Saturday, July 30, 2016

Upcycling - Make a Woodland Themed Terrarium

In a throw away world we produce a mountain of landfill so it's good when you find a way to re-purpose the fancy packaging that often comes with our purchases. Today's project takes a Lindt Maxi Ball and upcycles it into an adorable woodland terrarium.
woodland creatures in a mini terrarium


In case you don't know what a Lindt Maxi Ball is, it's a large clear plastic ball filled with delicious Lindt chocolates and you usually find them around Christmas and Easter when they're packaged up like a giant bonbon.

A Lindt Maxi Ball alongside regular Lindt Balls



So, how do you go about turning one into a terrarium?
Lindt Maxi Ball container filled with mini ferns, bright green pebbles and rabbit and toadstool figurines.

Well, here's what you'll need to make this cute woodland themed terrarium:


You'll also need some scissors and a small pot that you can use to scoop the soil into position and a spray mister filled with water.

Before you can begin, you need to empty the plastic bonbon sphere of all the Lindt chocolates. The best way to do this is to eat them!
Store display of Lindt Maxi Balls

One half of the bonbon sphere is flat so it's perfect for the bottom. The other half conveniently has a hole in the top which will be great for plant respiration. Set the lid aside.
Empty clear plastic Lindt Maxi Ball

Pour a 1cm (3/8") layer of gravel in the bottom.
Green gravel being poured into the bottom of the clear plastic sphere

Cut the fly screen to fit on top of the gravel without being visible.
Trim the fly wire to fit the bottom of the sphere

and position it on top of the gravel.
Place the fly wire over the gravel

Pour a layer of charcoal over the fly screen. If your charcoal is chunky like mine is, remove the larger pieces.
Add a layer of fine charcoal over the fly wire.

Next, fill the bottom with potting mix.
A layer of potting mix being poured the charcoal.

....and tamp it down. I've filled to within 2cm (3/4") of the top.
Tamp the soil down with your hand

Gently remove the plants from their pots.....
Gently removing a fern from its pot

....and then make a hole in the soil large enough to place each plant in position.
The sphere is half planted out with ferns.

Fill with soil up to the crown of each plant.
Pouring additional potting mix around the base of the plants.

Pour another layer of gravel on top of the soil.

Pouring a layer of green gravel over the soil

Position your figurines amongst the greenery. Mist the plants with water and then place the lid back on the sphere, taking care that the leaves don't get caught.
Positioning the lid of the sphere on the base, being careful not to catch the leaves.

And that's it! Now you can justify purchasing that giant foil wrapped bonbon filled with everyone's favourite Swiss Chocolate!

This is such a simple and fun project that you can do with children. Let them get involved by personalising it with their own theme such as dinosaurs or fairies to help make it their own.
Upcycle a Lindt Maxi Ball into an adorable woodland-themed terrarium. Or, let the kids personalise it by adding dinosaurs or fairies.

'Til next time.....








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