Gardening, Arts and Crafts Fun!

With a little time off I finally started a few fun projects. First my aloe plant has been needing to be re-potted. The aloe has really grown large, with roots protruding through the bottom. I had to break those off to remove the plant, I really hope this won't injure the plant too much. After some work with the spade I was able to loosen the aloe from the pot. I added pebbles to the bottom of the new pot, and some extra pebbles in the soil as I worked in the plant, to help with water retention. Aloe plants need well drained soil. After re-potting I watered the aloe and left it to enjoy the sunlight with the other house plants.

A problem I've had since arriving is storage. For all my non-hanging clothes I've fallen into the bad habit of tossing it where there's space. The other day, I found some inexpensive wood, tool storage boxes. They worked just perfectly for the task I needed them for. But I didn't like that my clothes would be right against the wood surface, so I decided to add a lining. At the Hundred Yen Store (Dollar Store) I picked up some nice patterned cloth handkerchiefs, and brass thumb tacks. I also got a thin padding material for the bottom panel. From there adding the lining was straight forward. I eyeballed the whole process, I could have taken the extra step of measuring, but I was satisfied with the results. Along with the boxes I've also made a small stand for my potted plant, so I wouldn't have to set the pot directly on my wood floor. For this I took a woven basket, cut the reeds(?) to size, re-wove them, and then covered it with one of the handkerchiefs and attached with safety pins. Overall I am happy with how these projects turned out. I believe I did a good job re-potting the aloe, but I will see how it goes. The boxes turned out very nicely.