The hot peppers in our garden are starting to produce, and that means it’s going to be hot sauce time before we know it! On Monday I shared my latest hot sauce adventure: a green Sriracha hot sauce. I got on a little hot sauce kick last year, and since hot peppers are back in season, I thought I’d round them up here, in case you wanted to try making your own hot sauce.

Making condiments might seem a little daunting, but hot sauce is super easy to make. Once you get the basics down, you can start mashing up recipes to make all sorts of fun concoctions. If you end up remixing any of my recipes, I’d love to hear what you made and how it came out!

Next>> Raw hot sauce

When I was doing craft markets, there was inevitably the shopper who’d poke her head into my booth, look around, and ask me where the glue and glitter were. If only I’d thought of making this upcycled necklace back then!

If you’re a regular reader here, you’ve probably noticed that I’m an avid collector of Mason jars. When you craft with a Mason jar, sometimes you’re left with those little lids and rings, and of course they seem way too useful to throw away. I haven’t played with Mason jar rings yet, but one of those flat little lids was just screaming to be covered in glitter and turned into a medallion!

You can hang your medallion on any necklace you like, using either a jump ring or just knotted kitchen twine or embroidery thread to hang it (I went with the latter). If you want yours to look just like mine, you can follow my t-shirt scarf tutorial over at Green Upgrader to make the necklace part.

Mason Jar Medallion

Materials

• 1 Mason jar lid
• fabric glue
• glitter in two colors
• hammer, nail, and scrap piece of wood
• paint brush that you don’t care too much about

Directions

1. OK, so I actually did this step out of order, and it was annoying but doable. Don’t be like me! Before you put any glue on anything, grab your hammer, nail and wood. Place the wood on a flat surface, put the Mason jar lid down face up, and use the hammer and nail to puncture a small hole at the top. This is the hole you’ll use to hang your pendant.

2. Use your glue to draw a chevron shape on your lid, being careful not to get glue in the hole you just hammered.

3. Dump a bunch of glitter on top (just one color for now). Let that dry for about an hour.

4. Carefully pour off your excess glitter – you can put it right back into its container. You’re all done with that color, so you can put it away.

5. Use your glue again to fill in the empty spaces that your first chevron pattern left on the medallion.

6. Dump a bunch of glitter on there, then ever so gently tap the medallion onto the table a few times to spread the glue out evenly. Wait another hour, then dump off the excess glitter and put that away. Now’s the hard part where you let your medallion dry overnight. In the morning, gently nudge it with your finger, and if it’s still wet, let it dry for a few more hours and check again. Depending how much glue you used, it might take a long time to dry. Wait it out!

7. Pour a little bit of fabric glue onto your pendant, then use your paint brush to paint glue over the whole top of the medallion, adding more glue as necessary to cover it completely. Take your time and make sure you completely cover everything. This will help seal the glitter in, so you’re not hemorrhaging glitter when you wear this necklace. Your shirt, car, and everyone you come in contact with will thank you. The glue goes on white, but it dries clear, so don’t fret!

8. When your pendant is totally dry (you might have to wait overnight again), use a needle to poke a hole through the glue, if it’s clogging the hole you hammered earlier, then hang your medallion on the necklace of your choice!

Have you guys done any Mason jar crafts that use the lid or the ring? I’d love to hear more ideas in the comments!

The first batch of hot peppers are ready to pick in the garden, and around here that means one thing: hot sauce!

My husband’s not crazy about spicy food, so I tend to cook things up mild and then douse my own plate in hot sauce. Store bought hot sauces are delicious, but did you know that it’s super simple to make your own hot sauces at home? I’ve got a roundup of hot sauce recipes coming on Friday, but I had to share this green sriracha-style hot sauce that I made last week. It was excellent!

Sriracha is a pretty thick hot sauce, so when all was said and done, this recipe reduced down a lot to make a very tiny amount of sauce. If you have enough peppers handy, I’d recommend multiplying this recipe. You could probably go up by 4X and still not fill up a half pint jar. See

Green Sriracha Sauce Recipe

Ingredients

• 4 large cowhorn or jalapeño peppers, stems removed and cut into large chunks
• 1 clove garlic
• 1T brown sugar
• 1/4t salt
• 1T apple cider vinegar

Directions

1. Blend all ingredients until smooth in your food processor.

2. In a small saucepan, bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Stir constantly for 5-10 minutes, or until the sauce thickens enough that it clings easily to you spoon or spatula instead of running back into the pan.

3. Store in a glass container with a airtight lid in the refrigerator.

Do you have a favorite homemade hot sauce recipe? I’d love to hear it! We have a ton of hot pepper plants in the garden this year, so I’m planning to make lots of hot sauce this summer.

There’s also that satisfaction when you buy handmade, right? You’re helping support an artist who’s doing the thing she loves, and you’re keeping your money away from the big box stores and large corporations. Who knew that buying a skirt could be a political statement?

If you also want your handmade purchases to be in line with your eco-friendly philosophies, it’s easy as pie to find crafters making refashioned and organic pieces for your wardrobe. Here is some of the handmade, eco-friendly clothing I’ve been eying for summer!

Maxi skirts are super hip right now, and this comfy-looking organic hemp skirt from Conscious Clothing is just right for a summer evening or even a trip to the beach. Don’t you just love a skirt with pockets?

I mentioned this little gem in my newsletter, but I shamefully mixed up the name of the seller with another of my Etsy clothing faves. This awesome mod dress from Pierogi Picnic is made from reclaimed t-shirts.

These organic jersey tank tops by VelvetLeaf are perfect for summer. I ordered a pair in white and aquamarine, and I love them! The sailor collar is super cute, and they’re a nice weight for pairing with summer shorts and skirts.

Are you guys getting excited about Atlanta Streets Alive?

The event is this very Sunday from 2-6pm on North Highland Avenue. The organizers are working with the city to close the street to motorists. The event is going to transform that usually car-filled street with pedestrians, cyclists, art and food.

It’s going to be big, y’all.

Become a Volunteer

I’m super excited about volunteering at Atlanta Streets Alive this weekend, and if you have a couple of hours to spare on Sunday, they could really use your help! They were about 40 volunteers shy of their goal when I heard from them yesterday, so even if you can only help out for a bit, I bet they would appreciate it!

They need folks to do all sorts of things, from taping off routes to handing out water, so don’t feel like you need any special skill to help out. You can register for one 90 minute to 2 hour shift or more than one.

If you want to become an Atlanta Streets Alive volunteer, you can register here.

Attending Atlanta Streets Alive

If you’d rather attend than volunteer, there’s so much fun stuff in the works! The organizers have awesome activities planned all along North Highland Ave including:

• The Great Atlanta Bicycle Parade
• A walking play produced by Wonderroot
• StoryCorps
• Laughter yoga
• Double dutch
• Soccer in the Streets
• A bicycle rodeo

Starting at Virginia Ave near Murphy’s restaurant, the route goes through five Atlanta neighborhoods: Virginia Highland, Atkins Park, Poncey-Highland, Inman Park, and the Old Fourth Ward, ending at the Highland Bakery. The route connects to the Freedom Park Trail and the Atlanta BeltLine project.

Check out the flyer with a map of the route:

Image Credits: Photo via Everyday Celebrations; Route Map via Atlanta Streets Alive

Summer is just around the corner, and what better way to round off your summer wardrobe than with a sweet little skirt?

If you guys subscribe to my newsletter, then you’ve probably already heard about Organic Cotton Plus. They were kind enough to give me a discount coupon code just for newsletter subscribers, and they sent me some of their goodies to play with, as well.

I made this skirt out of Thirty-Nine Sateen, an organic cotton fabric by Harmony Art that they carry. They also sent me their kelly green twill and a couple of yards of organic cotton twill tape. The latter is especially exciting, because I’ve had a hard time finding organic cotton tapes, and they’re so great for everything from using them as ribbon to finishing edges in projects.

I asked my contact at Organic Cotton Plus, Jeff, about their fabrics and their dye processes, and here’s what he had to say:

All of our production is done in accordance with the GOTS requirements, and we recently got our Warehouse certified to the standards! Almost everything we have in stock is fully certified right through packing, and as we move out old inventory, every yard of fabric will be to GOTS.

The dyes we use are “Fiber Reactive”-which are very eco-friendly and are approved by GOTS.

GOTS certification is the real deal when it comes to organic fabrics. If you want to learn more about what it means, check out my piece about GOTS certification at Crafting a Green World. Fiber reactive dyes are also much better from an environmental standpoint. They absorb into fabric very well, which means using less dye and it means less waste water.

How to Make an Elastic Waist Skirt

This elastic waist skirt took me about 30 minutes to make. It could take you a bit less time or a bit longer, depending on your skill level, but as making clothing goes it’s super duper simple. Here’s how to make your own elastic waist skirt tailored to your measurements.

Materials

• 1 yard of organic cotton fabric
• 1″ braided elastic
• measuring tape
• sewing machine, thread, scissors
• 2 safety pins

Directions

1. Measure your waist where you want the skirt to sit. That number is how much elastic you’ll need. Mine was 30″, so I cut a 30″ piece of 1″ braided elastic.

2. Measure the width around your torso around at the widest point – mine was around 40″. The width of your fabric needs to be this number plus 1″, so my fabric is 41″ wide.

3. Measure from your waist where you want the skirt to sit down to where you want the hem to fall. That number plus 2.5″ is how long your fabric piece needs to be. Mine was 20.5″ (I am high waisted), so my fabric was 23″ long. That means the fabric piece I’m cutting is 41″X23″.

4. Fold your fabric in half, right sides together to form the body of your skirt. My folded piece of fabric measures 20.5″ X 23″.

5. Sew up the side seam of your skirt using your machine’s zig zag stitch. Don’t forget to back stitch a few times at the top and bottom, so your seams will be strong.

6. Hem the bottom of your skirt. With the skirt still inside out, fold the bottom seam over by 1/2″, iron, then fold over again by 1/2″ to hide the unfinished seam. Use a straight or zig zag stitch to finish the seam.

7. Now, you’re going to make the tube for your elastic! Fold the top seam over by 1/2″ and iron, then use your machine to baste all the way around. Fold the seam over by another 1 1/8″, and sew almost all the way around, but leave yourself about a 2″ opening, so you can feed in the elastic. This tube you just sewed is called the casing, and it’s where you’ll feed the elastic through in the next step.

8. Grab your elastic and use the safety pin to attach one end to your skirt near the opening on the casing, then put the other safety pin on the other end of the elastic. Trust me, the safety pin makes it worlds easier. Now, just be patient as you work your elastic through opening in the casing, all the way around the skirt, and out the other side. Feel around and make sure your elastic isn’t twisted anywhere in the waistline, and straighten it out, if it is.

9. Overlap the two ends of the elastic by about 1/2″, then pin them together while they’re still sticking out of the opening in the casing. Use your machine’s zig zag stitch to sew  the elastic band closed, then tuck it up into the casing.

10. Put your skirt back into the machine to sew that opening in the casing closed, flip your skirt right side out, arrange the fabric over the elastic, and give it one more press with the iron.

That’s it! You’re ready to rock your easy peasy elastic waist skirt!

My hot peppers have exploded in the past week! I'll be harvesting and making garden fresh hot sauce soooon!

The other day, I was fixing a sandwich for lunch and feeling bummed that we were out of lettuce. Until I peeked out back at our raised bed and saw that our lettuce plants were blowing UP! Sandwich disaster averted!

There’s something so gratifying about growing food, even if you only have the space to grow a few things. Nothing tastes better than fruits, veggies, and herbs that you planted and nurtured in your own back yard or container garden. We’re lucky enough to have a back yard, so our garden is a mix of plants in the ground and in containers. Over at Eat Drink Better, I shared a peek into my container garden, and I’d love to see what you guys have growing, too!

Have you ever crafted with burlap? As sustainable fabrics go, burlap is among the most cost-effective, and once you get used to working with it, it’s a lot of fun!

Burlap is made from jute, which actually has quite a bit in common with hemp. Like hemp, it grows fast, requires few to no pesticides, and doesn’t need a lot of water to grow. Also like hemp, it also improves the soil where you plant it, rather than depleting the nutrients. Unlike cotton, you don’t have to worry as much about whether your burlap is organic, because as far as I know there is no genetically modified jute out there.

Where to Find Burlap

I haven’t been able to find burlap at the fabric store, but there are a couple of easy ways to get your hands on some.

• The coffee shop. If you’re in good with a local coffee shop that roasts its own beans, try asking them if they have any leftover bags you can take off their hands. “Green” (unroasted) coffee beans often come in big burlap sacks.
• Online. BurlapFabric.com, the sponsor of this post, is a great online resource for burlap fabric and even some burlap sewing notions. I am itching to get my hands on their jute webbing for my next tote project, and I love that they also offer reclaimed burlap coffee sacks for sale for those of us too shy to hit up shops ourselves. You can find their fabrics in their shop and keep up with them on their Facebook and Pinterest pages.

How to Sew with Burlap

There are a couple of things to keep in mind when you’re sewing with burlap:

• It is messy. Cut burlap loves to shed, so be prepared to wipe down your sewing table after you’ve been working with burlap. It’s also a good idea to clean your machine a little more often if you’re using a lot of burlap. Nothing serious, but use that brush to clean out the area around the bobbin case, since all of those tiny fibers will get into your machine.
• Burlap is a loose weave. You can use a straight stitch with burlap, but for finishing I have found a zig zag or other embroidery stitch to work better. Because it’s a loose weave, the extra stitches help catch all of the fibers to create a better finished edge. Your finished project will be stronger this way.

Other than that, you can really treat burlap like any other medium to heavy weight fabric.

5 Burlap Craft Projects

Right, so you have your burlap, you know how to use it….what now? Here are some burlap craft projects to get you going!

1. Make a burlap fabric box.
2. Whip up some burlap sunflowers.
3. Burlap sunglasses case
4. Create a burlap bird ornament.
5. Dress up an old lampshade with burlap ruffles.

Have you done any fun burlap crafts lately? Share your ideas in the comments!

Dyeing fabrics is super fun, but sometimes you just want to pick up beautiful fabric and get crafting, right?

Earlier this week, I showed you how to use red cabbage to hand dye fabric and shared some tips on making your own food-based fabric dyes. It’s super fun to see what colors you can create, and it’s extra satisfying to sew with fabric that you dyed yourself.

Dyeing fabric is also a pretty time-consuming process, though, and–as my pal Christy likes to remind me–DIY doesn’t mean you have to do every single thing yourself. If you’re looking for eco-friendly hand dyed fabrics without taking hours to get the colors you want, check out these beautiful options.

Obviously, I couldn’t talk about custom dyed fabrics without mentioning my very favorite source for beautiful colored fabrics: Noonday Textiles. Jay dyes her organic hemp fabric with eco-friendly dyes, and she does a beautiful job. There are solids, if that’s what you’re after, and she also likes to experiment with textures, like in the beautiful teal fabric pictured above.

If you’re looking for a bit of stretch, Primavera Dyehouse has you covered with their hand dyed hemp jersey in a rainbow of color options. They also use low-impact dyes, so you can feel good about your beautiful jersey fabric!

Are prints more your speed? I found some super gorgeous hand-dyed batik fabrics from Margot Myers. I asked Margot about the dyes she uses, and it sounds like they’re great! They’re called “reactive fabric dye,” and that means they’re great at adhering to fabric, which reduces runoff and water pollution. They’re also free of heavy metals. Margot also takes some extra steps to make her dye process more eco-friendly. Here’s what she said:

i collect rainwater from my studio roof, which is what i use to make dyebaths, boil baths and rinses. i re use rinse and boil water whenever possible. the boiling method that i use to remove wax eliminates the need for chemical solvents to do the work, and it also allows me to reuse my wax for years.

to achieve the darkest and most vibrant colors in my shop, i use excessive time in place of excessive salts or dye powders, and i dye everything in very small volumes of water.

Lovely prints dyed by hand in rainwater? Don’t mind if I do!

I am on a fabric dyeing kick this week!

You can make your very own fabric dyes out of all kinds of fruits, veggies, and herbs. On Monday, I shared directions for how to dye fabric with red cabbage, and yesterday I posted general instructions for making fabric dyes out of lots of other plant-based foods. If you want more details on how to dye your fabric bright yellow with turmeric, you can check out my article over at Crafting a Green World!

Have you made your own fabric dye before? I’d love to hear about what worked for you and what didn’t.