Terrariums - Step By Step!

So you want to make a terrarium?

Here is what you need:

1 small bag of small stones
1 small bag of charcoal
1 small bag of soil
a few tropical plants of your choosing
1 clear glass or plastic jar with wide opening (so you can get your hand in!)

Instructions:


1. Wash your terrarium container with antibacterial soap, rinse well, dry.



2. Layer about 1" of stones at the bottom of your jar.







3. Layer about .5" of charcoal on top of the stones.




4. Place approx. 2-3" of potting soil on top of charcoal.



5. Decide where plants should go in soil.



6. Carefully remove each plant from containers and remove all excess soil off of roots.



7. Plant each plant carefully in terrarium container.



8. Water terrarium, if there is a lid, close it.


Care Instructions:
Water again every 2-3 weeks.
If condensation occurs on a regular basis, keep container open for a few hours to allow for evaporation.


Voila! You've got an awesome terrarium!

windows

Here's my latest item photographed in my new window spot:


(click photo for more info)

A few months ago I blogged about my kitchen windowsil and all the plants I was trying to grow. Well, the seeds never grew past tiny seedlings that would die a few days later. All those basil, oregano and cherry tomato seeds! oh well.

This past Saturday, my parents asked if I wanted to ride with them to Home Depot in NJ to pick out flats to plant in front of their apartment building. They do this every year, they pick a ton of annuals in a couple colors and plant away! I was too busy eyeing the cherry tomato plants to remember what they picked this year. I bought two very strong cherry tomato plants after much "ooohing" and "ahhing." One of the plants I picked already has 5 tiny green cherry tomatoes on it! So exciting.

This past week, as I adjusted to meds, I found myself wanting to tend to my little kitchen and livingroom window gardens. I bought larger pots with saucers, cleaned the windowsil and window and went to work repotting my aloe, cherry tomatoes and a few other things. I used the soil from the seeds I'd tried desperately to grow and failed and mixed it with some organic fertilizer and soil. I then found a better pot on Friday for the aloe and once again repotted, as I pulled the soil out from one pot into the other, I found lots of little seedlings growing! Now, they are too small to tell what they are but I carefully put them in a tiny pot. Maybe my basil or oregano will grow afterall!

Yesterday, Dorian, Becky & I went to the Bronx Zoo. Afterwards we stopped on the Upper West Side to run some errands and somehow I ended up buying organic basil in a pot.

My kitchen windowsil now has...cherry tomatos, arugula, basil, echinacea and aloe. As well as some kind of tiny palm and some other thing I lost the tag for. lol.

Now, the problem is that my bedroom is the one with sunlight for the majority of the day. This is an issue as I use my bedroom window to take photos of my etsy items. I found another window that has great light in the morning and took some photos, didn't even have to adjust them for brightness!

So now I get to move all my "full sun" plants. I have to wait until my roommate moves out next week. Our apartment is currently a giant mess of boxes and paperwork and I don't want to disturb anything.

Photos will come soon, my camera is currently full of photos of the Zoo that I need to upload.

<3 Always,
--Taina

Hooray for Organization!

Well dearies, I'm much more organized in my crafting area!

Yesterday I bought more plastic containers with lids and organized all of my fabrics by type (fun prints, everyday prints, interfacing, lining fabrics). I also decided to use one of my big glass jars for holding thread. It's clear and really pretty as you can see all of the colors. I even organized my notions into smaller containers! Totally exciting.

This morning I awoke to find I've already sold my pink bird makeup bag I listed yesterday. Hooray for sales!

I've been trying to be more organized this year, as it will make next year's taxes even easier on me. Etsy's dedicated part of it's website to "The Storque", where you can find all sorts of news, updates, videos and more. Well guess what I found? A pre-made Seller Worksheet!

I just spent the last hour customizing it to my needs. I needed a column for Charity percentages and I also wanted to include the sum of gross sales each month. And now I'm all done with January and February (thus far). Everytime I make a sale, I will just enter it into the spreadsheet and away we go!

So I listed another umbrella coin purse today:


(Click photo for more info.)

And now I'm off to water my plants, straighten up the livingroom and get ready for my friend Dorian (and maybe her girlfriend) to come over for brunch.

Speaking of plants, here are photos of my kitchen window, from left to right:








OMG, I just sold something else in the time it took to write this blog! One of my zoo pillows! How awesome! Today is a great day.

<3 Always,
--Taina

Deep Sigh...

So many exciting things happened today! While waiting in the Dr's office, I thought I'd have enough time to post again via cellphone, but no such luck.



First, I don't have emphysema! My lungs seem fine, it may just be my allergy induced asthma. My doc wants me to monitor my breathing and heart with and without the inhaler while I'm in Capoeira class, which I hope to start up again next month. But lots of tests were done and things are looking up! I got my 2nd HPV vaccine, my right arm is still sore, 7 hours later. Because I have this dull ache in my upper arm, I decided to treat myself to something fun today.

I went on a search for heavy-duty fusible interfacing for the incredibly large makeup bag custom order I am supposed to be making which proved harder than expected for a city that has it's very own fabric district.

I finally went to Mood Fabrics which was featured on this last season of Project Runway. I called ahead to see if they had heavy-duty fusible interfacing and the very friendly girl who answered the phone said yes. Well, lo & behold, they did NOT have the interfacing I needed. le sigh.

I did find some super cute blue lining fabric as well as a really cool floral print on a white background. I bought a yard of each and while standing in line to pay, I impulsively bought a few more spools of thread. $30 later and I was out the door continuing my search for fusible interfacing.

I walked over to 38th St. in search of this fabric store an employee recommended, didn't find it, but found this great trimmings/zipper/webbing/snaps/buttons store. Okay, I could have just called it "notions." They didn't have white interfacing, but did have black, which will be fine since the bag is B&W. I also bought 4 magnetic snaps because I want to expand my sewing line and add clutches. I'm super stoked!

After fabric/interfacing shopping, I went to Home Depot as I'd gotten a gift card for redeeming my credit card points.



In my attempt at becoming more "green", I have been looking for CFL's (Compact Florescent Lightbulbs) for the remaining light fixture that has not been switched over to energy saving bulbs. This is because it's the living room and on a dimmer switch. Not many people realize that a dimmer switch saves no electricity on normal CFL's, they have to be the dimmable kind. Home Depot doesn't carry anything past the equiv. of 15 Watt. That stinks because I need 60 or 75 for my livingroom. Since I had a card burning in my pocket, I decided to pick up some more eco-friendly cleaners by Method. I bought hand soap and dish soap since my roommate and I are quickly running out. I also bought my mom the tub/tile cleaner since she couldn't find it at Target.

I love the eco-friendly cleaners because a) they are biodegradeable/reuseable/compostible and b) I have horrific allergies to run-of-the-mill household cleaners. The eco friendly ones are also comparable in price, if not cheaper. I can breathe easy cleaning and knowing I'm leaving less of a footprint on the earth.

Because I still had money left on my card and was on a "green" kick, I decided it was time to finally buy a big bag of soil. I was a key-carrying member of my Community Garden until my keys were stolen. Since it's Winter, it's quite hard to find a time when the president of the garden is there to get a new copy. I would normally just go pick up some compost for free. I bought soil, seeds and biodegradeable seedling pots made from plants.

I came home and repotted my aloe plant, inhaled the gorgeous scent of my paperwhites that are in bloom in my kitchen and planted my remaining bulbs as well as organic tomato, oregano and sweet basil seeds. We'll see if anything grows. Photos will be posted tomorrow, as it's dark.

<3 Always,
--Taina