Amanda's Greenhouse

I have actually done this project before for my cousin, Carol. For her debut, her mother had found a wooden terrarium and asked me to put some flowers on the glass. I drew some on with Sharpies. They used the finished terrarium on the gift table as a holder for cards and envelopes. Ever since then, that same terrarium has been put on the gift table of every major party that her family has had, from her parents' and grandparents' anniversaries, her sisters debuts, wedding showers, and baby showers.

When it came to the wedding shower for my coworker Amanda, who was having a garden-themed wedding, I knew it was time to do another one terrarium.

I bought a simple white and glass one from IKEA. Not being assembled yet made drawing on each panel so much easier. I could lay each side completely flat. I could also do the drawings on the inside of the terrarium. I used clip art for my flowers, choosing a few types of roses and begonias so I would have different petals and leaves to work with, and layered them for a more natural arrangement.

The fantastic thing about Sharpies on glass or plastic is that if you work quick enough, you can actually blend your colors and create pretty convincing shading while the ink is drying.

One bit of advice: definitely make sure to work in a well ventilated room. Now this wasn't exactly the problem for me... I had a floor fan blowing air onto me because my craft room gets pretty warm during the day. What I didn't realize was that the air was blowing over the ink of my drawings and pushing the fumes directly INTO my face. After a couple of days I was starting to get a headache that would only go away after I had stopped drawing and laid down to sleep. My allergies were so bad that I couldn't actually smell the fumes. It wasn't until I had taken one night off from the project that I realized I hadn't gotten a headache and finally figured out my mistake.

Despite the dizzying amount of brain cells I probably killed during this project, I recovered quickly and was rewarded by the look of amazement on Amanda's face when she realized that the terrarium sitting on the table at her wedding shower was my gift to her.

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