DIY Pallet Vertical Container Garden

Using pallets for something other than shipping platforms is fun and easy to do. I see lots of furniture and household items created from pallets. I have a posts on a few items I've created along these lines. This spring I wanted to make something for my garden - that being a pallet vertical garden.

Vertical Container Garden from Old Pallets

I created two planters this year, one which I placed in the shade near some hostas. Nothing tall seemed to want to grow here and I thought a little vertical interest would be a nice add. The second I put against a wall with lots of sunshine and perhaps too hot for other items. The latter was great for succulents :)

The pictures are from the shade pallet container garden - my first attempt. I also note some lessons learned that I incorporated into the second garden.

Here is my supply list:
- Wooden Pallet
- Additional wood (optional depending on the pallet) I used old wood flooring
- Heavy duty garbage bags (large)
- Hammer / Nails
- Staple Gun
- Old Coffee Sacks or Burlap Fabric
- Plastic milk jug or other beverage container
- Scissors or Knife
- Potting Soil
- Plants

Kitchen Scraps to Garden Treasure - Easy Plant Propagation

Starting plants from leftover scraps

Springtime and fellow gardeners are getting excited about planting seedlings. Seed starting is a key activity. This year I'm excited to be planting food scraps. Yes, there are a number of foods that you can grow from kitchen scraps. That's pretty great. The next best thing to buying local is not buying at all. Is this food recycling? It's nice to always have a home-grown supply of these items on my kitchen window sill or garden.  While it saves a little bit of money - it is also easy and fun! Kids that come over find it amazing.

To facilitate the process I use a plastic container from Costco apples. These little impressions are the perfect place to put the root end of celery, carrots, lettuce. Take a look at how this all works with examples of specific veggies. 

Here's my list herbs and veggies that I've (tried to) regrow from the scraps. Others listed at the bottom can be grown from seeds - but that's another story :)

Up-cycling DIY Coffee Table - pallets, fence posts and fruit crates parts

Anyway, today I was inspired by this DIY project.

A friend quickly put together the frame of a box from pieces of a fruit crate and pallet. I liked the added detail of putting little handles on the sides. Then cut up a square post to make the legs. Viola - I have a new coffee table.  I brought this home and had to put my little touches on it.

I grabbed the hand sander and went over all the surfaces and edges to make sure that there were not rough edges or potential for slivers.  I also checked to see if it was level - which it wasn't, but a little sanding fixed that right up.  I was about to apply a coat of stain, but was halted by my daughter who liked it just the way it is.

DIY Coffee Table from Pallet & Crates

Pallet and fence-post Up-cycles Coffee Table

Quite rustic - and lovely for the sun room. It matches the end tables which are fruit crates :)  but not so much the Victorian couch. Well eclectic is nice right?

It all works for me!  Give this project a try.

Teresa Marie

Arts & Crafts at Clarke House Museum

This year I'm getting to know Chicago better - most recently I attended a class and tour at the Clarke House Museum. It was a treat!

The Clarke house is Chicago's oldest house - currently located in the Prairie Avenue Historic District.  It was build in 1836 - this is just one year before the city of Chicago was incorporated. Standing through the Civil War, the Chicago Fire, and so much more. Check out their website here.

The Clarke Museum offers several classes on period handicrafts - I registered to take a class on Band Boxes. I'd never really given them a thought - however, I had seen Martha Stewart make one! So I signed up to learn more about how people lived in this period which I so enjoy.

Chicago's Historic Prairie District

Mansion on Prairie Avenue Chicago

Review - Chicago Antique Malls (Part 1)

When not in the garden I'm in the antique mall! I am passionate for antiques - specifically late 1800's early 1900's oak furniture, especially anything with a barley twist :)  I extend my mom's collection of Manhattan Glass (depression) and Croesus (depression made 1897-1919)  Plus I've developed my own collections - mostly antique boxes, and barley twist "stuff."  In the winter - when I am not in the garden, a very enjoyable weekend is browsing through antique malls and flea markets. 

Over the past few weeks I've had the opportunity to visit several antique malls in the Chicago area. Thought I would share some impressions and tips - as well as the "treasures" I found. This Blog discussed the following retail locations (links to their websites):

1) Wolff's Flea Market, Palatine, IL

2) Lincoln Antique Mall, Chicago, IL

3) Volo Antique Mall, Volo, IL

4) Chicago Antique Center, Chicago, IL

$10 for two wood frames

Wolff's Flea Market: I saw an ad for Wolff's Flea Market and headed up there for the first time.  There was a$1  entry fee.  Being wintertime there were only roughly 46-50 vendors.  Roughly half of the vendors had an assortment of old furniture, jewelry, war/weaponry,  artwork and frames, collectibles.  The other half were selling everyday items - clothing, perfumes, cosmetics, kitchen wares.  There is a strong sense of being in a weekend street fare. I liked that. Sometimes I'm in the mood to dig through and search, and the bargain for everything. This was a great site for that. I have a feeling that it will be much more fun in the summertime.

$10 for organizer cart

My finds at the flee market were four fold.  I found two nice wood frames, with glass intact for $10. I didn't even bargain with the vendor, both agreeing it was a great price. I would have paid $10/each. I didn't want the artwork, I was buying frames. Honestly why buy any new frames these days? I will be able to use as is, or repaint the frames and create something wonderful.  Second find was a very colorful organizer rolling cart.  I could use this in my craft/sewing area to help organize items. Another option is to organize my growing piles of gardening and planting information. I liked that this was mobile and had a nice metal top. No issues here.  They were initially asking $25, here a little bargaining paid off. Lastly, it's nice that each vendor is right there. You can talk to them about their offerings, and bargain as you wish.

Recycled Cast Paper Ornaments or Cards (or seed bomb)

Molds and Cast Paper Results

When I go to craft fairs or high end paper shops, I am drawn to the hand cast paper items. To me it evokes the Victorian age which I so enjoy. Hence, over time I've developed my own technique to create home-made cast paper ornaments or cards from 100% recycled materials - in a fast and easy way! The batch that I have shown here I am using for Valentine Cards and hang-tags on teacher gifts.

One thing I enjoy doing is marrying my crafty side with my gardening side. I do this by adding seeds into the cast paper items and encourage recipients to plant them! The cast paper tags become seed bombs. When using seeds, be be careful to not leave the casting wet too long to keep the seeds from germinating. Also don't heat it up too much to dry it to avoid reducing the seed viability. Here's my prior blog on seed bombs BTW.

Take a look at this approach and let me know of any tips for enhancing the process or the outcome! I've included lots of pictures to help see how this works.




Recycle Materials Needed:

• Old papers from the recycle (newsprint, white paper, junk mail, etc.) Note that the color of the cast paper will be drawn from what goes in - so if you want white, put in WHITE. My ornaments almost always come out shades of grey or blue because I am indifferent at this point.
• Dryer Lint - yup, no need  to buy cotton linter. Been there done that - and the felt from the dryer works just fine for me. (If you want really permanent decorative pieces you might want to consider purchasing, because lint will be multi-colored and textured which may not be suitable for your needs)
• Water - lots of it :)
• Optional: Spent Tea leaves or coffee grounds (provide antique look when using 100% white paper)



Raw Materials for Recycled Cast Paper Ornaments,
Gift Tags or Seed Bombs

• Optional: Last years or left over seeds! Keep it to very small ones like poppy seeds.Or if larger hand place them in the mold (See the directions below)

Utensils / Tools Needed:

• Blender (a strong one!)
• Strainer
• Cookie or candy mold (I like use Brown Bag Cookie Art by Hill Design) Those with deeper impressions will work somewhat better
• PAM spray
• Sponge and/or towels
• Other: Rolling Pin, drying rack, oven, microwave

OK here is my tried and true process!
Steps to Make the Casting:
1. Rip up the paper into small pieces
2. Fill the blender with water - about half full. You need lots of water to get you slurry moving. All the paper needs to absorb water and float.
3. Add the paper in batches and blend until at least oatmeal like consistency. Be careful not to add too much paper at once because the blades will jam.

Pulp and hands on water removal.

4. Empty the contents of the blender into a sieve and squeeze out as much water as possible. See in my picture above my batch looks really disgusting - both in color and texture.

5. Spray the cookie mold with Pam - very generously. 

6. If you are adding seeds, mix them into the pulp at this step if they are small seeds.

7. Take a handful at a time and firmly press into the cookie mold. Continue the process until the mold is filled edge to edge and slightly over the top. Over-mounding is fine. I find that the thicker you make the pulp - the stronger the pressed result. I never go over the top edge of the mold, and I never go much thinner than 3/4 full.

8. Take your sponge or towel and press the wet pulp in order to continue to remove water. You will  need to wring out frequently.

9. I like to take the last step a rolling pin to make sure that the surface is as flat as possible. 

Press into mold firmly, and flip onto cookie sheet

10. If you are using larger seeds, you can press them into the surface at this point and then roll again to keep a flat surface. Do not leave the seeds on the top too much, they may have issues in the oven or microwave.

11. Next - FLIP your wet casting onto a Pam'd cookie sheet (or plate). Yup, don't wait for them to dry in the mold. They can be extremely difficult to come out when fully dried (because I don't buy specific release agents perhaps.) Plus when I start this project I like to make ornaments in volume which is not possible if you only have one mold working at a time. If you have removed the water, this should be easy. With the mold resting upside down, gently start with one edge and slowly lift until the paper releases itself. Do not pry or pull the wet pulp/casting out of the mold. If it comes apart you can try to push it back together on the tray - or just add a bit of water and start from step 6 again. 

12. Now the pulp needs to dry fully. There are several options.  I tend to oven dry and then microwave (I tend to be a bit impatient to get the first one done to start coloring.) OK you can dry by:

• Air dry - will be at least overnight if not several days. Care needs to be taken that the casting does not also mold, or if you have added seeds that they do not germinate. When they are dry enough to handle, move them to a wire rack so that there is airflow on both sides. 
• Oven Dry - pop the cookie sheet into an oven at about 125-150F (51-65), you can go as high as 225F (107C) but may get some discoloration.   Keep an eye of these as the edges will dry first and may burn. It will take several hours - but that depends on how much water you took out in the steps above. When you can handle them, I like to put the wire rack under them to improve airflow while in the oven. 
• Microwave - I zap a plate with one card on it for a few minutes at a time. When possible to handle, flip over. 

In the picture at the right you can see the varying shades and drying process. I will keep pulping and molding until I run out of counter space and/or oven space. If the ornaments are not completely dry - they will curl over time. So take care with this step.

To finish off your masterpiece you may choose to paint them or spray them with a varnish or other finish.  I usually put down one coat of varnish and then use Sharpie markers to complete and coloring. The paper can be very porous so paint colors might come out a bit strange. Kids can have lots of fun with the decorating process (they also love the mushing out the water part!)  You can embellish with sequins, glitter, and more. 

If you are making an ornament or gift tag, a hole can be made by punching through an ice pick, using a leather punch, or even a Phillips Head screw driver. Make the hole well into the thicker part of the design. Also When you tie the ribbon/cord (or here Raffia), knot it directly above the ornament and then make the loop beyond that. This way the swinging or rubbing of the cord is against itself rather than against the fragile paper edge.

With smaller castings, they can be placed onto card stock and used to make interesting greeting cards. You could also place them onto fabrics and then into an old frame for Victorian-esk artwork.

Happy Crafting;

Teresa Marie