A Succulent Aquarium

Found this adorable, crafty idea from the Deck, Patio, & Outliving magazine and thought why not try it out myself. The idea behind this craft is to give the impression of life under the sea by using succulents and glass fish figurines. I based my whole craft on what was in the photo but it looked easy enough. 

To start off, I needed the following items:

* small succulents that resembled seaweed, coral, or starfish
* glass fish figurines
* green floral wire and tape
* cactus potting soil (which I didn't need)
* and a bowl to hold all this

What's nice about this, is you can make it as big or as small as you want it. I went for a smaller look because I don't have a large space to admire it. With the list in mind, I knew right away where to get all these items. 

For the succulents and soil, I went to Home Depot in the gardening section where I found a nice variety of plants that looked like seaweed, starfish, and coral. I bought 4 different succulents where 1 was a combination. Also, they had the cactus potting soil right next to it because with all succulents, they want soil that will drain nicely. 

For the glass fish figurines and bowl, I went to Pier 1 Imports. I remember browsing around the store a month back and seeing similar glass figurines, so luckily they were there. The glass fish figurines are actually wine glass drink charms, so I just had to remove the fish from the wire. The drink charms work out nicely because the figurines have a loop already in place so I can attach the wire to create a stick. If you see the photos below, you'll see what I mean. For the bowl, I also used glass in a nice curved shape which I think it is a fruit plate. There was enough of a curve to hold the succulents and soil in place. 

Putting the arrangement together, took less than an hour. Gently removed the succulents from their pots and separated them to arrange a nice under the sea scene. Since the bowl was small, I didn't need the cactus potting soil; will return that later. Once the arrangement is put together, spray water lightly to help the soil settle in place.

To get the fish figurines put together, I removed the fish from the wire loop and then used the green floral wire. Since the floral wire is very thin, I had to fold it back on itself twice, to make it thicker in order to wrap the floral tape to make the stem.

I wore rubber gloves to cut and wrap the stems for the 6 glass fish, then placed them around the arrangement. The tape gets your fingers sticky as you wrap it around the wire. It took me about 20 minutes to cut and wrap the stems. 

After all that is said and done, my very own Succulent Aquarium! Happy Spring!

Here comes Spring!

Why not vent here because I'm sure someone else can relate.

* Pollen is wide spread through the air and now I resort in needing Claritin-D or else I can't walk out my door without puffy eyes and sneezing up a storm.

* With pollen, there has to be bees! Mr. Bee, why are you coming down my chimney instead of Santa Claus? So now what? Either I finally fix the chimney by getting the flute fixed and buying the missing gas fireplace insert piece or hire a bee exterminator. *Sigh*

* As we approach Summer and 100 degree weather, the A/C unit decides not to work for no apparent reason. *Double Sigh*

* Since we're on the topic nature, it's time to get the doggy boys fixed if I even want to live out any dreams on my bucket list.

So with Spring here, it looks like my money has decided to "spring" out of my wallet instead of my piggy bank. At least I can breath right?

Do dreams really mean anything?

So lately I have been having sleepless nights because of dreams that just show my unavoidable future going all wrong. Does it mean it will? Are these just a subconscience mechanic of my mind relieving stress? I've been going to the gym to fatigue my body, hoping that it would knock me out but no. Any recommendations?

NookColor?

So B&N decided to come out with NookColor...great. About time! For the longest time, I had customers come up to me and ask me point blank if a color version was ever going to come out. I feel like embarrassed and a liar. Corporate hide the release so well that it was just a completely shocker to us all. It was released on a Tuesday no less. What a random day of the week to launch a new device.

Don't get me wrong; the NookColor is extremely awesome. Sure there's the pros and cons about each device but it does depend on what type of reader are you: Magazines or books? Day or night reader? I read for leisure so its always daylight and for long periods of time. I think I will definitely buy the NookColor if it came out with 3g too. I definitely would get it then because I love having the option to buy more books since I'm a series reader.

Also, the new covers for the Nook look so neat! Finally, they got rid of the straps and insert. Hello - it does work with clips like the industrial cover. Someone of the new covers now incorporate the ideas of traveling so there's ones with pockets and zippers for the charging cable. If only the price would drop a bit. Like $20 is more reasonable for a normal book cover style. 

The new software upgrade, 1.5, isn't all that fantastic. Shelves..wow...maybe adding Pandora would have been better. The Nook is android based if they forgotten. Also, I really don't notice the different in page turning. I hope in the future they will drop the price of ebooks as well as offer more LendMe books.

 
Well, got to learn all about the NookColor as well as sell the original Nook or what kind of sells man would I be? This is my take on being a NookSeller in Southern Cali. More to rant about later.