Painting Floral Pots for Spring-Video Tutorial

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     I have narrow windowsills.  In some cases, my windows have no sills at all.  It makes it very difficult to have plants that will live when there is no place to set them in sunshine.  My only success story has been this orchid that I received as a gift.  It fits on one of my narrow windowsills and it blooms and blooms and I only have to water it once per week.  I love it! 

You can see the narrow sill it is sitting on.

     Well, I came upon my project to brighten up my other skinny windowsill completely by accident.  Do you remember these cute cream bottles that I want to use in a project?

Of course, now the bottles are empty. I have 4 of them.

  I had decided that I wanted a basket that would act like a milk crate that I could use with them to make a country style table centerpiece.  I went to Hobby Lobby and found this little wire basket for only $5!  I loved it because the bent wire reminded me of barbed wire, without the barbs!  I snagged it (pun intended) and brought it home.  Lesson learned?  Always measure or take the item with you to check the size.  The cute cream bottles are too big to fit in the basket!  Well, I have other ideas for those now, but what to do with the basket?

     A few days later, i went to Walmart and was looking in their garden section and I found these tiny clay pots for just about .37 I think. (I just saw that Dollar Tree has them 3 for $1!) I can't resist tiny cute things very well.  So I picked up a half dozen of them and brought them home.  Guess what! 5 of them fit in the basket perfectly!  Guess what else!  The basket fit on my windowsill perfectly!  A new project began to take shape.

     I decided that I needed to paint the pots and give them a Springtime feeling and to mimic the flowers that I was going to use in them.  I had picked some up at Hobby Lobby for 50% off the day I bought the basket.  My couch and love seat are brown with turquoise accents, so I bought turquoise flowers.  Here is the color palette that I used to paint my little pots:             

I used paints that I already had in my paint collection. As you can see, I have quite a variety of brands.

     You have to be careful when choosing Spring colors that you don't only use pastel blues, pinks and yellows or your finished product will look like it belongs at a Baby Shower.  That is why I added a brighter yellow and green and a deeper lavender.  Plus, the base colored blue is like a lighter turquoise than the one I decided to use for the flowers around the rims of the pots.  I painted each pot with the body one color and the rim another.  I used 5 colors for five pots and mixed and matched them.  Then, to tie them all together, I used a tole technique to paint flowers on the rims all in the same color turquoise.

I use a small round brush. Load it with paint and lay it on your surface.

Pull the brush and lift at the same time. I load between each petal.

     Don't be afraid to try to paint the flowers freehand.  It is an easy technique.  You can practice on paper before painting it on the rims of your pots.  Here is a short video demonstrating the technique of loading your round paint brush with paint, laying it down and then pulling and lifting as you pull to get a petal shape.  

     Next, just transfer that technique onto the rims of your pots.  Then, use the end of the handle of your brush, or the tip of a pencil to add dots.  Dip the point of the handle in the paint, then make dots.  The dots will be a little smaller each time, which gives a nice effect.

           After these were dry, I cut floral foam to fit tightly into the bottom of each little pot.  Then I put 3-5 flowers in each pot.  I wanted an airy effect. 

Can you see the foam in the bottom of the pot? I don't want that to show. Hmmm, what should I do?

I went to Dollar Tree and bought this green, decorative, shredded paper! (They have it in many colors!) It is amazing what a difference a little detail like this can make! You can click on the photo to order some!

I just loosely laid it on top of the foam amidst the flower stems.

See how much better that looks?

       Then, TA DA! Here it is on my skinny windowsill!  It fits perfectly!

Now my orchid doesn't have to be all alone!

       It was a fun little project!  I hope you aren't afraid to give things like this a try when the idea strikes you.  I will get back to you about the those cream bottles! Spring is the time to be creative.  Have a creative day!
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