Orchids

I have a little collection of orchids, well not so little I suppose since I have told myself not to buy anymore! You would think since I have so many that I knew how to look after them, but a lot of it is simply luck - as in it is lucky that they like to be left alone! After researching why they weren't flowering I did find out they prefer a bit of sun during winter - and they don't need as much shade as I thought. So after I moved them into the bee garden I have been finding surprise flowers more often, in fact I just found three orchids with new flower spikes!

I really need to remember to take nice photos of the orchids when they're flowering. Most of my orchid photos are of me holding the id tag in front of each orchid in case the tag fades or gets lost, or they're just really bad photos!

Cards from Colouring Books

Does anyone else have a stack of adult colouring books that you haven't touched for awhile? As a kid I loved colouring in, but as an adult I find it a waste to colour in without a purpose for the finished pages. So since I love stamping and colouring in cards I figured why not colour in my books and stick them on blank cards.

I coloured these in using alcohol ink pens - they don't show up the darker sections where the ink overlaps like sharpies and markers do. For the bigger ones I cut to size first then used double sided tape. The smaller tags are blank business cards. I covered the card with a glue stick, pressed onto the paper and once dry I trimmed it with scissors to match the card.

Kitchen Window Herb Drying

I like to grow calendula flowers which I use to make calendula infused oil for my hand balm - I use the instructions from grow forage cook ferment.

For infused oils they need to be dried first, I do have a dehydrator which is great if I have enough to fill it. So when my plants are just starting to flower I bring them inside and hang them up either until dry or there are enough to fill the dehydrator.

I was originally using one of those portable peg hangers that you can dry all your socks on. Not very attractive, or all that easy to hang in my kitchen!

So I opted for a tension rod across my kitchen window, shower curtain rings and curtain hooks from Ikea.

It is out of the way, looks so much better and if I ever need more room I can add hooks, or even a second tension rod. It also now uses what was technically wasted space and we can still open the window and blind without moving the rod.

Most herbs and flowers hang well from the clips. For collecting seed to dry out I use paper bags. The red mesh onion bag is currently holding sugar snap peas, purple snow peas and beans for seed saving.

Desktop Drawers

I always love those cute little decorative drawers that you can buy to clear up all the clutter on your desk. For some reason though I had never bought myself a set, I just have those ugly clear plastic ones that don't actually hide my junk.

Until I saw these and decided it was time for an upgrade that doubles as a craft project.

It was so easy, spread pva glue on scrapbook paper, stick it on the drawer front, smooth out the bubbles then once dry trim the edges with a craft knife. The silver one was actually glitter contact which was the same process since it didn't want to stick to the mdf. So quick to do and it looks so much nicer.