Five Days to an Easter Centerpiece, Day 1

Day 1: DIY Easter Pots

Day 2: Jute Wrapped Eggs

Day 3: Mod Podge Eggs

Day 4: Building a Planter from Scrap Wood

Day 5: Putting it all together

then about a week later: and then there was grass!

This is the first in a 5 day series of creating this years Easter’s centerpiece, DIY Peat Pot Easter Baskets…

Each year I try to mix it up a bit, and this year I was so inspired from seeing such fun creative ideas at the different link parties I participate in. The ones that inspired me, were the ones from House of Hawthornes peat pots.

Here’s my interpretation on these cute old-fashioned, paper mache looking pots:

My other major inspiration came from GraphicsFairy.com. I am so inspired every time I go to her site. My head starts spinning with ideas.

Here are the steps I did to create these fun DIY Easter peat pot baskets…

I bought a pack of these Jiffy peat pots, (they come in a couple of different sizes, I actually used the larger ones for this project, perfect for putting violets in, but the smaller ones I used for this other mini E-A-S-T-E-R basket project)

Next I printed out some lovely Easter graphics from The Graphics Fairy in the right size for the pots. (I have a ink-jet printer, so once the prints get wet the colors have a tendency to smear if you retouch them, so best to use a laser printer, I like to have Office Max do it for me)

Choosing coordinating colors from the prints, I painted the peat pots different colors with acrylic craft paints.

Leaving the inside of the pots the natural brown color.

Once they were totally dry, it was time to apply the prints…

I covered the entire pot with Mod Podge, (it comes in either a matte finish or a shiny gloss finish, so get whichever you prefer)

Then, I carefully laid the print across the pot, and brushed on a second layer of Mod Podge. (this is the tricky part if you use a jet-ink printer… if you brush the graphic once it’s wet with the Mod Podge, it will smear… so I had to be really careful!)

Also, for these, since they’re on the dining table, I wanted them to look great from all sides, so I did matching graphics on opposite sides of the pot, and added a little number graphic in between them. (For the number graphic, I got the basic label from GraphicsFairy.com and tweaked it on PowerPoint to add the actual number to the graphic)

I Mod Podged the bottom just for a little added protection for the peat pots, then I set them to dry inverted on glasses.

Here they are all finished…

I think they’re so cute. (You can see that number label on the orange one in the background.)

They totally remind me of a version of the antique paper mache ones I’ve seen at antique sales, but these were so inexpensive to make and a really fun craft. Instead of making them all baskets for the table centerpiece, I was inspired to use them to hold small pots of flowering violet plants.

I love to have fresh flowers on the table, and these’ll last for more than 4 or 5 days! (I do have a non-leak plastic liner inside the peat pots, water would totally ruin them in a ‘jiffy’!)

Shopping:

Large Jiffy peat pots, Small Jiffy peat pots, Mod Podge starter kit… with both gloss and matte finishes and brushes, Mod Podge matte finish only, Mod Podge gloss finish only, 18 pc acrylic paint set

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