Flower Pots for Next to Nothing pt. 2

If you’ve been keeping up with my admittedly sporadic posts, you know that I have been working on killing the overgrowth in my garden by smothering it with potted plants. My first experiment with Folgers containers are holding up well, so I used them as the base for this new design.

I started by removing the label, then measuring bamboo skewers to fit into the straight parts of the container. It has bulges at the top and bottom, and I wanted to glue the skewers flush with the sides. I cut the skewers down to size using old wire snips from my jewelry making tools. I attached them as shown using hot glue.

I'm afraid I waited a bit long to transplant these last begonias. Most of the blooms have gone. Still...

The bulges in the can I covered using jewelry making cord. I attached this with hot glue too. Once cooled, I flipped the whole thing over and stabbed a few drainage holes in the bottom. The finished project turned out even better than the first design in my opinion. What do you think?

Cleaning Sand Dollars

This week, one of the servers in the restaurant I work for was given some sand dollars by a customer (along with a tip). He knows that I love to make stuff, so passed them to me to see what I could do with them. If you have ever picked up sand dollars on the beach before, you know that they aren't clean by any standard. In fact, they aren't even slightly white. These were brown, and a little fuzzy for lack of a better term.

Filthy sand dollars before soaking.

To get that creamy white color they must be cleaned first by a fresh water soak. I soaked mine for over 24 hours. This is largely because it was already 6 pm and the sun was required to finish the task. In the end, this was a good thing because most of the debris fell off in the last 6 hours. I also was careful to change the water a few times... it can get smelly!

Just added to bleach. See how much cleaner they look already.

Follow the soak with a ten minute bleach bath followed by a good rinse.

Out of the bleach and into the sun.

The final step is a sun bleaching session. This should help with any yellowing. I did not have yellowing after the bleach, but a few grey and pink spots remained. The sun cleared these right up in two hours. Please keep in mind that the times I used here worked for these sand dollars. Dirtier ones may need more, and cleaner less. Use your best judgement.

Finished product.

In the end, I was left with 4 beautiful sand dollars ready for crafting for the price of a splash of bleach... total win.

Welcome!

Hello! My name is Adrienne, and this is a glimpse into the inner workings of how I do the best I can to provide a comfortable home on a very tight budget. I get very excited when I find inexpensive solutions for everyday issues. From carpet cleaning to cooking, car maintenance and entertainment, this will be an exploration of both the good and the disastrous. In other words, I make the mistakes so you don't have to.