Today we have a wonderful guest tutorial by Linda who blogs at Burlap and Blue. As you’ll soon see, Linda is very creative and talented. She shares that talent often at her blog and today, here with us! Thanks, Linda! ~ Kim
Hey there! My name is Linda with burlap+blue! I am here today to talk about trends on Etsy, and to share a tutorial on how to make your own whitewashed typography flower pots!
As an Etsy seller, it is my job (and yours!) to stay on top of the trends. I want to know what is popular, what is selling, and, conversely, what is not. One big trend I’ve noticed on Etsy and elsewhere lately? Typography. Typography is graphic, it’s versatile, it can go from being modern to shabby to farmhouse to whatever style you are currently into.
And, as a nod to one of the hottest trends around, I present you with these beauties…
Easy to create, inexpensive and versatile. Like them? See the how-to below…
Supplies Needed:
- flower pots
- paint
- pencil
- black marker or paint marker
Step 1: Take your run-of-the-mill clay flowerpots and use a mixture of white paint and water to whitewash them. My ratio was about 1:1, though I went over my pots twice to get a slightly deeper, darker color. I used a sponge brush to apply the color, and kept a wet paper towel handy to blend where needed. The best part about this step is that you are going for distressed and shabby, so there is no need for perfection. This step took me all of 5 minutes total.
Step 2: Using a pencil, hand draw the outlines for your numbers. If you have stencils you can skip this step and just paint in your stencils! I found numbers online that I liked, and just did my best to hand draw them onto my pots…again, we are going for imperfect and handmade…I am not an artist at all, I just did the best I could with what little hand drawing skills I had, and I ended up being happy with the results.
Step 3: This is the part where any true artist would be telling you to pull out the paints and get to paintin’! Unfortunately, I do not have a steady enough hand, or good enough paint brushes to do this next step with paint…believe me, I tried! But do you see those black sharpies in the picture below? Yep, I took my trusty black sharpies and outlined and colored in my numbers. I honestly don’t think there is a wrong way to do this, I just did what worked best for me. If the finished product looks too shiny and new for you, you can take a sanding sponge or piece of sandpaper to distress your pots further.
I use these pots everywhere in my house…one is holding keys on my foyer table, another is holding a plant on my kitchen windowsill-truly a fun and versatile project. If you make a set, please let me know, I’d love to see!
And how have I applied what I learned about the current typography trend to my shop?
Typography coasters and gift tags, of course!
My shop specializes in vintage inspired goods for your home and life…these typography coasters and tags fit in just perfectly.
Thanks to Everything Etsy for allowing me to guest post here today.
Have a great day!
We’re always on the lookout for great guest posts like this! If you’re interested in sharing an original post on Everything Etsy, just email us you idea.
great ideas!
.-= JJ´s last blog ..90 Mix And Match Butterfly Paper Embellishment For Scrapbooking =-.
pretty…..
i -love- seeing typography used as a design element. beautiful work!!
I love this tutorial, thank you! I changed it up a bit and instead of numbers used the directions to make some monogrammed pots. They turned out great!
.-= Julie {Coco1981}´s last blog ..End-of-Year Teacher Gifts =-.
Love this idea!
Such a cool post – I rotflmao when I read that the numbers were “sharpied” in. I’d totally do that as well because I can’t paint at all! Went to favorite B&B, but it was already a favorite! Thanks for the inspiration.
These are fun! Thanks for sharing 🙂
These are great! Thank you so much for this tutorial!
Awesome!
Beautiful work! You are so creative. I wish i can do that to.
See my website