The HoarderRehab Blog: The Destiny of Things: Little Mermaid Grotto Terrarium Inspiration! The Destiny of Things, Story 276

Little Mermaid Grotto Terrarium Inspiration! The Destiny of Things, Story 276

These little mermaids are taking an Etsy buyer in a new direction!

photo via VintageToGoEasy

Little mermaids in 8 or 12 count, available here

It's such a nice surprise to find that an Etsy buyer has read my entire description and sends me an email story! Here it is:

Hi,
I've always been enchanted by mermaids. As a child, my grandad and great uncle would show me the tiny plastic mermaids salvaged from special cocktails. Now that both of them have passed away, I have no idea where those mermaids went, but I have very fond memories that could make for the perfect homage to both of those special loves. I have recently started making terrariums as a hobby and currently have a unicorn wonderland, but I think it would go well with a mermaid grotto. I just made my boyfriend a dragon terrarium for Valentine's day as well. I will send you a picture of the mermaid grove when it is completed.

Thanks,

ThingofStuff

And she sent me photos of her current terrariums! They turned out so cool! Little wonderland gardens for unicorns and dragons!

photo via ThingofStuff blog

Read and see more here

Here is what I wrote her back:

Hi!

Wow, thank you for the story and photos! Your fairy gardens are super cool! Are they easy to maintain? What a coincidence! I just made some fairy moss ones yesterday and put tiny donkeys in mine.

I have very fond memories of these drink markers too! And one Etsy buyer told me she had hers for over 50 years from childhood and the arm had just broke, so she ordered some from me.

You can either order the colors you want and we will return shipping overage or we can calculate shipping for you.

Thanks again for the story and photos I just love it!
Kennedy at VintageToGoeasy

Here is the Valentine's one for her sweet heart made with dragons! Reminds me Game of Thrones!

photo via ThingofStuff blog

Read and see more here

And then she wrote back:

Thanks! The fairy gardens are VERY easy to maintain because I only use air plants, that simply need moisture from the air and no direct sun light (perfect for Vancouver climates). Different terrariums and plants require soil, which does mean watering, but I wanted to create something completely low maintenance to bring some living greenery into my life. The package of tiny unicorns came with all those dragons, they are perfect GoT dragons. My boyfriend and I are huge Thronies! Thanks for your kind words :)

I'll most surely send you pics of the finished mermaid terrarium! I have an illustrated anecdotal blog but am making posts about the terrariums with progress pics as well, link here:
thing-of-stuff.blogspot.ca/

Thanks again and I'll update you on the mermaids when we can get down to the states!

photo via VintageToGoEasy

Little mermaids in 8 or 12 count, available here

It looks like she has great talent for her new hobby of making terrariums and for drawing too! Check out her blog, here to see her fun and funny drawings and close ups of the mini dragons and unicorns.

Saying Goodbye: I have my own stash of retro new and vintage mermaids and I finally found a grotto full of red ones! They used to be so rare and difficult to find in red, but now I have a whole pod of red mermaids or are they called, a school, a shimmer or miracle of mermaids? Anyone out there know the official term for a group of mermaids?

Now to find pink mermaids! Ha!

What I Learned:

1. And what a coincidence we both decided to add some easy green to our lives with fairy gardens! mine for my kitchen window and I had just made some because I had been eyeing some wild moss growing by the front door and one of my bonsai trees took a dive and I thought moss would be easier to maintain.

Wild moss from the yard, it needs very little dirt

and gets it's nutrients from the air and mistings

2. I love how my hoard is having a positive effect at my Etsy shops by making new memories for some as well as bringing back old fond memories too! In a sense, my hoard is working double duty!

Many people seem to have a fond cocktail mermaid memory from the past. What is yours?

These are very tiny one inch patches in a Coor's crucible and a small sauce plate. This week some of the sproutings have turned red. I planted some moss in my bonsai tree pot and now my bonsai is showing some new signs of life!

Thank you kind Etsy buyer for letting me know how you've been inspired with the little mermaids and for sharing your past memories and I can't wait to see your new memories from your mermaid fantasy terrarium!

Thank you Etsy for helping me make my dehoarding more enjoyable and fun. It's so nice to find coincidences with other who are not hoarders!

Thank you readers from all over the world for supporting my HoarderRehab and The Destiny of Things ! Your support by visiting is much appreciated.

My new dehoarding goal is to list something new weekly at each shop until I reach 200 at least three shops! I have reached that goal at two shops!

Click on the shop names to visit new hoard listed daily or weekly: HoarderRehab with 202 items, The Destiny of Things- 197 items , VintageToGoEasy - 200 items and now JunkDrawerAndMore - 168 items! Maybe you'll find something to take home and share your story too! Thanks for looking!

6 Little Mermaids in yellow and neon orangish red

Only a handful left in these colors, available here

photo via JunkDrawerandMore

Hoarder Rehab Tip #4: How I Maintain my hoard with a schedule and prioritizing chores.

Do you have your most favorite and most least favorite chores? I don't mind washing the dishes and doing laundry, but I will procrastinate days on end about dragging the vacuum cleaner out for the floors and mopping? Mopping is worse than cleaning the oven!

So I make sure the cleaning service has plenty of time to vacuum, mop, clean the oven, dust (and I have a lot of knick knacks to dust!) and complete all my least favorite chores! They also come on a weekly basis so the day before they arrive, I clean up so they can clean!

Yes, it probably sounds funny! but I clean up before they come over! The floors get a whole lot cleaner faster and waxed better when there aren't a whole lot of boxes on the floors and so does the furniture. They do move chairs and side tables around to clean under and behind them, but my cleaning service has a limited amount of time and I try to make the most of it by having them do my least favorite or should I say neglected to most hated chores!

Anyways, so this keeps me on a weekly schedule to clean up my hoard, even if it is just to throw stuff in the closet, pantry or nearest cabinet or drawer and then take it all back out the next week! At least the house looks good for a couple of days and it feels like I start a new! Who doesn't love a new beginning with a clean slate?

And it keeps me doing my most favorite chores on a regular basis and leaves me more time for more enjoyable things, like preparing healthier meals to trying new recipes and spending more time on myself and others.

Read Hoarder Rehab Tip #3, here: How I Maintain my Hoard and Justify it to Myself.

Next time, I'll talk about what motivates me and encourages me to keep on dehoarding! I mean, besides all the Etsy buyers with their stories and this blog.