Stuff You Can't Have: Time to Go Outside

Here is an updated take on an earlier idea (see Ecowatch) that involved converting a recycled man's watch into my own little plot of land. This time around I've used stichable vinyl to create a more versatile form of living jewelry.

These faux watches remind you that it is time to go outside. Little squares of handmade paper embedded with seeds slip right into a vinyl pocket on each watch. Keep them wet by watering twice a day, and in no time you have your own little secret garden.

To learn how to make the paper simply google "seeded handmade paper" and follow directions. Because I have a highly annoying newsprint advertising circular jamming up my mailbox once a week, I took great satisfaction in using those to create my seeded paper.

Creating a paper blend from junk mail

Cutting tabs from handmade seeded paper

I used two different kinds of seeds to make two different types of paper for this project: wheatgrass and cat grass.

Watches with seeded tabs inserted

Starting to grow

Note the blades of wheatgrass sneaking out of the right side of the pocket above, reminding us that nature has a mind of its own.

Harvest time

While I made most of the watches out of mustard colored vinyl, I also experimented with blackboard vinyl. This nifty material allows you to embellish your watch any way you wish using a stick of chalk, and to erase your embellishments and start over whenever you want.

Fun with blackboard vinyl

The two tiniest watches were made for two cat lovers — a six-year-old and eight-year-old — and are planted with cat grass tabs. Imagine a fey six-year-old extending her delicate arm and letting a cat nibble at the grass growing from her wrist. Childhood doesn't get much more magical than that.