Cd Case Greenhouse

I originally made this greenhouse last year. But thought I'd repost it because spring is right around the corner and this little greenhouse would make the perfect place to start seeds or showcase some spring bulbs that still need a little extra protection from the cold. Plus earth day is coming up and it's a great reuse project for old CD cases!

The tutorial is pretty long... but don't get scared off because the greenhouse really isn't difficult to make. There are lots of details I wanted to be sure were explained clearly. To do that I had to break this down into a bunch of steps and include a lot of pictures. The toughest part about the whole project is cutting the cases into angles- and even that's not really hard to do, it just takes some patience. The rest of the project is just gluing!

Here's what you'll need to make it:

• Old CD Cases- it takes 40 to make a greenhouse this size (about 11"x 18" x 20") but you'll also want some extras in case a few break while being cut (I broke 2).
• Plastic Glue- that dries clear.
• Painter's Tape
• Safety Glasses
• Tweezers
• You'll also need a craft knife, ruler and cutting board, and a large flat surface (that can get a bit of glue on it) for the cases to lay on while drying.

Step 1: Preparing The Cases

Start with clean cd cases. More than a few of mine needed a bit of dusting off and some old price tags removed. Since most of my cases also had black plastic disc holders in them, and I only needed the clear parts of the cases, I removed and discarded the black plastic. When you remove the disc holders you'll notice it leaves an open space near the hinge. I'll talk more about this in Step 2, I just wanted to point out that this is normal and nothing to worry about.

I also came across a few cases that had clear disc holders. The circular pattern reminded me of the fans you see in large greenhouses so I left those whole and used one on either end in the center of the wall's peak.

Step 2: Making The Walls

You'll need to make four walls for the main part of the greenhouse. The two end walls are each made from four cd cases. The side walls are made from six cases each.

Since the cases are rectangular, not square, it's important that they are oriented the same way. All the walls have the hinges either on the left or the right, never on the top or bottom.

Before glueing anything lay the cases out and decide if the hinges are going to be on the left or the right. And remember the open space near the hinge I mentioned? Make sure on each case that open space faces down, that way you'll have one side of each wall that's smooth solid plastic.

For my end walls I chose to have the two cases on the left have the hinges on the left. The two cases on the right have the hinges on the right. I thought this arrangement made a nice pattern, but you could place them so that the hinges all meet in the middle- do whatever you think looks nice!

For the side walls I arranged it so cases on the left had the hinges facing left, cases on the right had hinges facing right. The cases in the middle alternated. On one wall the hinge for the case in the bottom row faced left and the hinge for the top row case faced right. In the second wall I flip flopped it, the bottom case had the hinge face right and the top faced left.

Once the pattern has been decided, the cases can be glued together.

Start by making the two end walls (4 cases each) then make the two side walls (six cases each). Apply glue to the edges wherever a case touches another case. Line them up carefully so the walls are even and leave them laying flat until dry.

Step 3: Attach The Center CD To The Wall's Peak

The last whole cd case to go on the end walls is what I like to think of as the center or focal point of the peak. It's where I used the cases that have the disc holders still in them.

Once the glue on the end walls has set enough that you can touch the walls without disturbing the alignment you can move on to this step.

Place the cd case in the middle of the wall- use a ruler to be sure it's centered. Glue into place.

At this point I recommend letting the walls dry overnight before moving to the next step. You really want the cases to be nice and secure when you start cutting angles!

Step 4: Cutting Cases For The Wall Peak

Believe it or not you can cut cd cases with a craft knife (it just takes a bit of patience). 

But first things first- before cutting any cases you'll want to put on safety glasses. When the cases are being scored and snapped there's always the possibility that little shards of plastic can go flying. Those little bits of plastic can be just as sharp as glass... and you really don't want one of them in your eye!

The most important part of this step is getting the angles accurate. Starting with the right corner of the peak place a whole case in the empty space (with the hinge facing the left and the open space facing down).

Lay a ruler across the case so that the edges line up with the corner of the full cases next to it and below it. Use your craft knife to score a line across the case that's going to be cut.

Once the case is marked, flip it over and line the ruler up so it looks like it matches the line you've already scored on the other side. Then score a new line on this side of the case. Now that both sides are marked with a line, open the case up so it lays flat and score matching lines on the inside.

Using a fair amount of pressure, repeatedly cut over all the lines on the front, back, inside, and outside of the case. You'll also need to cut the plastic on the edges of the case, where the front and back lines match up. After you've gone over the lines several times the case will begin to cut all the way through in some spots. When this happens the case can be snapped. To do this, carefully apply pressure along both sides of the score line until the case snaps cleanly.

It may take a little practice- I broke two cases before getting it right. The two most important parts were making sure the harder plastic on the edges of the case were scored enough and changing the blade when it got dull.

Once the case is cut you'll notice that the two pieces don't hold together very well and that there's no support at the tip of the angle. To fix this, first take a leftover part of the case and cut a piece off the edge.

Go back to the angle piece that you just cut and glue the edges of the case together. Then, using your tweezers, glue the leftover edge piece in between the front and back of the case to support the top.

Repeat for the left side, making sure the hinge of this case is on the right and that the open space is facing down. Glue both pieces into place.

To make the top of the peak you'll need to cut a triangle. It's done the same way as the side pieces, only this time to mark the angle you'll place the ruler along the corner pieces that were just cut.

Step 5: Gluing The Walls Together

Once all 4 walls have dried stand them up and face each wall so the open spaces are on the inside. It's a little harder to glue this way- but the result is a nice smooth wall on the outside.

Glue the edges of the walls, holding them in place with tape until the adhesive dries.

Once the glue has set you may notice gaps or weak areas; if that's the case, use your glue like caulk to reinforce the joints. Run a bead of glue up the inside corners where each wall meets. Immediately wipe most of the glue away with a paper towel, moving from the bottom of the wall in a straight line towards the top while applying a little pressure with your finger. This will force the glue into the gaps and remove any excess.

Step  6: Making The Peak Of The Roof

To make the top of the roof four cd's are bent in half and lined up to form a peak.

In order for the roof to lay flat against the end walls the plastic edge on the short side of the case (the part that's opposite the hinge) needs to be cut off. Here I've shown one cd with the plastic cut off next to another cd with the plastic still on.

Once all four cd's are cut it's time to set the angle of the roof. I thought this step was going to be difficult but it turned out to be very easy. Put some glue on the hinges of two cd cases. Balance one on the top of of each end walls and let them dry in place.

Once the glue has dried it will keep the case at the correct angle, and now it can be used as a template to set the angle on the last two cases needed for the peak.

Remove the cases from their balancing place on each wall and set them on the flat surface. Before you glue all four cases together line them up so the openings alternate sides. The cases seemed to fit together more evenly this way.

Glue the other two cases to the ones that have already been glued into an angle, using tape to keep the angle matched until the adhesive is dry. When those two pairs have set, glue all the cases together, and you'll have four cases for the top of the roof at the correct angles.

When that piece is dry it can be centered on top of the walls and glued into place.

Step 7: Finishing The Roof With Folding Panels

This last part was so much fun! I think it's the finishing touch that really makes this little greenhouse sing.

You'll need four cases for each side of the roof. Open the cases so they are laying flat, and glue the edges together to make a panel. Be careful not to get glue into the hinge or else your panels won't be able to fold up once they are dry.

You'll notice that on one side of each case there are three raised plastic edges, the other side of the case has two raised edges and one flat edge. I placed the panels on the roof so that the side with the flat edge was at the bottom closest to the walls. But you can place the panels however you'd like- it's an aesthetic choice.

Place the panels so they overlap the roof's peak, cover the open area of the roof, and overhang the walls just a little. Be sure the flaps fold up or else you won't have panels that open for watering and ventilation! Glue along the top as well as the front and back sides (again it's important to not get glue in the hinges or else the flaps won't open). Use tape to hold the panels in place until the glue dries.

When the glue is dry remove all the tape and you'll have an incredibly light, very strong, kinda cute little cd case greenhouse!

Photo Flower Pots

My journey in the SYTYC competition continues! This week's them is Ombre- I hope you'll pop over to check out the projects and vote for your favorite! Voting closes on Thursday, July 16th. 

This was my project for last week's theme (Summer Bounty) in the SYTYC competition. I used pictures that to me, represented the bounties of summer. A tractor at my farm share, bee collecting pollen from wild flowers, and strawberries ready to be picked. I love the way the pots look grouped together- it kind of tells a story. Not to mention that adding your own photos is the ultimate way to personalize something!

The trick of this project is to seal everything correctly so the photos survive the plants being watered. Oh, and getting the photos to look like they're straight, despite being on the curved and tapered surface of the pot. But no worries... I'll show you how to get around all that.

Here's what you'll need:

• Clay Pots of various sizes.
• Photo's of your choice (Note: they must be printed out on a laser printer...more on that below)
• Pot Sealer
• Outdoor Mod Podge
• Clear Sealer
• Painter's Tape
• Piece of String or yarn (long enough to go across your photo)
• Craft Knife 
• Cutting Mat 
• Ruler 
• Scissors 
• Pencil

Photos: Since you'll be Mod Podging over the photos the very first thing you need to do for this project is get some laser printouts of the pictures you'd like to use.

If you use an inkjet printer the photos will bleed (unless you prep them first, but really it's just easier to get laser printouts). Amy from Mod Podge Rocks! has a wonderful post about Podging different types of materials, not only does she thoroughly explain the inkjet vs laser printer thing, but the post is a wonderful general reference for podging.

Anyway, since I don't have a color laser printer I took my digital files to an office supply store. It wasn't expensive, just a few dollars for 3 pages (I put two photos on each page so I would have an extra copy of each picture incase I needed a backup) and the quality of the print was much better than my home printer could have produced on regular copy paper. Yes- you read that right, use regular copy paper. You don't want to try and podge photo paper or card stock onto the pots, just use regular old copy paper for this project!

Since I didn't want to have to make two trips to the store, the only thing I used my inkjet printer for was checking the photos. I printed each picture out and taped them to the pots to get an idea of how they looked and at what size each one needed to be.

Preparing the Pots: Sealing the pots to prevent water from seeping into the clay and behind the picture is absolutely vital to this project's success. I sprayed the inside of my clean, dry planters with a product made especially to seal clay pots. (I found it right next to the pots in the craft store).

Cutting the Photos to Fool the Eye: I cut each of my photos out as I normally would, with a ruler and craft knife. Even though the edges were straight, I noticed right away when I put them on the surface of the pot they looked curved.

That's because the pot is a curved and tapered surface, to fix this distortion you actually have to cut the edges of the photo into curves and angles that will fool the eye into thinking the picture looks straight.

It can be difficult to determine the correct curves and angles... but I figured out an easy way.

Tape your picture to the pot. Starting at the top edge of the picture stretch the fingers of one hand so that they hold a piece of string or yarn taught across the photo. Let the string curve up like an arch (a convex line) until the border of the picture looks straight. It can be awkward but just play with the curve of the string until the photo's top edge looks straight. When you get the string positioned right draw a line with your pencil that follows the path of the string.

Now do the same thing for the bottom border.

For the sides to appear straight the edges need to be cut at angles. Place your string at the top corner of the photo, angle it in towards the center a little as it goes to the bottom. Adjust the angle until the photo's edge looks straight and when you're happy, mark a line with the pencil. Then repeat on the other side.

Once the angles and curves have been marked on all four sides of the picture use scissors to cut the top and bottom curves, and a craft knife and ruler to cut the angles on each side.

Now when you place the photo on the pot it'll appear to be straight... when really, the edges aren't straight at all. (Incidentally the same thing usually happens on bottle labels- if you peel them off the bottle and lay them flat you'll see they aren't really straight.)

Podging: The next step was to stick the photos the pots with Mod Podge. Since the pots will be outside and obviously coming onto contact with water I used the outdoor formula. I decoupaged the typical way-  applying Podge to the back of the photo, then sticking it to the pot, being careful to smooth out any wrinkles. Once it was dry I applied a total of four coats on top, letting each coat dry in between applications.

The only thing I had to worry about was the edges of the photos. I wanted to be sure the edges of the photo were sealed well so I'd need to podge over the edge of the photo to get a good seal. But the MP dries kind of shiny and I didn't want the entire pot to look shiny, so I taped a border around each picture with painters tape, giving me a nice clean edge.

Final Sealing: After all the Mod Podge had dried I blocked off the rest of the pot's surface with some paper and gave the photos a coat of clear sealer.

Not only does this help to protect the photos even more from water (outdoor MP is water resistant, not water proof) but it also gets rid of the tacky feeling MP can leave behind.

I had a lot of fun with this project and can definitely see adding more pots with photos to my collection!

CD Case Greenhouse

I won last week's SYTYC round with my CD Case Greenhouse! My tutorial on making it is up on the SYTYC site today.

It's a new week- and like every new week on SYTYC I'm back to hoping I make it through the voting.

This week's theme was Summer Bounty- and there are lots of neat projects.
I hope you take a look at my tutorial and then vote for whatever project you like in this week's round!

Voting closes Thursday. And thanks to all of you who've gone over to vote these past few weeks, I appreciate the support!

Despite My Neglect

Back in the fall I should have planted a bunch of tulip bulbs I had set aside.

But a combination of events and "states of being" (doesn't that sound better than saying on some days I was just too lazy) kept me from ever planting them.

So they languished downstairs until this past weekend when I noticed that despite my neglect, nature won out and they were actually starting to grow.

Turns out where I had unwittingly stored them provided the ideal conditions for these bulbs to winter. They apparently got cold enough then warm enough to mimic their natural growing cycle.

I can't explain why they did this despite a complete lack of water but I'm happy they did!

A few years ago I bought a huge glass jar of tulips, the bulbs grew in no soil just a little water, which you kept filled as the tulips grew. I thought I could do the same thing so I've put them all into containers, given them some water, and put them near a window. So far most of them have grown between a half to a full inch.

Hopefully they'll keep growing and I'll have some gorgeous indoor tulips this year.

You know it's been raining too much when...

There are mushrooms growing in your potted peas.

And these aren't the first I've found- they are the 3rd, 4th, and 5th mushrooms I've removed from the peas.

We more than ready for some sun around here!

I don't even know how long it's been that we've been stuck in this awful rain and gray everyday weather pattern here in the Northeast- and frankly I don't want to know, I think it would be too depressing to count.

If I can ever make it all the way out to the backyard to check on the garden before it starts raining (again) I'll give you an update on how things are going there too.

In other news, I'm still working on my Saori project. I'm almost done with the weaving and think I might have an idea for using the finished piece- but I'm not sure if it'll work yet so I'll post about that when I have a better idea of how it's going to turn out.

And... it's started raining. Again.

Polymer Potted Plants Tutorial

I had a few of these mini clay pots hanging around and thought I'd like to try and add flowers to them using polymer clay.

I needed a dome shape on the pot to built my plant off of so I started by balling up a piece of aluminum foil and sticking it into the pot so it fit snugly.

Then covered it with brown clay.

I used a push mold to make enough leaves and flowers to cover the entire thing. But if you don't have a mold like this you can easily make leaves and flowers using this technique.

And added brown centers to each flower, which I then textured by poking with a toothpick.

I baked the entire thing (mini pot and all) in the oven according to the package directions for the clay.

You could stop here and have a cute little plant. Or add wire around the lip to fashion this into a hanging plant ornament (I might make a few of these for Christmas to give to the gardeners in my life). But I wanted a plant stake so I used wood glue to attach a dowel into the hole in the bottom of the pot, then I painted the stake green (you could skip this step and leave the dowel natural- it looked nice this way too).

Here's my finished plant stake in a plant on my deck.

I think I'll make a few versions of these with all green leaves- no flowers to mark the herbs. I can write the names on the pot with a permanent marker.