Hi there! I'm Cyn from Creative Cynchronicity and I'm so thrilled to be guest blogging here today. I blog about bringing the creative into the everyday whether that be crafting, cooking, parenting - just living life to its fullest! I hope you'll drop by and have a look around.
Today, I have a really quick and easy (and inexpensive!) craft for you that adds a lovely touch to a party, a fireplace mantel, tablescape, or even as part of your front porch decor. These little luminaries are so pretty!
The supplies you will need for this are:
Peat pots - I was able to find packages of them for $1 at Dollarama (dollar store) but you can also find them at garden centres and stores that carry plant and garden supplies
Paint - simple acrylic craft paint will work just fine here. I chose to use silver, gold, and copper because I wanted a shimmer and for it to go with my fall decor but any colour will work. You can find these paints at your local craft store but the ones they carry at Dollarama do a fine job as well.
A paint applicator - I used an old stiff paint brush because I wanted to do a dry brushing technique on them- again you can find these at the dollar store, an art supply store, or craft store. You can also use a piece of a kitchen sponge if you'd like to sponge paint these or if you'd simply like to apply paint smoothly, a foam brush works well.
A large nail - I used this for poking holes in the peat pots - anything that you can poke a hole with works
Scissors - if you want to cut designs into the pots or create shaped edges
Rhinestones, beads, skeleton leaves, or other trims and doodads - if you care to add them to your luminaries; these are completely optional!
Plain white glue - If you are using those doodads, you need a way to stick them on. I found that a glue gun seeped through a bit so if you use that instead, use a light touch. I also found that a white school glue worked well but because of the curved shaped of the pots, I had to spend a lot of time holding my embellishments in place while the glue began to set - otherwise they'd just fall off right away. My preferred glue for this is Aleene's Fast Grab or Aleene's Quick Dry tacky glues because they held so much faster and there was less sitting around and waiting for glue to dry time!
I like to begin by cutting out any designs I want to have in the peat pots. For example, I cut zigzag and scalloped edges on some and made one into a Jack O'Lantern. I like to do the cutting first so that I can paint the edges if desired.
Next up is the painting. I used a dry brush technique. I found that a fairly stiff brush worked best. Dip it into your paint and then brush it several times over a paper towel or some other surface to unload as much of the paint as you can before applying it to the peat pot. You want your brush to be nearly dry because this gives a subtle effect to the pots that can look a bit aged and weathered. As I stated above, you could also just cover them in paint the traditional way (which is what I did with the Jack O'Lantern) or you can sponge paint on them. Experiment and have fun with it!
Once the pots were dry (it doesn't take long!), I began gluing on any embellishments that I wanted. Finally, if I wanted to add any holes to the pots to allow more light through, this was my last step. I like to wait until the very end for this because then you can place them accordingly to where the embellishments and your cut out designs are.
Thanks so much to Sweet Stellas for allowing me to share this idea with you here today! I hope you enjoy it!
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