How to Pack for Cold Weather

Since the holidays are coming up, and many people will be traveling, I thought I would take a minute from my packing (to visit Montana on a mission's trip) to show how a woman packing warmly doesn't have to pack a lot. The keys are to stick to one color scheme, pack lightweight yet warm fabrics like fleece and wool, and pack layers rather than bulky items. I've packed everything I need in a small rolling carry on and a large purse. (Incidentally, the carry on has a lock on it and an expandable zipper.)

The trip will last about six days, but with what I've packed, it could last longer because almost everything can go together in different ways. I'll dissect my carry on and purse in a second, but before I do, I want to point out what I will be wearing on the plane: Sketchers boots, a long-sleeved hip-length taupe shirt, orange skinny jeans, and a light taupe fleece vest. (If I get hot, I can take the vest off. I can also pair it with other items in my carry on later if I get cold during the trip.)

Now to dissect the carry on: The inside flap.

1. 5 pairs of fuzzy socks. These are essential for sleeping and really make a difference inside your boots when the temperature drops. They also dry within a day if you have to wash them in a sink.

2. 6 pairs of underwear and socks. (They can also be washed in a sink if needed.)

The Top Layer (sorry, Blogger put it in sideways)

1. 6 pairs of black and grey fleece-lined tights. These can be worn by themselves under long shirts and dresses or under skinny jeans for added warmth.

2. Running shoes inside a mesh laundry bag. I can use the shoes for exercise, but also as alternative footwear if my boots start hurting me. (Always bring an alternative footwear option. You never know how much you'll walk and your feet may need a break.) These shoes are Sketchers "Go Run" and they are super comfortable, but also squish up nicely into luggage. Also, the mesh laundry bag will come in handy at the end of the trip when all my clothes are dirty.

3. Thermal shirt and black sweat pants for exercising. In case I don't get very sweaty, I can also use these as layers under other clothes to keep warm.

The Second Layer

1. A small loofah and a super absorbent towel. The towel is about the size of a hand-towel, but I can dry my entire body with about half of it. I bought mine in Japan, but you can find these towels in most department stores and eBay. If it's still wet at the end of the trip, I can just hang it over my carry on while I travel instead of soaking the inside of my luggage.

2. Thermal underwear. These will be my pajamas, and also a base layer if I need it.

The Third Layer

1. Two pairs of skinny jeans.

2. A black long-sleeved shirt to go under things.

3. My grey TCWC church dress made of a Tshirt.

4. A taupe hip-length long-sleeved shirt.

5. A long-sleeved animal print dress.

6. A casual long-sleeved blue dress.

7. A black hip-length long-sleeved shirt.

8. A taupe turtleneck.

9. A green striped hip-length sweater vest.

10. A Mary Kay stand-able mirror. (In case there is limited mirror space.)

(Notice that all my shirts are hip-length. This is to keep my butt warm!)

Inside the Big Purse

1. My small backpack travel purse with lots of pockets. (Inside I have a sewing kit, some bags of tea, bandaids, vitamins, tissues, etc.)

2. My quart-sized toiletries bag. Always keep your toiletries bag inside your purse (not your luggage) for easy access during security checks.

3. My ipod, phone, and camera chargers inside a compact-able shopping bag.

4. A taupe fleece hoodie.

5. Fleece-lined wool hat and mittens.

6. A fold up raincoat. (Doubles as an outer to go over my winter coat during blizzards.)

7. An inflatable neck pillow with eye mask and ear plugs in the pocket.

8. A "Patagonia"super light-weight compact-able down-filled winter coat.

9. Taupe pashmina scarf.

10. Velcro wrap-around earmuffs.

11. Alpaca sweater.

I still have plenty of room for some last minute items like glasses, small travel flatiron and hair dryer, extra fleece hoodie, etc.

So, hopefully that gives you an idea of how to pack warmly, fashionably, and cheaply this holiday season!

The End.

Make Your Own Convenient No-Sew Reusable Napkin System in Less Than 20 Minutes!

If there's one thing I hate, it's buying paper napkins and paper towels. I always end up forgetting to buy them when I'm at the grocery store, or else forgetting that I bought them last time and having bazillions of paper towels cluttering up my precious under-the-sink space. I also really can't stand how much trash my husband and I create from just paper napkins and paper towels. Think of how many you use a day--not only for meals, but snacks, wiping things off, etc. It's a ridiculous amount. Last Saturday, I did something about it, and you can too! Apparently, a quick Google search will bring you to hundreds of other people who have had this same brilliant idea.

What makes my idea different is that my process only takes 20 minutes of your life and creates a reusable napkin system that is just as convenient as the paper ones!

All you Need:

1. Pinking Shears.
2. A clean old bedsheet.
3. Measuring Tape.

A word about the supplies above. Pinking Shears are those funky zig-zag scissors. People use them when they want to create a non-fraying edge to fabric without having to hem the fabric by sewing. You can buy a decent pair at Walmart for around $10, or ask your grandmother for one--every grandmother has a pair. It's a grandmother prerequisite. (Don't use the kind for scrapbooking, because they don't cut fabric very well at all.) Use an old bedsheet. In other words, DON'T GO BUY A BRAND NEW ONE. That defeats the purpose of "Going Green." If you don't have a bedsheet to spare, use random cotton fabric scraps, or else if you absolutely have to buy one go to the thrift store. Let's use what we have already instead of creating more trash.

Now you need to figure out the correct measurements to your liking. I am too lazy to make big ol' 12-14" napkins because when they are that size they need to be folded before they are stacked. Yeah right. Not happening. Also, you are going to want to measure the entire piece of fabric to see if it is closest to a multiple of something. In other words, if your sheet is 60" across, and you are making 10" napkins, you can make six napkins across without any waste. If you are using bolt fabric that someone gave you, that kind of fabric is usually 44-45" across, so if you made 11" napkins, you could get four of them across. Make sense? My fabric was 52" inches across (I had a big scrap), so I decided to make 10" napkins. I cut a little slit at 50" and then ripped the fabric down the length of it instead of cutting: (1) it saves time (2) I was sure to get a straight line.

(The picture below just shows you what 10" looks like compared to a folded paper napkin.)

From there, I measured the fabric the other way and got 64", so I cut a little slit at 60" and ripped it down the length. When I finished ripping I had a piece of fabric that was 50" x 60". 

In other words: 30 napkins.

From here, you can just cut the edge of your fabric all the way around with the pinking shears. However, if you want to save time, do my little trick: Fold the fabric in half and then half again. This creates four layers. (My pinking shears can cut 4-6 layers of material, so this was perfect.) Smooth out any wrinkles and then cut the two sides of raw edges. This creates the same amount of cutting in 1/4 of the time!

From here you can painstakingly measure 10"x10" and cut, measure 10"x10" and cut, or you can do my time-saver method below! 

Lay your tape measure just above one of your newly "pinked" edges and make little cuts at every 10" or 11" measurement. Then move the tape measure up a few inches as pictured below and cut from the little cuts you just made to the designated measurements on the tape measure. Don't worry about your lines being perfectly straight, just do them as straight as you can.

Move the tape measure up a little and do the same thing.

And again.

And now you are done with that series of cuts. 

Now stack 2 or three of these strips on top of each other and do the same cutting technique going the other way to create squares.

Notice that I have two and a half napkins forming. Remember how my fabric was 50" wide? When folded in half, it becomes 25". If you have a measurement with an odd number followed by a zero (30", 50", 70", 90", etc.), make sure you leave the "half" part on the folded side. Otherwise, you will have a bunch of half napkins!

Aaaaand (Blogger put my picture in sideways) You're done! You can use them for normal napkin use, or you can even clean surfaces with them like paper towels! Plus, they don't rip like paper products do, so you can use fewer of them at one time.

How to Put Your New Napkins in an Old Napkin Holder:

You probably have noticed that these napkins are a bit bigger than the folded size of your paper napkins. Don't worry, you don't have to fold them individually to get them to work in your napkin holder. All you have to do is fold them all together a little bit on one side. 

Then, put that folded side down into the holder. To get one napkin out at a time, simply grab one napkin and lightly and quickly tug-tug-tug at it until it comes out. You may have to practice this a little because if you grab one the way you grabbed the paper napkins, they will all come out at once. Don't worry, it works really well once you get the hang of it. (One other advantage to pinking the edges rather than taking hours and hours to hem the edges is that you can fit more napkins into your holder at a time.)

Goodbye old paper towel dispenser! You were breaking anyway!

Now to Make a Napkin "Laundry Bag":

I didn't know what else to call it but a laundry bag. In order for this whole fabric napkin thing to become just as convenient as its paper alternative, you are going to need a place to put the dirty ones until they can visit the washing machine and dryer. They need to be kept separate from the rest of the laundry so that they don't go missing/end up all over the house. This can be done in several ways, I'm just going to give you two. Be creative!

The first thing I tried was a lingerie bag I bought at the Dollar Tree. Any small mesh bag will work. Make sure it's mesh so it can breathe. Sometimes napkins get wet, you know. In other words, DON'T make your napkin laundry bag out of a plastic bag...unless you like stinky mold.

This is what it looked like when I hung it on a nail on the door under the sink. It was kinda too long and took too much effort to open and close every time we had a dirty napkin. If you aren't as lazy as me, then this system is fine.

However, I knew I wasn't going to keep that effort up for very long, so I took some yarn and some plastic canvas, and constructed this little box and hung it on the same nail. (This part takes about 45 minutes, though.) Voila! Easy and Doable! You could achieve this same convenience with any mesh or holey box on a nail under your sink. You don't have to make it, you know. Just use what you have! That's all I did.

**Doing this project with your kids (that are old enough for scissors) is a really great way to help them see the importance of reducing trash, saving money, creating something, helping the environment, and saving time!**

The End!

Make Your Own Foaming Conditioning Shampoo

So you may or may not remember my post about how to make your own conditioning shampoo. Well, I've been using my recipe of a few squirts of castor oil (if your hair is oily, skip it), a few squirts of Dr Bronner's Peppermint Liquid Castile Soap, and about a cup of water for the past half a year or so with great results. My hair is clean, but not only that, it has still retained the color from my last henna dye job (3weeks ago), and the ends still have a nice sharp edge from my last haircut (3 months ago!). The only problem I had was that the formula was runny and wouldn't foam until I rubbed my hands together. This isn't really a problem . It's more of an inconvenience. Still, I've solved it. And I only spent a dollar!

I already had the castor oil and the Castile soap. 

All I had to buy was a bottle of hand soap from the dollar tree. It has a self-foaming pump.

Problem solved!

The End!

Breast Cancer Awareness Jumper - Pink and Tweed

For some reason, the colors aren't coming through on this one the way I'd hoped. Anyways, I bought a yard and a half of this sort of brown and pink cotton tweed a few weeks ago. I've had to go to work a lot this week, so I had no time to do anything with it. Today I had off, so I decided to make something with it.

You can't really tell, but it's tan and black together with a light pink stripe going one way and a bright pink stripe going the other way. I wanted to make a jumper with pockets to wear with this light pink long-sleeved sweater/shirt that I have.

The side seam patterns match up and the front bodice stripes are exactly off center to the waist strip in the front and the back.

It has pockets!

Aaand then my camera ran out of batteries. Consider yourself aware.

The End.

Wholegrain (Wheat-free) Apple Crisp

Apples are stinkin' cheap this time of year (1 - 9 apple bag is $1.98 at Aldi!), so I'm currently making apple chips with 5 Granny Smith apples (How to make apple chips: Buy a dehydrator. Slice apples and put them in. Wait.). However, I had all these extra ends of apple. (You know how after you've cored them and you've sliced them, it gets to a point that you can't slice the end anymore without cutting your hand to pieces?. . .That's where these ends came from.) So, I decided to cut up three more apples and add the ends and make some apple crisp. I didn't know how, so I looked up a recipe, but. . .you know me and recipes! Here's my healthier option:

You will need: 

1. 4 or 5 apples

2. A handful of nuts (any kind...or not...)

3. A few tablespoons of flaxseed. I eyeballed...If you need exact, then do 3T.

4. No more than 1/4c of brown sugar. Maybe less, actually.

5. A dollop of Lite Maple Syrup or honey

6. A splash of lemon juice

Mix 2-6 up; then add the apples and mix them into the mixture. Put this mixture in an oven safe casserole dish. Preheat your oven to 350 and mix the following for the topping:

1. 1/4c (or an eyeballed pile) of flaxseed

2. 1/2c (or another eyeballed pile) of oatmeal 

3. 1/8c of brown sugar (or not)

4. A few shakes of cinnamon

5. A few shakes of cardamom (or not)

6. A shake or two of nutmeg

7. A handful of nuts (or not)

8. A splash of apple cider or a couple spoonfuls of apple sauce.

Mix 1-7 up and then add a splash of apple cider--just enough that the mixture balls and crumbles. I also pour a little apple cider over the mixture in the casserole dish before I add this topping to it (helps the apples get good and juicy).

Feel free to play around with ingredients. You don't have to be too exact, because you're not making a cake or nuthin'!

Bake for 35-40 minutes. Turn off the oven and let it stay in there for a few minutes before you take it out.

Fun Fact: My husband calls the country-fried chicken breast with a fried egg on it at Cracker Barrel "Chicken Porn." Since I use apples, apple sauce, and apple cider for this recipe, I call this "Apple Porn," but I figured that it wouldn't be appreciated if I put "Porn" in the title of my recipe, so. . .there. Now you know.

The End!

Fendi Inspired: Color-Blocked Hi-Low Skirt and Shirt, Blue and Black

 I had not planned on sewing this morning, but last night, I kept playing with color-blocking ideas  like Fendi does. Also, this royal blue color from about two fall/winters ago seems to still be making appearances:

I would like you to know that the Fendi dress above is $1700. . .On sale!!!

Anyways, I have this royal blue maxi skirt that I bought on eBay last fall, but haven't really worn because it's kinda tight and I bought another one that fits better. 

Also, I watched the Fall/Winter 2013-14 New York Mercedes-Benz Fashion week video on YouTube and they had these hi-low skirts like this drawing I did (I can't remember which designer's show had them. Notice the shirt at the bottom. Look familiar?):

Anyways, before I went to sleep I did a couple of drawings because I've been trying to figure out what to do with the skirt--it's too pretty a blue to throw away. Yes, I wanted to cut it into a hi-low, but what would I do with the extra material? I wanted to incorporate it into a top.

I decided to do the shirt on the left. It took forever this morning to get the cutting done, because I just couldn't bring myself to cut anything. I'm almost completely out of brown packing paper with which I make my patterns, so I sort of tried to use patterns that I already had made, but cut around them differently. Once I cut the skirt, I really had to be mindful how to use the piece I cut away to piece into the shirt, because it was much smaller than I'd anticipated. Also, I was down to just a very small piece of black. The idea of cutting anything was scaring me. A process that should have taken two hours became like four or five!

Here's the finished product (The blue is like the skirt above. I don't know why it came out as teal in these photographs.): 

Here's what the skirt looks like on. My mirror is dusty, sorry:

You can barely tell, but there is a bit of hi-low to the bottom of the shirt too.

Below you can see the problem with how little blue I had to work with. It was supposed to go all the way down to the waistline like in the drawing, but this is all I had. Oh well. Next time!

The End!