Indoor Gardening: AeroGarden

(photo from the box-- my plants are still babies)

I recently treated myself to a little indoor gardening machine... er... situation... er... contraption called AeroGarden.  It's a countertop garden that can grow just about anything.  I thought some of you fellow plant-obsessed friends might be interested in this, so I thought I'd share a bit about it here on the blog!

  
I found this guy on Amazon when I was shopping for who knows what.  I had gardening on the brain because I had just put some of my baby plants in the ground outside in the raised beds.  When I came across the AeroGarden, it seemed like a wonderful way to have fresh veggies in the house now, instead of waiting until summer for my plants to produce.  I mean, obviously I can just run to the grocery store to snag fresh ingredients, but it sure is convenient to walk over and trim what you need.

The way this thing works is simple: you fill the base with water and plant nutrients.  My AeroGarden has 6 slots for growing whatever I choose.  For now, I'm growing 2 pods of salad greens, 2 pods of roma tomatoes, and 1 mint and 1 basil.  The pods started sprouting within the first week and have really taken off since then.  I think I'm about 20 days in at this point and the plants are getting pretty big!


As you can see, the grow light is pretty intense, but I don't mind it because our dining room tends to stay on the darker side.  The light stays on throughout the day and shuts off around 1am or so.  The height of the light is adjustable to allow more and more room for your plants to grow.  The LED screen on the front reminds you when to add nutrients and water, so it really seems to be the simplest/fool-proof way to grow food indoors.  Oh, and there's a bonus to having this grow light in a darker part of the house:


My house plants in the dining room are VERY happy to have the extra light!  Anyway, I'll keep you guys posted on progress with this indoor garden.  So far, so good!  Happy Tuesday, friends!

Indigo Dyeing Workshop

I had the chance to make it to Rachel's indigo dyeing workshop a couple weekends ago and, boy, was it fun!   I've been so curious about the process since she's gotten interested in this technique, so getting to experience it firsthand was perfection.  Oh, and we had absolutely perfect weather, so that doesn't hurt either.  😉


Firstly, let's just talk about how cool this pallet house is.  Rachel built it, of course, and I was smitten the moment I laid eyes on it.  My kids are getting a pallet play house this summer!  I'm totally inspired.

   
Rachel showed us how to use different objects and clamps to create a variety of patterns on our fabric.  We began by folding then fabric and then we positioned acrylic cutouts, chopsticks, clothespins, etc. to make unique designs once the fabric was dipped in the indigo.  My first attempt was pretty meh, but once I got the hang of it I dyed a large piece of fabric (not sure what to sew it into yet), a dress, and a caftan.
 

More than anything, it was great hanging out with these lovely ladies and learning a new craft. Several of the gals at the workshop had come to the weaving workshop at my house last fall, so it was great to reconnect and learn together again.  If you have the chance to take any of Rachel's workshops this year, I highly recommend them.  I know she's going to several states this summer, so check out her schedule!

New Projects for April!

Welp, it has been a week of radio silence here on the blog.  Why?  It's not because I've been too busy to keep up with posting, but because my darling dear Poesy accidentally kicked my laptop off of my bed.  Thankfully she just killed the screen.  I was afraid I had lost a bunch of files once again.  I'm here now on a loaner computer and playing a big round of catchup!

As I mentioned a few weeks back, I'm regularly contributing on ABM again!  I'm excited to get back to a more consistent schedule.  If I don't make time for that creative brainstorming, I often find myself in a creative funk.  Setting that time aside to plan and make is so important to me!

Anyway, here are a couple of the posts you can find over on ABM this month!


My theme for this month has been simpler, more practical crafts.  I am often guilty of being overly-ambitious when it comes to DIYs, so this first project was perfect for simplifying.  This bunny is "half-way homemade" meaning the doll was bought at a craft store and I went about customizing it.  She was a hit for Easter, but really you could make this doll any time of the year.  You could even switch out what type of animal you're making!


Again, with the overcomplicating: when I first started this wall hanging, my plans for it were so unnecessarily involved.  Stepping back and allowing myself to use good old fashioned wood, yarn, and hot glue turned out to be something lovely to display in our home!  Actually, my craft group is getting together next week to make their own!  I'm so excited to do this with friends!

You can find the full tutorial for the Bunny DIY here and the Statement Wall Hanging here.  Happy Monday, friends!  xo.

Weekly Wears: Scallops and Stripes

I got this dress for Christmas and I've been waiting for it to finally get warm enough to wear it!  I can tell it's going to be one of my Spring favorites, but for now I still feel most comfortable dressing it with tights.  I'm the kind of gal that needs to ease into the new season.  Like, I envy people who can throw on open toe shoes or shorts at the first breath of warm air.  I'm telling you, the first time I walk outside without tights or knee socks is going to feel so weird!  Oh yeah... and I seriously don't own a pair of tights without snags these days.  I'm too clumsy or something.

Dress: Dolls Kill // Purse: Kate Gabrielle's closet sale // Tights: Party City // Shoes: Nasty Gal // Pin: Kill Em With Cuteness // Choker: Free People

Totally off subject but way more interesting to me-- I'M SEEING RADIOHEAD TODAY!  This is going to be one of those special life experiences, I just know it.  We've been waiting years to see them and I can't believe it's finally going to be here!!  Thank goodness the terrible storm coming our way hit on Tuesday instead of Wednesday.  Driving 3 hours in that weather would have been so stressful.

Anyway, happy Wednesday/Katie goes to Radiohead day!  xo.