I finally did it and took off another 33 before I’m 33 item in the process, with building a mini herb garden. I was at Lowe’s the other weekend picking out plants for the house (with my mother-in-law’s help) and decided to pick out three herbs to start a mini herb garden in my kitchen window. I looked for fun pots to put them in but settled for terra-cotta pots and saucers. I wanted to make them a little more fashionable, so I used Better Homes & Gardens‘ idea of painting the pots. It was a fun and easy way to bring a little personal flare to the pots and the window sill.
material
- large rubber bands
- terra-cotta pot and saucers
- small paintbrush
- primer
- acrylic crafts paint or wall paint
- aluminum foil
- masking tape or blue wallpaper tape
- spray shellac
- craft knife
- herbs or plants to pot
To start, stretch a rubber band around the base of each pot, positioning one side higher than the other to form a smooth curve.
Paint the saucers and the bottom section of each pot and saucer with primer right up to the edge of the rubber band. Let dry.
Paint each saucer and pot below the rubber band with craft paint. I did two coats of Benjamin Moore rockport grey, not craft paint and it worked well. Let dry.
Wrap the top of each pot in aluminum foil, leaving the painted area below the rubber band exposed. Use masking tape to conceal any uncovered terra-cotta between the foil and the rubber band.
Turn the pots upside down in a well-ventilated area. Following the instructions on the package, apply two or three coats of shellac to the painted portions of the pot and saucer. Let dry. I used Valspar’s clear sealer in satin which worked great!
Use a crafts knife to score the paint along the bottom edge of the rubber band. Cut off rubber band. Then plant your plants! I also got these herb markers which I bought on Etsy, and I’m in love with them!
She has a variety to choose from and worked with me only wanting three! I highly recommend Paulova Ceramics! She has some other fun items like a salt and pepper cups that are on top of my list, too!
spaghetti on bath night 
You are so creative – I have grown parsley and then dried, put in plastic ziploc to use for our cooking, always loved doing things like that. Uncle Sig planted his tomato plants from seeds on Monday in “red solo cups”, they are sitting in our living room on a card table hoping for sun! Plans are to put in 5 gal. pails to grow outside. I can see my house-lawn with 5 gal. pails all around, seeing he has 12 solo cups going!! Nothing better than a home-grown tomato!
Thank you, Barb! ;) I was thinking about planting tomatoes myself! Maybe next year!! :) You’ll have to tell me how it goes!