Tea jar terrarium

On By CarynIn Garden

We had an old tea jar that lost its lid, so I made it into a terrarium. Since the top was open I opted for succulents, which like the dryer environment.

Photo description: the side of the terrarium showing the layers of sand, charcoal, rocks, bark mix, and potting soil

I plugged the tea jar spigot hole with a silicone wine bottle stopper, which worked perfectly.

Photo description: lily pad leaf shaped silicone stopper on the side of the jar

I wanted a two layer layout, with the back plants visibly taller and higher than the foreground plants, but I struggled with soil depth and the root systems of the plants I purchased, so it didn’t quite fit my vision.

Photo description: looking down into the terrarium with seven types of plants, decorative rocks, and carved stone turtle and coyote

For the non-plant decor, I raided my childhood rock collection, adding some amethyst crystal, pyrite, fish fossil, and two carved stone figures. Although the container and rocks were no cost, the soil layers and plants added up. I do have left overs that can be applied to a different project, though.

I do like the cactus color pop, and that I have a spiral feel to the layout. Now to see what lives.

Throwback Thursday: quilling

On By CarynIn Craft

Here is a trip in the Wayback machine to 1988. My Mom was into quilling and we were decorating eggs. My Dad recently sent me photos of one of the eggs we worked on together.

Photo description: white egg with yellow and orange shades of quilling paper and a double brass ring base
Photo description: back of the same egg with different quilling patterns

This is a 37-year-old paper, glue, and egg project that has lived in a cupboard and been moved around the country a few times. I don’t think the colors faded or pieces fell off. Quilling is great for developing fine motor control and patience. (The egg was blown out before it was decorated.)

Cat chess

On By CarynIn Cats

This was an interesting game of cat chess. Izzy the calico was cuddled in the fuzzy blanket on my chair, and Sophie the dilute calico jumped up on the footstool and stared at her. Izzy woke up when I took the picture, saw Sophie sitting higher than she was, so moved up to the top of the chair in a checkmate move.

Photo description: dilute calico in the foreground staring at a calico cuddled in a fuzzy blanket

I would gave stayed in the comfy cozy blanket, which just proves I’d be rubbish at cat chess where the goal is the hold the high ground.

Masking tape

On By CarynIn Craft

Some people who use laser cutters advocate for using masking tape to reduce the smoke stains on the surface of the wood. I tried it as I redesign my dishwasher magnet. I don’t like it.

Photo description: after the laser cut project using blue masking tape, small areas of tape are left behind, and the image didn’t fully burn

With the addition of the tape, the laser settings have to be increased because of the thickness of the tape. After burning a design there are also small bits of tape left behind that need to be picked off, and in the fill areas the obliterated tape leaves a sticky residue. Yuck.

So how to deal with those smoke marks? A little bit of sanding with 400 grit sandpaper works wonders and takes less time than removing sticky tape.

Back to the beginning: Why am I redesigning? I didn’t like how the bit map engrave of the previous design was a little messy and took a long time to engrave, so I redrew the art and made an SVG file, which cut the processing time almost in half. Depending on settings, the previous bit map design took 11 minutes, where the new SVG takes 6.

Confession

On By CarynIn games, music

My content is getting a little thin because I’m currently obsessed with the new update of the Stardew Valley video game. I should be knitting, but instead I’m planting virtual crops and spinning fabric (the “loom” in the game takes raw wool straight to fabric on a device that looks like a spinning wheel). I did the game to perfection before the update, but all the new content from Concerned Ape was worth replaying the game. Like this giant powder melon that grows in winter.

Photo description: screen shot from my Stardew Valley farm with a large blue melon amongst smaller blue melons on a field of snow

I’m getting to the trudging part, where the goal is to get enough money for perfection (either the true game way, or buying it 1% at a time). This is not as fun and I will get easily distracted by real life things, which is good for my blog content.

Of course, the first thing I get distracted with is picking out a harmony part for Bill Grogan’s Goat and singing it through the house. Hm.