It seems like everywhere I go these days I see more and more terrariums. I am instantly drawn to them especially in light of my current fern and moss fetish. Those pictured above can be found in the Anthropologie catalog and the large one sells for $228! Wow! One of my absolute favorite stores in town, Park Hill Home, has several cute ones made with pots and bell jars but the least expensive one in there is around $100. I’ve been tempted to splurge but so far have been able to control myself. I knew I could do something on the cheaper side.
So I have been on a mission for the past few weeks to craft my own. I knew exactly the jar that I wanted for the project. I have had my eye on it for a while. The lidded jar is from Walmart and cost only $12.97! What a deal! You could always do this in an apothecary jar or other container that you already own!
Here are the other supplies I rounded up and in the order layered into jar…
pebbles ($3.00)
activated charcoal ($4.00)
spaghnum moss (on hand)
potting soil (on hand)
rabbit foot fern ($3.69)
peacock fern (pinched from big plant)
strawberry begonia (FREE!)
ressurrection fern (FREE!)
sheet moss ($3.50)
cute boy (didn’t go into jar but priceless!)
A nice gal at another favorite spot in town – Botanica Gardens – gave me small pinches of the begonia and resurrection fern when I told her what I was up to! Tip: Share what you are working on when you are out scouting materials. You never know when you may score a generous deal such as this!
So here’s the finished product – for now.
And here’s the top view.
It’s a little busy. I had originally envisioned just the rabbit’s foot fern and moss. I would have never picked the begonia but is is super cute. The resurrection fern intrigued me because I’m not sure if it will work in a terrarium environment. I may end up pulling that out and replacing with more moss. I’m going to let it grow (ha) on me for a week.
All in all it was a super easy project for around $30 – $35 and I saved at least 70% off those in the stores. I have a few smaller glass containers and I am sure I will be experimenting with those since I have the supplies on hand. I know I will for sure make an all moss one and I can’t wait to share that with you. For now the moss is being quarantined to make sure there aren’t any critters hatching into it!
This project is so 1970′s of me! I’m totally cracking up – my mom will laugh when she sees this. She had one of those funky space cadet terrariums back in the day. Do you know what I’m talking about? How about you? Do you have one or have you ever crafted one?
June 13, 2009
There you go. We girls and take care of ourselves and get what we want……on a budget!
June 19, 2009
I know what your talking about. The terrarium your mother had…was it free standing on a pedestal base with a clear plastic globe? If so, they are still on e-bay. I want one, but last time I checked they were still very pricey. Your terrarium turned out wonderful…I like your blog…very nice.
June 24, 2009
So just a suggestion, but you could try to find a wooden salad bowl the right size of course, and stick it on the bottom to make it look more like the pix @ the top