Making Newspaper Pots

Last year I saw a post somewhere about making newspaper pots.  They used a store bought tool to do so and I have thought about that tool often when transplanting.  I seem to never have enough pots for my transplants!  As I was re potting tomatoes and peppers I ran out of pots and decided to try making my own.  It worked wonderful!

What you need:

Newspaper

Cup

Soil

Seedlings

Flat or plant tray

I couldn't find any newspaper in my house and as I was searching the garage my eye fell on this roll of newsprint.  Perfect!  I got it from the newspaper office.  The local paper here gives away the ends of the rolls and I usually grab one or two for crafts and such.  It was absolutely perfect for this purpose.

Roll of newsprint

Step one: Cut newsprint into pieces.  Size will depend on the size of pot you are making.  Make your pieces double the height as you will be folding them in half.

Cut pieces

Step Two: Fold your piece of newsprint in half lengthwise.

Cut and folded piece

Step Three:  Get your cup.  I used a plastic cup I had laying around my greenhouse.

Cup

Step Four:  Line your paper up on your cup to the height you would like.  I did fairly large as I was transplanting tomatoes and wanted them to be deep.  Place the folded side on the top of the cup as this will be your top edge.

Placing paper on cup

Step Five:  Roll paper around cup keeping top edges even.  It will not be tight around the cup if your cup is smaller at the base.

Paper rolled around cup with top edges even

Step Six:  Turn cup over and fold the bottom like a present.  It will be bulky and try to unfold.  I ended up placing it flat in my hand and squeezing around the bottom the cup and crumpling the paper a bit.

Bottom folded

Step Seven:  Take the pot off the cup and continue to hold the bottom so it does not unfold.  Place a small amount of damp soil into the bottom to help it keep its shape.

Soil in pot

Step Eight: Place pots into flat or plant tray.

Finished pots

Step Nine: Transplant as normal.  I labeled each pot with a small piece of tape and placed the tape on the rolled edge.  This wasn't necessary to hold the pot together but I had several different varieties in each tray and did not have enough plant markers.

Finished transplanting

Make sure to water them and then you are done!

I'm Back!!

Its been such a sporadic year of posting and I have missed blogging and reading others blogs so much. I am very happy to say that we have moved! We are back in town and that means no more dial up internet!!! I am so excited. The move to the "country" was fun but we realized that our lives are just to busy right now. We have a dream of living out there and LOVE it (except for the overly large country spiders) we just have way too much going on at this point in our lives. Since Joe and I share a car there were days that Joe was driving up and down the river road 3-4 times, going to work, coming home, going back to town, etc. We loved and learned a lot living out there. I will miss the quiet, that I did enjoy.

In addition to moving Joe started Seminary school in January. It is something he has talked about for a long time, since I have know him actually, so 12 years. I am so excited for this next step for him.

Our new house is not quite cookie cutter but not really unique. Its on a hill behind the high school of our small town and we can see the river and to the east Mt Hood. Space is an issue so I would love anyone's input or links to organizing. Right now everything is in boxes in the garage and I kind of want to just give it all to Goodwill. lol The two older kids are sharing rooms as are the two younger girls. I am trying to figure out storage space for all the craft and home school supplies. Which I will admit is an amazingly large amount of stuff. We love our crafts! I also need to pare down my kitchen as the storage in there is much less. So send me your links and ideas. I probably won't be posting regularly this week or two as I unpack and get the kids and I settled into a new house but once we are expect a years worth of pictures and lots of posts.

Just had to share a link to this blog, its a mama friend and I love what she creates! We made these at Christmas with red, green, and white squares glued onto baby food jars. I think we will take some time out of the unpacking to make some valentines jars. Homemade Serenity: Valentines Votives

Happy day to everyone and hope you are getting beautiful weather!

Homemade Memory Game

We have been creating a lot of the gifts we are giving for Christmas this year. Most of the family is getting boxes of home canned goods, homemade elderberry syrup, and homemade fruit cordials. I will probably throw some breads or cookies in there and the kids have been having fun making mixes in jars. Layering all the ingredients is a lot of fun. The kids are getting a variety of things, some store bought but most made by me or made by another WAHM. I enjoyed shopping online on Hyena Cart this season and supporting other Mothers working at home. Tonight I completed one of Marah's Christmas presents. I am really excited with how it turned out and I know she will really enjoy it!

Supplies I used:

Wooden circles from craft store

Ink pads

Rubber Stamps

Heat Embosser (to set the ink)

Tin for storage

The only items I needed to buy were the wooden circles ($2 for 20) as I had all the other supplies on hand. You could also use paint or permanent markers to draw the designs on the pieces. My ink pads said for wood they needed to be heat set so I am hoping the embossing tool was hot enough to set it. So far so good. These are definately not small child friendly though as they are about 1 inch in diameter.

Star Wars, Blue Dye, and Salt

Not so many pictures to catch up on but I do need to some of Nomy up here soon.

Michael is obsessed with Star Wars. He has seen part of it and most of the battle scenes. He also loves his Star Wars Legos. Not a day goes by that they don't have a battle.










Salt water painting. The water evaporates and leaves the colored salt behind.




Marah eating paint.


Marah's picture.




Madeline took these pictures while I dyed Michael's mohawk. He requested green but they did not have any so he picked blue.






Madeline is becoming quite the baker. She made this bread the other day while I was mowing the lawn. She came out to ask one question and by the time I was done the bread was rising. It was the best bread I have ever had! She loves to go through the cookbook looking for new recipes to try.