Fabric Covered Boxes

      At one time storing your record albums, LPs, vinyl, (or whatever YOU want to call them) in a milk crate was the thing. I've had these since I don't know when. There's also another box underneath the ones you see here on a lower shelf.

      I had the living room painted and spruced up, so I decided to replace the crates with decorative boxes similar to the ones I've seen in home and craft stores. I first consulted YouTube to get some ideas on how to cover the boxes. In the end, I did my own thing.

I happened to be at Moe's Southwest Grill  and saw one of the workers about to throw away what looked like sturdy,clean, tomato boxes. I asked if I could have them and he said yes. BTW- These boxes also came with lids, but I didn't need those so I took them to the recycling bin. After wiping the boxes down in a bleach solution, drying in the sun, then spraying with disinfectant, I proceeded with my project of covering the boxes in fabric.

 The fabric came from Walmart. We're limited around here as to where we can buy fabric. You can see my blue glue gun in the background.


After a lot of folding, pleating and cutting I was able to hot glue the fabric to the box. It could have been neater but this was my first time trying this.

 I didn't bother to line the inside since no one is supposed to be examining this and it's just for me.

Cutting out the space for the handles wasn't too bad. I made an  "X", then folded the fabric to the inside. 

Folding the edges of some of the material to finish it off and then gluing it on allowed it to come out a lot neater.

Here I am gluing on the folded strips for a clean finish on the handles.

 

You can see the finished handle has no raw edges.  I did this method on both boxes.

 

The box still looked a little plain ...

so I brought out the metal lock icons I had in my stash that I'd gotten for $1 at Michael's some time ago. I didn't know what I was going to do with them at the time but, I knew they had a future in some project I'd concoct. I was able to get 2 rolls of the trim you see below with a gift card I've had since 2016, along with asking for a seniors discount. (Being a senior citizen has it's perks😀. It's only 10%).
 

No, I didn't measure before I put the trim on.

Still,the albums look a lot more dressy on the shelf. The locks didn't show up as well as I'd like and I'll probably go back and dry brush them with a little silver paint to enhance the detail.

Here's a close up of the trim and lock.I'm satisfied with how this project turned out.

That's it***

Tomato Ice Cream

TOMATO ICE CREAM
If tomatoes are in the fruit family then they should be ice cream worthy.

tomato ice cream

With there usually being an abundance of tomatoes this time of year experimentation is on the menu. Unique confections abound. Research a few of the flavors Ben and Jerry have concocted. Not everything is a keeper.

Think you've discovered something? Get online and you'll discover you haven't. So it was with the tomato ice cream. I surfed the NET to find a few ideas as to how to go about this unusual flavor.  There weren't that many. Most involved cooking with eggs and so forth. It wasn't something I wanted to attempt. Easy Peasy, that's me. I  decided on a recipe I've used before.

 It was taken from  August 4, 2004 edition of Southern Living magazine. It was developed by Lera Townley of Roanoke, Alabama. Her daughter Wanda Stephens was an Office Manager @ Southern Living. Some of this background info may have changed by now. Below are the ingredients for their vanilla based ice cream.

No-Cook Vanilla Ice Cream
   1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
   1 (5oz.) can evaporated milk
   2 TBSP sugar
   2 tsp  vanilla
   2 cups whole milk
   ******************************************************
TOMATO ICE CREAM
2 cups seeded tomato puree. (I used 3 med./large fresh tomatoes to make the puree.)

1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk

1 (5oz.) can evaporated milk
2 TBSP sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups whole  Almond milk

BLANCH tomatoes, peel, seed, quarter and puree in blender or food processor. Set aside.

Drop tomatoes in boiling water for about 30-45 seconds. Remove and immediately place in cold water to stop the cooking.



I chose to score the tomatoes on top and bottom to make sure the skin came off easily and it did.




I placed the puree in the fridge so that it could cool even more.



I used a large pitcher for mixing the ingredients. Easier to pour into the ice cream container thingy. 



BC-Before churning



AC-After Churning

The ice cream needs to be cured either in the fridge freezer or packed in the ice cream freezer.


The finished results. It's such a pretty color.



Here you see a sample of the finished results. (That's an air bubble you see not a piece of tomato.)

You're wondering how it tasted. Tastes great.   I was  telling a friend about it. She  hasn't tried it but concluded that as long as you're using sugar, it's got to taste good. NoLa, you're right.

THAT'S IT***