Use Canva Mockups for Etsy Listings

Mockups Really Do Look Better 

I'm finally learning to use mockups for my Etsy shop listings. If I had  realized how much better they would look, I'd have figured out how to do it much sooner. 

I designed this Android mermaid wallpaper in honor of two little friends, Mika and Vivian. I was surprised at how few designs featured black mermaids, but now there is at least one more. 

I designed this birthday card for my pastor, who likes Bigfoot. I've actually never made a greeting card before. I had a package of greeting card paper and envelopes that I bought in the 1990s and never even opened until now. I designed this in Canva and it was pretty easy, really. Figuring out how to get it to print correctly was a bit tricky, though.

I purchased this mockup for greeting cards from Etsy, but I found the other mockups on Canva (a free graphic design app).









Here is the inside of the card: 

This dragon was one of my first graphic designs. It is a layered design intended for use with HTV iron-on vinyl.  I originally created it in Cricut Design Space (the required software for Cricut cutting machines) but that app does not allow you to get your designs out again. Since I wanted to add this to my Etsy shop I ended up recreating it in Canva then using Inkscape (a free vector graphics app) to tweak it and turn it into an SVG file that would allow purchasers to import it into Design Space. It sure was the long way around to do things. 

How to create a mockup for Etsy shop listings

Using a mockup in Canva is not difficult.

For Etsy, you want images at least 2000px wide, so begin with a 2000x2000px blank document in Canva. 

Click on the Elements menu at the left and type mockups in the search bar. Choose a mockup you like and click to add it to your document. 

Right click on the mockup in your document and click to set it as the background.

Now just add the design you want on the mockup. Resize your design until it looks good on the mockup.

Share/download the document as a JPG file which you can then use in your Etsy shop listings.

Building a Permaculture Fruit Tree Guild

It Began in the Summer of 2018...

Before I moved to this home in Colorado Springs, the yard had been constantly walked over, driven on, and even parked on, so it was very, very compressed. A few years back, I had made a lazy girl's compost pile in the middle there, and a flower border along the driveway.

When I decided to make more flower beds in 2018, I first had to remove the layer of weeds that had surrounded the compost pile. I also discarded the un-decomposed layer of garden debris from the top of the compost pile. Then I turned the dirt over with a shovel and spread out and mixed in the compost that had been created over the years...

I took a trip to my sister's home in Florissant and collected piles of rocks that I brought back to use as borders around the garden and paths.

I used rocks to mark out the flower beds and the pathways, then I dug the path areas down a bit so they would hold water better. (As I went, I tossed the dirt I dug from the paths onto the new garden bed.) 

I hauled in bags and bags of mulch for the paths. The sandy gravel in the new garden contained almost no organic matter, so I mixed in several bags of my favorite soil amendment, Sheep & Peat compost mix, which I get from Home Depot.

I bought a plum tree, so I decided to enlarge the garden area even more and to make it into a permaculture fruit tree guild. I planted my tree, removed more weeds, mixed in more Sheep & Peat compost mix and added more mulch. Then I was finally ready to start planting...

Unfortunately, it was almost October of 2018 by the time I finished all this. Most of the planting would have to wait until Spring.



In the meantime, I'd had to content myself with planting some pansies, daffodil bulbs and a couple of small evergreen trees.

Photos from 2019

By June of 2019 I had planted oregano, garlic, sage, chives, dill, wormwood, comfrey,  echinacea, feverfew, chamomile, nasturtium, tomato 'patio princess', melon 'tigger', melon 'MN midget', and pumpkin 'neon'.

The wormwood was not happy and died by the next year.

By July I had expanded the garden even more and had made several sub-irrigated planters. The tomatoes absolutely loved these planters.

By August everything was really taking off. By this time I had added Goji berry, sweet William, calendula, a few turtle bean plants, and a pretty ground cover. A larkspur volunteer popped up, too.

Easy Self-Watering Planters from Plastic Bottles

 I am so completely sold on the benefits of self-watering (also known as sub-irrigated) planters!

Here are some parsley plants I grew from seed. The ones planted in the sub-irrigated planters are much larger, have much larger leaves, and much thicker stems than the seedlings growing in the standard cup planters.

I make my own sub-irrigated planters from 2- or 3-liter soft drink bottles. Here is how you can make your own as well:

Using a drill or soldering iron, make 2 or 3 holes around the neck of the bottle to aid in water absorption.

To prevent over-watering from rain or sprinklers (in case these will be outside), make 1 or 2 holes around the top curve of the bottle so that excess water can drain into the water reservoir, if necessary.

Cut off the bottom third of the bottle.
This will become the water reservoir.

Cut a circle of polypropylene fabric such as that from a reusable shopping bag. (My bag was from Wal-Mart and cost $0.50.) This fabric won't rot and will allow the water to wick up into the soil.

 

Fasten the fabric securely to the neck of the bottle using a zip tie or something similar. This will hold the potting mix in the bottle, and prevent the plant’s roots from growing down into the water.

Pack soil-less potting mix or peat moss firmly down into the tip of the bottle. Plain dirt or potting soil will not allow the water to wick up to the plants’ roots, so soil-less potting mix or peat moss is best.


Fill the bottle the rest of the way with potting mix and moisten thoroughly. (Stir the potting mix to make sure it is completely moistened.) There should be some water that drips down into the water reservoir.

Make a well in the center of the potting mix and insert your plant. Top with more potting mix, if desired.


If you wish, dump the water out of the water reservoir and fill with fresh water. (I do this because I don’t like the black water that drips from the potting mix.)

 

Keep an eye on the water level in the reservoir and add more when it runs low. Try not to let it ever run dry.


Never add water to the top of the planter, add it directly into the reservoir. The soil and plant’s roots will absorb all the water they need right from the reservoir.

To make it easier to move several of these planters, I put them in laundry baskets from The Dollar Store.

Made a new little garden

A couple of weeks ago I hurt my knees pretty badly building my butterfly garden. I'm not able to finish it, so it currently sits covered in thick newspaper and mulch. I've been struggling to find places for my new plants that I had ordered online weeks ago that were intended for the butterfly garden.

I've got 5 or 6 plants coming in any day now, so I built a new little 3'x3' garden to hold them. I cleared the weeds, then I turned the soil and mixed in 2 bags (3 cubic ft) of mushroom compost.
The bed will be surrounded by a walkway. This photo was taken from the porch, so the flowers here will give me a nice view.



It was a lot easier on my knees to use my new long-handle shovel instead of getting down on my hands and knees and using my hands and trowel as I usually do. I see all these little roots so I’m dying to kneel down and sift through and remove them all, but I just can’t do it--my knees are still too sore, though they are improving.

Home-Made Net Cups for Starting Seeds

Larry Hall, inventor of the Rain Gutter Grow System, discovered that seeds started in perforated cups, such as the net cups used in hydroponics, grow amazingly faster and larger than seeds planted in standard cups or trays.

While net cups are not expensive, free is better so I came up with my own version: Peachy Net Cups.

I made these from diced peaches cups, though they are available with several different varieties of fruit. The holes were made by heating a Phillips screwdriver on my gas stove burner and then melting the holes all round the cup. You can make slits rather than holes if you prefer, though that would probably be easier using a soldering iron rather than having to keep reheating the screwdriver constantly.

I can fit several of these cups onto a Styrofoam tray such as those from packaged meat from the grocery store. (I clean the trays first by thoroughly washing in very hot water and anti-bacterial dish soap.) These cups, filled with seed starting mix or potting soil, fit conveniently on the trays and slide easily beneath my PVC grow light.

Before planting seeds, thoroughly wet the potting mix either by carefully watering from the top or by pouring a couple of inches of water into the tray and letting the cups sit in the water until it is absorbed. Repeat until the potting mix is damp but not water-logged. Now just plant your seeds following the directions on the packet. Keep the potting soil damp until your seeds sprout.

Make a Self-Watering Planter for Your Herbs

My self-watering planter is based on a design by Larry Hall for his Self Watering Pop Bottle Garden.

I will be planting herbs to grow in my kitchen over the winter.

Many cooks who aren't into gardening avoid indoor herb gardens because of (legitimate) fears the plants will die from too much or not enough water. This little system solves the water worries and practically guarantees success as long as there is enough light.

Herbs need at least 5 hours of bright, full sunshine a day to stay healthy, and sometimes the low winter light just isn't enough. You can place your herbs in a south-facing window, but for the best results, place your herbs under fluorescent lights for 14 hours a day, with the lights 6 to 8 inches away from the tops of the plants.

Making The Planter

The first step to making my self-watering planter is to add holes to the 2-liter bottle for drainage and to improve the wicking action of the water. To make the holes in the plastic I melted them with a screwdriver that I heated on my stove burner. You could also use a soldering iron, or a drill.

Make 3 small holes around the top of the bottle through the threads where the cap normally screws on. This will help the water to wick up into the soil.

Add 3 holes around the bottle 3 or 4 inches from the top. These are needed if the planter will be outside to allow rain water to drain down into the tub to prevent water-logging the roots.

Now, cut off the bottom portion of the 2-liter bottle. You won't need the bottom for this project.



 

2 larger holes are needed in the lid of the tub. The large one will hold the 2-liter bottle, and the smaller one is for adding water when needed. Trace around the bottle and the bottle cap with a pen to mark the holes, then cut with a knife or scissors.

Finally, make small hole about 3 inches up from the bottom of the tub to allow excess water to drain out and prevent over-filling of the tub. To avoid spills, you may wish to omit this if your garden will only be kept indoors, however, you must then be careful not to overfill when adding water. Keep only about 3 inches of water in the tub.

While not absolutely required, it is recommended that the bottle and tub be painted. In addition to looking nice, painting the tub and bottle protects the plastic from sun damage, and prevents too much light from causing algae growth. I used Krylon Fusion spray paint for plastic.

I'd recommend, especially if you are making these for gifts, that you not spray the bottom of the tub with paint. I found that the bottom gets scratched way too easily. Since the bottom wouldn't get exposed to sunlight, it's ok to leave it unpainted, which would avoid scratching issues. (I haven't had any problems with the paint scratching anywhere else. The Fusion paint really does a good job.)

The top portion of the 2-liter bottle will be inside the tub so it is not necessary to paint that area of the bottle.

The final step is to cut a small square of non-woven polypropylene fabric such as that from a blue Walmart shopping bag or some landscape fabrics. Fasten this to the top of the bottle using a wire or zip tie. This will keep the potting mix and roots in the bottle yet will allow the water from the tub to be absorbed into the soil to water your plant.

Firmly push potting mix down into the top of the bottle before filling the rest and inserting your plant. This will allow the water to wick up into the bottle to water the plant.

Maintaining The Plants 

The only maintenance required for this self-watering planter is to add water once a week or so, as needed, and to fertilize periodically. The plants will take only as much water as they need from the tub so they will never get water-logged, nor will they get too dry as long as you maintain the water level in the tub.

Fertilize your plants about once a month by adding Miracle-Gro All Purpose Water Soluble Plant Food to the water in the tub. Miracle-Gro and Jobe also make plant fertilizer spikes that you insert into the soil a few times a year. An excellent organic fertilizer is fish emulsion. These are all available at most garden centers.

Make Your Own $50 Grow Light Stand from PVC Pipe

I made my own 48" grow light stand from PVC pipe based on instructions in this Vegetable Gardener Post.

I ordered everything shipped to my home from Lowes.com: a 48" shop light, fluorescent bulbs, 1" & 1-1/4" pipe, tee & elbow fittings, end caps, and lag & eye bolts— all for about $50. Since the order was over $49, shipping was even free.

I ordered the 1-1/4" pvc pipe as three 5’ lengths so it could be shipped and I’d have some extra, just in case. The 1" pipe came in 2-foot lengths already. I did not glue the pieces together--they are secure enough just pushed together and this way it can be dismantled for storage.

A word of warning to those with small hands: squeezing the pipe tool to cut the pipe was very, VERY HARD. Even with both hands I could barely get it done, and my hands are larger than most women’s. If you can’t get help from someone with strong, large hands to use this type of pipe cutter, you may want to plan some other method to cut the pipe.

Making Pinecone Bird Feeders

I gathered some pinecones and decided to make some bird feeders today. I tied string to the pinecones, then spread them with peanut butter, then rolled them in birdseed.

They look nice hung from the porch roof. At first, I had them hanging too low and the squirrels got to them, but I’ve raised them up and am hoping the birds find them soon.