Easy Faux Birch Succulents

Tell all ya friends and neighbors!

A DIY tutorial to create faux birch containers to house your real or fake succulents

Look. This is a home blog. Not a garden one. The reason I did not choose gardening as my blogging niche is because I kill everything. Like, if killing plants was a crime, no chanced I could ever be paroled.

But, I also feel like Jesus was all like, “Here’s a softball.” Enter succulents.

MEEP!

I love succulents. I see them everywhere. Faux ones! Real ones! FO REAL ONES! Ha! See what I did there? Gentle comedy is my favorite.

Anyhoo, I decided to take the plunge and buy some real ones, but I wasn’t crazy for the beautiful black plastic pots they came in. I knew Hobby Lobby had birch scrapbook paper. Because I’d almost bought it. Thrice. But since I had no reason to buy it, I left it alone on the shelf. Luckily this gave me a reason! I got to make these guys:

I know right?! Easiest thing I’ve ever done. Let me tell you how.

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DIY Faux Birch Holder for Real Or Fake Succulents

Supplies:

• Empty tin cans. I used 2 tuna cans because it’s what kept me alive on Whole30, so we had plenty to go around, but you can use whatever ones you want! Ones of different heights might be fun too!
• Decorative rocks
• Mod Podge
• Foam brush. I had like 150 of these on hand because craft reasons.
• Succulents. Ours came from Home Depot, but let’s be real. A succulent is a succulent. Ikea sells them for crying out loud.
• Birch paper
• Scissors
• {optional} Rotary Cutter

Steps:

1. Drill holes in the bottom of your succulent pots if you’re using real ones and plan on keeping them here a while. Succulents have a tendency to get mold under them if their soil is too wet. Yuk.
2. You could be real professional and measure the height of your can and cut your paper accordingly. Me? Not so much. I held it up against the can and eyeballed it, leaving just a bit of overhang. Once I cut one, I just used that as a template to cut the other since they were the same size cans.
3. Pour out the Mod Podge on a plate. Much like our Lord and savior, be generous here. I needed way more than what’s in this pic.
4. Wrap the paper around the can and hold in place with your finger. When your paper gets to the point of overlapping, place the Mod Podge where the paper overlaps to help “hold” it.
5. Apply copious amounts of Mod Podge to the entire shindig and let dry. I turned mine upside  down to dry.
6. Once they’re dry, if you didn’t measure your paper, use scissors with a fine point or a rotary cutter to cut off the excess paper.
7. Put your succulents in, add filler dirt if you need, throw some rocks in there for the cuteness value, and voila! HOW FUN ARE THESE?!

Psst. I seeing you eyeing that bead garland. Don’t you worry. Made that too! Second easiest tutorial ever coming up for that guy soon. (UPDATE: Here’s the tutorial as promised!) (Easiest tutorial ever is definitely this one)

how much:

• Empty tin cans – 65¢ a piece
• Decor rocks – $2.99 (-40% at Hobby Lobby, so $1.79)
• Mod Podge – Already had on hand.
• Foam brush – Already had on hand.
• Succulents – 3.98 for the 2 little ones and 4.98 for the bigger one.
• Birch paper – 69¢ but I got it when it was half off, so really about 34¢
• Scissors – Already had on hand. If you’re an adult human being, you should probably own at least one pair of scissors.
• Rotary Cutter – Already had on hand, but it’s because I sew. Don’t be ignorant and buy one just for this. Just measure twice and cut once or whatever.

So,

We paid $16.37 + tax. Depending on what you have on hand, expect to spend about $15. For the planters themselves it should only cost you a couple bucks if that!

the verdict:

Yup! We’d do this again!