April Sewing Project// Arrow Tail Quilt

This month's project made me say a lot of bad words.

 I used this resource as guidance, but quickly struck out into my own territory when I realized that somehow-- despite using a template-- some of my cut pieces weren't the same size. *&%$.

I realized this after sewing some of them together. Double @!#$%.

I did my best to follow the instructions and try to make the rows as even as possible. Even still, this quilt leans like a cool kid.

While I was working on the binding I broke a needle off inside the bobbin carriage. It spun around inside a few times and ended up doing something funny to my machine because the replacement needles (yes, needles.) all scraped the sides of the entry and jammed the machine all over again. $#!*&. It's still broken. I haven't had the patience to get around to fixing it yet.

I haven't wanted to get a sewing project the ^%$@ over with yet this year. This one lay on my bedroom floor for almost an entire month. By the end I didn't care how it looked. I just wanted it over with. It turned out okay. A good first try, I'd say.

I love these pictures though. The rough memories of this project are already smoothing themselves over in my mind. Like, was it really that bad? 

I could totally do another one of those...maybe. 

I just have to fix my machine first. 

-Madelyn

March Sewing// here
February Sewing// here
January Sewing// here

Recycled Bird Feeder

One of my favorite sounds in the world, along with my dad's laugh and Corinne Bailey Rae's Put Your Records On is the sound of birds chirping. The quintessential springtime cacophony can be lost in the low hum of city sounds outside our back door.  I can see myself seriously taking up birdwatching as a hobby. Is that super dorky? I think it'd be fun. 

Low on funds, but in want of a bird feeder to attract more fine feathered friends to the vicinity, I set out to create one from recycled materials. It's quirky and cheap, the only thing I paid for was the birdseed. It'd also be a great craft to do with kiddos! 

You'll Need:

recycled half-gallon milk carton

knife

scissors

colored pencil 

hot glue
fishing wire 

paint (if desired) 

1. Cut a hole in the milk carton, about the size of the label on the front. I had to make an incision with a knife first, then use scissors to cut the rest.
2. Cut a small hole underneath the larger hole-- just big enough to insert colored pencil. Don't worry if the cut is too big.
3. Push colored pencil into small hole, top of pencil first so it touches the back of the milk carton. Reinforce with hot glue.
4. Cut length of fishing wire longer than you think you'll need. Wrap wire around the top of the milk carton several times and reinforce with hot glue.
5. Let dry. Test the colored pencil stand and fishing wire by holding the bird feeder by the wire and putting light pressure with your fingers on the colored pencil. Hopefully nothing gives. If not, reinforce with more hot glue.
6. Paint a funky design on milk carton!
7. Let dry.
8. Fill with birdseed, hang and enjoy.

Happy birdwatching and listening! 

Madelyn 

A Science-y Lesson About Your Houseplants// Also a DIY

House plants are a hot ticket lately. Every home tour on every blog and every interior design pinterest pin feature at least one funky planter filled with beautiful greenery.

I love being surround by stuff that's alive when everything outside is dormant and cold. I love propagating plants, finding or making funky containers to put them in, and placing them in sunny corners of my home. One of the things that might get lost in the plant craze is, well, how to keep them alive.

::  ::  ::

Plants are great decoration, but they aren't just decoration. Like I said before, they're alive and require a bit of care. Today, I'm gonna get a tad bit science-y in here with my explanations of what your plant needs. Stick with me. It makes sense. And there's a DIY at the end:

1. Your plant needs light. Different types of plants need different amounts of light, of course (you can consult that little plastic stick that's planted in the dirt next to your plant when you buy it or the quasi-omniscient Google to determine the exact sunlight recommendation). Photosynthesis, the process by which plants make the sugars that they use as food, requires sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide. This is what happens:

6O2 +6H2O +sunlight= glucose (sugar) + oxygen (the byproduct that we breath, yay!)

Another equation: 

no sunlight= no photosynthesis= no food =no plant

2. Your plant needs water. Water is a big part of the biological processes that keep plants (and lots of other living things. you. me.) alive. I have friends who'll say, "I love plants but I can't keep them alive!" My first question is usually "...well, do you water them?" Water is important. 

3. Your plant needs have good drainage. This is the thing I'll be talking about the most today because I think most people are at least familiar with the other two. 

Your plants need to be planted in a pot where excess water can drain from the bottom of the pot. A pot without drainage can trap water and cause the plant to rot or mold from the roots. 

These are some of plants I have around my apartment: a leggy aloe plant in a regular looking terracotta pot, a cactus in a tea tin, hoya in a painted pot, and a succulent in an old tomato can. Two of the pots already had holes in them, one I punched holes in with a hammer and nail, and the other I lined with rocks and gravel at the bottom. I love finding funky container to plant my plants in, but it's important to plant your plant in a livable container.

My mama gave me a cutting of this real-but-looks-plastic-y plant, which I think is a hoya plant and after rooting it, I stuck it in a plastic pot this past week.

I love how the hoya hangs over the edge of the pot. It kinda looks like curly hair so I decided to paint it white (purposely thick and haphazardous) and add eyes so it looks like a face. I'm not *super* great with a paintbrush though so I kept it simple. Eyes closed.

....so wait, what's the DIY part? That's it. There's not much to it: find a container you like or make a container you like. Think about how you need to create drainage, or how you want to decorate it. Do it. Plant the plant. Place in sunny spot. Water regularly. You can do it! I believe in you.

-Madelyn 

P.S. As a little girl and a military brat, I grew up watching a much tamer version of the soldier show mentioned in episode #549 of This American Life. This account had me crying I was laughing so hard.

March Sewing// Dress E from the Stylish Dress Book

 Hello friends!

I am so excited to share my March sewing project with you this week. I ordered Yoshiko Tsukiori's Stylish Dress Book: Wear With Freedom back in January. After flipping through page after beautiful page, I decided that Dress E would be my first make from this book.

It was a bit ambitious of me, as my last dressmaking attempt ended in disaster. I had never finished a neckline, sewed sleeves, or darts into a dress before so I am very proud that this dress turned out as well as it did.

Orange is a color that a lot of people (especially redheads) think they can't wear. It's my favorite color so awhile ago I said, "oh well!" to that silly restriction. I'd been holding onto this delicious sherbert-y floral fabric for a bit and this dress was the perfect opportunity to showcase it! However, I didn't have enough fabric to cut all the pieces from the same orange fabric so I cut the back panel from the same red polka-dot fabric that I bought for the pocket. It adds a bit of quirk to the dress. 

My absolute favorite part of this dress is invisible in these pictures. My beautiful aunt put together an extraordinarily thoughtful present for my birthday over the summer: it was my own sewing kit complete with some bits & pieces from her stash as well as from her mother's-- my grandmother's-- who passed away several years ago. I was going through my collection of thread and found this canary yellow thread labeled in my aunt's handwriting, "mom." That this dress is held together from something that belonged to my grandmother makes it extra special. 

This dress is part of my new year's resolution to grow this year. I'm growing my sewing skills by sewing one new thing a month. I hope you're enjoying following along! I love this project-- I already feel like I've grown a lot. 

Lots of Love, 

Madelyn 

January Project// Here

February Project// Here

Socks!

Fresh off the needles: my first pair of socks!

I've been dreaming about knitting my own socks since a friend gifted me my own cozy, homemade pair. Seriously-- is there anything more comfy and thoughtful than socks made just for you? I think not. 

It was tricky at first. I've learned to purl probably half a dozen times in my life. For some reason, I have selective amnesia in regards to this particular skill so knitting these socks meant relearning how to move the blasted needles in this unintuitive way several times over. Youtube became my good friend. My boyfriend's sister showed me how to shape the heel (thanks Cortney!) and the good people at Unwound in Blowing Rock, NC were incredibly helpful when I came in to their shop puzzled as to how I was to shape the gusset (does it take a village to knit a pair of socks? hmmm...) A lady sat down with me and gently pried the needles from my hand. She narrated as she knit across the instep, then handed the work back to me and gently guided me while I stumbled through the other side on my own. Like a knitty fairy godmother.

I liked, but didn't love, the pattern I used called Beginner Socks 9728 by Knitting Pure & Simple. My fairy godmother agreed, it wasn't the best pattern out there for clueless beginners like me. She recommended Knit Socks by Betsy McCarthy, which I will be picking up along with new yarn from Unwound as soon as some of the snow clears.

You can find my knitting to-do and done lists here. 

-Madelyn 

February Sewing// Cloth Napkins

Good morning!

In January, I shared with you that my new year's resolution for 2015-- in conjunction with my one little word for the year, grow-- was to increase my sewing skills by sewing one new thing a month. This month, I went with a relatively simple project in order to showcase a brilliant fabric I bought over the summer from 1canoe2. I only had a half yard to work with and had major anxiety about what to make with it. I called on good ol' instagram for suggestions: an apron? pillows? some friends suggested.

I pulled out my fabric scissors, fully intending to cut square pockets for a yellow apron, but I couldn't do it. It didn't feel right. So I stashed it away again and waited.

Smile and Wave has a sweet post that inspired me to turn this fun fabric into cloth napkins. I've wanted to make a move towards using more environmentally friendly paper products in my kitchen and this gave me just the nudge I needed, as well as practice in creating good-looking hems.

This is a simple, economical project. I've enjoyed using these a lot lately; it's nice to see the fabric out on display during dinner. They add a bit of homey flair to a simple meal (cough, leftover Mellow pizza, cough). I've been setting aside swaths of leftover fabric from projects to turn into more napkins.

Side note: I need to come up with a good system for storing clean napkins/storing dirty napkins before I can wash them. I'm thinking baskets? What works for you?

 

I'm hoping I might be ready to tackle a dress again next month! Cross your fingers for me.

Happy Sewing. :)

-Madelyn 

P.S. Along this journey already, I've found some really talented and inspirational seamstresses and bloggers including Ivy Arch (who I mentioned last month), Tilly and the Buttons, and Red Red Completely Red. Check 'em out.

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Good morning! 

Today, I'm sharing my homemade laundry detergent recipe with y'all. I've made my own detergent for years because it's economical and it makes me enjoy doing laundry just a teensy bit more (I still don't really like it. Who does?) After using this recipe and seeing how well it works, I'm a little flabbergast looking at the ingredients of commercial detergents. I can't pronounce half the things on the back-- and why are they such bright colors? 

This recipe is much cheaper and environmentally friendly than those commercial detergents, which is super nice because those two don't always go together. I really love when friends come over while I'm making a batch because it's so easy to spare a jar and let them try some. I've never had a friend not like it. 

You'll Need:

1 gallon hot water 

1/2c Borax

1/2c Washing Soda

1/4 Bar Ivory Soap, grated 

10 drops Lavender Essential Oil (optional)

2-3 Empty Laundry Detergent Containers 

-Start with 1/2 gallon water in large pot on stove with medium heat. 

-Grate 1/4 bar of ivory soap directly into pot, gently stirring occasionally, trying to make as few bubbles as possible. 

-Add 1/2c Borax and 1/2c Washing Soda 1/4c at a time, stirring in between each addition. Stir until water begins to feel thicker- starting to become gelatinous. 

-Add 1/2 gallon water. 

-Let sit for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

-Add 10 drops of essential oil (optional) 

-Remove pot from heat and let sit for 10-15 minutes to cool. 

-Pour liquid into empty, clean laundry detergent containers and let sit uncapped until completely cooled. 

*If you don't have a pot that can hold a gallon of water, you can also do steps 1-3 and 5, then pour liquid into containers, heat another 1/2 gallon of water, then add that water to the container too. If you have more than one container, just make sure you add equal amounts of the first 1/2 gallon and the second 1/2 gallon to each container. :)* 

To use: 

-Shake container before use, detergent tends to separate. 

-Use about 1/2c detergent with each load. 

*Also, you can use the detergent immediately after making it, while it's still hot, if necessary.*

Big hugs and happy washing, 

Madelyn 

DIY// Flower Wreaths

One of the items I get the most comments about on instagram and in blog comments are these awesome flower wreaths that hang above our couch. They were made by my roommate Devon and she was planning on doing a guest post explaining how to DIY them but she just got engaged (!!!) and now has six months to plan the wedding. Understandably, she's a bit busy but I got her permission to create the post myself. 

You'll need:

-Small paper plates
-Regular paper plates
-Old dictionary or other book
-Hot glue
-Tape
-Paint in the color of your choice (I used Pollen by Martha Stewart)
-Fishing wire

The first step of this process is a significant time investment because you have to spend time ripping pages out of the dictionary or other book and rolling them so they come to a point.

The best way to do it is to spend some time figuring out the size and shape of the roll you like, practicing it a few times, then sitting down and watching a movie (I recommend Star Wars) or two. I started in the left corner and rolled over towards the right, as I rolled, the paper naturally curved back to the left creating the rolls with the nice point. Tape rolls into place.

After making all the rolls, take a paper plate and your hot glue gun and glue the rolls onto the plate by flattening the paper rolls at the bottom part and hot glueing them in a circular fashion onto the plate. You'll end up with something that looks like this:

Then, you're going to do the exact same thing again, on the inside, placing the rolls and glueing them so the points fall between the one's you've already glued down. You'll get a nice, full looking flower.

If you want another layer, you can flip the flower over and glue more on the back. This step is optional. In the first and last photograph of this post, only the center flower has this back layer which is why they're both bigger than the other two next to them.

Then, once you're done creating the back layer, cut a hole in the top of another paper plate and reinforce the hole with tape and string fishing wire. This is your hook that you'll hang the wreath off of. Hot glue this plate to the back of your wreath behind your third layer of rolls.

Flip the wreath back over and you'll have a nice space in the center to fit a small painted paper plate.

Let dry, then hang!

Happy Crafting! 

-Madelyn 

January Sewing// Grandma Pants/ Teacher Scrubs

Hello again!

On the first, I shared my one little word resolution for the new year: grow. In the post, I mentioned that one thing I liked about this way of making resolutions is that it's broad but I can make specific (and more traditional goals) that go along with it. This is the first of these specific goals: to sew one new thing a month. I want to grow my sewing skills this year.

My aunt is an incredibly talented and creative seamstress. I am forever inspired by the blogger Ivy Arch's dressmaking adventures. I showed my aunt a dress she made and my aunt created something similar based on some of her pictures and links. I admire these ladies immensely and I want to make this year the year that I make a concentrated effort to grow my skills in this area.

I completed my first sewing project of 2015 just yesterday: these pants! They're a tad bit on the so-ugly-they're-cute side, somewhere between grandma pants and teacher scrubs, but on cloudy January days like today the bright (obnoxious?) yellow makes me smile.

This was my first time reading and completing a project entirely independently. In the past I've had help from my aunt or my mom reading the pattern and they've gone back and checked my pins before I sewed (even still my seam ripper and I became close friends).

I epically screwed up a dress pattern about two weeks ago by missing a step cutting the pattern and not realizing it until much later. My confidence was a tad shaken when I started this project, but I think it helped me slow down and check myself when I was cutting and pinning. While I was working, I kept thinking about this quote by John Green:

"I hate the idea that, when it comes to books and learning, 

hard is often seen as the opposite of fun. 

It's strange to me that we should be so quick to give up 

on a book or a math problem when we are so will to grapple, 

for centuries if necessary, 

with a single level of angry birds." 

Noah will sit on the couch and grapple with a math problem for hours, muttering to himself and scribbling on sheets of paper. He was doing precisely this while I sewed: considering a research question that he'll be presenting on at a conference in San Antonio soon. I admire his energy and quiet persistence...and the fact that he was enjoying himself. When I felt myself growing frustrated after reading a direction for the third time and rechecking my pins before I sewed, I looked over to his work area in the corner. He'd be sitting there, thinking, and having a blast. Challenge is good, I would think, hard is fun.

The whole process only took me about four hours (!!!) and I am looking forward to making more of these in the future. I'm thinking maybe a rayon or lighter, more moveable fabric? How hard (fun!) is that to sew with?

 Happy January! 

-Madelyn 

Recycled Office Crafts

I have this weird thing about recycling. Specifically, about reusing and reducing. It's like a game for me, where I get points for recycling things like old t-shirts, cans, and cereal boxes. I hope this trait will serve me well when I start teaching and have to stock my classroom on a shoestring budget (and I also hope you aren't reading this and going weiirrdddooo). Today, I am sharing one of the first classroom/office crafts I've done in preparation for organizing my school space.

Cereal Box Filing

You'll Need:
-Scissors
-Cereal Box(es)
-Fabric*
-Hot Glue or Elmer's Glue**

Personally, I plan to use these to store interactive notebooks (composition notebooks my students will keep in the classroom) but you could (depending on the size of the cereal box) use these to store notebooks, loose paper, or folders. Just make sure the depth of box is large enough to fit your materials.

1. Trim off top flaps of the cereal box. Cut face of Cereal box at a diagonal, cut short side of box straight then cut back of box (other face side, where the games/other advertisements sometimes are) at a diagonal parallel to the one on the first face of your box. You can also guess-timate this: it doesn't matter that much.

2. Hot glue fabric to box, making sure to keep the bottom edge of the fabric flush with the bottom edge of the box.

3. Trim off excess fabric and fold edges over to the inside of your box, hot glue into place.

Done! An easy place to store student notebooks.

*I used half a yard of fabric to cover three small mini-wheat boxes.
**I did one box with Elmer's glue and it works, but I'm worried it won't last as long as the hot glue.

Pencil Container

You'll Need:
-Can(s)
-Scrapbook Paper
-Ribbon
-Hot Glue

I chose a bigger can because I'll be going through pencils much quicker than the average person (hello sixth graders).

1. Remove paper label from can.

2. Measure height of can without the top and bottom border (where the label originally was).

3. Measure circumference of can.

3. Cut scrapbook paper to size.

4. Carefully glue paper around can, making sure to keep paper flush with the top border of the can.

5. Measure two lengths of ribbon (the circumference of your can), leaving an extra quarter inch or so to overlap.

6. Hot glue ribbon to top and bottom edges of can in the same way you did #4.

7. Celebrate because you now have an awesome utensil holder!

That's it! Super easy, and super cheap- I think both of these crafts together cost me a grand total of $3. Hope you are inspired to rethink and re-use what you intend to recycle this week. :) 

-Madelyn

Late/Bad Pictures/Life Happens/Halloween 2014

Hi internet. This post is like a week late. Sorry, life happened.

I had it scheduled to post on Halloween. Most of it was written... and then....well, I started a new internship. It's amazing (!!!!) but takes up the majority of my time and mental space and my Halloween plans changed drastically- rather than coming home from my internship, dressing up and taking pictures before going to a Halloween party I wore my costume to my internship (there were several little Elsa who were very excited to see me- one memorable quote: "*gasp* did you know you're my sister??") and left immediately from my internship to pick up Noah where the two of us drove down the mountain to my family's house to take my youngest brother trick-o-treating.

We hopped out of the car, greeted my family and ate pizza. Just as the sun was setting I remembered: Ah! Blog pictures! We snapped pictures just as the first trick-o-treaters arrived at the door (sorry for the grainy, dark pictures. I told myself I would put on the costume again and take better pictures. But it's Monday night and that hasn't happened yet... and isn't likely to....c'est la vie).

Thank you, Noah for taking these pictures. It's not easy dating a blogger, you rock.

Also, he presented (and won an award! So proud.) the next morning at a math conference, which is why our Halloween plans changed in the first place.  

I decided to be Ana from the popular Disney movie Frozen a few weeks after seeing the movie when a friend told me, "Ana reminded me so much of you!" The costume pieces ended up being a tad bit pricey- about $27 dollars in total, which is more than I wanted to spend, but I am happy with the result.

1. I bought a black, sleeveless top and a blue long sleeve shirt from a thrift store: $7ish.
2. 1 5/8 yard of blue fabric, 2 yards gold ribbon, pink and green puff paint from my local fabric store: $20ish.

I started with hot glueing the gold ribbon around the neckline and armholes of the black shirt. Then I freehanded the top with a flower-y design (I googled Ana from Frozen Costumes for reference before starting).

2. I used the Kwik Sew pattern K4042 for the skirt, the same pattern I used to make my my very first skirt, but before sewing it I decorated each panel of the skirt with more flower-y stuff.

3. I cut the neckline of the blue shirt so it couldn't be seen over the top of the black shirt. The I decided not to use the blue shirt because I wanted to wear the pink sweater (shown in picture at the top of post.)

4. I paired the skirt and shirts with white tights and what Noah calls my "dutch wife shoes" (aka danskos, aka the most comfortable shoe ever).

I hope you had a fantastic Halloween. And that you danced to Thriller (or listened to it) at least once. And that you don't have any cavities.

And that you now feel entitled to play Christmas music (it snowed here. I feel completely justified).

Here's to November! 

Love, 

Madelyn 

P.S. last year's Halloween costume can be found here. :)

Make This: Framed Earring Holder

Hey there!

I'm sharing a quick and easy (and cute) jewelry holder for you today. Lately, crafting has become a huge stress reliever for me so I've been working on several little projects and I'm looking forward to sharing more with you! About two years ago, I got rid of most of my earrings because they were broken/I didn't wear them anymore/they hurt my sensitive ears. I didn't miss them, and didn't want to buy more until a few weeks ago when I was at a consignment store the other day and found an absolutely adorable pair that were calling my name. I bought them and wore them the next day. And now I want to buy all the earrings. And, of course, I'll need a place to store them so I came up with an earring frame. It's a super cute, and pretty cheap project (less than $10 if you can find a cheap thrifted frame!).

Here's what you'll need:
-a cheap thrifted frame
-paint
-paintbrush
-a roll of screen (about $6- found at home depot or lowes home improvement)
-scissors

1. Find a frame and paint it whichever color tickles your fancy.

2. Remove the picture and the backing of the frame.

3. Cut a screen (like the kind on your storm door) down to size and hot glue it onto the back of the frame. Wait for the glue to dry.

4. Ta-da!

Happy Crafting! 

Madelyn 

I Have a Recycling Problem: Reusable Shopping Bag Tutorial

I don't consider myself a very sentimental person (I grew up moving every other year, there's not a ton of room for sentiment in the back of a moving van), but I am a little ridiculous when it comes to recycling. Empty bottles= vases, Old glass jars= drinking glasses or, if it still has the lid, a container for my ever expanding sourdough starter. Old Altoids tin? Perfect bobby-pin keeper. Old t-shirts? Over the summer, pre-housebreaking we used them as blankets for Oliver's crate (the breeder recommended it as a cheap, disposable way to keep him warm, and a bonus: he got used to our scent really quick). I purged my closet over the summer and found that, even after donating half my unwanted t-shirts to the cause of puppy toilet training I still had a ton of t-shirts that I didn't wear, but didn't want to throw away. I wasn't feeling nostalgic about the shirts-- my aunt had graciously turned some of the shirts that did have sentimental value into a t-shirt blanket last year. It just seem so wasteful to just throw them away. I brought a few to goodwill and kept a few more, certain that I could find a repurpose for them.

I also really like the idea of reusable shopping bags, but somehow always forget mine at home when I go to the store. Or I use them to bring aforementioned t-shirts to goodwill and forget to ask for the bag back. Consequently, I've felt like I've had a shortage of reusable bags this year. It didn't take me long to decide that I wanted to turn these t-shirts into grocery bags.

It did, however, take me a long time to get around to doing just that. These t-shirts have been sitting in my fabric basket for nearly two months. Which is crazy considering how easy this tutorial actually is.

Here's what you'll need:

-T-shirts
-Fabric Scissors (if you don't have a pair of these and are interested in getting into sewing- make these one of your first purchases (after a sewing machine of course) you won't regret it)
-Pins
-Sewing Machine with thread of choice.

1. Turn the shirt inside out. Pin along the bottom hem of the t-shirt. If you want the bottom of the bag to curl upwards you can turn that last pin up about 45 degrees (I eyeballed it). Sew the hems together. Cut off excess fabric.
2. Turn the shirt right side out. Cut off sleeves.
3. Cut off neckline and as much fabric as you want to make the handles. You can see I lined up the fabric I took off with the bottom of the arm holes.

4. *Optional* You can cut horizontal slits in the upper two thirds of the bag (I messed up and cut them all over the green bag on the far right hand side. I haven't used it yet because I am worried stuff will fall out).

These bags are super easy to make and they hold a lot of stuff, as evidenced by the first picture. In just one bag I had two onions, two head of cauliflower, a bag of carrots and a bag of potato chips.

Easy enough! Happy crafting, now I just hope I can remember to bring these to the store the next time I go!

 Love, Madelyn 

Make: Recycled Can Plant Container

I would like to start this post off with an itemized list of a few of my favorite thing: 

1) Black Olives. Black olives on my pizza. Black olives on my salads. Black olives straight out of the jar. Black dogs named Oliver.

2) Plants 

3) Recycling 

This posts combines three of my favorite things because I thought about transplanting some succulents I had propagated (more on that another time) into slightly larger containers. But I didn't have any "normal" plant containers. I had an old can sitting beside the sink because I couldn't bring myself to just throw it in the recycling bin a week ago...it had a purpose-- I just wasn't sure what it was yet. Boom. Perfect. Repurpose found.  

This is a super simple tutorial. You'll need: 

-a recycled can

-a small succulent or other plant with a baby root system

-a hammer

-a nail

-rocks

-potting soil 

1) Take the nail and the hammer to the bottom of the can. Punch anywhere from 12-15 holes in the bottom of the can. 

2) Lay rocks on the bottom of the can. This is to help with drainage. 

3) Add potting soil, and small plant (I used a succulent I'd propagated earlier this summer). The small, immature plant is important because you don't want the root system to rot in this pot-- even if the plant seems tiny on the top, underneath it might have big, mature roots. If so, pick a tinier plant. I don't intend on keeping this succulent in this pot for a long time. As soon as it grow a little, I'll need to transfer it into another pot so it can keep growing.

4) Water the plant. And let the excess water drain out the bottom of the can. 

5) After it's drained, find a cute place to display your adorable new planter! 

Happy Tuesday! 

-Madelyn