Use What You Have

They aren’t white, they are green.

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I am gradually reducing the fabric stockpile and this project must have used up oh, a millionth, in one go!

Part of a polo shirt, stained beyond use, was sandwiched between two layers of old cotton sheeting to create a new supply of reusable face wipes.

The trick for fast production is to make a large rectangle sandwich then draw on, with a frixion or erasable pencil, circles which you sew around. Then you cut around the sewn circles with pinking shears before ironing to remove the pencil marks.

Now to top up the diy facial cleanser…

Little wins

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Couldn’t find a holder for tooth picks, which arrived in a big bag, so I made one with card that was out on my desk.

A simple box of four equal scored sides plus a small scored flap for adhesive and bottom flaps also stuck with adhesive tape. Decorated with die cut ric rac strips and some stickles, this was a 5 minute project done and in use.

Frugal foodie

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Maintaining this year’s resolution of luxury on a budget means, in practice, a ‘no waste’ kitchen.

Today a lone orange presented a challenge (I have jars full of dehydrated citrus slices). I found a recipe on frugal Jo’s YouTube channel for such an orphan fruit.

Chopped finely (yes including the peel) and mixed with half a cup of sugar then simmered for 20 minutes, this creates a pot of surprisingly good marmalade. A splash of whiskey takes it up a level.

Don’t be sceptical about something so easy. Absolutely worth trying.

Tag Tuesday

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Use it up or throw it out! That’s the 2023 mantra for the craft room. The button bowl is overflowing, so a few have been used on tags plus some wandering Christmas cards were chopped and/or die cut as well.

I even used up a few stars from the Christmas embellishments bag before it got packed away.

Upcycled cards

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I am stitching on cards this month, but it is a long process so these upcycled Christmas cards were stitched on the sewing machine.

A simple star frame
A pattern stitch sandwiched between two wandering straight stitch frames
My favourite: the machine’s version of cross stitch lifts this card
Stitching with gold thread is subtle
Mounting the stitched card to set it off
Simple so I added lots of stickles for dimension
A zig zag stitch
Delicate straight stitch on this one

Each card has a tailor made envelope using the plain side of 12x 12” patterned paper. The stash for Christmas 2023 is underway!

Pineapple preserved…

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One bargain pineapple becomes …

The peel is dehydrated to become pot pourri and car freshener

The core is simmered with spices and caster sugar to become a syrup for boosting soft drinks (and adding to rum of course)

Half the flesh is cubed and fried in brown sugar. Half of that is eaten hot with yoghurt. The other half is added to cubed left over turkey in a tangy burrito.

The remaining flesh is cubed and simmered in vinegar, spices and sugar to become relish.

Finally the leaves are boiled and the water strained and sweeten to make a (reputedly) healthy tea