Friday 19 May 2017

6 creative DIY planters for your summer garden


Whether you have a home full of plants and flowers or a small outdoor space with only room for a few small planters, adding colour to your home is so worthwhile after a dark and grey winter.  We have put together 6 creative ideas to help inspire you. Whether you wish to fill your planters with flowers, succulents or herbs, create a display that will make you smile. 

DecoArt chalky finish paint is fantastic for base coating projects as the surface needs no preparation and there are a wide variety of colours - even more once you begin mixing.

For each of our pots, we chose to base coat them with DecoArt Chalky Finish paint.  For some we used the colour straight from the pot, for others, we mixed our own custom colour for our pastel theme. 


Once the pots were dry, we used the paints from our Series 1 and Series 2 Starter kits to add each of the designs from our add on ranges.  At Folk It, we begin by teaching you dotty designs from our Starter kits before we move on to teaching you brushstrokes to create the designs (like our bluebirds above) in our 'add on' lessons.  The beauty of Folk Art is that it is a skill based art, a skill anyone can learn just as anyone can learn to write.  With patience and practice, each and every one of us can paint these brushstrokes whether we believe we are creative or not.

Our Series 1 pots 

Using DecoArt Chalky Finish and You Can Folk It Series 1 Starter and Daisy details kit, we created this beautiful planter perfect for any home.

Our gorgeous Daisy pot was first base coated using a mix of DecoArt chalky finish in New Life and Everlasting, both from our Colonial colour set.  Once dry, we painted our Daisies on using the templates and techniques from our Daisy Details kit and art supplies from the Starter kit.  Add the stalks and leaves using Hauser Light Green and the liner brush.

Whether you use this pretty pot to hold a beautiful gardening gift or your favourite plant, it will be loved. Decorated using DecoArt Chalky Finish and bluebirds from You Can Folk It's Series 1 painting kits.

To create our next pot, we used the beautiful yellow shade 'Delicate' from DecoArt.  To decorate our sunny Bluebirds planter, we first added a border of dot daisies and hearts from our Series 1 Starter kit using Baby blue and Warm White (full instructions are included in both the instructional booklet and the DVD).  Next, using the comma strokes taught in our add on kits, we painted two bluebirds either side of the pot and added a simple heart between them.

Basecoated in beautiful blue and decorated using traditional Folk Art techniques taught in the Delicate lace painting kit from You Can Folk It

This pot has been getting so much love across our Social media channels! This pretty planter was first painted in 'Serene', a beautiful place blue from the chalky finish range.  Using our liner brush and the techniques we teach in our Delicate Lace kit, we added detail around the top of the pot because sometimes simple is the best.

Our Series 2 planters 

Update any home or garden with this beautiful blossom covered pot decorated using the step by step painting kits from You Can Folk It

It is no secret that our favourite colour within the chalky finish range is 'Vintage' so of course it became the base coat for our gorgeous Oriental Blossom pot. Using the templates and techniques from this add on kit, we were able to paint these pretty flowers on to both sides of the pot, perfect for Spring or Summer don't you think?

Learn how to paint these beautiful butterflies using the step by step painting kits from You Can Folk It

We created this warm, pastel orange by mixing Everlasting with a smidgen of Delicate and dash of Smitten.  One helpful tip when mixing your colours is to make a note of the ratios you use, paint half a lollypop stick with the shade and make a note of the paints you've used.  You may only use it once but just in case you wish to use it again, you will then build up a colour reference tool you can refer to again and again.  We added two fluttering butterflies here using white and the fabulous Plum colour provided in the Series 2 Starter kit.  

Learn how to paint pretty rosebuds using the step by step painting kits from You Can Folk It

Another custom colour, we created this by mixing the dramatic 'Victorian' with 'Everlasting' both from our Heritage colour collection.    To compliment this beautiful shade, we blended our Plum and Titanium white from the Series 2 Starter kit to create the rosebuds around the top of the planter.  For the leaves we mixed a pale green using the Avocado and Titanium white, again from the Starter kit.  

To complete the pots, we finished with two coats of DecoArt Ultra Matte Varnish to protect these beautiful planters.  We chose this varnish specifically, not only because it is water based but because it maintains the matte look of the chalky finish paint we used.  

There you go. Six beautiful ideas to inspire your summer garden.  The beauty of these designs and our kits is that once you have learnt the techniques we teach you in each one, you can mix and match the designs to create a unique project that you love.  Which planter are you itching to recreate? We'd love to hear your comments and thoughts.  As always if you have any questions about these projects we are happy to help.  

Happy Folking x 




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