As this season’s harvest is being dried I am trying to use up last year’s lavender. Bags, eye masks and headache pads are now in production!
Lavender harvest
Use What You Have
Placemats converted
A quick and straightforward sew converted elderly placemats into storage bags and pots.
I folded a mat in half so that the fringed edges became the top hem then seamed both sides to make a simple bag. Then I boxed the bottom corners to give it structure.
Because these are heavyweight mats the finished article stands up well.
Smaller bags were made by chopping a mat in half and following the same simple sew.
Upcycled, re usable cleanser pads
A clear out of surplus hand towels too good to dispose of led to today’s make. Sets of make up remover pads to pair with my diy cleanser.
Sandwich the towel (bindings cut off) between sheets of cotton and pin. Then draw circles using a jar of glass as template. I use a Frixion heat removable pen.
Zig zag around the circles. It doesn’t matter if you go off piste a bit.
Then cut around the lines with pinking shears. Voila.
Use it up
Going to use before I buy any more. Stage one, make some tags from the bag of bits. Also used the double sided adhesive sheets to make attaching the sentiments a bit easier.
Upcycled bookmarks
I just couldn’t bin the 20 year old x-rays found in a clear out, so decided to turn some into bookmarks.
The sheets feel like heavyweight acetate. They cut and dry emboss well but there is a lot to use up.
This turned into a labour of love as I decided to paper piece die cuts on top of the embossed x-rays sheets. I used a bookshelf themed stamp, die and embossing folder set that came free with a crafty magazine years back, so all round thrifty crafting.
As you can see, I also made more conventional card bookmarks in a fun crafty morning.
Easy Peasy Mint sauce
Copious amounts of mint have been dried, frozen and made into tea already but still there is an abundance to be used. So mint sauce is today’s kitchen craft.
Chop leaves finely (don’t blend or it will be a purée) and steep in boiling water for a couple of minutes to tenderise them. Meanwhile, mix 1 tablespoon of malt vinegar with 1 teaspoon of caster sugar and a pinch of salt, scale up this mix so you have enough to cover the leaves.
Drain the leaves and rinse in cold water to stop them ‘cooking’ then put them in the jar/ saucer before pouring over the vinegar mix. Ready to use in half an hour, will keep in clean jar for weeks.
Liven up peas, potatoes, carrots, chicken and of course goes well with lamb.
Custom laminated pouches
No need to buy protective pouches. If you have access to a laminator you will just need two laminating pouches to make your own, custom sized pouch,
Cut one pouch, ie both sheets, to the size of pouch you want. In my case this was a tad bigger than my folded letter (which was weirdly folded when posted out).
Separate the trimmed sheets and flip them so the inside faces out.
Place the trimmed sheets neatly inside the other pouch. Position them centrally as you will trace excess plastic off later. (With smaller projects you will get skilled at reducing wastage).
Laminate the pouch as you would usually. When it emerges, trim around the inner pocket leaving a narrow margin. Cut one short end off to access the inside of your pouch.
I used a hole punch to create a tab but this isn’t necessary. Some people re-laminate the finished pouched to seal the cut edges but I don’t find this necessary.
Diy gift wrap, when a bag isn’t big enough
A roll of white paper, neglected stamps and ink. You could also diy wrapping paper by stencilling, splattering, writing or adding stickers. No need to buy and much more personal.
I assembled the stamps on the biggest acrylic block I own ( not that big but am in a no buy mode) and rotated them irregularly.
I think monochrome looks classier and will also use blue washi tape to secure. A coordinating gift tag to finish!
Christmas time!
Have empathy with our Australian friends and try to imagine a hot, summer Christmas by upcycling old Christmas cards on a hot day in June!
No, not getting the Christmas sparkle at all but I have tackled an overdue ‘to-do’ with 30+ cards remade. Simple cropping, matting and embellishing makes this a satisfying to reduce the stockpile of card and sparkly things. I even used up some googly eyes and red glitter glue!
Herb harvest
I went into the sea
Up to my knees
Started to freeze
So came home and made mint syrup…
Two handfuls of mint stick-blended with half a cup of sugar. Three cups of water with another cup of sugar brought to the boil. Mint mix added to water and simmered for 10 minutes. Left to stand then double filtered before bottling.
Great in cocktails, with sparkling water, in herb tea, over ice cream or yoghurt.
janecrafts 