DIY Mini Succulents for Under $10

With the exception of my wedding, I’m not an overly crafty person. But, for whatever reason, I had the urge to make something creative today.  So, without much planning at all I marched myself to my local nursery and bought a box of mini succulents and cacti.  Then (again without a plan) I wandered to the thrift store and began a hunt for containers.  After that, the Dollar Store for paint, brushes and other miscellaneous deco.

Thus, I have dubbed today “Succulent Saturday”.

I do love terrariums, especially those filled with air plants that are prettttty hard to kill easy to keep alive, but they are just so damn expensive. The gorgeous ones in my nearest local flower shop are about $25 for a teeny tiny guy, and over $50 for the serious sized ones.

This isn’t a totally reasonable cost for most people, so I played around with the cost and time of making my own.  Let me break it down for you.

1- The Greenery

These beauties are from my local flower shop Quince. The 2″ mini succulents are adorable, and I would have bought them for no reason other than that.  There was a broad selection of these bad boys, as well as the mini cacti.

Plants

2″ Mini Succulents – $5 each

2″ Mini Cacti – $6 each

Handful of Moss – $4

Total $35  (5 mini succulents and 1 mini cacti)

2- The Arts & Crafts

I purchased one children’s paint kit and 2 bottles of toxin-free safe crafters paint.  For the plant holders I grabbed a set of 3 mini mason jars, and a pack of 2 snap jars with coloured lids.  I matched my paint colours to these, because that’s what I do.

Supplies

2 x Paint – $2

Mason Jars – $1.50

Snap-Lid Jars – $1.50

Bowl + Brush Set – $2

Total $7

3 – The Prep

I tried a few methods of painting the jars. Far left I covered the entire jar, and to be honest, was not super thrilled with how it turned out.  The second purple jar I freehand painted and safe to safe my lines are not straight. The OCD in me is unimpressed with that one. I rotated the first blue one (2nd from the right) in the paint pan and it had a wave effect on the jar.  I like this one. The last blue one (far right) I used painter’s tape to make the edge, and surprisingly, it worked wonderfully.  If I’m being picky – which I am – this is my fave.

Total time = 4-5 hours (15 minutes to paint, ~4 hours to dry)

4- The End Result

Overall, I’m pumped with results of these. Despite the paint imperfections (we’ll just say it adds character) I would feel very comfortable gifting one of these, or swapping it with someone for other goods.  In hindsight, if I were to do this more often, I would absolutely spend more on better quality paint and tape to create fun designs.  I’ll also experiment with paint inside the jar, as I’ve seen that done really well with 1L mason jars.

Total Time = 6 hours (including sourcing the supplies and literally watching paint dry)

Total Cost  = $47 (including tax)

Cost Per Jar = $8

At the end of the day, the cost is $8 Canadian – so $US lol – and was a ton of fun. Definitely worth it for me to do this instead of pay $25 for the same size.  I’ll let you know how the next round goes!