A Mother’s Day DIY

So this may be the most poorly documented tutorial in the history of all tutorials.  I did this DIY (is that phrase redundant?) last September before I had a blog.  Back then blogging was a teeny little idea in the back of my brain and I took lots of random pictures “in case.”  Apparently I didn’t comprehend that those pictures should actually make sense.

I was looking for something to make my Mom for her birthday.  It would be my very first official DIY.

I found this picture somewhere and saved it to my inspiration folder.  I have absolutely no idea where it’s from – I wasn’t very professional back in the day!  It was a cute idea, looked simple enough to recreate, and I thought my mom would like it!

The plan was to paint three little pots for her to grow herbs in.  She has the perfect windowsill in her kitchen for a little herb action.    The chalkboard paint would give her a space to write what was growing in each pot.

So I grabbed three terra cotta pots and little saucers from Home Depot.  And I felt like it was important to take a picture of them on our rackety stairs?  The pots were very economical – maybe about $0.30 each?  The colors are kind of boring, but the texture of these pots are the real issue.  Yuck.  They feel like the sound of nails on a chalkboard, if that makes any sense.  So I bought a cream colored bottle of craft paint to cover the color and texture.

I also bought  three accent colors, a can of chalkboard paint, and some of those black spongy paint brushes.  No pictures of this.  I’m sure you’re sad.

Then I set up a very official looking spray paint center.  Oh yeah.  Wal-Mart bag drop cloths in the trailer park.  Classy.

And then I gave the pots a coat of spray paint primer.  You don’t have to be cool like me and do this at 9 pm.  Normal hours work fine too.

I really don’t think the primer was necessary to get the craft paint to stick on there, but it quickly covered up the terra cotta texture.

After the pots dried, I turned on “Sister Act” and DIY-ed away.  (Man, these are horrid pictures!)  I used paper plates to minimize spills and painted everything while watching the movie.

I taped off the area for the chalkboard paint and gave it several coats.  Apparently the more the better.  Then I used painter’s tape to make an argyle-y design and freehanded the other two pots.

This is the finished project!

I did an argyle-ish pattern, some stripes, and some circles.  The possibilities on these things are endless!  If I had kids, I think it would be cute to put their handprints on there.

I gave these to my mom for her birthday in September and planned to give her seeds to some of her favorite herbs, but apparently herbs don’t grow in September.  I searched high and low for seeds.  I even went inside a tractor supply store.  Now *that* is desperate.

But I’m pretty sure it’s seed season now, so I think this would make a great Mother’s day gift!  You can personalize it with any colors and patterns.  Kids of all ages could have fun making these too!  And let’s face it, mom’s always love anything you make them.  It’s in their DNA.

~Whitney