Tiny Terrariums for Earth Day

I actually met my husband on Earth Day, so I love every year when it rolls around.  I made him a cake to celebrate that we’ve made it yet another year of not killing other (I’m totally kidding, not only do I love my husband but I like him very much, too).  I was planning to post that today, but I will wait until later in the week so that I can instead give you a little Earth Day project idea to do with your kids.  Or just enjoy it by yourself – I sure had a lot of fun with this!

Kelsey over at Embracing Messy posted this adorable wish necklace a few days ago, and I’m totally in love with it.  I love nature, and I love jewelry.  But the nature around here is still getting the hang of spring, so I went a different direction:

I have to admit, I actually made a few different terrariums… with yet more ideas for future projects.  They are really addictive!  I definitely don’t have a green thumb, but I had so much fun starting some seeds for my herb garden this year, that I felt like I could tackle another project involving greenery.

I got a lot of great information from The Terrarium Man  – start there if you’re looking for terrarium basics!  I tried a few different kinds, not just the necklace but also some bigger endeavors.  I’ll show you those at the end of the post, but this little one is by far my favorite. :)

I found tiny pebbles from my yard, and I went to the florist for the rest of my supplies.  I needed such a small quantity, I figured it would be cheaper than the craft store, and guess what?  They hooked me up with a very small amount of spanish moss and preserved reindeer moss (these are real mosses that are no longer living, as I understand – which I thought would be good so that it didn’t need watering) – and the sweet lady there charged me $0.25 for it.  Score. :)

I found the tiny bottles in the jewelry section of Hobby Lobby.  They were not on sale this week, but a 2-pack is $1.47 so I didn’t worry too much!

I just used a few tiny pebbles, one little strand of spanish moss (you could leave this out, but I like the additional texture) and a tiny bit of reindeer moss.  You could also use a tiny piece of sheet moss.  I arranged it with a toothpick.

Then I just corked it, and added a jump ring so that I could string it.

I am waiting to make sure it doesn’t accumulate any condensation before I take the extra step of gluing the jar closed – It’s pretty secure, but I want to make sure it doesn’t come uncorked.  I have a small child who loves to grab my jewelry, so I think this will be a necessary step for me.

I just love how it turned out!

Here are a few more small terrarium ideas too!  For my first try, I used weeds hardy-looking plants from my yard (LOL) and a bit of a dying succulent plant that was about to get thrown away.  I put them into a votive candle holder.

Anyone wanna take bets on how long it takes me to kill? ;)  I’m hoping it stays alive, but that’s why I went small and used… well, weeds and something destined for the trash.  If I kill it, I won’t feel too guilty.

I’m also trying an aquatic version.  I went to a local aquarium specialty store and was assured that this one is hard to kill, and just needs water.  It came in a little gel pack and the guy told me I could just keep it in the gel and arrange it in as long as nothing else was going to be living in there (like a fish).  I used some gems I already had in my stash and then just filled the container with enough water to cover the stones.

I really stink at this plant thing because I can’t remember what any of these plants are called already.  Perhaps you know a bit about plants and can leave me some tips in the comments section!

What projects are you doing today for Earth Day?

I link up to these great parties!
~ Adrianne