15 houseplants to improve indoor air quality. DIY Decorating: How to Create a Branch Chandelier | Casa Diseño. 24 Clever DIY Ways To Light Your Home. DIY Yarn Light. I am not sure on the source for this photo, sorry! I love the look of the light fixture in the photo above, but I am pretty sure it would cost me over 3 months of morgage payments! Then I saw this idea over here at Pickles and it has been on my craft list ever since. There are not many ceiling fixtures in our old house and the ones we do have are ceiling fans. One of those ceiling fans is in Gray's room and thought I was out of luck at trying to do anything somewhat cool to it, because the fan is very practical on hot summer days!
But then I saw this over at House Tweaking- and immediately thought of the yarn light off my craft to do list- so I combined the two ideas into one! DIY Yarn Light What you'll need: A medium sized beach ball- I found one at Walmart for $3.95 Base to sit the ball on- I used a small bowl Vaseline Ball of Yarn Large bowl 2 bottles of white glue 1 cup of corn starch 1/2 cup of water Lots of newspaper Clear spray paint/adhesive 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Linking up over here: DIY: Yarn Ball Decor | Weddings Illustrated. This yarn ball DIY comes to us from Ruche , a vintage-inspired clothing boutique. They had originally used the spheres as a background for one of their winter lookbooks, but the yarn balls could easily be converted to wedding decor. The final products could be hung as interesting light fixtures or used as whimsical centerpieces. Materials : Balloons School glue Scissors Yarn Steps: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Here is a sample of the spheres used as chandeliers: Source: Pinterest. Wine Bottle Design | Recycled Wine Bottle Torch | Package Design Firm | Sustainable Packaging. 08.09.09 | by Erik Anderson Whether it’s product branding, package design or projects for ourselves, we’re pleased when we find a solution that’s very effective and creative, while keeping resources to a minimum.
This idea is very inexpensive idea and it’s a great way to recycle a wine bottle. See how this simple idea inspired this brand and wine bottle design. It’s been a record year for mosquitoes here in Indianapolis, Indiana and I’d been wanting to add some Tiki-esque torches to the patio to combat the little buggers, and add a little ambiance.
Here’s what you’ll need. Empty Wine Bottle (Use any bottle as long as it’s glass and the neck is 1” in diameter. Helpful Tools: Channellocks, adjustable wrench, hacksaw, power screwdriver, and a funnel. Safety Note: This is for outdoor use only. Building Instructions The Hanger Decide where you want to mount your Recycled Bottle Torch. The Bottle Carefully and tightly wrap the 1/2-inch end of the Coupling with your Teflon Tape. Good Luck! -Erik. How to cut glass. I posted a picture about 1 week ago on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter of me cutting glass using just string. I got LOT’S of requests for a tutorial on how I DID THIS!
So here it is. FINALLY! You will be able to learn how to cut glass. I want to warn you. It’s best to triple your yarn because it will burn longer! Soak it GOOD! I like to tie my yarn where I want my glass to “cut” then quickly pour polish remover over the string again. Get a big bowl with ice and water ready. VERY IMPORTANT! Slowly turn your bottle. You can’t let the flame go OUT then dunk it in the ice water. YAY!!! I reallly hope you enjoyed this tutorial because I had ALOT of requests for it! © Copyright jaderbombllc, All rights Reserved. Super Sprayer. Pikachu Bead Pattern. Roses from Maple Leaves.
Leaf Skeletons. I wanted to share with you a project from one of my readers who shares with us how to make leaf skeletons. I LOVE this! I have several leafs in various forms displayed in my home and knew I needed to make some of her leaf skeletons to add to my decor. I love how a pattern of leaves can enhance the beauty in your home. So I asked Heather if she would mind sharing her project with you. You can find more great projects from Heather at her blog The Other White House. I have spent hours and tried various ways of making these. Kailey did these last year in her botany class with our homeschool group. You need washing soda, not baking soda! Gather your leaves. Washing soda is a strong base so you may want to wear gloves when handling the leaves. You will add 3/4 cup of washing soda and 4 cups of water to your pot of leaves.
Keep going, you will need to add more water so your pan doesn’t dry out. When 1.75 hours are up fill a glass baking dish with cool water. 37.1Kstumbleupon. Felting Project: A Rug! This is the most beautiful felt project we’ve seen. Strips of felt are wrapped around each other with hot glue to create this amazing swirled effect. What a great project for a snowed-in weekend and a movie marathon with the family. The kids could even help cut strips and decide on color combination while you operate the hot glue gun. Would you attempt something like this? Keep reading to see more pictures and find out where to find more details about this beautiful felt project! You can see all the instructions and details here on The Crafts Dept blog A few other fun pictures of the process: Images: Martha’s Crafts Department Blog Other post of mine you might like: The Best Thing to Happen to Your Baby’s Feet This Winter!
Zara Kids Winter Collection Snow Bricks! Make Canning Jars Look Vintage Blue. I bought these probably five years ago at an antique/consignment store. I think I paid about 12 dollars for a set of four. Now you can expect to pay at least that for just one. Last night I was cruising around the internet and happened upon a link to a tutorial using mod podge and food coloring to make your own. Cool! This afternoon I decided to play around with some mod-podge and food coloring myself. Just pour some mod podge into one of your jars. Add a few drops of water to thin down just a bit. You want to get as much of the mod podge mixture out of the jar as possible so you don't have a big glob of dried gunk in the bottom of your lovely jar. This is how it will look wet.
I'm pretty sure I read somewhere about heat setting paint on glassware by baking it at a low temp, so I set my oven on the lowest setting it would allow, 150 degrees and popped them in. I took this after they had cooked for about 20 minutes. And for the finished product, drum roll please..... Not too shabby, eh? Bottle Cap Table with Poured Resin Surface. Pop Top Lampshades. Paper-Back Planters: Recycling Books to Pot Indoor Plants | Designs &Ideas on Dornob. Have books finally met their match with the Apple iPad, or is it just another fad like the Amazon Kindle?
Readers may find some poetry in these volumes regardless of whether they are willing to give up their favorite paperback companions: potted plants put into scooped-out sections of beautiful old hardback books. Gardenkultur (via Inhabitat) makes a simple recycling project out of even the most complex novels, but carving into the heart of a book, sealing off the resulting space and putting seeds of little trees or other plant life into the curved void. Of course, this would work just as well as a do-it-yourself gardening project for those green-thumbed enough to provide proper moisture barriers for their own plants. But if a picture is said to be worth one thousand, at how many words do we value a wee plant? Hopefully these books were beyond repair and those ripe only for reuse. MykoWeb: Mushrooms, Fungi, Mycology. Survival Gardening: Part 2. Survival Cache The answer to everyone’s question is “No”, we are not too late to get started on our Survival Garden for this year, not for most of the population living in the United States and Canada.
It keeps snowing on me here in Utah, so I’m still waiting. This is the 2nd post in a series on Survival Gardening Read Part 1: Survival Gardening I just moved into a new place and so I haven’t been able to do my fall preparation like I normally would, but that’s just the way it is sometimes, so don’t sweat the small stuff. Many times people are frustrated because they hear the radio shows, read the books, view the Emergency Foodvideos, and find their situation doesn’t match up to what they are hearing from the experts. So with that aside, you can start your garden with me, and we’ll do the best we can, and we WILL have a nice garden. OK, so now you have a few choices of crops now let’s look at the space that is available to you.
Read the rest of the article May 2, 2011. Survival Garden: Part 1. Growing A Survival Garden May Soon Become A Necessity! Have you considered that... survival gardening may soon be a true matter of survival and not just a choice? With the rapid decline of our financial system and food supply, grocery store produce and other products, may soon be at a crisis level shortage like we have never seen.
At that point, gardening would no longer be a "choice" for a more self sufficient lifestyle, it would be a matter of survival for everyone! This scenario is fast-becoming very probable and real. With the costs of living rising all the time, you can see the practical benefits of growing your own garden... you can save money, increase your family's health, and become more self sufficient all at the same time by growing vegetables in your backyard. Take advantage of whatever garden space you have, even if your garden may not provide all the food that you need, it will have a dramatic effect in reducing your food bill. 1. Small Garden Space All Seeds are NOT alike... Finger Lime - Happy Earth. Microcitrus australasicaMYRTACEAE Growth Habit: The finger lime is a thorny deciduous shrub/small tree native to rainforests of south east Queensland and northern New South Wales.
It grows slowly to a maximum height of around five to six metres. Foliage/Flowers: Green oval leaves of 1-3cm long grow on spindly looking, thorny branches. Small fragrant, white flowers typical of the citrus family appear in autumn. Fruit: The small fruits are cylindrical and finger like, growing up to 12cm long. Adaptation : Finger limes are hardy plants that grow naturally in heavy shade in areas of high rainfall and at the forest edges where there is more sunlight. Soils : Grows best in fertile, well-composted soil. Irrigation : Fruit will be best if the shrub is given frequent irrigation when the weather is warm, and kept on the dry side when it's cold. Pruning : Pruning is not necessary, though some of the lower branches may need to be removed to prevent fruit making contact with the ground.
Micro Forest Garden – installation. Following on from designing a microforest garden recently, it was time to realise the design! Harris led the charge, helped by forest garden interns Minoru and Kelly, as well as all the students of the forest garden design course. This micro forest garden was to be established on a very compacted piece of ground that had formerly been a road. Yikes. As with many plantings on this crazy patch of land of ours (read: everywhere except the creekflat), it was time to get out the crowbar to dig the holes… but it all turned out splendidly! Conceptual group design for the microforest garden, done during the course by students The final design. The site, shortly after it ceased being a road in Spring 2011… A year later, during the microforest garden install… Paths and beds in, it’s time for the plantathon The particular parameters of this site include that, in a heavy rain event, there is a large amount of surface runoff due to the compaction uphill.
But who knows what the future will bring. The Green City on Devour. Earthship Biotecture Green Buildings. Micro Aquaponics Plans. Aquaponics is becoming more and more popular and many people want to build their own system. Aquaponics integrates fish, plants and microbes into a sustainable and ecologically balanced food production system. This project will show you how to build your very own system using commonly available components from IKEA and your local hardware store. Anyone can set up their own system in an afternoon and start experiencing the pleasure of building their own little ecosystem! This is a basic set-up so please do make sure that you follow up with learning how to manage your new system and to look after the fish, the plants and the bacteria. Japan Aquaponics offers a growing amount of informational guides for anyone who is interested in aquaponics. Japan Aquaponics is a social enterprise set up to develop aquaponics, and particularly to promote its use in Tohoku - one of the areas worst affected by the earthquake and tsunami in northern Japan in March of 2011.
Step 1 Notes: Continued on Page 2. Garbage Gardening. Down below this jungle of tomato and snap pea plants lies layers of organic waste and lots of composting worms busily converting the materials into rich vermicompost. As I mentioned a while back (and written about recently on Red Worm Composting), I’m involved in a pretty sizable restaurant food waste composting project this year. In a nutshell, I am receiving hundreds of pounds (per week) of fruit and vegetable waste from a very popular local restaurant and have been composting these materials on my property. Given the quantity of wastes, I’ve had to get a little creative with my methods, and I’ve certainly discovered some methods that really work well, and others that…well…don’t work quite so well!
Most of my efforts have focused on various forms of vermicomposting. I have been adding lots of food scraps to my traditional worm bin systems, but I’ve also been creating a variety of large-scale outdoor systems to help me to deal with all the waste. Extreme Urban Gardening: Straw Bale Gardens. Here’s a very simple technique for gardening in tight spots and in places with no/terrible soil (from the arctic circle to the desert to an asphalt jungle).
It’s also a great way to garden if you have limited mobility (in a wheel chair). What is Straw Bale Gardening? You simply plant your garden in straw bales. Here’s an example of what a straw bale garden looks like (via author/expert Joel Karsten — he’s got a good book on the topic and he teaches it in seminars) As you can see, the basic technique is actually quite simple. How to grow a Straw Bale Garden There are lots of techniques on how to grow a straw bale garden. Days 1 to 3: Water the bales thoroughly and keep them damp.Days 4 to 6: Sprinkle each bale with ½ cup urea (46-0-0) and water well into bales. Essentially, plant the seedlings like you would do in the ground. Remember, the bales (like most above ground gardening techniques) will need extra water and fertilizer during the early period. Plants Number Per Bale. Sprouts and microgreens: edible houseplants.
How to Grow Your Own Superfoods Indoors.