidays can Be Easter Too.. ( or Passover, if that's yer deal)

coming soon, to a basket near you

Hey.. I'm taking a break from relentless hawking of my ever growing pile of wares to say that I think this Season Of Secular and Religious Spring Holidays should be as Handmade as The Winter Holidays were. I will be featuring some cool "how-to's" on filling the baskets, making a matzo cover and if I'm on my game, maybe a Seder plate too. Plus some lovely spring fashions along these very lines... Pretty much all the time from now 'til spring break.

Easter can be such a gluttonous trash pile of plastic crapulence... But it simply doesn't need to be.. Because really Easter is all about the candy. Isn't it? All the cheap plastic toys, the "never play with it again" basket fillers that line landfills and the bottoms of the overflowing toy boxes of the nation's youth, are a secondary part of the celebration. ( Domestic Anarchy's Post to this very Point.) Of course, there is the whole Jesus thing too, if that is your guy. For believers, that's the whole ticket to heaven... and that IS something. Rebirth too, for sure, for those of the more agnostic leaning... but really, without the chocolate? It just isn't the same.

One year, my mom.. who is really great and I love her a lot... but one year, she made our Easter baskets "healthy". There was a flocked Bunny piggy bank, and an orange, and an apple, and some raisins, and fruit leather. I am still scarred. If you want healthy Easter: Just Don't Put In As Much Candy.. but there needs to be at least one good sugar rush in the basket.

I feel strongly on this point. I appreciate your attention.

Fashion Friday Featuring: New Vintage Wardrobe Project#13

Hello! Lucky 13!
The Very First BB FF post!
And a green Refashion project to BOOT!

I am going to start with my sad picture of a houndstooth coat rescued from the donation pile on the back yard of the Green Kitchen.
Hmmm.... I wonder why she didn't want it?

On it's way to be recreated as:
Simplicity Pattern 7778, circa 1968:

Here is blurry dark picture of our forlorn coat, on the bedroom floor disassembled: Basically I took the coat apart at it's seams and darts and then laid the pattern over it. I had 3 jumper patterns to chose from and I used the one that fit the best.



And Here we go...

A Fashion Do?
I sure Do Hope So!!!





Okay: This last Photo is for The Clothes Horse who had asked in a previous post about the slip vs. no slip and wooly skirt/tights issue. While I personally do endorse the slip, you do run the risk of slip slippage. A "Glamour Don't' fo' shizzle. But notice how my skirt isn't hiked up due to static cling?.. It is a conundrum of epic proportions.



The favorite detail on this was that I did have to splice the front pieces of the coat together. I saved the pockets and sewed it wrong sides facing because the loose weave of the wool made lovely fringe... this saved me from hemming too!
Let's hear it for recycled wool!



My hat was made by the Lovely and Talented Kerry of Practically Necessary..

I encourage you fashionistas- especially who kindle to the passion for refashion, to mosey over to the Jungle Dream Pagoda where to kick off Fashion Friday, she is going to refashion a Ball Gown. She is asking for styling input.. But that must be for a lark... This woman certainly can put an ensemble together.

So, come along for the ride:
Fashion Friday: No Rules.. (but, probably your post should be about clothes or accessories.) Let us know where you are and we'll come check out your outfits.

Just a Little Piece of a Bigger Puzzle

I just wanted to do a little something for Blog Action Day..

This is my creative reuse for some found objects that makes a oft icky reuse situation pretty easy.
I am not a natural born fan of the plastic lunch bag reuse cause. Mostly because they seemed like a huge hassle to get washed and dried. It seemed like they never came out very well. But clearly they can be reused.
For the last couple of years I have used a homemade "bag dryer" and the chore is a lot more palatable. The bags smell okay, get dry although they lose some new plastic luster (and who needs that really?), they are generally pleasant.

I use an old glass flower-frog.. These bobbles are often found in the flea market/thrift store/garage sale arenas... and some wooden chopsticks to make a dryer for our plastic lunch bags.

I just wash them with dish soap and water and dry them, thusly.
Ta Dah!



How long can you make one box of lunch bags last? A whole school year?

Every bit helps.