How We Grow a Lot of Food in a Small Space - The Garden Tour Video

Take a garden tour with me and see how we save space when we plant to get the most vegetables possible in our garden!

Make a Vintage Button Wind Chime

Creating a button wind chime is a charming way to use old buttons.  If you like to sew or if you are a pack-rat, you probably have an assortment of salvaged buttons just waiting for a project like this.  Making a button wind chime is easy and fun using items that you already have!

Jewelry Made From Recycled Plastic Bottles

I've been having so much fun making earrings and necklaces from empty plastic (PET) bottles and milk jugs!   You too can make your own jewelry from plastic bottles that would normally be thrown away or recycled. 

Go Green Just In Time For St. Patrick's Day - Upcycled Soda Bottle Jewelry!

Even though we've been making a concentrated effort on wasting less and using more of what we purchase, I've noticed there are still far too many plastic bottles that come through our home.  Our trash service doesn't offer curbside pickup of our recycling and sometimes it is months before we drop off our recycling.

Dress Transformation - From Dowdy to Decent!

  I have a respectable dress that my dear mother gave to me last year.  It's a perfectly good dress but it's very.....matronly.....

Bell Bottomed Jeans

 

I've been down with the flu for over a week now and was beginning to get a little stir crazy.  I decided a little altering might make me feel better so this is what I did with my Saturday afternoon.

Another Upcycled T-Shirt!

  

Finished spaghetti strap tank!


I had so much fun altering some of my clothing several days ago that I wanted to try it again!

This creation was made with an old t-shirt that belonged to my teenage son and a crocheted halter top that I never felt completely comfortable wearing.

Upcycled Clothing!

 

I've been in a shopping mood lately.  It doesn't happen often but once in a while I feel a strong urge to buy some new clothes.   I normally talk myself out of the shopping trip to avoid spending a ton of money. 

Because I've been blessed with hand-me-down clothing from friends and my mama through the years, I rarely "need" anything in the clothing department.  Sometimes I just want something different.   To satisfy the shopping urge, I decided to look through my own closet to see what pieces could be recycled into a "new" item.  These are a few items I altered into new pieces.

Handmade Dish Scrubby! Great Way to Use Old Plastic Produce Bags



I have been saving my old potato and orange bags for quite some time.  They are the sturdy plastic or nylon style and I figured they would be good for something. 

I just hadn't figured out what that would be until I read a posting on Mooberry Farm Homesteading Journal blog.

Mooberry Farmwife has a great tutorial on how to use recycled onion bags to make dish scrubbies! 

I decided to give it a try, but since I don't crochet, I used dental floss and a cross stitch needle to stitch around the edges.  This is how I put my dish scrubby together -



You will need at least 2 large bags per scrubby



Insert bag(s) inside other bag(s)
Roll firmly as pictured above



Fold the scrubby in half length wise (not folded yet in photo above). Using a cross stitch needle threaded with dental floss beginning stitching around the edges.

 

Stitch as desired around the edges. I used what is called a "blanket stitch".  I think..... If that isn't the correct term, feel free to let me know.

  

My 10 year old daughter, happily trying out the new scrubby! The verdict is in and it works well!

We are happy with the results and think we could also use these materials to make awesome bath scrubbies! Perhaps we'll give that a try soon.

Thank you so much Mooberry Farm Wife for the great idea!