Terrarium Tutorial

Hannah and I had a fun little field trip to some Antique Malls here in St. Louis last Friday.  Hannah ended up buying this really cool glass container thing-y, though she wasn’t exactly sure what she was going to put into it. 

We decided to stop by the local farmer’s market before we picked up her little boy from pre-school.  We were just going to pick out some fruits and veggies for dinner when we saw a bunch of succulents, staring at us, begging us to take them home.  And they didn’t have to beg very hard- I’ve been looking to get some for a while now, and so has Hannah!

Then, the idea started brewing… we could make a succulent terrarium with the above glass thing-y!  Well, it would be a terrarium sans lid, since succulents need to stay mostly dry.  So we picked up some soil, some stones, and she picked out three different types of succulents (don’t ask me the names, because I have no clue!).

We lined the bottom with some medium sized stones (these can be picked up at many garden stores or Michael’s or Hobby Lobby).  Then, we packed some soil onto the top of the stones.  This will allow for drainage of excess water since succulents need only be watered once per week/two weeks.
Then, we took each succulent out of their respective containers, took some of the soil off of the roots (not too much, just enough so that it is easier to re-plant it into the terrarium), and placed it into the soil of the glass container.

Once we re-planted the succulents, we added some more soil and packed it loosely around the roots of each plant.  Then, we added another layer of the stones to make it look pretty!

   
We encourage you to find a unique glass container of your own, visit your local farmer’s market, and make your own tutorial.  When you do, we’d love for you to share it with us!

Homemade Gifts

This year, like many in the past, I made a lot of the gifts I gave out for Christmas.  I know I teased you a little with last week's post of all the wrapping I did, but I didn't want to give away any clues to my family in case they were reading!  So here are some of the gifts I crafted:

I started off with this blue box that housed something in it's former life, then sanded it and painted it black

I bought some pens

a booklight

(I stole borrowed his a couple of years ago)

and found some great printables online including library cards

library envelope templates

bookplate templates

and some cute little list books (this gal also has some super cute books for sale in her etsy shop!)

and put it all together to make a little library kit for my son:

He and I share a love of books and feel a twinge of sadness that it all seems to be going digital, so I thought he'd appreciate this for the books he already owns.

When my son was in town for Thanksgiving, we went to a craft fair and he saw a scarf that resembled this one, but it was grey and it was crocheted.  He asked me if I could make one like it in black; I told him I could try knitting one and see how it turned out.  He loves it!  I'm so glad- it looks great on him, too.  It's an infinity scarf, so he can wear it like a chain, or double it up to keep warm. 

I decided to "tea stain" some coffee filters and flour sack towels for a few projects.  I live in an apartment, and it was 30 degrees out, so I opted to dry them right there in my kitchen window.  Once dry, the filters flattened out nicely and held a little texture to make these snowflakes that I used for wrapping the presents.

 And with the flour sacks, I ironed them and used freezer paper stencils to make these cute little kitchen towels for my sister:

Other than that, I just printed out some other "freebies" I got off the web, cut them out accordingly, and packaged them as nicely as I could so they could pass for a gift:)

We hope your holidays were filled with warmth and joy and that this new year brings everyone great happiness.

Hannah moved to a new home with her fiance and son over the New Year's weekend and her sewing studio is no longer in the dungeon (the basement)!  She couldn't be more excited- so no more pictures with bad lighting- at least from her house.  I'm still a night owl, so I'll have to work on that!

Cheers to a great new year!

Fun New Things

In the great words of rapper, Ice Cube, "Today was a good day" (I won't go into the rest of the lyrics because despite my recent love for this, I am truly a pacifist). Hannah came over early with the sweetest surprise- my nephew (it's been a while since I had surgery and I was having withdrawals)!  While he and I hung out, his momma took some great new shots of some of the things we are thinking about using for our press kit- samples, if you will. 

We set up the paints for the little guy, but I have restrictions on movement and couldn't bend over to reach the paper!  So I just sat there and encouraged him.  (Oh yeah, and although we believe he's a genius, his mom wrote his name on the paper)

Here are some pics of what we want to send with the Press Kit to the baby boutique- fabric basket, burp cloth, and washcloth- I LOVE the fabric (it may have a little something to do with my obsession with elephants)!

And here are two clutches- the flap material is a thick, grey cotton, but it sorta' comes out looking like denim- which it's not!  (no offense to denim-lovers!)

 and another clutch- I just love the lines and shape of this one and it has the cutest little button!

 And then... I took my walker (whom we've nicknamed "Bessie" out on the roof for a little sunshine; I've been stuck in the house too long!)

I even had enough strength to work on some creative musings of my own- this is a watercolor study of a "before" and "after" of my right hip:

What has your weekend looked like?  Any fun projects? Time with family?  Chillin' at home?  We'd love to hear how our readers spend their weekends!

Dollar Store Goodness

In an earlier post, I embarrassed Hannah by showing her messy workspace in a "before" pic.  But I redeemed myself by showing how greatly organized she got that space after a trip to the Dollar Store.  While finding different things to use in her studio, I, of course, found things that I just had to have too!  One of those being these cute little jars:

and I bought these bread tins to put things in (not dough!); they could be organizational, right?

and these dishtowels are almost too cute to use!  almost

and the sweetest find of all:

JUST KIDDING!  Okay,

Although I did live in Indianapolis, IN for 12 years, I never got the "bug" for racing.  I actually kinda' hate it, but I pride myself on being open-minded enough to support people with differing tastes.  Having said that- I plan on using this Dale Jr. piggy bank for an upcoming tutorial.   I promise to make it pretty!  Come back to see the new and improved piggy bank next week...

HaHa Hannah!

Okay, just a little ribbing from an older sister to a younger one- only because I have before pics of her workspace, and she doesn't have any incriminating pictures of mine! But I promised I wouldn't post the before pics without having the "after" ones handy.  So here are the before (and I will say that some were taken during the "in-between" stage when we were trying to figure out how to organize everything!):

this is what started it all...

I told her I couldn't work like this:)

this is when we thought we might need professional help

this is also when we got the bright idea to go to the Dollar Store for some organizational supplies

okay, starting to get somewhere...

much better

oh yeah, starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel

sorry this pic is a little blurry, but just look at those cute little jars from the $1 store that we used for spools of thread and rubber bands (they were so cute, I bought 3 of them for my studio but haven't yet figured out yet what to use them for!)

folded fabric! Folded!

Okay, all joking aside,  I am super-proud of my little sis.  The only reason her studio space got like that is because she's been cranking out products for our shop like crazy lately.  She's still working on back orders on purses.   But coming soon to the shop are some very stylish checkbook covers and business card holders.  I look forward to carrying a couple, myself!