Kid-Friendly Terrariums

I've been wanting to make terrariums for a long time, and the crisp fall air today seemed perfect for a trip to the forest to find moss.  I took the kids to Caledonia State Park.  I took lots of pictures of them, but they never stopped moving so I apologize for the blurriness.

 

Despite the confused look on her face Amirah really did love looking for moss.

 

The materials you need for making terrariums are small rocks (we collected ours, but you can buy them pretty much anywhere), potting soil, active charcoal (available at pet stores), a glass enclosed container of some sort, and plants.  We used moss, but you can plant mini succelents as well.

 

I was surprised at how many types of shades of moss we found in our short 10 minute walk.

 

The neighbor kids got in on the action too. 

 

Putting soil in the jar...



We had some moss left over so I placed some in a pot I had.  Not sure how long it'll last, but I thought it was so pretty and didn't just want to throw it out.



 

The finished product.

 



 

Directions:

 

1.  Find an empty clear container.

2.  Layer the bottom with rocks.

3.  Add a thin layer of active charcoal. 

4.  Add an inch or so of potting soil.

5.  Put a layer of moss on the top.

6.  Put the lid on.

7.  Cross your fingers and hope that the moss lives.

"Ghost" Lamp

There's a new trend in decorating that I've heared referred to as the "ghost" lamp.  And I couldn't wait to find a lamp shade with which to make one.  (Why is that correct grammar sometimes sounds so silly?)  A few months ago I bought this lamp from a lady who was selling some things from her storage unit. 

I really wanted the shade only, but she insisted on the base, too.  I bought the lamp for $1.00 and I figured I could do something cool with base later.

 

 The first thing to do was to cut away all the vinylish (is that a word) shade. 
 

 

I loved the shape of the particular lamp.  It reminds me of a flower.

 



 

For the life of me I could not figure out a way to get a hanging light through this, so I got out the power tools.  Oh, wait.  I don't know how to use power tools.  Instead I used a pair of very dull wire cutters.  It took me a very long time to cut through that metal, but I was finally left just the right amount of space with which to place my lightbulb socket.

 



 

The only other supplies needed were strips of fabric and fabric glue.  This particular fabric comes from a friend of mine who rescued these curtains from another friend.  Thanks Diane and Jocelyn!

 



 

I just wrapped the fabric around and around and around and glued as I went.  I am planning to spray paint the black part of the lamp kit so it blends better.  I'm thinking maybe red or bright blue to match the floral details in the fabric.  It took about an hour to do this entire project and since the only thing I needed to buy was the lamp shade itself the total cost for this project was $1. 

This is not the best photograph, but you can see how nicely the shadows from the lamp show up on the walls.  It's beautiful, isn't it?  Oh, and ignore the piles of toys just south of the lamp.  Keeping it real, folks.  Keeping it real.