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...

The Curse of the Black Thumb

Fact: I have a track record of killing every plant I come in contact with.

Back in March, I bought four lovely succulent plants at the Philadelphia Flower Show. I was determined to break my killing streak and prove that I could keep a plant alive just like any other normal person. Since March, I have been too afraid to move the plants from the containers they came in. I was worried that just touching them the wrong way would result in their spontaneous combustion. I'm only moderately joking, but I don't have a green thumb, I have more of a black thumb.

After months of reading up on what it takes to properly replant and keep a succulent alive, as well as gathering all the necessary materials, I finally put on my big girl pants and decided that today was the day for replanting. I had the four plants that I managed to keep alive for the past several months which is a feat in and of itself. There were a few times where I was a bit worried, but they all have pulled through like champs. I bought these three containers from Three Potato Four here in Philly. It is one of my favourite shops, and I am sure you will see other finds of mine from there in the future. If you are in the area and ever have a chance to attend one of their Barn Sales, GO. You can thank me later.

I bought some pea pebbles to put on the bottom of the containers for drainage, and some potting soil specifically for cacti and succulents. As soon as I finished setting up a workspace for myself in the porch, I dove in. I lost a few pieces off of one of the small green ones. (How bad is that, I don't even know what type of succulents they are...) I took a deep breath though and told myself that one or two "leaves" lost weren't going to kill it.

The whole process went fairly quickly and painlessly. I did everything exactly as all the instructional videos, step by step photos and tutorials on the internet told me. Once the plants were safely in their new planters and none of them showed any signs of wanting to die immediately I breathed a sigh of relief. I would like to think that they enjoy their new spaces. There is room to stretch out their roots, and lots of nutritious new dirt to explore.

Maybe I am being a bit too sentimental about it. I am just excited I not only kept my plants alive for three months, but that I also replanted them into beautiful new containers without incident. Trust me, when it comes to me and plants, there is ALWAYS room for incidents. I wonder if this means I am finally starting to break my plant killing cycle... One can hope!

Now I just need to find a good place to keep them. I watered them thoroughly after planting so they should survive when I inevitably forget to water them for two weeks. I think they will probably end up on my vanity dresser. They would bring some great color to it, and look really nice among the other items I have displayed there. Not to mention that it is conveniently placed next to a big window, so they will have all the sunshine they need.

So what do you think? Not bad for a first try at caring for a plant right? I'm thinking that my next project will be a terrarium. Terrariums share a lot of the same characteristics as succulents that I hope will allow me to be successful in keeping them alive a long time.

- They don't need to be watered all the time.

- They thrive when you ignore them and don't fuss over them too much.

- They travel well if you need to move.

- My dogs won't try and eat them.

- They grow slowly and don't need to be replanted often.

- They will survive the heat and the cold.

Looks like I might need to make another trip to Three Potato Four to find the perfect terrarium container.... Hmm...

The Perils of Pinterest

A couple months ago I signed up for this really fun website called Pinterest. On it's most basic level, Pinterest is just a digital pin board (similar to a real life cork board you might have in your office or studio space) where you can collect images and ideas from around the internet into one central location. Since I am a bit of a hoarder when it comes to beautiful images and fun ideas, this website seemed like the best present the internet has ever given me. So naturally I start pinning to my hearts content. I pin art that I love, I pin recipes I want to try, I pin clothes and jewelry I lust after. It was all fun and games until I realized that I have been pinning many things I want to try and do, but I haven't actually taken steps to do any of them! I liked Pinterest so much because it was different than just saving an image to my computer or bookmarking a recipe for later. I practically never sift through my bookmarks, and the times when I remember to flip through the images saved on my computer are few and far between. So Pinterest allows me to constantly see and check in on these ideas and images and I can continue building on them, similar to how when I was still a design student I would make idea boards and watch my thought process grow and change. So this week, with all of the rainy weather we have been having, I decided it was as good a time as any to pick something I have been wanting to try from one of my Pinterest boards and set about making it happen.

I stayed away from my craft themed pin board because after all the craft fair prep my sewing machine and I are a little burnt out. My wallet is as skinny as ever so I wasn't going to be doing any impulse buying based on my style pin board. So as I was flipping through my food pin board I came upon the above image and remembered how excited I was when I pinned it and decided that was what I was going to do that day. Now on Pinterest, when you pin something you don't just save the image, it also links back to the website you found it. Most images link back to either a website you can buy from, or a blog where there is a tutorial on how to do something. This particular image is just a photo. No tutorial, no tips, just a link to the photographers website. The photo was set up by Tara Sloggett who is a decor and lifestyle stylist from the UK. Her website can be viewed here and I encourage you to go look at it as there are some really wonderful images on it. So without any DIY tips or recipes to help me I decided that I was going to do it my own way, and just make it up as I go along. After all, if Pinterest is just an idea board, I can just take the idea and run with it right? I don't need to follow everything exactly as pictured.

Looking at the photo I assumed they were using sugar cookie dough. Sugar cookies are fine, but they are not my favourite, and no one in my family is a huge fan of them, so I decided to pick a different type of dough that might just be close enough to work. Shortbread. I love it. It is delicious and buttery and perfect with some tea. Who can say no on a cold rainy day when tempted with some shortbread? Yes, shortbread was definitely the way to go. So I armed myself with Ina Garten's shortbread cookie recipe and got started. I washed and dried one of the many doilies that I have lying around these days and set up my work space. The project only felt a little daunting when the dough became extremely crumbly as evidenced by the above photo. After some kneading and half hour in the fridge though it came together a bit more and I keep working.

Without a circle cookie cutter at my disposal, I decided to go with a heart shape. It was that or a kangaroo, which would have been funny, but wasn't the look I was going for. (Note to self: buy more cookie cutters in a wider variety of shapes.) When the dough refused to be rolled out with a rolling pin, I had to resort to rolling out small balls of it. I also found that I got a better impression from the doily if I rolled the dough onto the doily, as opposed to rolling the doily onto the dough.

As I rolled each small bit of dough out and cut out each heart I become more excited about this baking adventure. The doily prints were turning out lovely and I couldn't wait to see the finished result.

I had just enough dough to fill up two cookie sheets with hearts. I felt a little bad for the last small ball of dough which was too small to be rolled out into a heart, so I just pressed it into a doily and decided that it would be the first one I ate in order to gauge how well they turned out.

I was a little disappointed when I took them out of the oven because when they puffed up from baking they lost a bit of the doily pattern. It really wasn't that big of a deal though. They still looked like the cutest cookies I had ever seen and I could barely keep myself from eating the small scrap dough piece before it had completely cooled. Luckily for my tongue I restrained myself. Those little suckers were hot!

After cooling for about an hour, I melted some chocolate in a double boiler and dipped them in it. I figured if I was going to make a cookie with this much butter in it, the least I could do was go whole hog and pack as much sugar into it too. Plus, I think the little dip into chocolate makes them look like they belong in a cafe that much more. They taste glorious with a cup of tea, just like I knew they would. I am glad they came out so well. They definitely brightened this stretch of rainy days for me.

So what do you think my readers? Better than the original photo from Pinterest? Of course now I am even more anxious to try another Pinterest project, but I think I might have to pick a slightly healthier recipe this time!

If anyone is intrigued by Pinterest you can check out my pin boards here and just leave a comment below with your e-mail if you would like me to send you an invite. It is still in the beta stage so you have to get an invite to participate. It is a lot of fun though and is my newest internet addiction. If you are already on Pinterest please leave a link to your boards so I can follow you. I love finding new and interesting boards to follow, and of course getting new followers. ;)