As I promised on Monday, today I’ll share how easy it was to make the darling succulent magnets that I handed out to my friends at breakfast on Saturday! They make such lovely and useful little gifts…and would be wonderful as favors for any special event! I think handmade gifts are so thoughtful! I’m always touched when I receive something handcrafted which makes me love giving those heartfelt little gifts even more! Take a peek at the extremely simple instructions for the mini succulent magnets…
let’s craft a tiny planter!
the supplies you’ll need for this fun project are pretty basic…corks, glue, magnets, and artificial succulents!
i love to collect corks! not only are they fun to craft with, they look so cute piled in a jar on my bar cart! and i’m also lucky to have a cousin who works for a wine distributor and sometimes saves me some really neat ones! but if you don’t have a collection or a wine distributor cousin, you’ll be happy to know you can purchase affordable packages of wine corks at craft stores! but next time you pop open a bottle of vino, think about saving a cork or two…especially if they have fun and unique markings!
take a box cutter or sharp knife and create a small hole in one end of the cork…just be VERY careful with the blade! you may want to wear a leather glove on the hand holding the cork so you don’t accidentally cut any fingers!
it doesn’t have to be very deep…you just want to keep it toward the center so the edges of the cork remain nice and clean.
now the fun part…planting your cork! i’ve seen examples of cork planters that use fresh succulents and they ARE adorable! but if you want to use the living variety you’ll need to hollow out at least half of your cork to make space for the dirt. i wanted my gifts to be maintenance free so i chose artificial. there’s plenty of realistic replications now…especially when it comes to succulents since they’re so trendy these days! i found mine at Michael’s Craft Stores. and a little goes a long way…a couple tiny sprigs are all you need!
fill the hole with hot glue and tuck in the tiny succulents. i LOVE these so much! wouldn’t they be cute as place cards too?
but i planned for mine to be magnetic so i simply attached strong, button magnets to the back of the corks with heavy-duty glue and let them cure completely.
and there you have it…a mini magnetic garden!
i hope my friends love them as much as i do! cute, handmade favors for a special event…or lovely little gifts for anyone special!