Mom's Day Gift Idea: Mother Peat Pot

Mother's Day is one week away!  (Um, what happened to April?)  Have you bought your mom a gift yet?

As I was cruising the gardening aisles at my local Christmas Tree Shops a few weeks ago, the peat pots caught my eye.  Hmmm, I thought, less than $2 for a dozen...nice kraft color...nice size...I think I can work with these...  And I have!  Unlike so much of my stash, they haven't languished in the studio waiting for the "perfect" project.  I made my mom, sisters, and self some cute Easter decor with them and they called my name yet again when my mom gave me a vintage image from an old fridge calendar.  I love up-cycling!

The Details & Tutorial:

• First, let's start with the pot.  I used several colors of Distress Ink to add some interest.  Tattered Rose was randomly brushed over the entire pot, then background speckles were stamped in Barn Red.  I used my french script background stamp to add some lovely text in Forest Moss, then added random areas of Crushed Olive to make it look a little mossy.

• Here you can see the close up of the DI layers and the French script.

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• Next, I took my other bargain find--crepe paper--and added a ruffle to the top of the pot.  The ruffle overhangs the end by about 1/4 inch.
• I've done the ruffle with both hot glue and Monoadhesive and I have to say, I much prefer the adhesive tape method!  Cleaner, safer, and a neater result.

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• After the ruffle was added, I lightly added Tattered Rose DI and then tapped just the edges with Barn Red DI. 
• Next, I filled a mini mister with watered down walnut ink and misted the entire ruffle, then tapped the paper down in places to fill it out and give it a more messy appearance.  This also bleeds the Barn Red DI into the paper a bit...nice effect.
• Then to hold the pleats down, I glued some crocheted lace ribbon around the ruffle.
• To balance the weight of the pot, I dropped a rock in the bottom and then cut dry floral foam to fit the pot.

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• Now that the pot is almost done, let's talk about the mother and daughter image.  To erect this image, I first twisted two pieces of heavy gauge floral wire together.  You need about 8" of twisted wire. 
• I hot glued the wire to a scrap of cardboard that was larger than my main image, then using spray adhesive, glued the main image over the cardboard and wire.  I trimmed the cardboard to the edges of the main image.

 

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• I distressed the edges of the image/cardboard combination with Vintage Photo DI using a foam blending tool.
• To add dimension, I glued Papertrey Ink's leaf ribbon around the trellis.  After some trial and error, I found that mini glue dots worked the best for this application.
• Next, I applied Tattered Rose Distress Stickles along the edges of the entire image.  This hides your raw edge and adds that lovely bit of vintage sparkle! 

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• To add the top to the peat pot, I found the center of the pot and poked the wire into the floral foam.  I removed the wire, added a dollop of hot glue to the wire and the hole, and stuck the wire back in for good.
• Adding generous amounts of hot glue to the top of the floral foam and interior sides of the pot, I then added layers of reindeer moss to hide the foam and make a pretty "lawn" for the flowers to grow in.
• Next, I made a big bow, layered up some silk flowers, added some beads to a crystal headed pin, and stuck the pin through everything and into the floral foam. 
• A couple baby paper flowers were next...those are just glued to the edge of the pot with mini glue dots
• Then, I took some large pearl floral stamen and covered them in Mushroom Alcohol Ink, wiping it off while it was still wet.  Instead of being mushroom color, the early wipe off made the stamen a pinkish color...perfect!  I made a U-shape out of some wire, wrapped the stamen around it and pushed them into the foam on either side of my large flower.
• To make the "Mother" sign, I stamped the image onto SU! Blush Blossom card stock with StazOn Timber Brown, colored it using a water pen and the DI, cut it out, and distressed it with Vintage Photo DI.
• I used a Tim Holtz memo pin to stick the sign into the floral foam
• To glam up the base just a bit, I added Tattered Rose stickles to the head of the crystal pin and the edges of the crepe paper ruffle.

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• At this point, I felt like the pot was a little bland compared to the top, so I added some pearls and voile!  Finished!

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I know that this seems like a big fussy project, but really, it's pretty simple and goes quickly.  So don't be scared by all the bullet points and pictures, okay?  :-)

Supplies:

Paper:  SU! ‘Blush Blossom’ card stock

Stamps:  SU! ‘French Script’ background, ‘Itty Bitty Backgrounds’; 7 Gypsies ‘Family’

Inks:  StazOn ‘Timber Brown’; Distress Inks ‘Vintage Photo’, ‘Tattered Rose’, ‘Crushed Olive’, ‘Barn Door’, ‘Forest Moss’; Alcohol Ink ‘Mushroom’; walnut ink

Embellishments:  PTI Leaf Ribbon; crocheted lace; crepe paper; Darice flowers; organza ribbon; pearls; Tim Holtz Memo Pin; Distress Stickles ‘Tattered Rose’; large pearl floral stamen

Tools:  kitchen knife; water pen; mini mister; foam blending tool; hot glue gun

Misc:  peat pot; floral wire; wire cutter; needle nose pliers; 3M Super 77 spray adhesive; stone; dry floral foam; cardboard; glue dots; reindeer moss; Tombo Monoadhesive