We have been on a mini garden kick around here. It isn’t time for the big garden yet so we are having a little fun while we wait. I saw one ages ago on Pintrest and thought it was so cute. I tucked the idea away thinking my nieces might enjoy a mini garden for their birthday. I began my hunt about a month ago for little garden things and quickly learned that fairy garden paraphernalia is so March, not February. So I procrastinated a bit and then hit up a few shops last week. For you local peeps the best selection I found was at Merrifield in Fairfax although I hear that Blue Mount Nurseries (for your Loudon chics) and the other Merrifield locations should have a better selection by now.  I was delighted to find some sweet pieces to use but I will say most things can just be made from things you already have. I popped into Goodwill and found a cheery red bucket to use as the container. I let the boys “help”, ie put the rocks here and the bench here. Be soooo careful with the flowers. and don’t move….” You get the idea. Really I enjoyed the project and they eventually got that I was going to be guiding their every move.   I got tempted to add little tea cups or other details but I decided that would be the fun part for the birthday girls! I forgot to get a picture when they got it. Seeing as how we have a house full of boys we didn’t have any of the cute polly pocket type stuff to add!  I can’t wait to see what the girls do with it!

When we had all of the first and mess out I decided to attempt a little garden inside egg shells. If it’s a success we might use it as our Easter table centerpiece!

After sitting back and letting me rearrange the one for my nieces I decided to use a  terracotta pot base  and let the boys make a mini garden for our back yard chipmunks! We added a little swing and some moss. Nothing fancy but fun!  And although the boys know that there is no way our chipmunks will be swinging in the tree I see this little sparkle in their eye when they talk about it that tells me it’s still fun to pretend. Ours did not have anything other than mulch, moss, dirt, stones and a few twigs for a tree. So you can go as simple as you want! Here is how they turned out!

it won’t shock me one bit if this gets taken over by worms and bugs within a few weeks. The boys will enjoy it, but I envision more of a Lord of the flies scenario than polly pocket!

 Plow and Hearth

one of my favorite Pintrest gardens was this one….Ninimakes. It has the best little tire swing and tree house!

this darling one in the drawer is from Midwest Living

Oh yea, and the real reason you all stopped by was to see if you won the giveaway! Thanks to all of you that came to visit shared! And again, sorry for my international friends that this didn’t work so well for! I owe you a giveaway!!

So without further ado, Drum roll please, our randomly selected winner of the $20 gift card from Three Loves is………….

Marissa R!!!!

she wrote:  My favorite Easter memory would have to be the Easter egg hunts my grandparents would put together for all of the grandchildren. That, and the plastic Easter eggs my grandmother would string up on a tree out front to decorate

Marissa, inbox me and I will set you up with Mary for collect the goodness!

For those of you that didn’t win, still pop over and see the Three Loves shop if you haven’t already! You will not be disappointed with Mary’s beautiful stuff! And her prices are awesome compared to so many handmade shops!  Thanks Mary for your generous gift! I know Marissa will find something great!

Hope you all have a great day!

Disclaimer: the random selection of the winner was conducted by a 5 year old picking a number out of the final number of comments. He was unbiased and unaware of what he was participating in And just a note, Seasons Worth Savoring is not being paid to advertise for Three Loves or any other company…this is just plain old fun!