DIY: Succulent Jar

I seriously cannot believe I just thought of this idea.
I'm kicking myself for getting rid of all the hundreds of candle jars I've ever used.

Do It Yourself: Succulent Jar

What you'll need:

1. A candle you no longer want (one that is already in a glass container- mine was from Bath & Body Works)

2. A Freezer

3. A knife 

4. Soil

5. Succulents (or really any other small plant)

6. Spray paint (if you so choose; this item isn't necessary)

First, take your used-up candle and place it in the freezer. Yup. Just trust me on this.

Give it like 12-24 hours, then the wax will come right out of the glass jar. You may need the knife to loosen the wax around the edges, but it shouldn't take you more than 15 seconds to get the wax out.

Then rinse and wash the jar in hot water. Get all those black spots and wax residue off. And if there are stickers that won't come off, put the jar in hot water for about an hour. If the stickers still don't come off, Scotch makes some stuff called "Gu-Gone" or something that will get all the sticker residue off!

Once your jar is dry, you may want to spray paint it! I didn't want the jar completely colored, so I used painters tape to block off the areas I didn't want painted. If you are spray painting, take your jar outside, shake up the paint, and go for it! I used some paper towels to hold the jar from the inside and to keep my hand from getting paint on it. But now that I think about it, a glove might have been more efficient. Let your paint dry and give it another coat if you find it necessary. 

When all of your painting is done, give the jar a base of soil. How much soil you put in it depends on how you want your plants to look. If you want the base of the plant right at the top of the jar, give your jar lots of soil. I, however, want my plants sticking out about halfway, so I'll only be putting in about 2-3 inches of soil. REMEMBER: the roots of your plant already have soil attached. The soil we are adding to the jar is just to pack in the roots and to find the preferred setting of our plants.

Then go ahead and place your plants in! Pack the soil around them so they won't move too much.

And there you go! You just upcycled your old candle! Go you!!

Thanks for reading! Have anymore ideas for upcycling candle jars? Comment them below!

 

A Little Update

I wrote a post about a month or so ago also titled "A Little Update," so I think I'm going to make that the official title of my update posts. So there.

I've been hanging around my family these past few days, because 1. I love them and 2. I'm leaving for college next week (what?!).
This past monday we went to a Padres game (and won. what are the odds.)

And yesterday we traveled Coronado Island to see a friend of mine in a play. We decided to stay the night in the cutest hotel (where they updated us to the 2 bedroom deluxe suite. Holla.) and spend the next day walking around Coronado Island.

We also got a little paddle boarding in, which I think we need to do more. Seriously, it's an awesome work out, but it's quite relaxing at the same time. Win win.
I took a short (but edited) 19 second video, which you can find on my tumblr here. (There should be an "expand" option if you scroll over the video on the bottom right corner.)

Today, I am home. Amongst my packing and getting final loads of laundry done, I did this DIY project (inspired by Carly's Instagram post)

Hope everyone has a great rest of their week! Make sure you get all the rest and relaxation you can in before school starts!