5 Offbeat Ways to Show Off Your Succulents

succulent planter

Do you tend to kill plants? Try your hand at succulents, and check out some of these interesting ways to show them off.

Succulents are super hip right now, but their trendiness isn't what I love about them. I am sort of a plant-killer, which makes succulents the perfect plants for me.

Most succulents thrive on neglect, and I am a pro at neglecting plants! In fact, one of my girlfriends is an amazing gardener but can't keep her succulents alive. After we talked about it for a bit, we realized it's that she is too nurturing. The techniques that make her backyard garden enviable - especially a frequent watering schedule - spell doom for a succulent.

Meanwhile the one that I forgot about on a windowsill for three weeks is thriving. The point is: if you're bad at gardening you should definitely give succulents a try!

You know that we love succulents around here, and we also love adding a touch of green wherever we can. The list below has some awesome ways to use succulents in surprising ways. Some of these ideas are teeny tiny and others are dramatic. But you won't find pots and planters here. Check out some of these interesting ways to display your succulents!

5 Offbeat Ways to Show Off Your Succulents

Terrarium Necklace

1. Terrarium Necklace - Wear clippings from your favorite succulents around your neck with this living terrarium necklace that you can make yourself.

succulent pallet table

2. Inside a Table - This outdoor dining table has a built in succulent planter.

wine cork micro planter

3. Planted in a Wine Cork - You can turn these micro-planters into jewelry or use them to add little touches of green to your home decor.

pallet planter

4. In a Pallet Planter - Go vertical! Turn an old wood pallet into a leaning planter for your garden

wearable planter

5. In a Tiny Necklace Planter - This is another succulent jewelry idea. Atlanta crafter Made by Colleen creates tiny wearable planters to show off your succulent clippings.

Spotted: Upcycled Candles from Old Wine Bottles

Rewined: Soy Candles in Reclaimed Wine Bottles

You know that I love a good wine-related craft, and these upcycled bottle candles from Rewined are rocking my socks!

The candles are molded inside of reclaimed wine bottles that the Rewined team collects. They clean, cut, and cure the bottles before filling them with scented soy wax candles. Check out this video about their process:

They make each candle by hand, and the artist signs it! I love that they've found a way to scale up without losing the craftsmanship and love that comes with a handmade item.

My only hesitation with these candles is that they use "fragrance" to scent them. Fragrance isn't necessarily bad, but just like in beauty products, it casts a wide net. The fragrance could be a blend of totally safe essential oils or a mix of harmful chemicals. There's just no way to know, and whether you're concerned about fragrance is really a personal call.

You can find Rewined candles on Amazon.

5 DIY Moss Decor Ideas

5 DIY Moss Decor Ideas

You know that we love adding a bit of green anywhere we can in our space, and these simple moss decor ideas are a great way to bring a little bit of the outdoors in.

Moss is easy to keep alive and does well in low light, which makes it a perfect plant to bring indoors. Caring for live moss decor is a lot like caring for a terrarium. I was able to keep a terrarium thriving for years while killing countless plants in my garden, so you know this stuff is easy to maintain. Just like with a moss terrarium, you just want to mist your moss decor with water every few weeks to keep it happy.

5 DIY Moss Decor Ideas

5 DIY Moss Decor Ideas

1. Centerpieces and Wall Art - Display pretty moss on tabletops and even use it to deck out a mirror frame to give it an earthy look.

2. Typography Art - Typography art is super hip right now, and you can make your typography wall art stand out by covering it in moss instead of paint or decoupage.

5 DIY Moss Decor Ideas

3. Bath Mat - Talk about easy to maintain! The water that drips onto this mat will help keep the moss happy.

4. Door Wreath - You can hang this pretty moss wreath on your front door or on the wall inside your home. I think it would look very pretty hung over the mantle of a fireplace!

5. Picture Frame - This is a similar idea to the mirror frames I mentioned above, but on a smaller scale.

Have you created any cool DIY moss decor? I'd love to hear your ideas in the comments!

Spotted: Moss Typography Art

Moss Typography Art!

We love a good piece of moss decor around here, and this moss typography art is rocking our socks!

Carissa at Creative Green Living made this pretty moss letter for her sons' shared bedrooms. The ampersand is going to hang between woodgrain typography art with her boys' first initials. How cute! Instead of styrofoam, the base of her moss typography art is a wood letter, so even the base is a natural material. So cute!

Typography art is super hip right now, and I love this natural take on this trend. Want to make your own moss typography art? It's easy peasy! You will need:

  • Wood Monogram (or ampersand)
  • Hot glue gun and glue
  • Preserved Sheet Moss
  • Pencil or chopstick

Got your materials at the ready? Click here for Carissa's tutorial!

5 DIY Home Decor Ideas Straight from Nature

5 DIY Home Decor Ideas Straight from Nature

Are you dreaming of spring like I am? Bring a little bit of the outdoors in with these simple home decor ideas made from natural materials.

Spring weather has been teasing us here in Atlanta. We've been oscillating between cold and gray and straight up shorts weather. If the weather can't make up its mind, at least we can bring a little bit of spring indoors with these DIY home decor ideas!

1. Flower Wall Garland

Collect some lovely wildflowers and string them up to dry. I love that this wall art changes over time from a fresh flower display to a dried flower wall hanging.

2. Driftwood Candelabra

Head to the river and collect a few pieces of driftwood for this simple, natural home decor piece.

driftwood candelabra

3. Tree Branch Lamp

Have winter storms downed some tree branches in your neighborhood? Grab a nice sturdy one and create rustic DIY lighting.

4. Branch and Birds Decor

Those longer, more delicate fallen branches are perfect for this branch and bird decor. This is almost an altar to spring, isn't it?

5. Tree Stump Card Holder

Display cards or photos using found wood with this simple tutorial.

Image Credits: photos by Bonnie Getchell & PS I Made This

5 DIY Home Decor Ideas Straight from Nature

5 DIY Home Decor Ideas Straight from Nature

Are you dreaming of spring like I am? Bring a little bit of the outdoors in with these simple home decor ideas made from natural materials.

Spring weather has been teasing us here in Atlanta. We've been oscillating between cold and gray and straight up shorts weather. If the weather can't make up its mind, at least we can bring a little bit of spring indoors with these DIY home decor ideas!

1. Flower Wall Garland

Collect some lovely wildflowers and string them up to dry. I love that this wall art changes over time from a fresh flower display to a dried flower wall hanging.

2. Driftwood Candelabra

Head to the river and collect a few pieces of driftwood for this simple, natural home decor piece.

driftwood candelabra

3. Tree Branch Lamp

Have winter storms downed some tree branches in your neighborhood? Grab a nice sturdy one and create rustic DIY lighting.

4. Branch and Birds Decor

Those longer, more delicate fallen branches are perfect for this branch and bird decor. This is almost an altar to spring, isn't it?

5. Tree Stump Card Holder

Display cards or photos using found wood with this simple tutorial.

Image Credits: photos by Bonnie Getchell & PS I Made This

Spotted: Flower Garland Wall Hanging

Flower Garland Wall Hanging

Add an outdoorsy look to your indoor decor with a beautiful flower garland wall hanging!

Incorporating natural elements into your home decor is a great way to add some character and celebrate nature, even when it's too cold, gray, rainy, or snowy to play outdoors. This flower garland wall hanging goes beyond the house plant to create a no-maintenance piece of natural wall art.

Claire at The Kitchy Kitchen created her flower garland wall hanging using cut flowers, but you can make this a more eco-friendly project by either choosing organic flowers or using wildflowers that you collect from your yard. Conventional cut flowers are bad news environmentally, so I try to avoid them whenever I can.

To make your own floral wall hanging, you'll need:

  • assorted flowers
  • kitchen twine
  • a fallen branch
  • tapestry needles or hot glue

Claire shares two ways to create your own wall hanging from your flowers, so head over to The Kitchy Kitch for all of the deets!

Spotted: DIY Ladder Bookshelf

DIY_Ladder_Bookshelf

Got an old ladder hanging out in your basement? Have just a few too many books but not interested in buying shelves from IKEA? Well if you're like me and love to read but live in a city where space is limited, then this cheap and quick storage solution might be just right for you. Also, using reclaimed materials isn't just good for your wallet, it's good for the planet.

Naturally_Cre8tive_Ladder_Shelf

3 Suggestions for Upcycled Ladder Bookshelves 

1. Dandelion Express: A simple 5-step DIY guide to making your own ladder bookshelf, all you need is an old ladder and a few building materials (listed with instructions).

2. Old House Crazy: A couple from Atlanta provides an alternative option with deeper shelves. Check it out!

3. Pre-made Bookshelves from Naturally Cre8tive: This not-so-cheap corner-shelf option is great for our less handy readers who want to support the use of reclaimed materials and a small business. Hailing from Bangor, Maine, Naturally Cre8tive has a few different ladder shelving options for sale on their Etsy page. Check out their other goods as well!

Ladder_Bookshelf

 

Spotted: Hidden Storage from Wood Pallets

Hidden Storage Pallets

Isn't hidden storage the best? You can have the appearance of tidiness while drawers, doors, and boxes hide the clutter that maybe you just haven't had a chance to get to yet.

I'm a big fan of those storage boxes that fit snugly into a bookshelf. We use them to store things that just don't look pretty, like board games, video game controllers, and workout gear. I'm also a fan of reclaimed pallet crafts, so you know I did a double-take for these sweet storage boxes made from old pallets.

The page doesn't provide a tutorial, but building boxes is pretty simple. I am betting that you could just add a side and scale down this raised garden bed tutorial to make your box. If so, here's all you need:

  • reclaimed wood pallet
  • drill
  • screws and drill bit for pre-drilling that screw size
  • rope or drawer pulls of your choice

To make your box:

1. Measure your space.

2. Use this tutorial to figure out the wood sizes that you'll need, then cut them.

3. Screw them together.

4. Add the hardware. If you want to do rope, just drill two holes, string the rope through, and tie knots on the inside, so they don't pull out.

Review: Gaia Natural Cleaners

Gaia Natural Cleaners

We love green cleaning supplies around here, but not everyone has time to make their own from scratch. When you can't create your own DIY green cleaners, your next best option is to buy your supplies from a small company. That's why I was thrilled when Karen Troutt from Gaia Natural Cleaners asked if I'd like to review some of her handmade green cleaning supplies. Heck yes, I would!

Karen sent me the dishwasher detergent and laundry detergent to try, and I was super impressed with both!

Gaia Natural Cleaners: Ingredients

Instead of using toxic chemical fragrance, Karen scents her lemony detergents with totally natural lemon peel oil. Here are the complete ingredients lists for both products, with links to their profiles on the Skin Deep Database:

Laundry Detergent: sodium carbonate, sodium carbonate peroxide, sodium bicarbonate, sodium cocoate, water, glycerin, sodium silicate, sodium chloride, lemon peel oil

Dishwasher Detergent: sodium bicarbonate, sodium carbonate, sodium chloride, citric acid, sodium cocoate, water, glycerin, lemon peel oil

Pretty much all green lights! The only ingredient I needed to dig a little bit more on was sodium cocoate. Skin Deep didn't have any data on it, though they did give it a green light. According to the Good Guide, it's not a toxic chemical.

The only non-greenlight chemicals were sodium silicate in the laundry detergent and lemon peel oil. Here's more on those:

  • Sodium Silicate - This was on the low end of the yellow scale, and it looks like the concerns are for cosmetics that go on the skin, especially around the eyes. So don't put this laundry detergent in your eyes, OK?
  • Lemon Peel Oil - The concern here is when there is too much of this ingredient in food products. So don't eat these detergents either.

Gaia Natural Cleaners: Review

Like I mentioned above, these both worked great! My dishes sparkled just as much as with the dish soap I'd been using, and my laundry came out just as clean as before, too. If you're looking to add handmade cleaning supplies to your regimen but don't have time to make your own, I definitely recommend these!

I should clarify that the dish soap is for use in a dishwashing machine, which is awesome. I have not had good luck finding a good, natural dishwashing detergent. This one worked better than the one I was currently using, and the ingredients are much, much better.

The laundry detergent also really impressed me. Last week my poor baby boy had a wretched stomach bug. This is seriously the sickest he has ever been, and he...er...generated a lot of very dirty laundry in the process.  The Gaia Laundry Detergent worked great! No smudges or stains. And I probably did four loads of laundry over the course of the week just to keep my poor kid in clean clothes, so consider this mom-tested and approved.

My only complaint about these products is the packaging, and honestly I'm of two minds about it. I love that she uses those reusable, recyclable cardboard tubes with fitted metal tops. Environmentally, they are so much better than single-use plastic bottles. I did find them very hard to open, though. I'm actually thinking about raiding my supply of glass jars and transferring the detergents to easier-to-open jars once I use enough up that they'll fit into a quart-sized mason jar.

The hard to open thing wouldn't bother me, but since I have an almost-toddler at home, I'm often starting a load of laundry or dishes with him on my hip. Opening those tubes with one hand is impossible.

I would definitely use both of these products again, and thank you so much, Karen, for letting me try them out! If you want to pick up any of Karen's green cleaning supplies, you can shop online at Gaia Natural Cleaners!