What’s better than a gift that sprouts up beautiful flowers or yummy veggies when planted? For this weekend project you’ll make plantable seed paper then turn it into Valentine’s day cards.
Materials:
- 8-10 sheets of shredded paper
- 1 packet of seeds
- 1 heaping tbsp dried lavender or other dried flowers / leaves
- Old towels, strainer, blender
- Stencils or cookie cutters of woodland creatures
- Card stock
- Printer
- Scissor, glue, etc.
Directions:
1. Shred or tear up a bunch of paper. Scrap paper, old craft paper, anything without a glossy finish will work best. To get coloured paper like the pink shown in this project, add one sheet of shredded red paper to the mix. Place paper in a big bowl or the sink and soak in warm water for 45 minutes to an hour. The paper should be soft and break apart easily at the end of the hour.
2. Scoop paper into a blender, filled about halfway full and scoop a cup or so of the water it was soaking in into the blender. Pulse a few times until you get a mushy pulp like that shown here. Add more water as needed to get this consistency.
3. Pour pulp through a strainer to remove some of the moisture. Don’t squeeze it all out or your paper will not form together very well.
4. Add the seeds and dried flowers and gently mix. Shown here are lavender buds, bergamot petals, and dried mint leaves for flecks of interest in the paper. Radicchio, Rhubarb chard, and Alta Globe radishes are the seeds I have chosen as each will produce an edible red plant and they can be planted at the same time (started inside now and they can be moved to the garden once they have true leaves). Other good choices are flower mixes, like butterfly or bee blends that attract pollinators to the garden and produce a variety of flowers.
5. Set up a few towels on a flat surface where you can leave the paper for a day or more to dry. Dump the pulp out onto the towel and spread out gently patting paper. You can use a rolling pin to flatten the paper out a bit, but be gentle as to not crush the seeds or break the pulp. Leave undisturbed to dry.
6. Trace and cut out woodland creatures out of the dry seed paper. Decorate cards with cute messages and with a few little glue dots, affix seed paper critter. Include instructions on how to plant the seed paper by copy /pasting or writing the following on the card back:
The critter on this card is made of plantable seed paper containing radicchio, Rhubarb chard & Alta Globe radish seeds.
Directions for Planting
Rip seed paper into many small pieces and spread throughout the garden or in a pot filled with good potting soil. Cover with 1” of soil and water regularly until you get yummy veggies.
Thanks for visiting for the weekend’s project which may also be submitted to these parties.
February 11 2012 | Flowers and Projects | 14 Comments »
These DIY draft socks are super simple to make, inexpensive, and work well to stop the chilly drafts from under doors or from window sills.
Oh, and they are freakin’ adorable too! Here’s how to make your own.
Materials:
- Socks – pick nice long ones. Men’s woolly work socks are shown here, but knee socks would also be a great choice
- Dried popcorn
- Stuffing from old pillows, an old sweater, etc
- Fabric scrap
- Sewing machine or needle and thread
Directions:
1. Measure the length of the doorway or window you would like to use the draft sock on. Cut a length of fabric that is 1 inch longer than your measurement and 10 inches wide (you want the sock just slightly longer than the doorway, so it fits in snugly). Fold the fabric in half and pin. Using your sewing machine or needle and thread sew one end and the length of the fabric so that you have a long tube that is open at one end.
2. Fill tube alternately with dried popcorn and the stuffing you have chosen. Popcorn is used for weight, but it is also inexpensive and won’t go rancid like some other dried goods. The stuffing helps to give the sock a nice shape and insulates against the cold air. When the tube is really packed full all the way to the end, pin the end and sew it shut.
3. Turn socks inside out and sew the heels straight so that when the sock is covering the tube, the heels don’t protrude.
4. Pull the sock over your hand still inside out. Grab the end of the filled tube with your sock hand and unfold the sock over the tube.
5. Add the second sock of the pair to the other end, and overlap the first sock.
That’s it! An easy, cheap, effective, and stylish door sock in no time at all.
I’ll be linking this post to these wonderful parties.
January 15 2012 | Projects | 10 Comments »
We are so proud to announce the launch of Garden Therapy Handmade on Etsy. This labour of love involved combining the passion for gardening, photography and home décor into one unique project: Studio Blooms.
But a harvest? Why, yes! Flowers were grown in our home garden, photographed in studio, then enlarged to mammoth proportions in order to showcase the magnificent details of each individual flower. The photographs were digitally designed to be giclee printed on a beautiful linen-cotton canvas and sewn to perfection. Little details like expensive hidden zipper closures and feather/down inserts were taking into account. Then each one was hand washed, dried, and ironed, ready to go to it’s new home.
Was it easy? Um, well, no. There were months of prints and reprints to get just the right detail to each inch of fabric. There was wash testing. There was cuddle testing (that was a particularly tough one). In the end, it was so worth it. We think these soft but durable pillows are the perfect art for the home. We hope that you agree!
Please visit the Garden Therapy Handmade store to check out all the designs, 9 in total. Favoriting, liking, tweeting, or any other social media sharing would be greatly, greatly appreciated and happily returned in kind. And thank you for your support.
November 14 2011 | Flowers and Garden Therapy and Photography | 14 Comments »
These airy little sculptures are simple made of stone and wire but they take on the feeling of movement by appearing to crawl, jump, hang, or run along like the real thing. In our garden there are many of these little critters crawling around the pots and plants. Here’s how to make them:
Materials
- decorative rocks approximately 2″ in diameter
- craft wire (choose a gauge that is pliable enough to bend around the rocks, but sturdy enough to hold them up)
- needle-nose pliers
- wire cutter
- hot glue gun (optional)
.
Step 1:
Using the wire cutters, snip off 4 equal lengths of the wire 12″-20″ long. The longer the wire the longer the legs the spider will have.
.
Step 2:
Holding all 4 wires together, place the rock about 1/3 of the length of wire, and wrap the long ends around the rock.
.
Step 3:
Fold the other set of wires around the rock and twist with the needle-nose pliers to secure. You may also use a dab of hot glue at this stage to secure the wire to the underside of the rock.
.
Step 4:
Flip the rock over and spread out the 8 ends of wire. Using the piers to create a bend in the legs so that the spider can stand on it’s own 8 legs. You could also create a bend at the end of each leg to create little feet.
.
Step 5:
Place spiders around the garden but be careful they don’t get away…
.
Hey, get back here!
October 27 2011 | Projects | 6 Comments »
