This is a great idea for making a very unique, and very beautiful terrarium. It is a hybrid mix between a shadowbox, a terrarium and a diorama.

The picture above is of a jungle scene window box terrarium. This is a wonderful series of projects submitted by a web visitor (Badia A.) My thanks to her for the project, the pictures and the wonderful idea! The basic idea of this kind of terrarium that I call a "Window Box" terrarium is to build a cube out of wood, glass, or mirrors and to mount a picture frame on the front of it. You can mount this in a window or even right into a wall. Or you can just leave it on a table. (You can also mount hinges on the picture frame so it can easily be opened and worked on. The predominant idea is that you look at it from the front where the frame is. The following picture gives you an idea of how to build one. This one has a bottom and sides made of mirrors. The use of mirrors will add depth to the terrarium.

The use of the small animal figures also transforms this terrarium into a kind of hybrid terrarium-diorama which is just wonderful. Is it a terrarium or is it a diorama? A little bit of both! Maybe it's a living diorama!

Here is what Badia has to say about Making this terrarium:

I really like this project it took me a while to think of it and as always I get ideas from your work:) when I found this picture frame that opens from the front I bought and I wanted to do something different. I was thinking why not use plastic or glass then I thought of the mirror. The making of the mirror box is my idea but the cutting and gluing was done by me and my husband, He cut the pieces and glued them together then glued the box to the frame it was simple. I made a container from clear plastic that fits in the box. I worked easily, put everything in the contianer, then put it inside the frame.

Here are some more pictures: