Bring the outside any time of year and upcycle an unloved biscuit tin into a gorgeous terrarium. If you don’t fancy yourself much of a green thumb, substitute the succulents for the plastic variety, and get creative with different coloured stones.

Take off the lid of your tin, you’ll only need the bottom. Prepare your tin by giving it a light sand. Line the inside rim of your tin with painters tape, and spray paint the outside. It doesn’t matter if you get a few splatters on the inside, we’ll paint over it later.

Wait until dry, then line the outer rim with painters tape, and spray paint the inside. Remove the double sided tape when dry.

Now take your sheet of plastic and use your tin as a guide to mark out a circle that will comfortably fit on the inside of your tin. You may need to shave off a few millimeters when you cut it out. Place in the inside of your tin. Use a few bits of double sided tape to secure it to the back.

Now measure the height of the inside wall of your tin. Cut a strip of plastic sheet big enough to sit inside, you’ll only need to cover the bottom half. Use a glue gun or double sided tape to stick down firmly.

Mark out a circle out of the plastic sheet using your tin as a guide.

TIP: (I find a pen that has run out of ink a great option for lightly scoring the plastic without leaving a mark!) Use a protractor to shave just a few millimeters off this circle, it’s really important that it fits snug in your tin. Measure an extra 3 cms around this circle, and roughly mark it out with a pen. Now cut the circle in half. Cut small flaps all around your circle, towards the middle, stopping at where you’ve marked the inner circle. Bend these in.

Take your double sided tape, and cut small pieces and place on the inner rim of your tin, where you’ll attach your half circle of plastic. Place your inner circle in the tin, securing the flaps with the double sided tape to the inside wall of the tin. For extra holding power, use another piece of ordinary tape on top of the flaps.

Stand your tin upright, and start to fill with a layer of rocks using a spoon. Give it a gentle shake to settle the rocks (this will ensure you don’t get too much soil in your rocks and spoil the effect.)

Place a layer of soil in with your spoon (I used the soil that my succulents came in – you don’t need much!). Pack the first centimeter or so down well. Keep going until you’ve got about 10cm of soil.

Gently create some small holes, and plant your succulents. Gently press in so they feel secure.

Add your final layer of rocks using your spoon to get in and around the succulents.

Here’s some tips that might help!

If you don’t want to use real plants, you can also use the plastic variety. Just replace the soil with coloured stones so you get the same effect. Try a pet or aquarium centre – plastic plants designed for fish tanks are the perfect substitute.

If you are having trouble sourcing small rocks, try pet or aquarium supply stores. They’ll have a huge range of colours.

Covering the inside of your tin with plastic will ensure the spray paint doesn’t poison the plants. If you are using plastic plants, you won’t need to do this step.

If you are using large or heavy plants, use a glue gun to attach the plastic sheet to the tin, or use an extra piece of tape on top of the flaps.

Experiment with different sized and coloured rocks!

Succulents don’t need a lot of water, so only water when the soil is completely dry (about once a month). They also like lots of sun.

First created for Create and Craft