Speaking of Green

We saw the new Muppet Movie over the weekend! I LOVE the muppets and when Kermit sings "The Rainbow Connection" I tear up, probably because it makes me think of the incredible talent of Jim Henson -another soul who was ahead of his time and passed much too soon. Some of my friends also know I have always secretly wanted to be a muppet designer.

With happy shades of Kermit on my mind I was inspired to create my own little green world after seeing a photo in a magazine of unique and fun ways to create Holiday centerpieces. I was inspired to create my own ornament terrarium style diorama -sorry, no frogs but I did have other supplies on hand. When I think of other people’s terrariums, I think of clunky, huge, recycled water cooler bottles with the insides sweating and dripping with so much moisture you can’t clearly see the tangle of overgrown plants. Terrariums don’t have to be big and clunky and now there are many more unique varieties of plantings available.  I picked up some clear, glass ornaments at the thrift store originally market $1, but anything Christmas was five items for one dollar, so they were only about 30 cents for the box! The hardest part was finding small succulents and moss for my mini terrariums at the end of December in Anchorage. This a photo link of the kind of moss I was looking for, but no luck. There is plenty of similar moss in my garden, unfortunately it’s now under 2 feet of snow and frozen dormant! I already had some potting soil and fun little HO railroad scale cows for my ornament terrarium that I could use. A funnel made it easy to get the potting soil in the small opening, a wooden skewer helped plant the succulents, pat the soil down and a few clean Q-tips helped to clean the inside of the glass ornament. We'll see how the little orb world will grow with our low winter light.

 

I found some inspiring terrarium art and imagery while reading that terrariums are making a comeback. Garden Design dot com featured Terrarium Ornaments inspired by the work of Paula Hayes that was at the New York Museum of Modern Art and check out these moss placemats using "SuperMoss" that rolls out like wallpaper -ooo the possibilities! The Fern and Mossery also has a Blog on all things terrarium and The New York Times ran an article on “Terrariums Make a Comback.” Check out the work by Michelle Inciarrano and Katy Maslow who now sell their terrariums at a Brooklyn Flea Market under the name Twig Terrariums. Don’t worry, I don’t have yet ANOTHER medium I'm jumping into, it was just fun getting a bit of dirt under my nails during December in Alaska!

xOx

I like this photo I took of Kristen on Christmas eve, working in my studio like one of Santa's elves to finish her handmade gifts to family and friends.