Styled X3 {Terrarium in a Jar}

The weather has been pure perfection lately. When you live in a state where it is either boiling hot or freezing cold for 90% of the year, you cherish the times when you don't have the heater or the air conditioner on at all. October always makes me want to hit the pause button. A new month means a new Styled X3!!!

This month's Styled X3 challenge is going to be so fun! We have Brittany from Pretty Handy Girl and Trish from Uncommon Designs. They are both so sweet and super talented an I am thankful they agreed to play along :)

This month I chose this large cracker jar as our item to use in our homes. I have several in different sizes that I have used in my home for years but I had a certain idea for this new one.

Glass Cracker Jar (affiliate link) Also found at Walmart for around $6.00.

Now if you know me at all, you know my first inclination is to turn everything into a planter. But this time I had a reason (other than just loving plants) for doing so. I ran into my 5th grade teacher the other day. It made me tear up because she was my favorite teacher. I remember 5th grade better than any other grade because she made everything fun. The whole 5th grade slept over at the school one time for a reading marathon, some of us got to sleep at the space center and even were woken up in the middle of the night because of an alien attack. Mrs. Tanner made chocolate molds of gingerbread houses for every kid in the class and we got to decorate them. She taught me what a terrarium was and we each got to make one using 2 liter soda bottles. I have been obsessed with them ever since.

My own kids are enamored with the ones I have and after seeing Mrs.Tanner, it made me think that maybe my kids needed one of their own!

I ordered some miniature ferns online. You get 5 different types and every time they are different. Last time I ordered I got ferns similar to the picture but this time I got new kinds and I love them just as much. It is kind of fun to unwrap them when hey come and see what you got! I need to find a plant of the month club.....

Assorted Mini Ferns (affiliate link)

The kids added a layer of gravel, then peat moss, and then organic potting soil. I only planted 3 of the 5 plants in the jar. The other two went in one of my other terrariums to replace a couple that had outgrown the space.

I surprised them by ordering some miniatures of a dog, a chicken, and a mouse. I swear that isn't as random as it sounds. It will make sense in a minute.

The little dog came as black and white so I painted over the black so that he matched out sweet pup, Kevin.

I got a chicken because we have chickens in the backyard. I ordered a black one because one of our hens is black but it blended in with the dirt too much so I painted it tan so it matched our Buff Orpingtons.

The mouse was gray but since my littlest is OBSESSED with his white IKEA mouse that he has had since he was 2, I painted him white. I had to glue him to a rock because it is so tiny and I worried it would get lost in the dirt. My youngest loves mice so much that was the theme of his birthday party this year :)

I bought the miniatures from Miniatures.com and they made sure that they got here in time for my post. They were so nice! Looking through their site made me remember going to doll museums with my mom and seeing the doll houses. I used to save up my money and buy miniature things from the local hobby shop like little pots and pans. Maybe if I had had a little girl I would have been inspired to build one. I will settle for a cute terrarium :)

I really do love these jars. Here are other places I have used them.

My laundry room! Half of the clothes pins are gone now. I am not sure what all my boys use them for but they keep sneaking in and taking them. I am sure rubber bands are probably involved.

The smaller sized jar has been our marble jar for 10+ years.

Hop over to Brittany's site and Trish's site to see what they did with their jars!