Mini Flower Pots

March 19, 2012

Here is a project to make some flowers that should be able to stand up to anything – frost included! I found these little wooden pots on clearance, and my design assistant was so excited to paint them for our daily "project." (We try to do a project every day – she's a pretty strict task master – won't let me slide even when I'm tired from work!)

I painted the sticks – it seemed a little scary to hand a 4-year-old pointy wooden skewers and a paint brush. I am very proud of the drying method I came up – old Play-doh? Give it one last hurrah as a place to keep the sticks upright while drying!

My pots got painted first – I didn't put quite as much creative energy (or as many coats of paint) into them as my design assistant.

To attach the "stems" to the pots, I put a blob of hot glue around the base and then put it into the pot (mine came with holes in them – perfect!). Stick it into the pot pretty quickly and then hold it straight for a few seconds while the glue firms up. And look – the glue doesn't come out the bottom – it's like a miracle!

Since I had some time to kill while I waited for the diva to be done painting, I added some crackle finish to my pots . . . think it's hard – it's not – I show you how cheap and easy it is here. And then, repurpose that play dough again and stand the pots up til they dry. Now the bottoms are all pretty and painted, too!

Ah, she's finally done – and SO proud of herself. I love how much she loves to get crafty with me. It's fun, it keeps us both happier while I'm doing stuff, and I think she probably is learning important skills that she'll use someday – maybe in a toy factory . . . just kidding!

For some reason, I stopped taking pictures after this step. This is very unusual for me…and I apologize. Anyway, it's not too hard to explain without visual aids – I took two felt shapes, put a bit of hot glue between them, and carefully placed the "stem" skewers in the center. Then, we added a yarn bow or more felt shapes for "leaves." Finally, we took that worn out play dough and stuck a little in the pots, then topped it with glue and rainbow rice.

My design assistant immediately took hers and put them in the dollhouse – so they didn't make the final picture. Too bad, because we added some extra rhinestone bling to them! She also took two of them in to give to her teachers – she really loves giving people her art. I think she thinks that's what I'm doing when I ship out orders from my shop . . . ah well, still a good lesson.

Set them around the house (or the dollhouse) to brighten up these last few days of winter!

Post by Cameron : Homemade by Cameron