At the moment, I have 7 plants in my office and in the process to get a couple more. And, as if this wasn’t enough work, I want to get a bunch of flowers to decorate my balcony. As much as I love to care for all these plants and watch them grow, it’s nice to have a couple of fake ones. They always look the same, you don’t need to remember when was the last time you water them, and they will never die (bonus points!).

This DIY comes from a shopping trip to the supermarket. They had those little jars with fake succulents inside really simple and was about 3€. Well, your girl here thought “I’m not going to buy that when I can easily make my own”. In reality, making this DIY didn’t get any cheaper, although I got to choose everything that went inside it. I understand some people wouldn’t go through the trouble of making one, but I really do enjoy spending time crafting, and I don’t mind to spend the extra few euros for the pleasure of making it with my bare hands.

I ended up spending more money, because of the fake plants that I had to buy. The remaining of the materials I found them at home. The jar was from something I bought a long time ago and never throw it out. The glue is never something that is missing in my house. I might not have eggs for an omelette, but I’m sure I’ll have glue. And the rocks are from my garden. I had to sieve them to get the smaller ones and clean them out, but it’s worth the work to save money. And even if you don’t have rocks in your garden, I’m sure you can find them somewhere else near you for free.

Supplies:

Clear Jar (with/out lid)
White/Wood Glue
Fake plants
Small sized Rocks
Paper Raffia (optional)

Step 1: Start by cleaning the rocks to make sure they stick together. If you bought them just give a little wash with some dish soap and set them aside all spread out to dry.

OR

If you, like me, grab them from your garden, pre-wash them to get off any dirt and then leave them covered in bleach for a couple of hours. This way you get rid of any fungus or algae the stones might have. Remember to stir them around from time to time to make sure the bleach reaches to every rock. Then just wash them with dish soap and leave them to dry all spread out.

Step 2: In a plastic plate, mix the rocks with the white glue. This is without a doubt the strangest thing I’ve ever done. But this way you are ensuring every rock has glue and that it will stick to each other, to the plants, and to the jar.

Step 3: Add the stones to the bottom of the jar and try to spread them out to create an even surface. Press them down so they take up the space between them making the layer as compact as you can.

Step 4: Place your plants the way you want. Take as much time as you need. The beauty of this glue is how thick it is, meaning it will take more time to dry so you can place a flower and them take it off if you want to change it.

Note: One thing that I tried to keep in mind was to avoid having a flower higher than the curve for the lid. That’s the only part of the jar that’s not plain so you won’t be able to see nicely anything that is on that same level.

Step 5: When everything is in place and in the way you like you can start thinking about decorating the jar itself. I choose to have a little bow in paper raffia, but you can use any other material or nothing at all. I also add a bit of glue to the knot to secure it in place.

Note: You can screw the lid on again if you want, which is also a way to “decorate” the jar. I didn’t because I no longer have it.

Step 6: Time for the glue to dry. I let it stay for 24 hours and it didn’t work. Usually with this glue is all that you need but the fact it is inside a jar and partially covered with stones and foliage it prevents the glue to dry. Although if you leave it long enough I think soon or later it will end up dry. So to fix this I have two solutions, with a blow dryer and with boiling water. Both methods take a bit of time to work.

Blow dryer – If you choose this method, you have to heat the bottom of the jar and the sides. For me, this one is the most boring because you have to hold the jar and the blow dryer. Also, the glass needs to be heathen up before the heat can reach the glue, so you’re most likely to spend a few minutes just to heat up the jar.

Boiling water – Put the jar inside a woven tray and pour hot water to the tray. This way the glass of the jar will eat up quickly making the glue to dry. Although the water will start to cool down so you might need to replace it one or two times more. The positive side, you just leave the jar aside while you do other things.

Once it’s completely dry it’s done! You can place it in your desk or wherever you want to add more colour to the spot and with the certainty while you take the jar from one place to another nothing is going to move or fell of place. And the best part it’s much prettier than the one from the store.