Sunday, January 31, 2010

Fun Project=Another Way To Spend Money...

My lonely, empty glass container


Rocks being washed, go into glass container
on bottom for drainage.

Step one now complete.


Here are the plants, moss, decorative rocks
and potting soil, ready to go.


The plants are in. Next I need to add potting
soil around them to hold them in place.

Next I'll add the decorative moss on top
of the soil and then the decorative rocks
on top of the moss.

Here's the completed project, on top
of my cake stand to make it more visible
behind our kitchen sink.

Another view. Can you see the little turtle
and butterfly I added for fun?

This is a teeny little dessert dish that I
planted the extra plants in. I'm not
sure where this is going yet.

We took our darling daughter Leah out to dinner on Friday night to celebrate her 14th birthday. She chose Famous Dave's (a BBQ joint) which just happens to be next to a wonderful florist that was having an open house gala this weekend. I knew this because I am on their e-mail list and they had sent me a message about it. 20% off everything in the store and free tulips! I'm a sucker for free stuff so I cajoled dear husband into a quick detour there after our dinner.

So, we stopped in. It was heaven. We've been surrounded by a snowy and very cold landscape for some time now and inside the florist shop there were multitudes of gorgeous flowers and green plants and I could actually smell the scent of real flowers and dirt! Call me weird, but I love the smell of fresh dirt. It must be the farmgirl in me. Brings me back to my younger days walking barefoot in the fresh plowed fields, looking for treasures and catching critters.

While we were there (a dangerous statement, no?) I saw the cutest terrariums. I've been wanting to create a terrarium out of a glass container I purchased a while back. Since I was feeling guilty about just grabbing my bouquet of tulips without intending to buy anything I asked an employee how you go about building a terrarium. Next thing you know, Jed's a millionaire and I've made plans to return the next morning with my container and that's just what I did.

I didn't need to buy much: Four small plants and some washed gravel for drainage and that was it. Everything was 20% off mind you so for only $16.63 I had all my supplies. I headed home, eager to craft my little terrarium garden and the photos above outline the process. Step by step, it was actually easy and fun to create. If any of you are longing for a touch of green in your home and you have a large clear glass vase or bowl, you might want to give this project a try. Enjoy!

7 comments:

Lindsay said...

Oh, how neat!! I love how
your terrarium turned out! :)

~ Blessings,
Lindsay

WendyBee said...

I. Love. This. Idea! I am craving plants and blooms and garden shows. Must be a sign of yearning for Spring.
I too love the earthy smell of dirt, that is everywhere in Springtime. I celebrate the first time I hear the "peeper frogs" in late-ish Spring. I put the car windows down on certain stretches of the road on cool Spring evenings to listen for them.
Thanks for your pictures - so inspiring!

Can do mom said...

Oooh, Spring Peepers! I, too, love the sound of the Spring Peepers. We are fortunate to live between two ponds that are home to multitudes of those noisy little frogs. It's practically deafening at night right outside our bedroom windows in the spring. When I hear them I know that Spring is really here. In the meantime, the terrarium will have to fill the void.

WendyBee said...

Hi, I'm baaaaack.
I just did a little research, and I've decided that you are right and my visitor, while well-meaning, was mistaken. These little birds at my feeder that I have been calling sparrows are indeed sparrows. At least as far as I can tell by looking at Wikipedia pictures. I used to see purple finches (which are red!) by the hundreds in Western Mass., and they are the state bird of New Hampshire, but rarely have I seen them up here in Maine. Thanks. It's been fun to have someone talk about birds and dirt and peeper frogs with. I bet we'll have more of these exchanges in the future. As the weather warms I'll try to get some pictures of cranes and herons in the Scarborough Marsh, a glorious wading bird habitat, that I can almost see from my desk at work!
WendyBee

Can do mom said...

Oooh, a marsh with wading birds! How heavenly! Right outside your window no less! Last year, I was allowed to pick a place to go to on my birthday to purchase a birthday gift. I chose Cabela's, a hunting outfitter store. I don't think they have any out east but you might be familiar with their enormous catalogs (especially being the mother of sons!) They have a few very large stores, two about an hour from here, and they are FULL of outdoorsy stuff. I'd been longing for a birdwatching scope. DH even let me decide if I wanted the Swarovski model of my dreams but I could not justify the pricetag and went with a Nikon Spotter XLII instead. We have visited FL the past two years and one of my very favorite things to do is to go to the Merritt Island NWR where they have 1000s of wading and water birds. It's so amazing. I don't know if we'll get to go again this year but if we do I'm bringing my scope with me.

Auntie Cake said...

Very sweet, and what a fun reminder that spring is on it's way. Even if it does take its own sweet time coming. I love the smell of dirt also. Can't wait for the fields to thaw out. And much much better than they smell right now, farmers have been out manureing this week. (and yes, I made manureing up... But you know what I mean, spreading manure down.) Enjoy your week!
Kate

Kelli said...

That looks so cool. I can do that, but I'll need your kitchen so I have someplace to put it.