Living Necklace Made From a Toilet Paper Tube

What do you do when you reach the end of a toilet paper roll? Make jewelry, of course. Using the inner tube as a growing medium, you can have an easy, inexpensive living piece of artwork to wear. It’s a lovely way to reuse an otherwise discarded item. And, you’ll look fabulous!

Materials:

1 toilet paper tube
1/2 cup of water
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 magnetic or latched glass charm that opens
Necklace, ribbon, or leather cord
Tiny plants or seeds

For starters, go to the store and purchase a charm that will hold your living plant and some paper pulp. The one that I purchased was $6.99 and I used a 40 percent off coupon at Hobby Lobby. I already had the necklace so this project cost less than $4.50! Woo hoo!
I have added several pictures so that you know that there’s a variety to choose from. I think the bird cage is super awesome!

Once you have your supplies, soak your toilet paper tube in water until it is saturated.
While it’s soaking, you could take this time to look up what poison ivy looks like; that probably wouldn’t make a nice necklace. Just sayin’.

Tear the toilet paper tube in large pieces.

Place the pieces in a blender until you have a fine pulp. You can add 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon at this point for its natural anti fungal properties.
Doesn’t that look lovely?

Place pulp on a paper towel and allow water to be wicked away for approximately 30 minutes.
I know. I know. This picture looks icky. We can all laugh a little. Imagine what your family will say if they see you with this on the kitchen counter.

Place wet pulp in opened charm. Don’t overfill. You could also add some tiny rocks or colorful sea shells for interest.

Place plants inside the charm with the roots on the pulp.
I used some plants that I had growing in my backyard but you could use some seeds of a small flowering plant to grow your own plant inside the charm. That would be really fabulous!

Cover roots with additional pulp and close charm.
Feel free to add some fun beads or other charms to your necklace to wear with your living charm. It’s up to you! Be creative!

Look at that! You made some beautiful living jewelry! You will want to open it periodically to add a couple of drops of water. You also need to allow sunlight to reach your plant.
Tip: If you want to fertilize your plants, add a couple of drops of water from the pan that you boiled vegetables in from dinner. Just make sure it is cooled off. Voila! Instant liquid fertilizer!
If the plant gets too big, you can pot it with the toilet paper roll pulp. You can always make another one because I’m sure you’ll have more toilet paper rolls.
Enjoy your new necklace!