Crafty Friday ~ Newspaper Pots

This is the first year I've made newspaper pots.  I can't believe how quick and easy it is, & that I'm only now discovering them!  It is definitely something you can do with kiddos, I'd say ages four & up.  I'm sure the younger ones would love to be involved too, just be prepared do do 99% of the work & that it'll take twice as long.  But it's so worth it, right?  It's all about connecting & making memories. :)

After trying several methods, I found this to be the easiest:
1.  Fold a black-and-white only (color ink can have hard metals that may leach into your seedling) in thirds.

2.  I found that a 99-cent wine glass from Ikea worked really well for this step.  Roll the newspaper in the wine glass, leaving about a 1-inch overlap over the mouth of the glass.

3.  Shove the ends of the paper into the mouth of the glass.

Warning!  I learned from experience that 10-year-old, 99-cent wine glasses are very fragile & one broke on me during this process.  So I suggest a grown up work with the wine glass (have the children help with folding the paper).

Once that step is done, it looks like this:

4.  Very gently, press the bottom of the glass into the bottom of the newspaper pot to make the base.

 The end!

We were able to make 19 in 30 minutes.  Not so bad!

After using a fragile wine glass, it occurred to me the sturdier solution would have been a half-pint canning jar.  I believe we will use those in the future...

We're actually getting together with another garden-loving family for a brunch & to mass-produce these babies over the weekend.  I cannot wait!


~ Take a gander at more Katie's Quick Home Keeping Tips Here. ~