Simple Upcycled T-Shirt Produce Bag Tutorial
Going to the local farmer’s market is a great way to get fresh produce and support local growers, but you definitely need produce bags to keep your food safe. Instead of pay $5 or more per bag, create your own using old t-shirts and very little sewing. All you need is a t-shirt, scissors, a sewing machine, and a pen.
This amazing and simple tutorial comes from Delias Creates. She has a visual, step-by-step tutorial for extra help if you need it.
- Turn an old, clean t-shirt inside out, then draw a shape for the bad you like – square or round – and as large as you want it. You can make 2 out of one t-shirt if you make them small, or a large one out of a whole t-shirt.
- Sew the 2 sides together using either a straight stitch or narrow zig-zag going around the edges, leaving 1 side open.
- Flip it right side out, then finish the seams by straight stitching around the edges again.
- Now, draw lines sporadically across the bag in lines about 2-3″ long, spaced at least an inch between each line both sideways and on top and bottom apart.
- Draw the shape of a hole for your handle at the top of the fabric.
- Now, cut the lines and handle through the 2 layers. Be careful to not cut too far and combine 2 cuts together.
- Now, stretch the fabric out and it’s ready to use! So simple!
Recipe: Cauliflower Buffalo Bites
Buffalo wings are super popular for parties, but they’re so greasy and high in calories. Here is another option for a gluten-free and low-calorie snack that is delicious! Thanks to Good Dinner Mom for the recipe!
Ingredients:
- 1 large head cauliflower, cut into bite-size florets
- Olive oil to drizzle
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon pepper
- 1 tablespoon melted butter (optional)
- ½ to 3/4 cup Frank’s Buffalo Wing Style hot sauce or other hot wing sauce of choice
- 1 gallon or larger size plastic bag
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 450F degrees
- Place cauliflower florets into plastic bag. Drizzle olive oil over florets to barely coat. Add garlic powder, salt and pepper. Close bag and toss ingredients around so all florets are coated.
- Place on ungreased cookie sheet or baking pan and bake on middle rack for 15 minutes, turning florets once during baking. Check them at the 10 minute mark for desired tenderness. You don’t want them to be soggy!
- Remove florets from oven. Melt butter in medium glass bowl. Add hot sauce to butter. Toss cauliflower and stir to cover all florets with hot sauce.
- Return to oven and cook for additional 5 minutes.
- Serve with any dip you like, ranch dressing or Blue Cheese dip. ENJOY!
Homemade Air Freshener Gel
This homemade air freshener gel is so easy to make and would make a great gift!
What You’ll Need:
- 3-4 jars, capable of holding 1/2-cup of fluid each (this site used 4 baby food jars which hold 1/2 cup of mixture)
- Food Coloring
- Essential Oil or Room Fragrance drops
- 2 cups of water, divided into two 1 cup amounts
- 4 envelopes of unflavored gelatin
- 1 tablespoon of salt
- Kitchen equipment: whisk, a pan to boil water, funnel, and spoons
Directions:
- Pour a few drops of food coloring into each jar.
- Pour 1 teaspoon (minimum) of essential oil into each jar. The more you pour, the stronger the scent.
- Bring 1 cup of water to a rapid boil.
- Add all 4 of the gelatin to the water and whisk until fully dissolved (about 1 minute).
- Add the other cup of water to the pan and the salt. Stir to dissolve the salt.
- Remove the pan from the heat. Pour the mixture into the jars within a couple of minutes of removing from the heat.
- Use a funnel to pour an equal amount into each jar.
- Stir the mixture quickly before it solidifies.
- Let cool and solidify for at least 24 hours. The gel air freshener should last between 4-6 weeks and you can do it again!
Thanks to Instructables for the awesome idea and instructions!
Recipe: Easy Jello Rainbow Cookies
These Jell-O rainbow cookies are such a hit with kids! The cookie will take and become the flavor and color of the Jell-O you choose. Fun as a party snack and would be great for a party favor, too! Here is the super simple recipe.
Ingredients:
- 3/4 c butter
- 1/2 c sugar
- pack of any flavor Jell-o or store brand gelatin
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 1/2 c flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350° F.
- Mix together the butter, sugar, gelatin powder and eggs until creamy.
- Mix in rest of ingredients until fully blended.
- Roll dough into balls, place on a greased cookie sheet, and flatten balls with a fork.
- Bake for 6-8 min and enjoy!
Homemade Weed Killer Recipe
Depending on where you live, weeds are a really big nuisance and buying weed killer can start costing you a lot over the summer season, especially ones that are safe around kids and dogs. Here’s one that you can make at home that has a lot of positive reviews.
Ingredients:
- 1 Gallon of Vinegar
- 2 cups of Epson Salt
- 1/4 cup Original Blue Dawn Dish Soap
Directions:
- Mix all ingredients together in a large container by stirring so it will have less suds.
- Pour into a spray bottle or watering can.
- Pour or spray the weed killer over the weeds in the morning after the dew has dried. By evening, the weeds should be dead or wilted significantly.
Homemade Orange Cream Pops
When I spied these yummy pops this morning on Pinterest, I almost fell over. I had found this recipe last year, tried it, loved it and then lost the link to the site! I was so excited to see it pop up today on one of the pages that I follow.
These are so good. I mean, you will want to eat a couple of them good! Make sure you let them freeze really well before you serve them! Thanks to OvenLove for the great post…and to whom ever out there in the Pinterest landscape for pinning it for the world to see! I made a slight change to the recipe but it is good either way!
Ingredients
- 1 cup orange juice (fresh or frozen. you could also use orange juice concentrate for a stronger orange flavor)
- 1 cup heavy cream (you could also substitute melted/very soft vanilla ice cream, Dreyer’s Slow churn works really well)
- 3 tablespoons honey, use a mild flavored honey sage or wild flower is best
- ¼ teaspoon orange extract
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract (you can also use vanilla bean paste…it’s amazing!)
- 3/4 cup Mini Chocolate Chips (optional but amazing)
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk all ingredients together. Then add the chips if you are using them.
- Pour mixture into popsicle molds. Let set for 30-60 minutes, then add popsicle sticks. Freeze for another 4-6 hours or until frozen.
- When you’re ready to serve, run some warm water along your popsicle mold to loosen the popsicles and serve immediately.
One of my friends melted the chocolate chips and then coated the insides of the popsicle molds with melted chocolate drizzles before pouring in the mixture. This also worked well!
Homemade Ice Cream in a Bag Recipe
Its finally warm outside and the kids can get all their energy out by playing outside. Use this to your advantage and your whole family can make ice cream in bags by running around! Note: This recipe is enough for ONE serving, so you’ll need all of the listed ingredients for each person.
Ingredients & Other Things You’ll Need:
- Ice cubes (enough to fill each gallon-size bag about half full)
- 1 cup half and half
- 1/2 cup salt (The bigger the granules, the better. Kosher or rock salt works best, but table salt is fine.)
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 pint-size ziplock bag (this can also be done in tupperware type containers)
- 1 gallon-size ziplock bag
- Your favorite ice cream toppings or ingredients, like chocolate chips, cereal, fruit, marshmallows, etc.
Directions:
- Combine the sugar, half and half, and vanilla extract in the pint-size bag and seal it tightly. Double check it’s sealed completely.
- Place the salt and ice in the gallon-size bag, then place the sealed smaller bag inside as well. Seal the larger bag. Now shake the bags and/or have the kids run around while shaking their bags until the mixture hardens which is about 5 minutes. Feel the small bag to check when it’s hardened enough.
- Take the smaller bag out of the larger one, add toppings, and eat the ice cream right out of the bag. Toss the bag when you’re done eating – super easy cleanup!
Recipe: Frozen 100% Fruit Pops
Kids love eat popsicles during these hot summer days. So many of the frozen treats are filled with sugar and have nothing healthy in them. This recipe for Fruit Pops from Doodlecraft uses 100% fruit – even down to pureeing fruit with a food processor, not using juice, so it’s even more healthy. The kids will think it’s a treat, but you’ll know it’s super healthy.
What You’ll Need:
- Plastic popsicle molds
- About 3 cups of sliced watermelon (be sure there are no seeds)
- Sliced strawberries
- Sliced kiwi
- Large handful of blueberries
Note: Any kind of melon will work instead of watermelon, and juice will work if you want to make this process easier.
Directions:
- Puree the watermelon fully to make it as watery as possible.
- Put 2-4 blueberries at the bottom of the plastic mold, a slice or two of kiwi (so they show on the side of the mold), 2-4 slices of strawberry, then a couple more blueberries as the last of the fruit.
- Fill the molds to the edge with the watermelon juice.
- Press the popsicle mold lids on securely, then freeze overnight.
- When fully frozen, the popsicle should slide right out of the mold, but if it sticks, run the plastic under a little warm water.
DIY Body Wash
Do you have a favorite type of soap but you can only find it in the bar form? You have often wondered why they haven’t yet made it into a body wash? Well, look no further. Follow the simple steps below and you can turn your favorite bar soap into body wash. Best part is…it’s extremely cost effective and you truly get the biggest bang for your buck. On average, those who make this only spend about $1.50/ gallon. How can you beat that?
What you will need:
- 8 oz of bar soap (Any bar. Read the label to make sure your are using 8 oz. For some soaps, that’s one bar, for others it is 2 or 3)
- 2 Tablespoons of Glycerin (You can find this product by the bandaid section. It will not be by the soaps. It’s well worth the $3/bottle. A small amount goes a long way
- 1 gallon (or 16 cups) of water
- Stock Pot
- Container for soap (Milk jugs work great)
Directions:
1. Grate the bar of soap using a cheese grater. Don’t have a cheese grater, chunk the bar soap into tiny pieces.
2. Put it in the stock pot with the water and Glycerin
3. Heat over medium heat until the soap is completely dissolved. The smaller the chunks the faster it will go.
4. When the soap is completely dissolved it will look like a big pot of soapy water. Don’t worry, this is what is supposed to happen.
5. Let the mixture sit & cool for 10-12 hours. It will begin to coagulate together.
6. After the 10-12 hour period it will be a mucous like consistency.
7. Using a hand mixer, beat until you have reached your desired consistency. If it is to thick for your liking, then use water to slowly but gradually water it down.
8. Using a funnel, pour the mixture into your container and Voila! You have successfully made your own body wash.
Let us know how yours turned out. Leave a comment to let us know if you enjoyed this awesome DIY Tip.
DIY Head Scarf
Head scarfs are super stylish right now, but to buy them already made into a headband or head scarf is pretty expensive (I’ve seen them for $20 or more just for ONE), and it limits the designs to what the creators choose. Make them yourself in literally seconds and you can make them out of your grandmother’s hand-me-downs, the cute one you saw at the thrift store, or the expensive ones. Up to you which scarf you wear, but here’s how to wear it as told by Lucky Pony.
Wrap the scarf around your head with the middle of the scarf at the nape of your neck. Twist the two ends around each other once 3. Wrap the scarf back down to the bottom of your head and knot with a bow. You can choose if you want to reverse it and have the bow at the top of your head instead – versatile head scarf instructions! Enjoy!