Happy Monday! It is Spring break for us, which only means that the kiddos are out of school for the week! Have you noticed that as they get older it is getting tougher to keep them entertained while limiting the time on “electronics”? 🙁 My oldest is the family bookworm while the younger one is the outdoorsy type. But when we run out of reading material (mind you we have a huge library at home and visit our public library often) and when the other kids in the neighborhood are not around they are at a loss of what to do. I’ve found that the only way to keep the “I’m bored, what should I do?” torture at bay is to give them a project to do!
The other day while I was at Safeway to pick up their chocolate chip cookies (if you haven’t tried them you must, the best deal in town) I picked up the April issue of the All You magazine.
Inspired by all the crafts ideas, money saving tips, and budget friendly recipes in the magazine I thought why not create something that is sweet, simple, and won’t break the bank.
My kids who know by now how crazy I’m about succulents thought it would make for an early Mother’s day gift and added the #1 Mom stickers. Those are paint chip circles by the way. Make sure you scroll down to the bottom of the post for a coupon for the magazine and a $50 Safeway gift card so you can make one of these too!
Materials
- Wine Glass
- Succulent
- Potting soil for succulents. If using regular potting soil mix some sand in it. My daughter used her purple play sand for the project.
- Activated carbon (keeps any odor away)
- Moss
- Aquarium rocks
- Paint chips
- Tooth picks, circle punch, and glue/ glue gun (not shown)
Tutorial
The method is exactly the same as the one for the moss terrarium but on a much smaller scale.
- Layer the Aquarium rocks, activated carbon, and moss in that order.
- Add some of the potting soil.
- Gently place the succulent over the moss.
- While holding the succulent with one hand add the sand (ideally you would mix the sand and potting soil together first but we wanted it to have a layered look here) around it.
- Next add the remaining potting soil.
- Mist with a few sprays of water.
- Punch out 2 circles from paint chips. Write your words, hot glue to a tooth pick, and poke them into the dirt.
With Teacher appreciation week coming soon, won’t this also work as a great Teacher’s gift?
Aside from a fight over which color paint chips to pick for the project we had some awesome one on one crafting time. 🙂 Do you do crafts with your kids too? How does it go?
By the way did you know, in addition to Safeway All You Magazine is now available at Target, Kroger, Meijer, and Dollar General? You can print out a $1 off coupon (while supplies last) for ALL YOU magazine from here. For a chance to win a $50 Safeway gift card don’t forget to enter the below giveaway, open till April 28.
Megan Poletti (@meganpoletti) says
So cute! I love this idea, especially since I am also obsessed with succulents 🙂
Vidya Sukumaran says
LOL! Can’t get enough of them!
Prash says
This is a very clever idea! I have a lone wine glass at home. Will try this. I stumbled upon your blog through Pinterest and I can’t get enough of your posts. I’ve been reading all your old posts. I love your simple DIYs
Vidya Sukumaran says
Thanks so much Prash! Your words made my day! We don’t drink at home. So had to get my lone wine glass at Good will. 🙂
V
Kim (TheKimSixFix) says
I love all you because the ideas are really down to earth and not over the top. Things you could ACTUALLY do. I love the little planter too. My kids would think seeing the roots was awesome!
Vidya Sukumaran says
Thank you Kim!
Kelly D says
I like All You Magazine because of the recipes and crafts.
Vidya Sukumaran says
Me too Kelly. This was my first time and to say that I’m impressed with all the content would be an understatement.
V
Jessie C. says
I like the coupons and saving tips of All You magazine.
Leslie says
Such a cute idea…would make a great gift!!
Vidya Sukumaran says
Thanks Leslie! Yes it would.:)
tdtesting says
Super adorable + super easy!! I had no idea Activated Carbon was a main ingredient for succulents 😀
This feeds both my love for glass and my love for plants. As soon as we have another sunshine window, you bet we’re filling it with succulents (our bay window is sooo full right now! ha!)
Vidya Sukumaran says
Thank you. In any tight mini environment like terrariums we use activated charcoal to keep away the odor.
V
Steph@The SillyPearl (@Steph2Pigs) says
If you got ideas like this from All You Magazine, I’m definitely going to check it out. Love the terrarium! I didn’t know about the activated carbon and the special soil for succulents!
D Schmidt says
I love it because it has amazing recipes and coupons.
Amanda Sakovitz says
I love it because they always have articles I can relate to and great recipes!
Thomas Murphy says
I like All You Magazine because they have awesome recipes and crafts.