I have been at it again.

Hey Chicks and Dudes, how are we today? (sorry, Big fella is watching Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure chuckling away in the background here.) Now, you know the way I have been nattering on about opening a stall soon and blah, blah, blah? Well, why did nobody tell me it was July already? My word, time has flown by so much I missed the deadline I set for myself. There is no way I could sell anything yet, because I haven't made much apart from a card, and that for the giveaway!
By the way, if you want to add this button, or picture, since I don't know how to make a button to spread the word! If you could link back to me and let me know I would be much obliged. I have a cheek to ask you that to be honest, as I fiddled about with blogger when I should have left well alone, and lost all the your wonderful blog buttons to the bottom of this page. Even I couldn't be bothered to scroll the whole way down either and its just not on! I am sorry my followers button is so in your face obvious, I have tried to move it and blogger wont let me! But I am working my way through! Anyway, what the hell was I talking about? Oh yeah, making things for my stall. I wanted to make terrariums. you know, wee gardens in jars, bottle gardens and I cant think of anything else they are called. So today was the day I was go to do it. Despite buying large jars for my hands to simply fit into I decided to get the most awkward bottle I owned. Yep people, that is disaster you smell.

This is what I had to work with:



Awkward bottle with the most awkward opening to work with.


Marbles (Do the right thing, use gravel or pebbles, much easier and less soul destroying so early into the project)

Spagum moss: Sounds like it feels. More like seaweed really. Not nice velvety outdoor moss. This looks the business and keeps the soil falling thought the pebbles at the bottom, kay?


Activated carbon (found in aquarium stores): This keeps the smell of failure and rotting plant away.

Potting soil


A plant cutting ( or like I should have done, just use some of that nice velvety outdoor moss, much, much easier)


I started with putting the marbles into the bottom of the bottle. Hold it sideways and roll them in, not drop them in full force, in turn smashing the bottle before you even started to get messy.




I should have just left it at that. It goes down hill rapidly from here.


Put your moss in to layer the marbles or pebbles if you know whats good for you. This is why. Beside having to wrestle the moss in through the wee opening causing a almighty mess inside the bottle, the marbles also leave big gaps, letting wiry stringy pieces of moss to fall through to the bottom giving it that untidy,
if not blue mouldy look nestling between the marbles that just five minutes ago looked so well and pretty.

Sigh. Yet I must finish what I started. Like a silly wee girl that just can not be told.

Pour in a thin layer of carbon. This also added to the dirt on the bottle. Sooner or later common sense does hit me on the head and I used a paper funnel to pour in the soil.

Now i love would love to tell you of the rest of the disaster of the cuttings not fitting, get butchered and hacked away and the air turning blue, I will spare you.but this was the state of the place when i had finished.

Deciding never to go through that again, I did do a few more with some jars left in the cupboard with the butchered Jade plant cutting and used pebbles! So it's not all bad.

This is a empty herb bottle.



I don't know if this little cutting will make it!




I will next time, because there is always a next time, and I never learn, will definitely use moss and jars I can work with in future.


I like this night time pictures of the little bottle gardens



you can not see the dirt and mess on the glass!

I tell you what, don't take my word for it, take a look at this wonderful wee blog who explains this all much better than me and not half as much drama! Lovely place to get creative!

See you all soon and all the best!

(update) I just went on my blog and all the buttons turned up! Yay! just all in the wrong place, so if you see any fiddling about on here, it's me trying to fix it!