French Flower Pots

Remember my four days without power?

My four days of indulging in sporadic crafting when we turned the generator off
to save gas?

(I did get one load of laundry washed before the power went out.
I ended up spreading it all out on the deck furniture to dry.
I didn't want to disturb the bluebird babies in the birdhouse hanging on the clothesline pole.
Yeah.....love me or leave me.....)

My four days of intense crafting....

sometimes by Energizer Weather Ready lantern light?

(Talk about reliving "Little House on the Prairie"...)

Well, here's another one of the ways
I kept myself busy.

French flower pots -
the type that look like they've been around for centuries -

make my heart sing.

Old and chippy,

faded and worn.

After reading on a few blogs about using Mod Podge as a transfer medium,

I wanted to try my hand at it on a few terra cotta flower pots.

I scrounged around and found some in our barn.

First, I whitewashed them all with a little watered down white paint,

and splotched on some light gray paint around the bottom with a paper towel.

 I laid one of them on a kitchen towel and held it in place with a couple plastic cooking spoons so that it wouldn't roll away from me.

I took a French typography graphic that I downloaded from Karen's sweet site,

The Graphics Fairy

darkened it a wee bit in Picnik

and flipped it horizontally before printing it.

I cut out the graphic so I wouldn't have so much paper to deal with.

Next, I took my Mod Podge 

(use Outdoor Mod Podge if your pots will be placed outside)

and swiped it on the graphic.

[Please ignore the ugly counter top.  I dream of granite....]

I centered it on the pot and rubbed it smooth.

Now, this technique does work on pots with a curvy figure, also.
It just takes a little more finagling.

The hardest part was the waiting -
with no peeking.

I let it dry overnight.


In the morning,

(in my jammies, before my shower - and after the generator was started up - 
because I just HAD to find out if this technique actually worked...)

I dampened the graphic with a wet sponge
and started ever so gently rolling the paper off with my fingers.

I swear I could hear drum roll in the distance as my heart beat faster.....

And voila!

It worked!!

After letting them all dry,
I sprayed them with a couple coats of clear, matte acrylic for protection.

I did one with the date of hubby's and my anniversary.

This pot is just French chic heaven...

[These pots are for sale at Doster Emporium.]

One note I want to add regarding this technique:

Becca from Gardeners to Bergers made a pretty aviary sign and painted

washable Elmer's Glue on one side of the paper before she printed off her graphic.
She said it helped the graphic stick better as you exposed it when you rubbed off the paper.
It was a technique I had never heard of nor tried -
but I certainly plan to.

So, the next time you lose power,
and your generator is turned off
and you just don't know what to do with yourself...

grab those plain, boring flower pots
and give them some French country farmhouse chic!

No need to do them by lantern light, either.....

{ Hugs }

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