Valentine's Day is just a few short weeks away. Skip the drugstore candy aisle and whip up some of these sweet little succulent planters for your favorite people! Don't get me wrong, I love me some Valentine's Day candy, but sometimes the sugar gets to be a little too much. These sweet little planters will last much longer than a bouquet of flowers or a bag of cinnamon hearts and the punny plant stakes will make your friends smile.
Here's what you'll need:
- Mini metal buckets in pink and white. I found mine at Michael's. Similar
- White fish tank gravel. I still had some leftover from my dish garden
- Pink spray paint. I used Krylon Fairytale Pink
- Wood kitchen skewers
- Assorted cacti and succulents
- Valentine plant tags (download and print right here!)
- Rubber cement
- Nail
- Hammer
- Succulent soil
Punch a few holes in the bottom of your buckets with a nail and hammer. Well-draining soil is very important to these plants. This will help keep your them happy and healthy! Do you like my tiny hammer? ;)
Plant your cacti and succulents in the buckets. I'm going to demonstrate how to re-pot a spiny cactus since those are a little harder to do without harming the plant or yourself. Add a layer of succulent soil to the bottom of your container at about the height of where your rootball will sit.
Roll up a few layers of butcher paper or newspaper. Flatten it. Fold it in half to create a loop. Position the cactus inside the loop and hold it tight on the end.
Lay the plant on its side and remove the pot. Grabbing the roots with one hand and the paper loop with the other, position the cactus in the pot. Still holding the cactus upright with the paper, fill around the roots with soil. Done! No need to look for the tweezers!
Spread out a thin layer of gravel in a cardboard box or on a paper plate and spray paint it. Mix the gravel up between coats to get more coverage. When it's fully dry, layer it over the exposed soil in the buckets. Resist the urge to water! Let them get used to their new digs for a week or two before watering.
Low Maintenance Love, You're Succulent, and Don't be Prickly, Valentine. I love me a plant pun and I hope you like these graphics!
Print the download on white cardstock (the thicker, the better) and cut out with scissors or a craft knife. Add a dab of rubber cement to the top of the skewer and attach to the back of the tag. To make it more secure, glue a scrap of paper over the back.
Add them to your freshly-potted succulents and give to your valentines (if you can bear to part with them)!
Project and photography by Casey Starks | Vitamini Handmade
The download is not for commercial use or distribution and is © Vitamini Handmade.
With the pattern or color down, fold the paper square in half, both ways, and unfold. Fold one side of sheet to the center and crease. Flip over. Fold top corner of each side of sheet to the center line. Flip over. Fold each side of the paper to the center line, and unfold. Flip over. Flip the top layer of paper up and flatten (see the video for more detail). Fold bottom section up to meet crease line. Flip the inside flaps out to form the wings. Fold this flap up, in half, and crease.
It's heart-shaped candy season! Learn how to make these cool faceted origami boxes to hold your treats for Valentine's Day. They're so easy to make, you'll be able to whip up a bunch of them in just a few minutes. I used pink and red vellum, but they would look just as great made with patterned origami papers. 
