Plants as gifts with Urban Jungle Bloggers

I completely agree that gifting plants is one of the best gifts you can give. Many years ago, I gave my mother a gardenia which is one of my favorite plants of all, and every year she calls to let me know the plant is in bloom and how wonderful and fragrant they are.

As the idea to give plants as gifts is one that I love, I thought to join Urban Jungle Bloggers once again. Since growing succulents is quite easy, and I have both the mother and babies here, I want to share a very simple idea that includes both, and requires very little time and money.

All you really need to do is take a nice picture of the "mother" plant, and simply print it on a nice paper. I've used some left over watercolor paper, and tied the card with natural twine.

That way, when you gift the "baby" plant, the new owner will have a concrete idea of what the plant will look like and have something to look forward to and be inspired to actually care about the gift.

You can write more instructions on the back or add some useful websites where the new owner can read about his new plant, or leave a simple message like I did.

Another very simple idea is to grow some herbs. I find it much better when someone gives me actual plants rather than the seeds, that way I'm forced to take care of them.

I've placed the seedlings we have been growing for more than a month  in a strawberry crate, along with some terra-cotta pots and some vegetable markers that I got from this wonderful store.  I think these make a wonderful house warming gift and don't take up too much space, so they are perfect for a kitchen window or a small balcony.

I think it is wonderful to give plants that will last a long time, but I also love plants that can be enjoyed when they are ready. Whether you're giving a long lasting plant or one that will be consumed, you just need to let the plants do the actual "talking."

Urban Jungle Bloggers is a monthly series with the idea to get some green into our homes. Every month Judith and Igor invite bloggers to share ideas for creating an urban jungle through styling challenges, DIY's, green tips and tricks. Every month there is a different them on the topic. You can follow and get more inspiration on Pinterest and Facebook.

Wishing you a very lovely and green weekend ahead,
Giova

An easter garland DYI with Urban jungle bloggers

I'm so happy to be back for the easter edition of Urban Jungle Bloggers. It was exactly a year ago that I joined for the first time, you can see it here, and what made me realize how a year had gone by, was to be able to see how much my plants have grown since then. You can see the one below is the tiny one I placed as Judith's place setting.

For this edition I wanted to do something very easy to make. If you follow this blog you probably know I'm a "bit" drawn to garlands. And of course this time my plant takes center stage, as well as the mini-chicks and my favorite chocolate of all.

These garlands, which you can make in no time, look perfect as a back drop for your easter brunch, as a craft idea for the children to make on easter day, or just make a few and send them to your pen pals.

And don't forget to bring out the chocolate eggs while you're doing this.

What you'll need is:

• old book pages
• scissors
• washi-tape
• watercolors
• string

And then:

-Simply cut the shape of an egg, as many times as you want, and paint in your favorite spring colors, with your preferred patterns. 

-I made them all the same size, but of course you can make them any size.

-Once they have dried, simply attach them to the string with a long piece of washi-tape, on the back part.

-Voilà, nothing more, nothing less! Easter egg decorating the easy way.

I do hope you get in the mood for making garlands and eating lots, and lots of chocolate eggs!!

Urban Jungle Bloggers is a monthly series with the idea to get some green into our homes. Every month Judith and Igor invite bloggers to share ideas for creating an urban jungle through styling challenges, DIYs, green tips and tricks. Every month there is a different theme on the topic.
You can follow and get more inspiration on Pinterest and Facebook.

Have a lovely weekend ahead,
Giova

Urban jungle bloggers, Plants and coffee and tea

I thought I'd join Igor and Judith once again, in their endeavor to bring back more plants into our lives.
It has been almost a year since I last joined this series, and I thought January's theme of plants and coffee and tea (in my case) was  a very good idea.

I'm always curious to see what kind of teas people like, or how they prefer their coffee. It is one of the questions I always ask on my crafty people series.

 I love coffee (I am Colombian after all), but I love tea just as much. I prefer herbal teas like; Pukka, Yogi Tea or Shotimaa. And there is always a cup with me while I'm doing crafts, writing letters or sitting in front of the computer.

Then again, I do start my day with a nice cup of coffee. Not black like shown here (I completely forgot to put in the milk (rice milk in my case) for the pictures. But don't fret, this particular batch of coffee was used to dye some fabric. That is what I usually do with strong coffee ;)

Most of my plants are succulents that I've bought when we moved to Amsterdam 3 years ago. And now some babies are happily growing and healthy.

Plants and coffee and tea is a great combination, it makes the setting more lively and cozy at the same time. So tell me what is your favorite kind of tea or how do you like your coffee?? I would really love to know!

Urban Jungle Bloggers is a monthly series with the idea to get some green into our homes. Every month they invite bloggers to share ideas for creating an urban jungle through styling challenges, DIYs, green tips and tricks. Every month there is a different theme on the topic.
You can follow and get more inspiration on Pinterest and Facebook.

Wishing you a lovely day,
Giova

Urban Jungle Bloggers

Today I joined a monthly series "urban jungle bloggers" organized by two people behind two very beautiful blogs; Igor and Judith. Their idea is to get some green into our homes and computer screens. Every month there is a different topic, and this edition is "Green Spring/Easter styling."

As I told you before, this turned out to be a week of first attempts. If you are wondering why this is a first attempt, let me tell you that, because this is a crafty blog, I rarely style things up. In fact, this is my first time doing this sort of thing. This is not how my house looks at all, but yes I do own all the things you see. The only things I bought were the chocolate eggs and bunnies (which by the way) are already in my son's and my stomach.

Pink Easter; This first plant is called Australian palm tree. I got my old handkerchiefs, all the pink books I could find and voilà!

Easter Brunch; This is how my table would look like if I actually prepared an easter brunch. Simple, and everyone would take home a succulent (my favorite plant).

Easter Break: Books, crochet project, warm tea, and obviously chocolate eggs. The tall succulent is my oldest plant (4 years). I do like her a lot!

It was really fun playing with things, eating chocolate eggs and letting my plants be the stars for the day.

Thank you Igor and Judith for such a wonderful series! I hope you check their Facebook page where you'll find what everyone else has come up with.

I wish you all a wonderful weekend (yes, no post tomorrow),
Giova