T-Shirt Necklace / Scarf

This was literally the easiest craft ever, so I feel capable to write a tutorial that won’t make someone end up with a total hot mess of a project.

Start with an old t-shirt.  Mine was one of my husband’s and it was a soft, gray cotton.  I don’t think the size of the shirt matters, obviously a bigger shirt is going to make something you can loop twice and it’ll still be loose versus a smaller shirt will be closer to your neck – or just looped once if you did a child’s shirt.  I did a solid color, but I think it’d be fun to do this with a print or a stripe.

Big ol junky t-shirt.

Start by making incisions along the one side about a 1/4” wide.  Stop when you get to the armpit.

Cut all the way across the shirt – don’t stress about straight lines.  Once you’ve got a bunch of loops, start by just stretching them out a little bit between your hands and you’ll notice they sort of coil up on each other.  I didn’t take a picture of this step because it did require two hands… sorry!  Set one loop aside.

Once you’ve got a bunch of coiled up loops, start lining up the seams in one of your hands – it’s okay if the seams on the other side don’t line up perfectly – you’re going to coil the necklace anyways and it’s meant to look a little imperfect.  (Thus, why this is a great craft for me!)

Once you line them up, take your set aside loop and start wrapping it around the seams in  your hand.  I read a few tutorials that said they used a fabric glue to hold it – I just tied a small knot in the end and tucked the loose ends under.  This is what it looked like:

As I said, this makes a really long necklace or scarf (whatever you want to call this) – I didn’t like the way it looked hanging all the way down. That could just be my preference though….

I recommend making a somewhat constipated look when you take self-portraits.  It really helps you feel like less of a goober than you already do in these situations.

So anyways, I prefer to wear mine double looped – it always helps to hide the fact that the ends aren’t totally even.

And there you go!  T-shirt scarf.  Or necklace.  Whatever.  T-shirt thingey!

Pinterest Party

I often refer to my friend Anne as our "social chair" - and this is fitting considering she is technically the social chair of the one and only organized club I belong to here in Winston, the Resident Spouse Association.  Whether it’s RSA functions, tailgates or dinner parties, Anne is always my one friend who is constantly scheming up new get together ideas.  The best part is she's very creative in her ideas for get together - which I love about her. 
 
Okay, enough ego boosting for Anne. The point of that intro was to say who else would come up with an idea like she did this weekend - a Pinterest party!  It was a simple concept - bring the makings of a craft or food item you've pinned on Pinterest but haven't made yet… and make it.  Such a great idea!  I have 65 items on my crafty board and it is by pure self restraint that I don't have 6,500... yet I rarely make time to do them.  What a better way than for me to put it on my schedule AND know that I was going to be in the company of good friends making their crafts too.
 
(Even better was some people had food pins to test out on us…happy guinea pigs, indeed.)

It was very fun and we all made good progress, if not finished, a craft or recipe.  Katie and Anne did needlepoint, Tommie and Anya worked on crocheting hats, Akanksha made a mason jar soap dispenser, Sarah painted the cutest little "P" using a pencil eraser, Jamie made a jewelry tray and I tackled DIY mercury glass. 

 
My mercury glass project was easier than I expected it to be, but it was just one of those things I had been putting off getting started on.  I bought all these little vases at Goodwill for 25 cents a piece and found the spray paint at Wal-mart for $9.  I read a bunch of tutorials on how to do it and they all seemed to say about the same thing – spray, dry, repeat 5 times, spritz with vinegar, wipe down.  (For more specifics, this is a good example of one of the tutorials I read.)

While my glasses were drying, I even tackled a 10 minute t-shirt scarf project.  Bonus craft!

We had a little mascot overseeing all our crafts…

I loved Akanksha’s mason jar soap dispenser… that might be next on my to do list.

 
I was really happy with how both of my crafts came out.  The mercury glass especially came out lovely – I love seeing them twinkle on my mantle now!

And I’ve already worn my t-shirt scarf/necklace out once…

Obviously I loved, loved, loved this idea for a party.  We all definitely agreed that we need to do it on a regular basis - and we're going to leave it up to Anne to schedule it.

The One in Which I Make Homemade Laundry Detergent

Pinterest: the place where I am most likely to get inspired, in over my head, buy too much at Hobby Lobby or Whole Foods and make a big mess.

But this time I was actually successful with a pin!  I keep seeing pins for homemade laundry detergent and I don't know why, but the idea just intrigued me.  I told Matt it was because I wanted to find a way to save money since the cost of laundry detergent makes me think it must be made out of powdered unicorn horns, and he said "Let's be honest - you just want another craft to do."
 
True.
 
I reviewed a bunch of the different recipes and saw a general overlap of two options: one that involved boiling stuff and the other that involved mixing dry stuff.  I went with the latter.
 
Here's the recipe I followed.

 
I'm happy to report it was easy, successful and very satisfying. I made a huge tub from one Fels-Naptha soap bar that cost 99 cents that should last 40 loads.  The arm and hammer soap and Borax each cost $4 and have enough for many, many loads to come.  (If any of my local friends want to try this, I'll give you a cup of the Borax and A&H soap.  I feel like I'm going to have these boxes around for awhile.)  So far, everything I've washed has come out clean to my satisfaction.  I was a little nervous, because in the past I've used some eco-friendly (Seventh Generation, Method) detergents and they didn't get out cooking oil which is my #1 stain.  I'm a messy cook.  So far, this has not let me down.  I do still have one box of Tide that I'm keeping on hand, and I figure if I have any heavy soiled items or a stain that won't come out with this, I'll use that for back up. 

Maple & Sea Salt Pecans

I am way, way overdue in posting this but I wanted to share a recipe/tutorial from something I made for Christmas.  (Yes, Christmas – you should see how far back my “to be blogged” folder goes.  Oye.)  Anyways, I wanted to make a food gift to give to the wonderful people at my puppy dog’s daycare who love on him oh so much.  And then recipe turned out to be so good I gave a batch to my father-in-law and I think maybe my brother too.  I lost track of who I gave it to – it was nuts.

Get it?  Nuts?

Okay, sorry.  Onwards!  This was a big hit, and if you want something different from cookies or other sweets to give at the holidays, I’d highly suggest this.

Or to just make for your own eating pleasure. 

The recipe came from Food & Wine magazine.  Here’s the original link but I’ll post directions here too.

Ingredients

• 4 cups pecans
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 large egg white, at room temperature

The How To:

• Preheat the oven to 350°. Spread the pecans on a large rimmed baking sheet and toast until they are fragrant, about 10 minutes. Let the pecans cool. Lower the oven temperature to 250°.
• Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. In a large bowl, toss the pecans with the maple syrup, butter, salt, cayenne and black pepper. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg white until frothy. Add the egg white to the pecans and toss well.
• Spread the pecans on the lined baking sheets in a single layer. Bake for 40 minutes, until the nuts are golden brown. Immediately loosen the pecans from the paper with a spatula. Let cool completely on the baking sheets before serving.

They can be stored in an airtight container for up to 1 week – if you can resist them that long.

(Glass jars from IKEA)