Get Gardening w/ your Kids: DIY Recycled Succulent Projects

There is nothing quite as fun as digging in dirt with kiddos and planting new life. There is something I just LOVE about gardening projects for kids. Is it possibly the awe and wonder of watching something grow...sigh. Maybe it is because it reminds me of a deeply buried childhood memory of seed planting - or maybe it is because it reminds me that there is always hope for positive change. Either way I just love watching a little something turn into a BIG something BEAUTIFUL!

Miniature Robo Planter {Source:1800recycling.com}

I am teaching a class at our local Homeschool Co-op where we are completing projects we will enter into the Fair. Succulent Gardens are always some of my very favorite entries. They are so easy to plant and maintain plus there are very little limitations on uses for a container with their shallow root system.

I thought I would do some surfing and see if there were some fresh projects out there to inspire me. Here are some cute projects I found.

Recycled lids used as adorable little containers for a mini garden.

You could even place these on top of cute candle holders at varying heights.

{Source:Alannageorge.com}

The options for creativity are endless. The plants themselves have a large variety of textures & colors. From old lunch boxes to glass jars, you can use almost any container you can find. They can grow indoors or outdoors. 

Here are some recycled Spaghetti Jars. All you need is a little mirror paint and voila...a lovely recycled container.

{Source: thecrafty-woman.com}

They can look formal, or high on the funky factor.

You could use an old hollow rubber toy.

{Source: thisiswhyimbroke.com}

Succulent gardens can be used as a treasured keepsake of days gone by.

Recycled Children's shoes.

{source: finecraftguild.com}

or you could put them in boots and create some cute fence decor.

{Source: Rosy-posy}

These aren't succulents but you get the idea.

Vintage Glass Insulators:

I actually have a box of these. Super excited to use them but picturing a little added industrial elements.

{Source: livedan330.com}

Old Toy Cars: now this one is for kids and Dads!

{Source:nothingbutapigeon.com}

Old Vintage Cans & Tins

{Source:nothingbutapigeon.com}

What could be cheaper than an egg shell garden?

and the adorability factor is over the top.

{Source: SAHome Owner}

I was looking for old frames and screen projects with succulents when I mentally pictured the succulents forming just the letter of our last name with the screen showing as the background. Then I popped across this little number. I LOVE it! Still think the screen idea would be cool - plus I love old frames.

{Source: House&Fig}

So many fun options to start spinning your brain on. I bet you have something laying around your home right now that could be used...an old toy, an old shoe, a chipped cup or bowl. The possibilities are almost endless.

All you need are a few simple materials to get started:

Materials you will need:

• rocks (enough to fill container 2/3 of the way)
• succulent plants - get a variety of color, soft, spikey, flowering.
• whatever container tickles your fancy
• cactus potting soil
• spray bottle

Steps for planting:

Time to get planting...
you will want to start by adding a nice thick layer of rocks to the bottom of your container, about 2/3 of the way to the top, Once you have a nice drain field area established with your rocks you will follow by adding a nice layer of cactus potting soil on top of the rocks. It is now time to get creative... start playing around with the placement of the succulents. It doesn't take much to get theroots into the soil. Make sure you let your kiddo have some fun too. ;) 

Once you have your plants arranged with roots in place, it is a great time to give them a misty shower. These plants don't require much - just a light misting. Repeat when it begins to dry out.

I would ABSOLUTELY LOVE to see any succulent projects you have done. So please do post in the comments area.  I will be posting pics of my students gardening projects upon completion. I will also be posting a pretty fantabulous idea for a project I have spinning in my head. 

For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.-Isaiah 61:11

{If you would like to see what the kiddos came up with hop on over to the blog post I put on showing pictures.} Completed Kids Succulent Garden Projects

-Simply Sublime

Discarded to DELIGHTFUL: trash to treasure home decorating project ideas

It is pretty amazing what you can come up with when you think outside of the box, {or inside of the trash can}, ha. Take this dog fence pen door for instance. Who would have thought it would come in so handy. My hubby was about to toss it when he heard the familiar "Honey....wait!!! Let me see that for a minute - yep, let's keep it and paint it". It is hard to believe this little delight was saved from the scrap pile over five years ago ,  when we began this upcycling junk journey. Where does the time fly?

Have I ever mentioned how much I love the fact my hubby is so handy? He can weld, he can use pretty much any kind of power tool, he can fix cars ( he can race them too - but that is for another post). I pulled this old mattress frame out of a junk pile a few years ago and just knew he could help me make a stand for it, AND that is just what he did. It is free standing and oh.so.lovely. My girls are using it right now as an accessory stand in their bedroom.

Frequently I use it for shows to display randomness. In our early December show I used clothes pins and hung jewelry on it as well as some of my good friend Nicole's This in2 That's signs. I didn't get a great pic of it because we had a VERY busy booth behind us. This piece is so very versatile being it is free standing. I am just as much in love with it now as I was when we first made it.

Finally, we have our Discarded Fence Headboard. It was about to be tossed or burned when my dear daughter begged her Daddy to make her a headboard with it. Isn't it the sweetest? Not to mention the greenery from our tree trimmings she added for that special winter touch. I love seeing my girls tap into their creative genius and just move forward unhindered. It is a BEAUTIFUL THING!

1 Corinthians 13

The Message (MSG)

The Way of Love

13 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.

2 If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.
3-7 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

8-10 Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

-Simply Sublime

KOMBUCHA 101 Best cup ever: DIY Blueberry and Peach YUM

So following our previous  posts on Kombucha 101 we have now created the world's best cup of....

WAIT FOR IT...

YUM!!!

Kombucha with muddled blueberries and peaches. Are you kidding me? This is the BEST Kombucha I have ever had and I have tried me some serious varieties of Kombucha. 

We used the black tea and followed the regular process we posted. After one week of fermenting with a nice healthy scoby we removed the scoby and started a new batch. Then took the current batch of Kombucha and added blueberries and chunks o' fresh peach. Just a few days later and DELISH! 

 I thought the black tea may possibly be too strong with the fruit but it was what we had going so we tried it. Now I can't imagine trying anything else. Although we may get a few batches going at a time - one white tea and maybe even a green tea.  SO EXCITED! Can't believe how easy this is and boy does it save a ton of money. Kombucha is expensive at anywhere from $3-6 a bottle. 

I am telling you, this is worth a try. It is...

-SIMPLY SUBLIME!

DIY Kids Project: Sweet N' Sour Candy Tart Valentine Pixie Stick Treat

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I thought I would post a quick idea for a fun Valentines Treat. Last year we made homemade Pixie Sweet N' Sour Sticks with natural fruit. This was so much fun for the kiddos. It was a pretty healthy treat compared to alot of the valentines recipes out there too. Dried fruit from Trader Joe's add some sugar if you like and some citric acid and VOILA! Fun, easy and super tasty! Enjoy!

Ingredients for the yumminess:
1 C Sugar
1 t. citric acid (I used more as we liked our zippy - so taste test with the kids - this is a super fun photo op for funny face photos)
1/2 C. freeze-dried fruits of your choice (we used a mix of raspberry, strawberry and blueberry)

Tools you may want on hand:

• spice grinder, coffee grinder or small food processor
• straws
• sheet of paper
• needle nose pliers
• fun cut out printed paper designs, one per straw or have you kiddos design their own creations by hand ( I designed mine but purchased the digital owl on etsy - used a scallop paper punch to get the nifty shape) 
• hot glue gun

This was such an easy-peasy treat. Once we had everything all printed up and cut out it was time to make our sweet tart recipe. We ground the dried fruit in our burr coffee grinder. After all what does a little caffeine hurt, with all this sugar right? 

Then you simply mix up the sugar, citric acid and ground fruit in a bowl. We used a clean, blank sheet of paper to make homemade funnels. Then you simply double fold (two folds) tightly one end of your paper straws  - add a tiny dot of hot glue if you would like to hold it in place. Place funnel in end of straw (over bowl in case of spillage) and kiddos begin pouring. You may want to use a 1/4 Cup measuring cup as a vessel to transport from bowl to funnel for the wee little kiddos attempting this. Fill straw with about a 1" - 1.5" space left at top of straw. Fold top of straw 2 times. We pinched the ends of our straws with a flat needle nose pliers to make sure they were tight folds. 

Once you have all of your straws filled and folded it is time to hot glue on the Paper Decor you created. You can tie on ribbons, add glitter, rhinestones, raffia. The options are endless. Just let the kids have fun with this one. 

Hope you enjoy!

-Simply Sublime

Our Trunk - Your Treat... Flintstone's Style

For years, when the eldest girls were younger, our family was known for it's wacky creativity. We had so much fun with dressing up in a theme for the whole family. It wasn't until a couple weeks ago our youngest, Nate, brought to our attention our desperately low rating on the dress up fun factor. Instantly I was humbled by a few factors: 1) I am getting old  2) I am getting tired, and  3) I am not as fun as I used to be.

Well we simply could NOT have our Nate Boy
missing out on the richly dressed Ryan Family Heritage.  Our Natester deserved to have some fun fanatical family memories. So we signed up to be a trunk at our churches annual community TRUNK or TREAT. A Halloween event in a BIG Ole parking lot FULL of decked out cars, where adults in costumes dole out candy to the thousands lined up for the event.

Okay now that we had signed up for the festivities it was time to get to work.... Let the creativity begin. After a family meeting we all voted in the FLINTSTONES theme. So being limited on time we ordered the costumes on Ebay and another discount costume site. We found some fabulous deals on our outfits that could not have possibly been created for the same low cost. Now for the trunk....

We gathered some BIG boxes of cardboard. Next was time to surf the net for Flintstone Images. We took the images and enlarged them in a design program - then printed them out in panels. Super simple, super cheap.

A lot of cardboard, some printed computer images, tape...we were on our way to a GREAT beginning. After getting our cave walls created we needed another boost of creative juice. Next we needed signage (I grew up in a family sign business so you know we HAD to have a sign) and so I found a piece of old styrofoam and some spray paint - painted it up like a rock.  I printed out the "Flintstone" logo surrounded it with some battery operated Christmas lights - VOILA. Check that off...hmmm....what next....We had a white fur rug in our girls room. Took a battery camping lantern and made a mock shade for it with animal print fabric. A large artificial tree... we were getting close to completion. Pulling this together was ending up pretty simple, inexpensive and fun for our whole CLAN!

Look past our goofy selves and see if you can spot barney in the back - he is watching a tv which is attached to the back of a box and placed about 2 or 3 ft in front of him in the cave. We put a standing flashlight on the back side of the tv so it would appear to be lit up as if he was really watching it. See the glow? It also provided light for people to see inside the cave.

For a very low budget project I am SUPER proud of how our cozy litttle CAVE turned out. The response from the crowd was heartwarming. The parents who are usually in a moping state of mind as they walk their kids around in the windy, rainy weather would arrive at out Trunk and hear the Flinstones Theme song playing... they would start bouncing to the beat and smiling. Next thing we knew many wanted their pictures taken in BEDROCK with their Flinstone friends. So precious.

You know what was the VERY BEST about it? Our family had so much fun TOGETHER! AND... we have the photos to prove it! So Nate won't be looking back anytime soon and saying... "Why don't we ever...."

• We have
• We did and... 
• We will continue to make FUN a family priority

YABA DABA DOOOOOOOO

-Simply SUBLIME

How to make an Upcycled SCRABBLE PENDANT Necklace

How to make an

Upcycled Scrabble Pendant

What you will need:

Old Scrabble Game Piece

Paper / Fabric (I used thick scrapbook paper)

Acrylic Lacquer (Diamond Glaze or another brand)

Glue-on Bail

E6000 glue

scissors

Items you will need

I also am using a small bead to embellish - see photo below

Trace scrabble size onto desired location of paper.
Pay attention to what you want the pattern to be
on your pendant. 

Trim the paper to just a hair smaller than your scrabble piece.

Notice I am working over a plastic work area - this becomes important during the glazing phase.

Add a line of the glaze on the plain side of the scrabble
piece

Use your trimmed paper to smooth the glaze into a thin, even coating on your scrabble piece. Then place the paper on top. Gently smooth the surface of your paper with your fingers to make sure all bubbles are removed under the paper. If some glaze oozes out the sides simply wipe off. 

Now it is time to add a coat of glaze over the top of  your paper.

Make sure not to have any bubbles. Don't shake the bottle of glaze.

The glaze in now applied.

This is where I like to add an embellishment of some kind. It could be a small pearl, bead, crystal.

I was impatient so I placed the bail under it for this photo - but usually you would wait until the glaze has completely dried to apply your bail. The milky appearance of the glaze will disappear when it is dry...it will be clear.

This is the glue you will want to use to affix the bail to the back of the scrabble piece. It takes about a pea size drop or smaller, depending on the size of your bail. 

Is this about the simplest project you've seen? Once you have these supplies you will begin thinking about all kinds of variations on how to use them.

-Simply Sublime!