Wooden Garage Door Transformed Into Small Greenhouse
Posted Oct 29, 08 -Filed Under garden (gardening info and eco-friendly project ideas), reuse door, wooden garage | 1 Comment
I built this small greenhouse out of a salvaged wooden garage door some years ago. I used the existing windows on the door for the front and the top of this box: there is no bottom. Since then, I can really extend my growing season. It warms up nicely inside but when the temperature really starts to drop outside it helps to insulate around the pots with leaves or straw.
How to:
Since the garage doors are made already in strips approximately 20 inches wide, making this box is fairly easy. Take the door apart and cut three 54 inch long sections: top, front, and back. The front and the top of the box should be made from the part of the door with windows and the back without. Also, cut two more pieces 18.5 inches wide and 22 inches tall: the sides. I can’t remember why now but I put two strips along the bottom front and along the back top (see arrows) making a combined height of 22 inches.
Screw the four sides of the box together with exterior wood screws. Next place the top on but do not attach: this design doesn’t use hinges. Use a stick to let out excess heat when needed. The box opens completely for planting and harvesting. Paint or stain the whole thing inside and out. I topped my box with a piece of Plexiglas. This gives an added layer of insulation. To attach the Plexiglas to your top, pre-drill holes in it first making sure that your exterior grade wood screws can freely fit through. I learned the hard way that the fiberglass will start to crack if the drill hole isn’t big enough.
A good place to keep your small greenhouse is up against your house. It will be slightly warmer here. Pick a spot that gets a lot of sun. I like it on my deck for quick harvesting and convenient watering. I use mine in the spring to get an early start growing seedlings. And I use it in the fall and winter to grow lettuce and other cold hardy plants. I also love to keep a parsley plant growing most of the winter: I love fresh parsley. During the deepest part of the winter I store potted plants that have died back but can’t stand excessive cold.
Halloween Mood Lighting: Make Crafty Lights Out Of X-rays!
Posted Oct 25, 08 -Filed Under crafts (recycled materials), holiday crafts: Halloween (recycled stuff), party décor (recycle and upcycle), reuse glass bottles/ jars, reuse lamp or other lighting, reuse x-rays | 2 Comments
X-rays from my husband’s head MRI and x-ray from his broken elbow turned out to be perfect for making Halloween themed décor. X-rays by their very nature are great when put in front of a light so it wasn’t much of a leap to come up with these lighting ideas. You will need to ask around for unwanted x-rays. Your friends will think you are weird but who cares? Or, ask your vet if they have any animal x-rays that they will be throwing away.
Night light
How to: Cover a night-light with a portion of an x-ray. I used a creepy head x-ray because of the eyeballs at the bottom.
Candle Votive
How to: Cut the x-ray in a rectangle of desired proportions. The ones pictured here are 5 ½ inches tall. Bring the sides around and overlap a little. You could use a stapler or glue but I used a paper clip on the top and one on the bottom because I can easily unroll them for storage. Inside you can use small jars to put in tea lights or a votive. Be careful of where you place your candles because the bottom of the jars can get hot.
These x-rays are creepy looking and therefore provide great mood lighting for a Halloween party!
Lamp shade
How to: Get a second -hand lamp and use the shade as a stencil to cut out a new shade out of an x-ray. Use black electrical tape along the seam. Also, you can use the tape to trim around the top and bottom of the lampshade.
bones +skulls+innards = Halloween
Easy Ghost String-Lights Made From Recycled Single Serving Milk Bottles
Posted Oct 23, 08 -Filed Under crafts (recycled materials), holiday crafts: Halloween (recycled stuff), party décor (recycle and upcycle), reuse bottles, plastic | Leave a Comment
How to:
Set aside suitable single serving milk bottles. Make sure you wash them out really well; old milk smells really bad. I got these bottles at Chick-Fil-A. If you don’t eat at that restaurant, ask all your friends to save them for you or find a similar bottle elsewhere. Depending on your needs, you may want to start collecting well in advance. (I’ve been known to save all year or longer for projects.)
Paint on the faces with black acrylic paint and let dry. Your kids will want to make some too! I accidently discovered that if you paint the face and let it dry a little but not all the way, you can use your brush to slide around the paint to make even scarier faces.
When your paint is dry, use a hole- punch to make two holes at the top of the bottles (see arrows in picture). Then use scrap ribbon or wire to attach your ghosts to a set of string-lights: use the holes you just made. Put one ghost over each light.
DIY Pear Chips: A Delicious Way To Preserve Home-grown Pears
Posted Oct 13, 08 -Filed Under garden (gardening info and eco-friendly project ideas), recipes | Leave a Comment
I made these from the pears growing in my yard.
When we moved into our house, we were lucky to find that the previous owners had planted a pear tree. But what to do with all the pears? -dehydrate! I love these dried pear chips. I think they taste even better as chips: probably because the flavor concentrates when dried. The nice thing about dried fruit is that it is very portable. Also, they are a healthy snack to give the kids.
How to: cut off the top and bottom of the pear and thinly slice. No need to peel. You can dry the slices in a food dehydrator but I don’t have one yet. I lay out the fruit in a single layer on cookie sheets and put the trays in the oven set very low. It should heat the air but not cook them. Store the dried chips in a covered container. They don’t need to be stored in the fridge but I often do because they last longer.
The purpose of this post is to inspire you to make some of these tasty treats yourself.
How To Fold Origami Gift Boxes: Easy To Follow Photo Instructions
Posted Oct 12, 08 -Filed Under crafts (recycled materials), organize, party favors, reuse paper | 1 Comment
Origami gift boxes are very versatile: organize your little things, use as party favors, or hold keepsakes. You needn’t spend a lot of money for wrapping paper; they look cool as is. You don’t even have to buy origami paper. All you need is to keep your eyes open for some cool paper just begging to be put to good use. Magazines usually aren’t made with thick enough paper for these boxes but sometimes their covers are.
I made this box from a brightly colored poster found at a garage sale. It was damaged but I only needed part of the poster to make the box.
Cut the bottom square ¼ inch smaller than the top square. (I used an 8.5 inch square to make the top and an 8.25 inch square to make the bottom.
Remember to line up corners and sides exactly and run the back of your nail across the folds.
1. To make this origami box you will need a perfectly square piece of paper. A paper cutter works great but if you do not have one you will need to measure carefully and then cut with scissors.
2. Before doing your first fold, place your square so the back side is up (the good side is face down). Then bring opposite corners together and make a nice crease.
3. Unfold and bring other opposite corners together and make a nice crease.
Your paper should now have fold lines in the shape of an x.
4. Again, with the back side up, fold your paper in half vertically.
5. Unfold. Fold paper in half horizontally. This means fold the bottom corners up to the top corners. (I forgot to take this picture: sorry.)
6. Unfold. Next fold in one of the corners. Point the corner to the exact center of the paper. You will know where that is by looking at the fold lines that you already made.
7. Fold in another corner.
8. Fold in another corner.
9. Fold in last corner.
10. Fold the bottom up to the center as shown in the picture.
11. Fold the top: they should meet in the center.
12. Unfold. Fold one side to the center.
13. Fold the other side. They should meet in the center.
14. Unfold last two folds. Pull open opposite corners.
15. Fold up two (opposite) sides. These will be two of the sides of your box.
16. To finish your box you will have to fold the paper in as shown.
17. I thought another view might be helpful. This is the hardest step to figure out. Hold your soon- to-be box top in the same orientation as shown in the photo and you should be fine.
18. Bring the corners up and around to the inside.
19. Completed box top.
20. Follow the same instructions to make a bottom for your box; remember to cut the square for your box bottom ¼ inch smaller that the square you cut for the top of your box.
Project ideas: Valentine card reused to make origami box, vintage Valentine embellished origami box, and magazine page made into Valentine gift box.
Something Eating Your Cabbage and Broccoli Plants? Cabbage White Butterflies Are Often To Blame
Posted Oct 1, 08 -Filed Under garden (gardening info and eco-friendly project ideas) | Leave a Comment
If you are trying to grow cabbage and/or broccoli in your garden (maybe for the first time), it is likely that you have found these caterpillars devouring your would-be dinner. These almost cute green guys are the caterpillar of the Cabbage White butterfly and they are hungry. They love to eat cabbage, broccoli, and other brassicas.
We decided to try growing cabbage as part of our fall garden. Well it didn’t take long before holes started appearing on the leaves. I handpicked the critters off (and fed them to the chickens) but was surprised at how many I collected. I haven’t resorted to chemicals yet. Apparently there is an organic Bt (Bacillus Thuringiensis) spray called Dipel (Brand name) which is a microbial spray that will kill the caterpillars. I’m still hoping I won’t have to resort to spray; even if it is organic.
Check your plants daily and hand pick off any of the caterpillars you find. You must check daily!
Other critters like to munch on your greens such as slugs (see my post on slugs) and other caterpillars. You will need to pick those off too.