transforming your terra cotta {DIY}

Here is a little fun project I put together for the lovely Janie over at The Brides Cafe. Go check it out! How to turn a boring terra cotta pot into a lovely rustic style affair. Cost for the whole project including plants and supplies $70 but that is with extra rope, glue, paper and twine left over to do another set. The pots run from $1-$3 so your next table will be about $30 with plants!! The best part is you can do it the week leading up to your wedding as long as you keep them good and watered! Add a few fresh cut flowers into the morning of to give a little more volume I added Billy balls and Scabosia pods. Both can actually be done days before as they are so hardy. Here is the list of supplies and instructions!

Fancify-ing your terra cotta. :)
You will need:
Pieces of wood for a lift 15" square (depending on the round size of table) {home depot}
Burlap by the yard {Joanne's fabric}
Staple gun
Pots of all sizes how ever large or small depending on table size and your ambitions.:)
Garden twine or hemp twine
Rope
Fun paper that would match your wedding theme/colors {Paper Source}
Some lace or other fabric for soft flowing ties
Mud :)
Hot Glue
Mod Podge {craft stores}
Potted plants of all styles that give you the look you want. Herbs work great.
I also added some Craspedia aka billy balls and Scabiosa pods both hearty and can be added days before the wedding.

How to do it:
Each table can be different so just have fun.

For the lift I used a staple gun to secure the burlap to the wood then for a finishing touch hot glued the lace trim around the edges.

Decorating the pots:
The winding of the rope can take a bit of time so I chose to do the little one all the way around and the big one just the top but one or two big pots wrapped completely with rope looks great too. If you got the time do it!
When wrapping the small twine around you can get away with hot glue in small sections or every fifth wrap.
The large rope must be glued down completely.
For the paper - tear into strips. Use the Mod Podge glue to decoupage the paper to the pot. Put the "glue" on the pot- place paper (let the wrinkles happen that is okay! :) ) then paint more of the glue over the paper to hold it down and to give it a nice glossy finish. It will dry clear if uses sparingly and applied in a thin coat.
For the other pots I just coated them in mud set out to dry in the sun and then tied lace and twine through the hole in the bottom to give the muddy pots a more feminine touch. Fabric strips would look really cute here too.
I used one of the pots as a lift for the other pots so there was a variety of heights and giving that pot a use other then what it is for.

The dishes I used are vintage from my grandmothers collection. The champagne flutes and hob knob glasses are from Anthropologie and the crystal wine glass is from my own collection also once my grandmothers.

Oh when planting the flowers, to do a nice blend in one pot, you will be shortening the life span by cramming them in together, so planting the week of will be best as they won't last forever all together one will eventually beat out the others. So for the multi-plant pots do them last and keep them well watered. water the night before to get really moist soil and spritz the day of the wedding as you don't want water to drain out onto your table. If you want to throw some fresh cut flowers in some of the pots instead of plants with dirt use small dixie cups with water in the small pots and disposable tupperware inside the big pots.

How great would this look throwing in some mason jars and old tins with flowers.... :)