Green Literacy

In my ongoing quest to justify my obsessive succulent propagation, I came across a DIY planter at Apartment Therapy (does this guy look like a tattooed Christian Bale, or what?) and knew immediately whose Christmas tree it needed to go (grow?) under. My pal Christine loves her personal library so much that she couldn't leave it behind in an overseas move. Including the books she hates most.

Planter-making means book-defacing, so I knew I'd have to find one she would never, ever, ever need. And with her ever-growing foundation of Dutch, that language barrier doesn't present a viable argument. Thus, I was presented with a challenge. At my neighborhood secondhand book shop, I found an answer to my dilemma: a German-to-Swedish dictionary. Snap.

I almost followed Apartment Therapy's DIY verbatim, save for slathering on a layer of white glue both under and over the parchment paper, and using fresh moss from the buurt, rather than dried. You can find the tutorial here.

This little sucker took under two hours from start to finish, required minimal tools, cost less than €10 to make, and makes for one cool pressie. I chose these plants for their strangeness, and for their low-maintenance; they only need to be watered about once per month, perfect for a bizarre-loving, globetrotting lass. 

xxx+o,

j