Friday, February 5, 2010

Fairy Terrarium

A few weeks ago on the Martha Stewart show, she had Julie Andrews on to help her make fairy terrariums. It was in keeping with the theme of Julie's new movie "Tooth Fairy". I was so enamoured with the idea, I decided to make my own. You can go to Martha's website for a material list. First, she suggests getting an extra large glass canister from Crate and Barrel for $28. I bought mine at WalMart for $12.97.
Instead of buying decorative rock at the garden center for $4 a bag, I got mine at the Dollar Tree for $1 a bag. I used 2. I also got my plants from the flower mart in downtown Los Angeles.

I mixed 3 parts orchid bark with 1 part horticultural charcoal. I went to Lowe's and asked for horticultural charcoal and the guy took me to the BBQ section-NOT the same! I also added some glitter-just like Martha. I misted the plants with water-that's all they need!

Here is how I made the lid...Martha used birch bark sheets but turned them over and used the "brown" side. I really liked all of the lichen on mine, so I used the top side. I cut the sheets into little squares and hot glued them to the lid.



I ordered 5 birch sheets from Sav-on-crafts and I used 3.

On the knob of the lid, I used wrapped wire and affixed it with hot glue. Martha used the top of a pinecone to adorn the top but my didn't look right so I just continued with the wrapped wire.

Here is the fun part! She used LED lights on the inside of the lid to illuminate the plants! I got mine from Sav-on-crafts as well. I used E6000 glue to affix it to the lid.
It looks so cool at night! This will be going on my new desk so I can have greenery with low maintinence.


17 comments:

CHS Creative Productions Blog said...

So cute, I remember making them as a kid :)

dana said...

Donna, that is the cutest danged thing! I love the roof you created, too, with the lichen on it! Too cute! Have you attracted any tooth fairies, yet? :)

I saw a rerun of Julie reading from a book of poetry that she and her daughter had written. Julie is still amazing. . . I want to see that movie. It looked so cute on the previews!

Hope all is well with you! L, Dana

Chris @ Celebrations At Home said...

this is so cute, and I love that you showed how to make it more budget friendly. where did you get the little mushroom?

Tara said...

LOVE it! I can't wait to make one now!

The Liberty Belle said...

Very nice! Thank you for sharing! I really enjoy your blog.

Joanne Kennedy said...

Very cute idea. Love the little lights! I bet you could just stare at it and if you look hard enough you will see the fairy peeking out from under the leaves.

Hugs,
Joanne

Sue said...

Okay, I am going to make this! Too cute! I even have the jar already!

Melissa Lester said...

Lovely! I hope you find lots of fairies taking up residence there!

Miranda said...

Incredibly cute

Kim @ The Celebration Shoppe said...

This is really beautiful. We're introducing a new woodland fairy birthday party theme and I've been scouting for posting ideas. I hope you don't mind me sharing with my readers! :)

SwankyChicks.com said...

This is so adorable and I love your "budget" take on the Martha craft!

michelleml said...

This is too cute love it.

hterice said...

I love this Idea i am going to do it for my babys first birthday if I have time. Check ot some of the crafts for her party. http://hterice.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

what other plants did you use? i know maiden's hair ferns, and i think you used baby's tears?

Anonymous said...

what plants did you use? maiden's hair ferns, baby's tears and what else?

Donna @ Party Wishes said...

No baby tears, just different mosses.

Go Blue Momma said...

I absolutely love this!
I'm thinking about doing something similar for my daughter's birthday and i'm wondering where you found the mushroom? Also, is there no way to save this post on pinterest?