DIY: Kitty Litter Containers to Pattern-y Planters!

Well, hey there, dirt diggers! Allow me and my black thumb of certain plant death to present to you my latest planter creation: Kitty Litter Containers to Patterny Planters! Please don't ask me to refer to these planters as "up-cycled" because just the mere mention of the word "up-cycled" makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up and my right eye twitch. Maybe it's my severe gag reflex to all things hipster but I just can't sta-hand that word. Tell me I'm not alone, y'all. Surely there's a word that is totes hawt right meow that drives you up the up-cycled wall? I gots to know what it 'tis. While you think on that, I suppose I should return to the blog-tasticness at hand. 

So despite the fact that I'm known in the plant world as a killer of all things lovely and green, I have a habit of giving it a go every single year. Mostly cuz I love painting me some planters. You might recall these flower-y numbers from a coupla years back. 

Or these Day o' the Dead planters I created a couple Halloweenies ago. 

Last weekend, I thought I could use these ole kitty litter containers for some new planters. We have, like, one million of these bad boys cuz my hubs is borderline doomsday preppers and keeps assuring me that we'll need these for water containers when all the hipster zombies start to attack and up-cycle the universe. I stole these from his stash of one million and tossed 'em out into the yard. Cuz I'm classy like that.

Then I went at 'em with my razor blade and removed the tops. I'm tooootally going with a Tiki theme in my art room next year and these are toooootally gonna be up-cycled, er, reused as Tiki mask decor. Although, now that I think about it, they toooootally would make great Tiki bird houses with the openings as the mouth. RIGHT?! I'm like a genius, I know. After those were removed, I drilled holes in the bottom of each planter so the water could drain.

And then I set to painting! I spray painted some of the planters a pencil-y yellow and others a teal-y blue. Once those dried, I busted out some pattern books by my fave retro artists: Alexander Girard, Florence Broadhurst and, of course, Mary Blair. Some of these guys served as inspo while others were copies of patterns created by them. I like to copy the retro-y pattern-y masters, y'all. 

While I don't expect these planters to last beyond the summer (although those floral numbers are several summers old), I did slap a coat of ModPodge on 'em just to preserve them a lil. 

They make me so stinkin' happy everytime I catch a glimpse of them outside my front door. I am completely addicted to patterns, y'all. They rule my universe. 

As for the plants, Ima ask that you "pray for 'em" as they say here in the South. Dear lil baby Jesus, please don't let the Cassie's Black Thumb of Death cast a shadow on this sweet lil flower thang. Amen.

Least you think that I'm gonna keep them on my front steps so no one can visit, I have found a home for each planter in these lil planter thingies near my front door (don't you worry, that one at the bottom is just for show, it has a nice sunny spot elsewheres). Thanks for visiting all y'all up-cyclin' hipsters! 

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DIY: Rosy Flower Pots

My collection of Rosy Flowers Pots. So easy to make, it's addictive...apparently.

Today's DIY is one that would make the late painter/teacher Bob Ross proud. I remember watching him as a kid on Saturdays when the cartoons trailed off. He made painting look so easy and he enjoyed every minute of it. In fact, one of my favorite artist quotes is a Bob Ross euphemism: People might look at you a bit funny, but it's okay. Artists are allowed to be a bit different. Need further convincing of his genius? Read here.

Now to my knowledge, Bob usually stuck with landscapes and "happy little trees". Currently, I'm addicted to all things flowery, so I thought I'd share with an easy way to paint "happy pink roses."

 For this happy painting endeavor, you'll need:

• Cheap acrylic paint in the three colors shown above. Each bottle is less than a $1.
• A couple of angled brushes. I tried doing this with a flat brush...and failed.
• Spray paint to cover your plastic flower pot. I used turquoise.
• Modge Podge to seal the paint. 
• A plastic flower pot...not a terra cotta pot. The paint sticks better to the plastic and they're less expensive. 
• Parchment paper or anything to cover your work area.

The day before, I spray painted the flower pots. Once dry, I was ready to paint...

 To load your brush, you'll first dip the brush in the pink color. Then dip the front of the brush, or the toe, into the white and the back of the brush, the heel, into the red. I used the larger angled brush for the large flowers and the smaller for the leaves, stem and smaller flowers.

 On your practice paper, swipe your brush back and forth to blend the colors. You might even want to practice painting the entire flower a couple of times on your paper before attacking your pot.

 Paint a curve line on your pot.

 Paint two more curved lines on either side.

 Add a curved line in the center and one on either side.

 Create a curve that is going the opposite direction.

Underneath that, create a series of flower petals using a curve like the letter U...and viola! A Rosy Pot!

 Once you've got the hang of it, you can make your flowers a little more organic. For this one, I followed the same order of brush strokes but instead of using a curved line, I used more of a wavy curve.

 The leaves are very easy. I used the smaller angled brush for them. I started with the stem, dragging the brush from the flower off of the pot. Then I started at the end of the leaf, dragging the brush to the stem.

To finish, I added a bit of bright green on the leaves. Once dry, I coated the pot in glossy Modge Podge, planted some Begonias and hung it up.

I do hope you'll give this a try, it's pretty simple. If you mess up, just wipe the pot with a damp towel and try again. In the words of Bob Ross, Even if you've never painted before, this one you can do. And if you are a learner that benefits from watching a tutorial, I suggest visiting here. Have fun!

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