Working With What You Have

My schefflera cutting needed a more presentable place to dwell:



Like this:



Use what you have:



Carefully place bamboo skewers against square, (coffee helps):



Measure, tape, pencil 3 1/2" line, cut with needlenose pliers while watching some fly across room, tape, repeat with the now shorter skewers:



Wrap around plastic tub/container, tie with jute twine, remove tape:



Happy Liz. Happy plant.

Virtually no cost because I had everything on hand.

Hope everyone has a fine week!

EDITS to link back to various "link parties" this week to appear below. Changes as they warrant. Click through and see what everyone else is up to!

First is: Sanctuary Arts Before and After Links (hope my little project is within the scope of the link party...if not, I feel like a dope, I don't think I have linked over on her blog before).

Of course: Metamorphosis Monday on Between Naps on the Porch. Yep, pretty sure this fits because my little schefflera has new digs to show off her growing branches and is transforming with each week.

Tuesday means: DIY Day @ A Soft Place to Land. Always a lot of projects here to see there so make some time in your day as there are usually around 200 links to click through to view creativity at its finest.

Thursday means: Transformation Thursday @ The Shabby Chic Cottage. Another link party that you should put aside some time. Glad that she's having it today because I am stuck at home with nothing to do.

Finally Friday: Frugalicious Friday @ Finding Fabulous! Of course I didn't pay full price for my project...the paper clip container would have gone in the trash several weeks ago but I am not one to throw things away. The bamboo skewers I cut up I've had for forever and a day which I bought at King Soopers (our flavor of Kroger) and it's been so long I haven't a clue what I paid for them while the jute was leftover from other projects so basically it was all FREE!

The Little Schefflera That Could

Thinking up interesting subject headers can be daunting. Especially when I am waiting for a call and my ADD really pops out.

Anyhow, the last week in August I had to cut back my schefflera (umbrella tree) because the lighting in the apartment was vastly different than the lighting in the house I lived in for 11 years. The leaves started dropping, the color turned a yellow green and it just looked sad. It's like living in a cave sometimes here. The big plant is doing better but I saved one of the better cuttings, planted it in some Miracle Grow potting soil, covered it with a portion of a 2 liter seltzer water bottle and today, "she" can live without being in constant humidity:



I know it looks odd with the bamboo skewers there, but I used those to slowly prop up the 2 liter bottle cover over a few days so it would acclimate to lower humidity levels. I almost lost it when I took the cover off for a couple of hours (it drooped like a sad puppy that's been scolded) but I quickly covered it up and then started adding the skewers after it perked up.

In a year or two I will have a bigger bushy tree and I did it without the strongly suggested use of vermiculite and rooting hormone and for free. Its parent was not much bigger than this when I got it at Wal*Mart many years ago so yay for free/cheap!

Have a fab Monday!

EDIT Tues. 2:45pm: Check out all the fun over at Kimba's Do It Yourself Day. She recently moved it from Thursday to Tuesday so bookmark it and check it out!

PS She's having a give-away but I am not there for that, I just am proud that my schefflera cutting has made it this far. :-)