Leftover Green Beans

Just this evening my husband showed me a brief spot on Eco Company TV -- a tv show that features the latest green technologies, advancements in recycling & organic materials, as well as tons of other Earth-friendly ideas, all geared specifically to teens-- & this spot just so happened to showcase the talents of two California teenagers who began their own green fashion line called Leftover Green Beans. (Watch the spot here.) The line is green due to the fact that all materials used in their pieces are either organic, or vintage, a fabulous form of recycling. While i, & i'm quite sure many more like me, have been repurposing old clothes, fabrics, thrift store finds & the like into new, usuable & wearable clothing for years & years now, it is nice to see that it's actually getting noticed by the fashion world, something quite refreshing. Watching these young girls' story unfold gives me inspiration & joy... & maybe it will reach out to someone else too.

Check out the links, & if you're bold check out your local flea market & refashion something of your own!

DIY dog bed

My husband & i had been looking for a dog bed for our beagle/bulldog Indie (also known throughout our friend circle as Milwaukee, Jezebel, Derby, Oscar, Binder&Binder, and IndieBindieBuddha) for a while now. In her younger years Indie loved to chew, on everything. We gave her an old chair that had been in my grandpa's old house that ended up with us, and over the course of a year and a half she destroyed it. Plus it was gross, the cushion was old and the holes she had made allowed the gross yellow foam inside leak out all over our floor, so moving it was a pain. Thankfully she got over her chewing phase, at least on the things on which she slept. Still, we needed another solution. While dog beds are relatively inexpensive, they are also insanely easy to make yourself, & convenient if you need a way to use up those old pillows or batting. Which is exactly what i did. i'll tell you how.

Materials:
2 yards of fleece (6 ' x 5') (Fleece is not the cheapest, but when it's on sale --quite often at Joann's, it can be as little as $2.99/yard)
Stuffing material-- you can use foam, batting, old pillows, or do what i did, a set of old worn-out sheets
Needle & thread &/or sewing machine


This finished bed measures 2'x2'

1. Arrange your stuffing in a square shape, to make an approximate 2' x 2' square-- i folded my sheets thus. The stuffing needs to fit inside your folded fleece. (See 2nd photo below)

2. Fold your fleece in half lengthwise, so you have a piece that is 30" wide and 6' long.
Fold the fleece again, almost in half, leaving 6-8" unfolded...






3. Stitch up the edges of the fleece, making a kind of giant pocket. Leave the excess fleece unstitched. You should have 3 sides closed up once finished.



4. Turn the fleece inside out, so the stitches you made are now on the inside of the pocket.

5. Carefully slide the stuffing into the pocket. When using sheets or other loose materials this can be tricky. Take care to spread the stuffing to the bottom & sides of the pocket, & make sure there are no bunched up patches or bumps inside.


6. Now you have a few options: You can stich up the 4th side enclosing the stuffing, & you have a simple square bed. Be sure to make a few hand stitches into the center & around the sides of the finished bed, to hold the stuffing in place, as you would to hold the batting in place in a quilt.

i, however, had pillow cases from the sheet set that i made into an attached pillow. To do that, fold the pillowcases into a piece that measures approximately 10" x 4", lay this on the excess piece of fleece.





7. Fold the fleece over your "pillow," almost so you are rolling it up until it sits on top of the bed. Stitch it into place. There you go!


Aww. IndieBindieBuddha loves her new bed.

DIY "snood?" Yep that's what it's called.

After a 2 month hiatus (due mostly to laziness, business & overall lack of craftiness) I am back! For a while I found this blog to be more of a hassle than a good experience but after being encouraged by friends & family, I feel like I need to get back at it. I still have lots of ideas & projects & I am the only one benefitting from such if I don’t keep at this blog. With that being said, I’m back, hopefully for good.

The first project I have is the most ridiculously easy thing ever. A few weeks ago (yes, weeks) I was perusing the Elle magazine website which is weird, because it’s me, and anyone who knows me knows that Elle is not something I’m too… well, “in to.” But setting that aside, I still browse it occasionally, to check out the latest fashion trends etc. as well as gather inspiration. Anyway, I stumbled across this article about this thing called a “snood,” found here

Really it’s just a scarf, only the ends are connected, I guess. I thought it was crazy that these things, the designer versions anyway, are going for hundreds of dollars. That’s nuts!! It’s just a scarf! I like fashion trends as much as the next girl but forking out hundreds, let alone anything under 5 dollars is nuts, especially when you can make one yourself out of items you probably already own, and I will show you how.

For the easiest version, this piece only takes one step. Cutting!You can use anything you have, a T shirt, a sweater, a dress. I used a dress that i got at a thrift shop that needed to be hemmed anyway. I cut off a large chunk at the bottom, about 16 inches long, and... yeah that's it. You have a snood. The only thing you have to watch is that the section of fabric you cut can wrap around your head/ neck easily, so stretchy fabric is good, and a wide section is ideal.

Another way to create this piece is to use a scarf you already have, and sew the ends together (or pin them with safety pins for a more temporary solution) ... and again, that's it.

The more difficult and time-consuming snood project is to actually knit or crochet one yourself, which again, is just a scarf with the ends stitched together, so if you need a knitting project, go for it. It's easy and apparently, in style right now.

So while i don't agree with the idea of the snood, fashion is fashion, and if i can say anything positive about it, it's that it shows how easy and affordable is actually it is to be a trend-setter.

DIY Industrial Inspired Necklace

In light of the husband and I putting together our joint craft room / office space in one of our spare bedrooms this past week, i decided it was time to get to work on the crafts, utilizing my new organized space, which i love. We went to our local Ikea & each bought a table and a matching shelf unit, giving him space for his computer stuff & me room for my sewing machine & hundreds of random loose fabrics, notions, etc. As i went through my pieces i realized that i have way too much unused stuff waiting to be turned into something great, so i decided to make this super quick & super easy necklace.

DIY Industrial Inspired Necklace

If anyone else out there is a relatively avid crafter then you have probably been to your local Michaels' store & seen the fantastic collection of charms called Industrial Chic. This line features industry-inspired pieces, mixing a hint of vintage with urban. While $5 charms don't seem like a giant amount to pay for something, when you need 20 charms or so, you're paying quite a bit for these unique little pieces. What i have found when perusing the charms is that they are replicas of many things already found in my house. Now, as a teen i grew up in my grandfather's house, & he had an entire room dedicated to tools & wood carving & all kinds of stuff, so there was a plethora of screws & nails & little metal pieces that could be made into charms, & i've been making this type of jewelry on a smaller scale since then.

Now, i was able to collect things around the house & from my former work to use in this particular piece. One warning, though: Many pieces found around the house & at jobs are not for sensitive skin! Please make sure you have no allergies or bad reactions to the kinds of metals you may be handling before attempting this project.

So, without further ado:
You will need
Random found pieces (buttons, small hinges, nuts, washers, keychain rings, bits of chain etc)
Cord (Cotton, hemp, leather, anything that can be knotted)

My collection of pieces. i also incorporated pieces of old broken jewelry, & a ring i found at work a long time ago, & an old earring whose partner has been lost forever. A great way to reinvent & recycle old jewelry!

I used cotton cord because.... it's what i had! You can also use a chain, but i made this necklace specifically for people who don't make jewelry regularly-- who don't have the necessary tools to cut jewelry chain. You could even use ribbon for a more feminine touch.



How to!

1. Gather your pieces
2. Cut a length of cord about twice as long as you wish the necklace to be

3. Attach each piece by sliding it onto the cord, tying a knot to hold it in place. Make sure you secure it, leaving enough cord to fit a little over halfway around your neck, at least.

Knotting creates small spaces between the "charms," but to create a more cluttered look, you can slide the pieces on between the knots, making them closer together. Knotting will also shorten your cord enough to make it long enough, once finished, to fit around your neck comfortably.

4. Once finished with your pieces, you should be able to knot the necklace around your neck. i knotted mine where the extra cord meets the charms, to create another piece of texture. Cord knots are typically adjustable, so you should have no problem taking it on & off. Have fun!

DIY Ruffle Shirt

Ruffles. Don't they just add a touch of girliness (if you will) to a garment? The answer is, of course, yes. And as far as garments go, they are one of the easiest embellishments you can do yourself. This tutorial will instruct you how to add ruffles to a plain Tshirt. You can use the same color shirt, or do what i did & use a contrasting color to keep things interesting. i am using a fitted tee i found at a thrift store for $1.10, & a too old & too big Tshirt from elementary school that i actually kept. (Yes, the light gray tee is an XL, & it's from 8th grade. i wore super baggy clothes when i was 13. Don't judge.)


To make my ruffle Tshirt
You will need:
Needle, thread, scissors
2 shirts. One that fits & one that is too big.

Let us begin!
1. First, cut the sleeves off of the big shirt. Keep the hems of the sleeves intact. Also cut off the bottom hem, about 3 inches of it, all the way around.

2. Cut the sleeves open and the bottom of the shirt open. You will have 3 strips of fabric. 2 sleeves, 1 bottom hem. Cut each piece down, keeping the length, but making it thinner. One slightly bigger than the next. For example, cut the first sleeve down to 2 inches. Make the next sleeve 3 inches. Make the bottom hem 4 inches.

3. Ruffle each piece. To do this, start at one end and fold over the fabric. Pin the fold in place at the top of the fabric (not the hemmed side).


4. Make these folds all along each strip of fabric and pin each fold in place.



5. Hand or machine sew the folds in place. Keep the pins in as you sew (but be careful!) & remove them as you sew & secure each fold.

6. Now you should have 3 ruffled strips of fabric, 2 the same length (the sleeves ) & one that is slightly wider & longer (the bottom hem).

Arrange each ruffled piece along the Tshirt. It can be in any design, but i did an off center, cascading design for mine. i arranged the smaller pieces on top & the larger piece on the bottom for a slightly dramatic look.

7. Pin the pieces in place & again, sew the pieces on, removing the pins as you go.

Ruffle shirt!

How to Ripen Green Tomatoes

Last week I tore out the remaining plants in our garden considering the cold was setting in and my plants were dying. Everything except for my cucumber and bean plants were still producing well into October and I honestly was surprised that they did so well for what little work we actually put into the garden over the past year. Anyway, my zucchini and pepper plants were dead, and the vegetables on them were dead too, but my tomato plants were still producing relatively healthy looking tomatoes, and LOTS of them. I knew the plants wouldn’t survive much longer in the cold, and while I could have dug them up and put them in our garage, I’m rather lazy. So I pulled them out all together, and gathered up all of the tomatoes that still seemed good.

Yes, about 90% of them were green. But I didn’t let that stop me. Ripening tomatoes is actually easy and a good idea when you have an abundance, as most gardeners have at the end of the growing season. While there are many methods of ripening tomatoes, I’m using my tried and true method taught to me by a family friend. And I’m sharing it with you.

The lazy way to ripen tomatoes.
Materials:
Green tomatoes
Cardboard box
Newspaper



1. Wash and sort tomatoes. Throw out any diseased or super dark/hard ones.




2. Dry the tomatoes & wrap each in newspaper.



3. Line the box with newspaper, and then line with wrapped tomatoes, no more than 2 stacks high.
4. Leave the box in a dark place, cool place. A bonus is to add an apple to the box, since apples give off a gas that helps the ripening process.
5. Check tomatoes every few days. I usually just unwrap a few to inspect them when I go down in the basement to do laundry. It usually takes a couple of weeks for the tomatoes to become ripe enough to use.

If you only have a few tomatoes to ripen, I use the paper bag method. Stick tomatoes in a paper bag with an apple and leave on the kitchen windowsill, but you have to check the bag every day.

Soon you'll have lots of these!

How to Blanch Tomatoes

Blanching tomatoes is an easy process but often necessary in using fresh tomatoes in recipes for sauces and salsas, and also any canned tomatoes that are to be cooked prior to canning. Blanching is an effective technique for preparing vegetables for freezing or canning, but the main purpose i use blanching for when it comes to tomatoes is to remove the skins.

Removing skins before using tomatoes in a sauce or salsa is not necessary, but it does produce a higher quality product since in many cases the skins will not disintegrate and will then become chewy little unpleasant pieces in your sauce or salsa. It is very easy and while slightly time-consuming, it is worth it overall.

Now, how to blanch tomatoes.

You will need:
Tomatoes
A large pot
A bowl with ice water
A slotted spoon

For freezing purposes, you may want:
A cutting board
A knife
Freezer bags


1. Fill the large pot with water, set it on the stove and bring the water to a boil

2. Fill the bowl with ice water and keep it near the stove

3. Wash the tomatoes





4. Once the water is boiling, drop the tomatoes, a few at a time (6 or 8 is a good number), into the pot



5. For sauces, you may keep the tomatoes in the boiling water for about 3 minutes. For salsa or other uses in which you'd prefer slightly firmer fruit, keep the tomatoes in the boiling water for one minute or less.


6. Once the time is up, move the tomatoes using the slotted spoon into the ice water. Again, for firmer tomatoes, keep them in the ice water for a minute or two. For soft tomatoes, leave them in the ice water for 3 minutes.






7. After the time is up, the tomatoes may have split their skins, making them easy to peel right off. If the skins haven't split, start at the top of the fruit and peel away, the skin should still come away easily.

Since making my tomato sauce takes 4 hours to make & blanching only takes a few minutes, i like to take my large batches of summer tomatoes and blanch them, chop them up and freeze them, to use in my sauce later, when i have more time. If you want to freeze your blanched tomatoes, chop them up after removing the skins and stick them in a freezer bag. When you're ready to use them, take the tomatoes out of the freezer the day before and let them thaw in the fridge. This process makes pureeing them in a blender ten times easier, creates more liquid making more liquid for your sauce.













You can use the blanching process for many other vegetables to freeze fresh veggies for later use. Again, i do this with everything in my garden, from green beans to zucchini, and we are still eating our freshly frozen vegetables that we grew during the summer. You can freeze fresh veggies you buy at the store when they're in season too, saving yourself some money!