Beeswax Food Wrap

Christmas may be over for you, but I’m still going strong with my backlog of gift ideas, so stick with me.  And this one might come in handy for you as you are dealing with festive leftovers.

Start with some scraps of fabric, cut into various shapes, that you can wrap around bowls or sandwiches or whatever.  I finished the edges with pinking shears, so that they wouldn’t fray so fast (once they’re waxy, they won’t fray at all).

Then grate a whole bunch of beeswax.  I did 3oz beeswax, which gave me just enough to finish 11 pieces of fabric.

Turn your oven on to about 180°F, or as low as it will go, and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.  Lay a piece of fabric on the baking sheet and sprinkle it evenly with beeswax.  You want enough that when it’s melted it will saturate the cloth.

Shove the fabric in the oven for a few minutes.  Keep an eye on it and watch for how long it will take the beeswax to melt — between five and ten minutes.

When the beeswax is entirely melted, haul out your baking sheet and immediately remove the cloth from the foil — if you don’t it will stick and get gross.  I waved mine in the air a few times before the wax set and I could set them down.

Keep going until all your sheets are finished and thoroughly saturated with beeswax.  If you miss a spot, you can always top it up and shove it back in the oven for a few minutes.

Use these wraps like you would plastic wrap.  They will mould into shapes with the heat of your hands and stick to themselves, so you can even cover bowls with them.

I was going to show you the wrap on a sandwich but I was out of bread so you get deli meat instead in a wrap.  Beeswax is naturally antibacterial, and the wax itself blocks out air, so it makes a really good seal for keeping your food fresh.

Wash gently in warm (not hot!) water to remove food goo and to ease the wax back into shape.  TADA!

Vinyl Lunch Bags

This is an idea I got from Martha Stewart and modified, because I couldn’t find any oil cloth.

Using two contrasting pieces of vinyl, I cut out the main panel (29 1/2″ x 8″) and the two side panels (12 1/4″ x 5″).

It is a simple matter to blanket stitch them all together (because vinyl doesn’t fray).

Then I used pinking shears along the top edge to make them look like the paper lunch bags.It’s a great gift to give to anyone who brown-bags it to work or school, and makes a handy gift bag as well should you want to stuff it with goodies.

Waterproof Picnic Blanket

Here’s a great gift idea for avid picnic-ers that you know.  This was a Christmas gift for Doodle and her man.

I found a brand-new Scouts Canada campfire blanket at Value Village in the fall, and I immediately thought of Doodle, who, although she has lived in the United States for several years now, is a staunch Canadian, and, like my brother Ando, who is also an ex-pat Canuck, likes to surround herself with various items of Canadiana.

Normally the little Scouts cut holes in the centres of the blankets to wear them like ponchos, and often sew badges and other things onto the blanket itself. Then they sit around the campfire and tell dirty stories.

I’m not sure exactly what the blanket is made of, but I hope it’s flame-retardant.

Anyway, I purchased a measure of bright red vinyl to match the red thread on the blanket itself, and cut it to fit.  Because the blanket wasn’t an exact rectangle, I made a little mark on the vinyl to indicate where the Scouts Canada logo should go.

I used pinking shears to finish the edges of the vinyl.  Then I cut buttonholes at all the corners and along the sides.  I reinforced the buttonholes with red thread in a blanket stitch.

I then sewed on all the buttons, making sure that none of them matched each other.  I saved the big silver button to go under the Scouts Canada patch.

And there you have it, a simple picnic blanket.  Just unbutton it to wash it and you’re set!