DIY - Soda Bottle Terrarium

 

This is a fun nerdy little project that decided to do.  I haven't made one of these since I was a kid!  Here is a great tutorial that I found online in case you want some step-by-step instructions -

http://www.melindamyers.com/pdf/Create-Your-Own-Terrarium.pdf

I bought these little seed starter kits from Michael's clearance aisle a few months ago.  They're shaped like those plastic Easter eggs with a prize inside that you get out of quarter machines in gas stations or the grocery store lobby.  They came with a tiny little packet of dirt and a packet of seeds.  Mine were mini cactus.  Anyway, I planted them, added the water, and left them sitting out in the sun toward the end of the summer.  Months went by and nothing happened.  I brought them in when the weather turned cold, sat them in a window sill, and finally these cute little green guys started sprouting up!

I wanted to plant them in something bigger to give them a better chance to survive, but with it being November I didn't want to spend alot of money on a fancy terrarium, so I decided to use supplies that I already had around the apartment.  First I started with an empty Dr. Pepper 2 liter.  I removed the label and then drew a line approximately 4-1/2 inches up the bottle.  I started a hole with an Xacto knife and then used scissors to finish cutting the bottle in two.

The bottom layer of the terrarium is lined with rocks.  Given that I have a 75 gallon aquarium I have plenty of rocks/gravel lying around.  My turtles Herman and Cecil tend to eat anything (and everything!) so I can't put small rocks in their tank anymore.

The tutorial I used suggested a layer of gardener's carbon.  From everything I read aquarium activated carbon is the same thing so I just used some that I already had on hand.

*Unrelated side note:  I prefer the Rena Filstar to the Fluval aquarium filter, but Fluval carbon is cheaper at the pet store*

The third layer is potting soil.  Probably most of you still have some of this lying around in your garage or basement left over from earlier this year.

I transplanted all of the tiny cactus sprouts and then put the top of the bottle back on.  I cut 4 small slits around the edge in order to get the top to slide down over the bottom.  This was by far the most difficult part and it didn't fit perfectly, but again this is just a cheap project that I hope will last through until warm weather comes again.  I spritzed the soil and sides with water and put the cap back on.  I'm going to sit the terrarium in the window sill and let the sun help some of the water absorb back up out of the soil and create a nice warm self-contained environment.  If the insides get too foggy all you have to do is remove the cap for a day or so and let the inside air out for a bit.

Here's hoping that my cheap little project actually works!  Happy Monday everyone!

Pinterest in action! T-shirt organization

It's been a long time since I've blogged - almost 6 months!  I made the decision to go back to school in January so this has been quite a busy year.  I went to college straight of high school and the first time around got a BBA.  The problem that I've had is finding good-paying, long-term employment in my area.  So that's when the idea of second degree came up.  This spring I took a CNA class and at the same time took Microbiology and Medical Terminology at a local community college.  Summer term I took Anatomy & Physiology I and an Intro. to Psychology class.  This fall I'm currently enrolled in Anatomy and Physiology II and a Computer Concepts class.  My plan is to apply to Nursing school and become an RN.  I'd also be interested in Hospital Management somewhere down the road.  My sister, who is an RN and currently in NP school has become my mentor and is a constant source of help, praise, and motivation.

I also started back to work this past April, after being out of work since September of 2010.  I'm working right now as an elder caregiver, which has probably taught me more than any other job in my life.  One of my first client's was a wonderful lady who was in hospice care at her home.  I spent the last 48 days of her life with her, including her 85th birthday :)

Needless to say my blog posts may be few and far between in the coming months and years, but it is still my goal to keep the blog active.  I constantly take pictures of my craft projects so I have quite a few things to share, I just need the time to get everything uploaded.

I thought that I'd start with something that I actually worked on today.  Laundry is something that David and I have struggled to keep up with, especially now with me in school and both of us working full time jobs.  There is this endless cycle of one load in the washer, one in the dryer, and the few clothes that make it out of the dryer that aren't immediately worn have taken over our dining room table in a semi-folded, semi-laid-out way to at least avoid wrinkles.  More than once a load has had to be rewashed as it was forgotten in the washer.

One thing that I recently bought to try and help us was a laundry sorter.  I got this one from Walmart.  It could stand to be made a bit more sturdy, but other than that it serves it's purpose well.  Instead of throwing dirty clothes and towels all together into the laundry basket we now sort them right away into lights, darks, and towels/jackets/bigger items.  I keep the sorter in the bedroom (where most of the dirty clothes end up) and then when it's full I roll it right up to the washing machine.  The bags are the perfect size for one load of laundry.

So at this point the laundry is making it to where it needs to be, but is never quite making it back to its "home" in the closet or drawer.  On a side note, I'd like to learn how to make my own laundry detergent - so I've pinned a bunch of different recipes on pinterest, but that's for another post.

And now to get to the point (sorry for this being such a long winded post!)  I started thinking back to a time when I loved working with clothes.  This may sound weird, but when I worked retail I loved folding, sorting, and organizing clothes.  I worked in the junior department at Goody's for a few years and I can honestly say that I miss it.  I worked with great people and I enjoyed the job.  The thing is that they had great tools and techniques.  One of my favorite tools was the folding table.  You rolled it out on the floor, place the shirt on top, and then fold, fold, flip - you have the perfect folded shirt!  There was always a sense of accomplishment that came from a perfectly arranged display :)

So I thought maybe I could trick my brain into enjoying the same task at home!  I saved a pin months ago of this beautifully clever way to fold and stack shirts so that they are easily viewable in a dresser drawer.

Here is the link to the post that the above photo was pinned from:  http://www.darkroomanddearly.com/search/label/DIY%20Projects?max-results=5

I've been wanting to do this since I first saw the pin, but never could bring myself to sit down and "fancy fold" all of our t-shirts (David alone probably has over 100) until today that is when I remembered the folding table from Goody's.  I have no idea where you would buy a folding table, but I did find some nice t-shirt folding boards on amazon.com.  I currently have one sitting in my wish list just waiting until I have $25 worth of items so that I can use their free shipping feature!

In the meantime I looked online for a DIY t-shirt folder and this is the simplest easy to follow link that I found:  http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-T-Shirt-Folder.   I had an empty cardboard box laying around waiting to be taken out with the recyclables so I decided to give it a try.  The instructions from the link show the board being 23 inches wide and 30 inches long.  

My box wasn't quite long enough so my board ended up being about 19 inches long.

To fix this problem I just ended up folding my shirts up once in order to fit the board.  Then I folded the sleeves in and folded the rest as normal.  See how small the shirts on the left are folded?!

And here's the finished product!  I'm already in love!  Everything is folded so neatly and I can see exactly what each shirt is.  I will probably be able to fit all of my t-shirts into a single drawer, but David's are going to be a different story.  I'm happy to say though that my motivation for clothes organization seems to be back (for now!) and I hope that I can continue on this "fancy folded" path!

Happy Monday everyone - have a great day!