Rethinking Plant Pots: A Mother's Day Idea

Yesterday, before the freakish snow storm hit, I was outside building a planter for my "surprise" mom's day gift, a climbing rose. I ask for a plant of some kind every year. But back to the snow, and I'm forced to wait longer and also forced to face the facts that my area doesn't have a really long growing season. I, however, do have a long growing season... I want herbs in my cooking ... solution? I need an indoor herb garden.

A quick trip through the snow and slush to the local thrift store to look for fun ideas. Plant pots are boring and expensive. I found these cute popcorn bowls and decided to turn them into a window herb garden.

You can make these too. Maybe the mom in your life would love such a wonderful, thoughtful gift.

You will need to go with imagination to your thrift store. Old ceramic bowls, jugs, metal buckets, old sealing pots, large stock pots, old suitcases, etc. If you're planning an indoor herb garden or flowers; make sure it suits the room and FITS ON THE WINDOW LEDGE.

You'll need a dremel drill bit for ceramics or tile, a drill, patience and alot of ideas for what to put in your pot.

You want to drill a hole right through "made in china". This allows for excess water to drain out of your planter. If it's as small of a bit as I'm using, 2 or 3 holes might be a better idea. It takes a full battery, and some patience. It will take a few minutes to go through. Remember NOT to press too hard if you are using china or a more fragile bowl.

I paid $15.00 for my 4 pots. That works out to $3.75 each, that's alot cheaper than most plant pots. I have color and fun on my kitchen window to remind me to use my fresh herbs as they grow. Spice up your choices, add edible flowers and let some herbs go to flower. Remember, you can get great rewards from your small window ledge even if you just plant them for the lovely smell. Good luck and enjoy. I'd love to see what creations you've come up with. Come back and see the self watering pot I'm making next from ... almost free.

Barnwood and Benches

As I've said before, there was no more budget for the decor of our back yard. "Necessity is the mother of invention."

I see these falling down sheds, barns and houses all over the place on the Prairies. They've always held a fascination for me. One day while driving out to the farm I remembered how much I had loved the old barn wood furniture I'd seen at the "Death Race".

2+2=

I asked around and found someone who was willing to let me help my self to the pile of wood that was already falling off an old barn. With help from my MIL, I was able to bring what I needed to our home in the city and start to work on a plan.

Take the time to evaluate each board. Remove all nails before you start. Cut off any rotting or soft pieces of wood. You don't have to give up a whole board just because part of it is rotten. Cut and use what is good. You'd be surprised at the amount of wood you'll still have.

Pick a pattern or plan.

I will not try to recreate what I did but there are loads of ideas and plans on line to help you decide what kind of furniture you would like. I, personally, just went with plain and strong.

You'll need at least an extra set of hands and a skill saw or chop saw. I always screw rather than nail my items together.

As you can see from my photo, my bench is very rustic but not very fancy. There are soooo many ways to use barn wood. I will show you another project soon.

Old Jeans, reusing .. let's get started.

I always hear of people who have been saving old blue jeans in their basements because they just KNOW someday they will drag them out and make them into something. Yup, I'm one of those people too. Time to start sorting and choosing ... the next few posts will deal with jeans.

Your assignment, should you choose to accept it: is to get out those jeans and find a large space to work in.

You'll want to get rid of any part of the jeans that has paint, oil, grease or a stain that is too difficult to remove. I'm not THAT much of a junker... you do have to throw somethings out. Look over each pair, backs of legs tend to get less wear and tear than knees. If the knee is blown out or worn so much that you can see the shape of the knee in it .. that can go too. Decide if you want to work with jean bums or not. Throw them out if you don't want them. If you're not sure... then set them aside in a separate pile.

Best cutting tool I know of is the rotary cutter. For this job you want a new blade, a self healing mat and a straight edge of some kind.

First cut off all the legs.

Cut up the crotch, so the legs will lay out flat.

Cut below worn knees or yucky parts . Keep backs of legs if the fronts aren't worth redeeming.

Make piles of jeans according to weight. Thicker jeans, stretch jeans, light weight jeans.

Once you've done this... you can start filling trash bags for the rag bin. The good pieces of fabric you'll have to find boxes to store them in until you've picked one of the projects. It might seem like a lot but it's going to take alot less room and be easier to store than when they were whole and in a big pile.

Keep an eye open for the blue genes post.

Tea cups to Bird feeders

Free standing Bird feeder on any kind of post, support for tomato plants or even a fence post.

The hanging version seems to attract the most birds for me. I'm not sure if that is because the birds feel safer in the tree or if they actually like the swinging.

Real Junkers know that you don't throw anything away. You either find a new use for it, take it apart and use the parts or give it to someone who will. So begins my story of how I'm working through my lack of funds for making my home more comfortable.

Our backyard is a lovely place, or it will be. We're just working on landscaping and finding that the cost is more than we imagined.

My Grandmother left me a box full of mismatched tea cups. They are lovely but I could not find a way to sell them or find them good homes. I think a little of me wanted to keep some around ... so here is my solution.

We needed bird feeders for the various birds who visit our yard. Kind of a "Tweet-cup" solution presented itself to me. Plus they're a hit as gifts.

In the first picture you see that the bird feeder is on a stand, in the second you see we've hung it from a tree. Choices are endless really.

To Make a Tweet-cup

You'll have to find some tea cups made of china that don't cost too much. This is a good time for garage sales or your mother's basement.

You need a hole through the bottom of the tea cup and the saucer that allow the rainwater to drain out. I also make a hole near the bottom of the cup on the side (in case the bottom one gets blocked). Also a hole in the lowest part of the fancy part of the saucer.

To make these holes you need a electric drill and a Dremmel tile/ceramic bit. I found dremmel drill bits worked best and I had less breakage when I use them. You will need to press down on the cup to drill, however you don't want to be pressing with the hand that steadies the cup because the counter pressure may break the china when you make the hole. Some drills and bits will heat up alot, so blow off the dust and let it cool if needed.

Once the holes are made, you're almost there. I have still to find the perfect adhesive but Crazy glue works very well for the short term. Other adhesives I've tried are either too messy or stay too sticky. Crazy glue will let go after several months of weathering but it will not damage your cup.. you can store it for winter and reglue it in spring.

For Hanging cups you need a few more holes. You'll want to purchase or make some kind of hanger. I've choosen what I found at my Dollar store. These are made for hanging pots and is made of chain and hooks. For me, that means 3 more holes. These holes I spaced evenly around the edge of the of the saucer. Be careful to leave enough room from the edge that you won't weaken the china. Now you can insert the hooks, tighten them so they don't come out and hang up your newest creation.

Congratulations on reusing instead of tossing those old tea cups.

Get creative... Please do let me know how your creations turned out and what other dishes you tried.