green thumb

today is the first day of spring and i’m ready to get my hands dirty. this weekend, i decided to put together a few terrariums to add a little green around the house. i found some glass containers at the salvation army and went to a local gardening store, english gardens, to get some supplies. here is how to put them together.

(1) prep your container by cleaning and drying it thoroughly.

(2) in bottom of the contatiner, layer 1 inch of rocks, a thin layer of charcoal to filter water and help control odor, and add 2-3 inches of potting soil. water the soil so that it is moist and ready for you to start planting.

(3) put down a sheet of plastic to make clean-up easier. take your plants out of their containers and set them on the plastic. with a sharp knife, cut the root bulb of each plant into half or quarter pieces and carefully separate the top of the plant. the plants i chose were a selaginella moss fern and a small foliage plant.

(4) gently loosen the roots of each plant section and place them in your container. once they are arrange properly, add another inch of potting soil over the roots to secure the plants.

(5) to add details, tear off pieces of sheet moss and work them around the plants, covering most of the soil. on the exposed soil, add a few river rocks. finish, by dropping in a few mossy sticks or bits bark from around the yard.

(6) take a wet rag to clean off any dirt from the sides of the container and use a spray bottle to spritz the plants and clean off the rocks.

(7) for upkeep, water lightly every 1-2 weeks or when the soil starts to look dry. one of my containers ended up too full to close, so it may need to be watered more often. If the plant starts to touch the top of the terrarium it may start to die so keep them trimmed back.

(photos by: erin)

denim update

styles change, but getting rid of a favorite pair of jeans is like saying goodbye to an old friend. instead of storing them in the back of your closet for two decades, waiting for the style to return, taking the time to update their shape on your own is an easy way to make your jeans look more current without having to spend the extra money on a new pair. if you don't have a sewing machine at home, you can still update your denim by measuring and marking the jeans at home and then taking them to a seamstress to finish the details.

(1) decide what type of style you want to update to. the different leg openings are skinny (10-inch leg opening), pencil (12-inch leg opening), cigarette (14-inch leg opening), and straight (16-inch leg opening). keep fabric in mind when deciding. if your jeans have little or no stretch, you might not want to do a skinny leg.

(2) try your jeans on inside out and mark where they start to move away from your body. generally, this is 2-3 inches above the knee. repeat this for both legs, making sure the marks are an equal distance from the floor on both sides.

(3) take your jeans off and lay them flat on the ground. decide how much denim needs to be removed at the ankle and mark. because the jean leg is folded in half, you will want to measure half of the amount of the desired fit. for example, if you want to create a cigarette leg, measure 7 inches from the inside seam to create the desired 14-inch opening.

(4) unpick the bottom hem on both sides up to the mark you just made.

(5) using a straight edge, draw a line from the ankle mark to the mark above your knee. when the line is drawn, if it doesn’t blend with the natural seam at the top, curve the line slightly to avoid creating a saddlebag look.

(6) use pins to secure the two sides of denim together along the line. use your sewing machine to stitch along that line.

(7) once both legs are sewn, try them on to make sure that you achieved the look you want. after this point, there is no turning back.

(8) cut off the extra denim leaving one half inch of fabric next to your new seam. using a zigzag stitch, sew along the newly trimmed fabric to avoid unraveling.

(9) turn the bottom of your jeans under and re-stitch the hem to close it up.

(10) open up the seam and iron the fabric flat.