Edward Scissorhands Skirt Recon for my Sister’s Birthday

I can’t believe it, but my youngest sister turns 16 today!  She, like most young girls I suppose, loves Johnny Depp.  So I looked all over eBay and Etsy for the coolest Johnny Depp t-shirt I could find, and came up with this one….

Pretty cool shirt!  I turned it into a fabulous skirt (or tube top), by added drawstrings to the sides and an elastic waistband.

I should have taken more pictures of each step, but here is an inside shot of the drawstring.  I basically cut the shirt into rectangular pieces and serged (or use a sewing machine) a 6 or 7 inch strip of stretchy knit fabric to each side of the t-shirt.  Then I folded the strip in half and stitched about 1 ½ inches in to form a “pocket” for the drawstring.  I then pressed the “pocket” down evenly and stitched up the center to form 2 “pockets”.  I made the drawstrings and pulled them up one side of the skirt and back down using a safety pin to guide the string through the “pockets”.  I tied each end; you could also use a bead as a stopper if you can find one with a big enough opening to fit the fabric through.  Then I simply hemmed the loose edges, sewed an elastic waistband to the top and trimmed any excess fabric.

Xmas Presents

For the past several years I have made all my Christmas presents.  There are so many reasons to make things yourself around the holidays.  A handmade gift means a lot to loved ones and helps keep us away from all the over consumerism associated with Christmas these days.

Throughout December I’ve been posting what I’ve been making, but I’d like to compile everything here to give you all some ideas of easy, affordable home made gifts.

 

Simple knit skirts

These are for my Mom.  I used a skirt that I made her years ago for my pattern, which I believe was made with Simplicity pattern #4604 plus an elastic wasitband

 

Bay Rum Aftershave and Soap

 

Smells amazing!  I made these for my Dad, brothers, boyfriend, and male friends. (recipe here)

 

Reusable Muslin Tea Bags and Homegrown Hyssop Tea

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My first batch of tea from the garden!  These are for my step-mom, and a couple other tea drinkers in my life.  I found a nice tin container to store the empty tea bags and made tags with a picture of hyssop and explanation of all its medicinal benefits.  Hyssop is an amazing herb! (tutorial here)

 

 

 

Leggings

 

For my sisters and lady friends (although I probably could have made these for everyone, since boys wear leggings too!) I’ve wanted to make try McCall’s pattern #6173 for a while!  It was super simple and they turned out great.  Never buying leggings again!

Printed Sweatshirt

For my 12 year old brother, who is too young to shave or care about soap, I printed a chicken skeleton on the back of a thrift store sweatshirt.  My brother takes care of the chickens and other birds at my dad’s farm, so I think he will be into this print as much as I am!

I made a silk screen (you can always make a stencil if you don’t have the equipment) and printed on a scrap of a t-shirt, then cut the patch out and sewed it on a hoodie.

Revenge Bot

 

OK, so maybe this isn’t one you could make easily.  We have a Christmas exchange on my Dad’s side of the family and I had my cousin who recently started his own skateboard company, Revenge.  So I made him one my robots with his logo on a robo-skateboard and the chest plate. Worked out perfectly!

 

 

Last year I made everyone food related items; hot sauce, soup, bread, fudge, chocolate covered cherries, peppermint bark, and even dog treats/catnip toys for pets.  I still wanted to make a few sweets this year and just take them to celebrations.  This is what I took….

 

 

 

 

Chocolate Covered Cherries (recipe here)

Homemade Pretzels Dipped in Chocolate

 

I used this recipe here and then melted vegan chocolate chips.

I dipped some in chocolate and crushed candy canes; others were covered in peanut butter, and then dipped in chocolate.

 

 

 

Skittles Vodka

I found this recipe here.  Tastes great, so glad Skittles is now gelatin-free!

 

 

And if you don’t have the time or energy for a diy Xmas, you can always shop locally and buy fair trade goods online.  My boyfriend has wanted a backstrap loom for a while; I found a really nice one here from a fair trade non-profit in Guatemala.

I made him this actual backstrap to go with it!

Bay Rum Aftershave and Soap

 

For the men in my life I made something a little different this Christmas.  I found this recipe for bay rum aftershave and had to try it.  This recipe uses a West Indies bay leaf, Pimenta racemosa, which is a different type than what you buy at the grocery store, making it hard to find!  What I did find was too expensive, so I bought a bottle of Pimenta racemosa essential oil on ebay. 

Apparently sailors in the West Indies used to rub the bay leaves on their skin to cover odors.  Eventually the bay was combined with the local rum and bay rum was invented to be used in extra manly colognes and aftershaves.

8 TBSP Vodka

2 TBSP Jamaican Rum

Pimenta racemosa essential oil (I used 2 or 3 drops per bottle)

Orange essential oil (1 or 2 drops per bottle or add fresh orange zest)

¼ TSP Allspice

¼ TSP ground cinnamon

Basically I just mixed everything together in a 2-liter bottle.  Let it sit a couple days, shaking it up every once in a while.  Then strained it through coffee filters and bottled it up in recycled yeast bottles.

Yeast bottles worked perfectly for the aftershave and I added a label on the lid along with a tag explaining the origin of bay rum. 

 

 

 

I’ve wanted to make soap for a while, and I didn’t realize how easy they had made it!  This company makes several varieties of vegetable based soaps.  You can just buy blocks of… soap basically, at craft stores.  Just melt the soap, add oils, herbs, etc. and pour into molds.   I used the olive oil base and added the bay leaf oil, a few drops of orange oil, crushed dried sage, cinnamon and allspice. 

 

 

 

 

I wrapped each bar in wax paper, tied with ribbon, and made muscle man labels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

All in all I spent about $50 on ingredients and made thoughtful, handmade gifts for 6 people.  Plus I have quite a bit of rum left!  I tested both products on my boyfriend and they met his satisfaction.  And mine, he still smelled very manly after a full day of work!

 

 

 

Chocolate Covered Cherries

I love chocolate covered cherries!  And they make a simple, cheap gift that most people can enjoy. Apparently they taste better after a couple weeks, so this year I actually made them ahead of time.  They are amazing fresh too, but the additional time allows the cherry juices to soak into the candy giving it that sweet, juicy center.  Either way, chocolate covered cherries have quickly become one of my favorite things to make around the holidays.

INGREDIENTS:

60 maraschino cherries (with or without stems, stems just make them easier to dip and handle)
3 TBSP butter substitute, softened
3 TBSP corn syrup
2 CUP confectioner sugar
1 bag chocolate chips

 

Drain the cherries (save the juice for mixed drinks or other desserts later!).  Let the cherries dry on paper towels or in a colander.

 

Combine the butter and corn syrup until smooth.

 

 

Add the confection sugar and form into dough. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chill if necessary to keep dough firm.

Coat each cherry with the sugar dough, using about a teaspoon of dough per cherry.  I usually flatten the dough into a disk, wrap it around the cherry, and then roll the dough around the palm of my hand until the cherry is evenly coated.  (It doesn’t have to be perfect :)

 

Let chill until firm.

 

Melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler, or microwave.  Dip each cherry in the chocolate and coat.  Let dry on wax lined paper and store in an air tight container.

Reusable tea and herb bags

 

I made a batch of muslin tea bags for a few people for Christmas.  As I’m growing more herbs, I need to make more tea!  So I figured I could fill a couple bags with my own hyssop tea from the garden and through in some extra tea bags for a sweet, green gift.

A ½ yard of 44 inch wide unbleached, preshrunk muslin made 24 tea bags.  I also bought 10 yards of cotton string that is used in making some type of fancy curtain (available at fabric stores).  But you could use any natural fiber string.

I cut my muslin into rectangle pieces measuring 6 x 4 inches, and I cut my string in to 12-15 inch pieces.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Press in half and trim edges with picking shears to prevent fraying.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Press the 2 short sides in about a ¼ inch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Press one long side in about ½ inch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Place your cotton string inside the hem line and sew across the top, creating a pocket for the pull string.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fold the rectangle in half again, with seams facing out.  Stitch along the side and bottom to form a bag.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clip your corners, clean off any hairs or stray threads, and turn right-side out. Tie the cotton string together and make yourself a cup of tea!

 

 

After finishing these, I bought another half yard and made 6 larger bags for storing/drying herbs and spices (I followed the directions above, but used 9 x 14 inch rectangles and 18 inch pieces of string).  You can make the bags as big or small as you want.  Larger bags also work for compost tea!

When doing small, repetitive projects like this it often works best to do it assembly line style.  I cut everything out, then do all the ironing, sew each bag, clean them up and package.  It goes much quicker!

Vegan Fudge

 

I always forget about fudge until the holiday season.  And then I make tons of it :) I thought fudge was so good, because it used real butter and milk.  I was wrong!  It’s all about the chocolate!  I use Earth Balance vegan butter, homemade rice milk, and unrefined sugar to replace the animal derived ingredients in in an old recipe. Tastes exactly the same as when I made it non-vegan in the past.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cup sugar
¼ TSP salt
4 oz unsweetened chocolate (or ½ CUP powder)
1 TBSP corn syrup
1 CUP rice milk
2 TBSP vegan butter
1 TSP vanilla

Using a wooden spoon, mix the sugar and salt together; then add the chocolate, corn syrup and milk.  Turn the heat to low and mix until everything dissolves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let the mixture heat up until it reaches between 234-240°F.  Stir as little as possible, the chocolate will boil over so use a large pot.

 

(If you don’t have a thermometer you can test the fudge by dropping a little in a glass of cold water.  When it’s ready it will be firm enough to form a soft ball.)

 

Add the vegan butter to the fudge and remove from heat.  Do not stir the butter in until the fudge cools to about 110°F (I usually just wait until I can easily touch the outside of the pot).

 

 

 

Add the vanilla and stir vigorously until the fudge loses its glossy finish and looks more matte.  Pour into a butter pan and let sit at room temperature until hardened.

 

 

 

 

 

Here are some fudge repair tips I found in an old cookbook:

To soften fudge: knead with hand until it becomes smooth, and then flatten into pan

To stiffen fudge:  add ¼ CUP milk, stir, heat to proper temperature, beat and pour.

Wish I had known those tricks before; the main thing with fudge is getting it to that perfect temperature.  But even mistake fudge can usually be used for something.  If the mixture doesn’t get hot enough it doesn’t solidify, but it’s great as a fudge sauce for other desserts.  If you heat the fudge over the 240°, it gets too stiff and brittle, but can be used as chocolate shavings in desserts and hot drinks.  You can’t go wrong!