RECYCLED T-SHIRT FOR KIDS

  During war times, WWI and WWII, it was common to reuse adults´ clothes to make children´s. Nowadays we don´t need to do that due to the lack of material, but because we need to cut down our consumption. The world is packed with excess junk, lots of it unused clothes.

  This t-shirt for my seven-year-old boy is made of an adult´s one:

This is a commercial (free of charge) t-shirt we got from a boat dealer. It was originally a men´s size M, but it serves better it´s purpose as a kid´s shirt. My boy has been interested in boats since last summer, and now he can wear this to the upcoming boat expo!

The trimming is not from the original t-shirt. It is a strip of jersey I had stashed from my earlier sewing projects. I think it´s better to trim the neck edge with something other than bright white, so dirt won´t show as quickly.  =)

  The recipe:

an old adult-sized shirt/t-shirt 
a pattern for kid´s t-shirt
(a strip of contrast jersey for trimming the neck edge)

+ Cut open the seams from the adult´s shirt. Fold the front and back pieces in half lengthways, place the sleeve pieces on top of each other, right sides in.
   Place the pattern pieces on the fabric, front to front, back to back, and sleeve on sleeves (take advantage of the readily neatened lower sleeve edges in the fabric, if they´re still in good shape). Pin and cut.
  Sew as usual, according to the instructions in your pattern.

  It is amazing how good the kid´s version will look compared to the adult´s worn out one! (Of course in this particular example of mine, the t-shirt was new, but I´ve done this earlier with worn out ones, and they turned out really good.)

  Let´s save the world one shirt at a time! =)  All contributions count, we´re worth it!

SATISFYING GREEN SALAD

  Green salad has always been merely in the role of a side dish in my diet. But not anymore! I have found a simple way to make it the main course of the meal, and even leaving me crave for more even though I´m already quite full.
  Thanks to Matthew Kenney and his book Everyday Raw again!

  I ate this yesterday as a main course, with some blended soup on the side. Amazing how foods have switched places now.  =)

Displaying your food nicely and dining in an aesthetic, peaceful place is an important part of  eating. You deserve it!

I don´t have a special high-speed blender, just a regular one, so the dressing still has some crunchiness in it. But I rather enjoyed that, making it feel more sturdy.

  What makes this green salad a meal is the dressing! Usually I´ve added lighter dressings, like balsamic vinegar with olive oil. And then added whole seeds to the salad, without feeling the same satisfaction I do with this kind of dressing.

Spicy almond dressing:
2 cups almond butter
4 roma tomatoes
1/2 cup nama shoyu
1/4 cup sesame oil
3 tablespoons lime juice
2 teaspoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon miso
3-inch piece ginger
1-inch piece lemon grass
6-8 Thai chiles
1 teaspoon sea salt

+ Blend all ingredients until completely smooth. Thin with water as needed. (Yield 1 quart.)

  Add this dressing to any combination of green leaves and vegetables of your choice. I usually add just one or two other ingredients to the leaves, so the taste stays clear. The dressing has lots of flavor, so you don´t need to make a complicated salad.

  Needless to say, you don´t have to take the recipe to the letter, but the closer you get, the better the end result. I didn´t have miso or lemon grass, and used whole almonds instead of almond butter, but the dressing turned out awesome.
  Now I´m having a green salad each day for lunch, followed by some "regular" food I would usually make anyway. The difference is that now I eat more fresh green leaves than before, with enthusiasm I never felt before.

  Green salad and a freshly squeezed juice is what health-guru David Wolfe recommends in his book Eating For Beauty as daily essentials for everybody.
  I get excited about raw food each spring. I believe it is the increasing light that gives me a wake-up call, and makes my body crave for energizing foods. By no means am I a raw-foodist, but I do believe in the magic of it!

IMBOLC NAILS

  Light blue and silvery grey - the key colors of Imbolc - appear in nail fashion in Nelland. It is best to use basic colors of the season for nails, because you will be going around with the same polish matched to different outfits.
  I always opt for reducing toxins in my body, and therefore adore this dotted style of doing my nails. This way you will get about 80% less toxins in your body from nailpolish, but still look stylish and well cared for!

Metallic in the light blue, and silver in the grey, make these dots resemble little jewels. But are so much easier to apply and wear!

Using different colored nailpolish in the dots makes the look more interesting than mono-colored.

Lovely colors of  cold and frost!

  Inglot is my favorite brand for nailpolish. They have a wide variety of colors, and I have found their polishes to be very durable. I usually do my nails on Sunday evening, so I´m all set for the coming week. Mostly I only need to fix some worn out dots once during the week! And that´s the cool thing about styling nails with dots; you can easily fix the look to make it brand new again!

WINTER BLISS

  It is very very cold outside right now, -24C/-10F, but my oh my is it pretty! I let my eyes feast on the absolutely beautiful creations nature offers us!
  Man could never make anything like this...

Unbelievable to think that, what now is thickly covered with bright white frost, will be bright green in the summer.

Also unbelievable that all this whiteness around us consists of these tiny little pieces of art, made by nature.

 

  I am totally appreciative of being able to witness all this beauty. And all within the reach of my everyday life!
  Long live nature!

SARAH KAY-INSPIRED BABY ROMPER

  I decided to make five outfits to my coming baby before she is born. (I normally have five outfits to wear for each sabbat myself, and that is quite enough. During pregnancy I have settled for three. Reducing consumption is one key to a better world!) This third one is inspired by Sarah Kay. I just love her unique style, which I can remember from my own childhood in the eighties.

I´m not used to too much girlishness (yet), so I kept the overall look quite simple, compared to Sarah Kay´s drawings at least. I´m not even trying to do what she has done, I´m only inspired by her work. There is a big difference. I believe we all have our own special style, and we should go by what feels good to us, not by what others tell us to do. That is what makes me feel comfortable in my own skin anyway. Trust yourself!

What looks like jeans fabric isn´t that at all. It is soft, stretchy jersey which I thought could be masked as jeans fabric by adding proper top stitching to it. And I think it works! Using real jeans material in babies clothes feels uncomfortable to me, because the seams are bound to be too bulgy. I hope this will feel comfortable..

I deliberately left out all ruffles and frills, but instead added this flower shape to bring a little girlishness to the look. I guess it will be easier to add girly props after I see my baby (next month!), and can decide what style suits her. This is like an in-between-style for girls, not boyish, but not too princesslike either.

All materials are very soft to touch.

The floral print may seem a bit silly now, when there is snow everywhere, but this piece will come in use late spring/early summer, when it fits right in.

Placing the back pockets was difficult, because there is no bum yet to test the right place on!

    This romper is made with the same pattern as the earlier two outfits ("bunny" and "farmer´s daughter"). Once you find a good, fitting pattern, you can vary it almost endlessly! And needless to say, the overalls and shirt are a one-piece bodysuit, which I prefer for easy use.
 

BOTTOMS UP!

Today is Imbolc! February the 1st is right between the darkest day of the year, and spring equinox, which for me marks the beginning of spring. Happy sabbat to all!

  To celebrate this beginning-of-spring-day I made a delicious healthy drink with my juicer. The increasing light at Imbolc always makes me eager to cleanse my body after the dark days of winter. What better way to do that than by pressing cleansing fresh juices at home, straight from fruits and veggies?
  I will drink freshly squeezed juice for spring, daily, from now on. This will be my spring cleanse, and I shall continue doing so until Ostara (spring equinox/when there is equally light and dark in a day/mid-spring, March 20th this year) approaches.

My daily portion of fresh juice is 5dl. Granny Smith apples are excellent in juices!

Ingredients should vary according to availability and what is in season, so you will not get bored!

  My main ingredients will be carrots, cabbage, beet (which are the only local produce left at this time of year), and cucumber, sweetened by apple and orange juice. (This is when I secretly envy people who live in warm climates, who can have tasty, wonderful, fresh varieties of fruits all year round!  =)  Lovely additions include ginger root, lime, and lemon juice. But anything goes, I will test many varieties, according to what is available and reasonable. 

  There is lots of information on juicing on the net, plus tons of recipes. Go explore and have fun by building your health!
  Bottoms up!

EASY DIY BIRTHDAY PRESENT

  My goddaughter turned six recently. She is a little princess, who already has everything imaginable a little miss might desire. So what to give her? Why is it always as difficult?!
  Years ago I got a tip to give adults something you can eat, drink, or burn. That is goodies, wine, or candles. Why not flowers too. Something that  will be used and won´t add up to a bulk of clutter we all have lying around in our house. But to a six-year-old... maybe goodies would do.

  Then I remembered my sister´s recent birthday, and I decided to use the same trick for my goddaughter! A personalized little wreath of cloth letters spelling her first name, matched to the color scheme in her room.

Why do most little girls like pink? That was the only wish I got from her, that the present would be pink...

I drew simple patterns of letters straight into the fabric, sew along the lines, turned, and stuffed with polyester fiber from an old pillow.

A second color needed to be added here, otherwise it would have looked boring. She has green in her room, so it was a natural choice for this one too. It freshens up the whole look!

It is important to find different ways to decorate the letters, especially now that they are all made of the same fabric.

Some continuity is still a neat trick in itself.

  At this time of year I always dig up my  diy Tilda- books by Tone Finnanger. She is an incredible crafter, and has created a very girlish style for home decor. The main colors used in her work are all pastel, and I think that´s why I tune in with her idea at Imbolc. In big quantities her style is way too girlish for me, but I like to add little touches of it here and there in our bedrooms.

  These fabric letters are not from Tilda, but they go well with her theme (with excess cuteness rubbed off  =). I imagined this wreath to be hung between Alina´s bed posts. Her mother has styled her room with old fashioned items, like her bed, and the plaid pattern goes perfectly with the theme.
  Alina herself loves pink, naturally, so I needed to include it as well. Green is the other dominating color in her room, and I think this look suited the entity perfectly.

  I also ended up adding a nice potted, blooming plant to her present. She was all smiles when she got her package (although,  I must say, she was probably most happy about the marshmallows in it - but when she grows she will appreciate these little things very differently! I hope...).
  Happy birthday Alina!