Putting Summer Inside a Glass Container?

I made these sweet summery terrarium-esque votive holders the other day for the mantle in the living room at my parent's house. I used two identical vases that my mother had in the basement but never used. The sweet snail guy is from Indigo Twin on Etsy. The Moss is also from Etsy, from the wonderful Rebecca Welch. I highly recommend the products from both sellers. They were both super personable and their products are of the highest quality. I am sure I will be going back to both of them sometime soon for more miniatures and moss, especially if my new interest in greenery continues without incident.

I may be biased, but I think they just look so sweet. The candles in them are actually LED candles. While I am sure you could use real candles in them, I just didn't feel like risking it this close to real live plant material.

They were very easy to make too. The bottom layer is small pea pebbles which I procured from my local home improvement store. (Read: The Home Depot, my favourite art supply store...) The soil is regular old potting soil. There is a layer of potting charcoal to help keep away any mold or mildew, and then I carefully put some hand picked pieces of moss on top. The votive candles sit right on top, as does the wee snail.


When the moss needs to be watered, which really isn't that often, I just take the snail and candles out and give the moss a good sprinkling with water. After that I let the top of the moss air dry off a bit, and then I place the candles and snail back where they belong. Easy as pie.

I never knew it was possible to capture summer in a container like this, but when I see them on the mantle I am convinced that I at least caught some part of it. I am so smitten with them I think I might need to make myself a pair of my own to keep on either end of my large vanity dresser... hmm...