Decorated Pots for Window Sills and Patios - Great for the Craft Sale

Clay pots are a great base for a variety of decorating projects. Brighten a window sill or patio with painted, stamped or mosaic pots. Decorate pots with silk leaves, buttons and more. Let these instructions inspire you to your own creations.
 

 Materials:

Clay pots ( look in your potting shed for old pots to recycle or ask your neighbor)

• Acrylic paint (there is a specialty patio paint that also works well for this technique)
• White Rustoleum Paint
•  Clear varethane spray
• Paint palette (a glass or plastic plate works great for this and is great because it can be reused)
• Pop-up sponges
• Black permanent marking pen
• Mosaic tiles (glass or plastic)
• Mosaic glue
• Grout
• Plastic gloves (for grouting)
• Wet wipes
• Flat backed marbles
• silk leaves

 Instructions for Stamping & Painting on Clay Pots  

If you are using old pots, scrub them out and paint them inside and out with white Rustoleum paint. it makes a good base for pastel colors. Wear a  mask when spraying this paint, better outdoors.
Cut pop-up sponge to desired shapes. A simple scalloped circle makes a great floral rose shape. Dip sponge into water and wring out excess. Pour paint onto palette. Dab sponge into paint. Keep dabbing in an up and down motion to evenly coat the surface of the sponge with paint. Determine placement on clay pot and press sponge gently and lift. Voila! It’s that easy. Continue until entire clay pot surface is covered. Let dry completely. Use black marking pen to outline design shapes and add detail to leaves and center of flowers. If you want to paint your own design, just transfer the pattern to your clay pot and paint, paint, paint! When it's all dry, spray the insides and outsides with Varethane to fix the designs.

Instructions for Mosaicing on Clay Pots

Working one section at a time, glue mosaic tiles onto outside surface of pot leaving small spaces in between tiles. Let glue dry completely. Mix grout according to package instructions. Apply grout over tile. Wipe off excess grout with sponge. Continue to clean surface of tiles with wet wipes. Let grout dry overnight and clean tiles with paper towel and Windex. (See Mosaic Techniques)

Designer Tips: If you want help your tiles stay in place while drying, just use a long strip of blue painters tape to hold sections in place. When the glue is dry, carefully remove the tape. Bits of broken glass from colored bottles works well too. Put them in an old pillowcase and break them into very small pieces with a hammer. Even small broken bits of colorful plates would work.

Instructions for Gluing on Clay Pots

Spray pot white with Rustoleum as a good background for colored buttons or beads
Select buttons or beads to glue along the top rim of clay pot. This project can take a little longer because you are going to need to lay your clay pot on its side and glue and then let that section dry. But it’s worth it because your finished project is so darn cute! Another great effect is to glue flat backed marbles onto the side of the clay pot in the shape of a grape cluster. Use silk leaves glued in place for the top of your grape cluster. You can buy bags of the flat backed  little glass rounds for flower vases at your dollar store. Get the clear ones and paint them different colors on the backs, then glue the backs to the pot. You can also grout the glass pebbles if you prefer.

This will be the craft sale to end all craft sales. Good luck ladies and gentlemen .

Luv ya Nee