French Shabby Chic Altered Terracotta Plant Pot

After a such a long break it really is wonderful to be back crafting again AND as it is the first Friday of the month also great to be back presenting my project for A Vintage Journey.

The wonderfully talented Alison of Words and Pictures is our host this month and she is challenging us to be creative with recycled objects.

The challenge is to turn something unloved and unwanted into a work of art. To try some repurposing, making something new out of something old, or incorporate an unwanted object into our artwork - think tin cans and jars, old bottles, toothbrushes - the more inventive the better!  Just make sure it is in our vintage, shabby, mixed media, art journalling, industrial, timeworn or steampunk style.

We recently had the SWRI bi-annual craft, flower and produce show here in Shetland and one of the classes in the Craft Section was to alter a 6" flower pot. I would never have thought of doing this without such a prompt but I am so pleased I did! I have decided to share my project with you for this current challenge at A Vintage Journey as I think it fits the bill perfectly!

I have loads of old terracotta pots in the greenhouse so I gave this one a bit of a wash and when dry (which took a bit as terracotta is so porous) I gave it a couple of coats of gesso and then a coat of PaperArtsy Acrylic Fresco Chalk Paint. This is Vintage Lace which is no longer available sadly, but has been one of my favourite colours. 

It took a bit to get the texture paste going around the pot! I had it taped on but it would keep moving! When the texture paste was dry I painted over it with Gold Fresco Chalk Paint. This is a gorgeous PaperArtsy stencil from my wonderful friend Raquel (aka Scrapcosy) and it basically started the theme for me in terms of thinking French shabby chic!

The single layer of napkin was then adhered with Multi Medium with a layer going underneath the tissue and another layer on the top.  

Once dry I then painted the whole pot with DecoArt Crackle Glaze. It was a huge area to cover and I really was unsure as to whether it would work at this stage. But I was not disappointed! The crackles look really wonderfully shabby and antique!

Finally I rubbed (gently!) around the top of the rim with a piece of sandpaper to expose a bit of the terracotta and then rubbed some gold paint around the edge here and there. 

And here it is! the finished pot with a (not very live!) plant inside it! 

I absolutely love that the crackle has even managed to "crackle" the texture paste!

The shabby finish was also unexpected but looks so wonderful.  I keep eyeing up more pots in the greenhouse!

And yes! it was prize worthy - I got a second place.

I do hope you will join us for our challenge this month and look for something unusual to alter.  Our sponsor this month is Simon Says Stamp where the lucky winner will receive a $25 voucher to spend in the shop.

As usual my fellow Creative Guides have come up with some amazing ideas and you really need to hop on over to A Vintage Journey to see what everyone has been up to and for some great inspiration.

Thanks for joining me today and have a great weekend.

Jennie x