Upcycled, Super Easy, No Sew Sweater Slipper Boot Tutorial

I found a tutorial on Pinterest for making boots out of flat TOMS style shoes and sweater sleeves. But it required pinning, and measuring, and turning inside out, and sewing, and a pair of TOMS style shoes that you don’t want to wear as TOMS style shoes anymore. I don’t have any TOMS style shoes that I don’t want to wear as TOMS style shoes anymore. And my sewing skills are meh. So I decided I could simplify the idea. All you need for this is:

  • A strong glue
  • Scissors
  • Shoes that slip on (A TOMS style shoe or rain boot will make your foot more secure in your slipper boot, give you more surface to glue onto, and give your slipper boot a more defined shape. So I recommend using a TOMS style shoe or rain boot if you want your slipper boot to look more fashionable/professionally done or if you want to do a lot of walking in your slipper boot. But if you’re going to wear it more like an indoor slipper, like I do, then you can use pretty much anything. I used a flip flop.)
  • A sweater

I started by taking a pair of flip flops that I never wore. I wanted to be able to wear socks with my sweater boots, so first I cut the part of the flip flop that goes between your toe here:

IMG_0364

(I didn’t take pictures the first time I did the cutting, so this is a recreation)

And here:

IMG_0365

That left me with the flip flop base and the band that goes over the top of your foot (without that band your foot wouldn’t be secure and the weight of the flip flop base would weigh your sweater boot down with every step you take, so don’t cut that band off).

Then I cut the sleeves off a sweater along the seams. (I didn’t take a picture, so you’ll just have to trust me on that one.) Also, stuff your shoe into your sweater’s shoulder before cutting just to make sure. Most sweaters will be fine, but some do have funny shaped or funny sized shoulder holes. The sweater that I used had perfectly foot sized and foot shaped sweater holes. Pay attention to the wrist cuff as well. You might want a tighter or looser wrist cuff depending on if you want to wear your sweater boot cuffed over or whether you want to pull it up high and have them be like knee boots.

Then I glued the shoulder part of the sweater around the base of the flip flop.

IMG_0371

And that’s it! That’s a sweater slipper boot that takes less than five minutes to make, that doesn’t require sewing, and that makes use of things that you have taking up space in your closet but aren’t wearing.

IMG_0366

Paper Products and Reusable Cloth

A lot of trees are cut down to make traditional toilet paper, tissues, napkins, and paper towels. But it doesn’t need to be that way. big tree

Consider switching to cloth napkins. Use cloth rags for cleaning. Use cloth hankies. You can even use cloth toilet paper or no toilet paper! The toilet paper one sounds weird to most people at first, but it’s way less weird once you try it!

Most people do the cloth toilet paper by keeping a container of small cloth strips on the back of the toilet. But there are even fancy cloth strips that snap together in a roll and can be put on a traditional toilet paper holder. People wipe with the cloth – most people only use them for pee, but do whatever works for you – then toss it into a hamper. Not weird at all, saves trees, and you buy way less toilet paper, which saves you money.

As for the people who use no toilet paper, not even cloth, most of them use water or soap and water instead. They may keep a squirt bottle, and sometimes soap, on the back of the toilet to rinse/wash off.

Most people who use cloth toilet paper or no toilet paper keep a paper roll on hand for guests.

If you’re not ready to make the switch to cloth yet, or if you want to use a mix of cloth and paper products, or if you just want a paper roll on hand for your guests, then look for paper products that are made from sugar cane, bamboo, or 100% recycled paper.

Sugar cane and bamboo grow a lot faster than trees, and they grow back when cut, no replanting necessary. They also require less water than trees and don’t need fertilizer or pesticides.

Recycled paper products make use of all the paper we put to the curb in our blue bins. Some of it’s bleached though, so look for a label that says “100% recycled” as well as something like “chlorine-free.” Make sure the wrapper is recyclable too.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), we would save over 450,000 trees, over a million cubic feet of landfill space, and over 150 million gallons of water if everyone in the US traded just one roll of regular toilet paper for just one recycled roll just one time. So imagine what a switch to cloth, no toilet paper, or recycled toilet paper would do if we all did it every time!

Product Review: Tofutti Cuties and Cream Cheese

I haven’t written a review of anything from Tofutti yet, which is surprising because I buy Toffuti stuff all the time!

My two main Toffuti buys are the vanilla cuties and the cream cheese.VanillaCutie-comp

Tofutti Cuties are mini vegan ice cream sandwiches and the cream cheese is, of course, vegan cream cheese.

They’re a bit pricier than most dairy versions (the cuties are $4 or $5 for a box of 8 and the cream cheese is about $4 for an 8 ounce tub). But they’re so much better for your health and for the environment.

And they’re very tasty. Most vegan foods would never “fool” a non-vegan. But I think both of these products actually would. They’re very creamy, and I honestly don’t think I could tell the difference between them and the dairy versions. That means that they’re extra good for people who are trying to transition to veganism but are having a hard time giving up dairy products.

Tofutti isBetterThanCreamCheeseNonHydro-comp also a pretty popular brand, so they’re pretty easy to find. If you’re not sure whether Tofutti products are sold near you, you can use the store locator on their website.

I give these a green thumbs up.

thumbsup