Thanks! Found a couple really cool things at Hobby lobby also...

These are for a wedding cake, but look mini-garden-y to me. They're HOLLOW, I'm going to put plants in them, in the mini garden. Not sure why people would buy the bottle cap things otherwise, but are a great size "mini plate" to sit on a mini table (or for Barbies to play with.)

Those are some elaborate gardens. Love the chicken coop in the first one! Wow, nice haul on the plants. Looking forward to seeing your garden done.

Here are the 2 planter boxes that will be Mother's Day presents.



Here's the one I'm keeping, it's getting painted...



So this is taking forever, huh? I have a ton of great excuses, but who wants to hear them? I am working on this though!

Those are really pretty Purple!!

Are you going to make them fairy gardens? How is your big one coming along?

Hey, the big one isn't ready to be planted yet, I've been focusing all of my energies on getting these two ready for Mother's Day. The polyurethane made the colors of the fabrics a little darker, and I gave it a few days to cure before planting. I like the aged look of that, and of course, it happened evenly all over. It still has the fabric texture, but is very hard, water beads up on it, not exactly like I'd imagined, but I like being able to feel the texture still, and suitable results repelling water.

They're not finished yet, need a top dressing of pretty gravel once any settling has occurred, then many more decorations, completing the scene with a little path going to the "grass" (Irish moss) circle.

Some plants are cuttings, some had roots. The Irish moss is still in its' pot (with new soil replacing the bottom half of the root ball,) which will hopefully make it possible to keep it contained to a circle with trimming. It may also need a little drink more often than the other plants and the peat I left on the top half of the root ball should retain extra water for this plant. The soil in the box is extremely well-draining, should be full of roots soon, and there is many places for water to escape through the cracks between the pieces of wood at the bottom and sides for the rest of the plants.

Purple that is really pretty!!

Very nice! The colors of fabric really compliment the plants well, and you have a nice combination of plants and accessories. Anyone would be thrilled to receive those as a gift!!

Thanks, x3! Pics of more completed stage coming soon (the calendar insists!) LOL!

I'll be looking forward to them.

Me too

Here's the yellow one:









The blue one:









And our first batch of tiny bricks, from Crayola air dry clay. No idea that stuff even existed.

Wow, nice! There's a lot going on in those containers. Whenever I go back and look at each picture I see more. Nice job!

What are you going to build with the tiny bricks?

Thanks!!

I want to make tiny buildings, patios, paths, anything that would be made with bricks in real size. I'm working on a couple gardens for myself and they will be part of those.

Found some gravel painted gold on clearance at WM and got the idea to make a gold rush garden, CA circa 1849. I think one end would be the stream with the prospectors, then a little town at the other end, maybe a mill wheel along the way. Just not sure if the aquarium pump I have would work. Now that these 2 gardens are finished, I can move to working on mine a lot more.

These 2 gardens don't really have a scene, but they were good practice. Now that I feel more confident about doing it, I can get more into the scene aspect. With these two, I just kept worrying if it was going to "work," had a death in the family, then record low temps, windy & rainy for weeks, then there was just no more time to try to do some of the scene ideas I had in mind. But the Moms won't know that! Shhhh!

You're right - the Moms are going to be thrilled with their gifts!

They do look great, and I love the Gold mine idea!

Thanks! I've been adding more decorations to these, some 'boulders,' a couple more plants, bird houses. Will take a couple more pics Sunday before they go to live with the Moms.

DH is really excited to get this other thing outside, the box for "my" mini garden. It's been a prominent feature (and space-eater) in our TV room for months. Nowhere else to put it until it was finished (waterproof) and looking at it, one just sees a melange of tiny stuff in different stages of construction and being painted. The front porch is a total ghetto of tiny pots also, can't wait to "get rid of" those! Hopefully will have something to show on that sometime next week.

Here's what the finished products look like. Some of the rocks are geodes DH cracked open for me. The Moms were thrilled, I've got brownie points up the wazoo now! Thanks to everyone who offered advice and suggestions!