At Home in the NW with Jen

I thought I'd be MIA while on Spring Break, but as you can see I have been popping in and out.

Today, I am so excited to have Jen from At Home in the Northwest here guest posting on my blog!

Jen is a local blogger to me, and I am so happy to finally be able to meet her in person when we both go to the Design Camp in May! Yay!!

So, here is Jen with a turtorial of a diy project. Something that I am not very great at I must confess.



 

 

 

Hi everyone! I'm Jen from At Home in the Northwest.

Stacey invited me here today to share one of my tutorials. Thank you, Stacey!

Mother's Day is right around the corner and I'd like to share a fun gift idea for the mom in your life! I always enjoy giving a flower or plant as a gift. And here is a creative way to do just that.

{1}

Gather supplies.

Visit the Good Will or Value Village to purchase some old hardback books. Don't worry much about what the paper cover looks like. Just remove it! It's most likely that there is a pretty and simple looking book under that decorative cover!

Purchase succulents at your local gardening or grocery store.

{2}

Cut an opening in the book.

Open the front cover and measure the opening. Then begin cutting with an exacto knife.

You will be able to cut through a section of book pages at a time. But the process can seem a bit daunting, depending on the thickness of the book.

{3}

Line the opening with parchment paper or wax paper.

For the first book, I pre-cut the wax paper and lined the opening in the book. But planting the succulents proved to be a messy job. So for the next book, I laid a big piece of wax paper down and cut it after I planted them. I liked this way much better.

{4}

Plant succulents in the book opening.

You can see that I was a bit messy. This was the book with the pre-cut wax paper.

{5}

Place moss on top of the dirt.

The moss will give the book plant a finished look and it will also cover any wax paper that is showing.

I put a bit of water on the moss to help it squish together and fit on top of the dirt.

{6}

Place book on your shelf or give as a gift.

How to care for your book plant:

Succulents like DRY dirt. So for you non-green thumbs out there, this might be right up your alley! For a typical succulent in a pot, it is recommended that you water it once a month. But you can't really water this since it's in a book. I recommend getting a water bottle and spraying the moss and dirt once a week or every two weeks. Or place an ice cube or two over the dirt and let it melt.

Thanks for having me here today, Stacey!

jen

 

 

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Thank you, Jen! Isn't that the cutest diy project??