They make terra cotta pots in a variety of sizes but the distinctive thing about them, no matter what size, is their orangish-brown color. You’ve probably seen them at yard sales and flea markets. They sell them at craft stores and home improvement retailers. People use them inside their homes for flowers and even out in their gardens. They’re inexpensive but can be used for much more than plants. You can easily make things for kids, new stuff for your home, and even fun characters for holidays when you start with the ordinary pots.
Terra cotta pots can be painted with acrylic paint and used as various bases and pedestals for statuettes and more. Use smaller ones inside, to hold statuettes, then larger ones outdoors to hold statues or even plants. Just turn the painted or unpainted terra cotta pot upside-down and set it where you want. Designs can be painted on the front of the pedestals or you can embellish in other ways. Colored tape, for example, can be used to make stripes around the rim or other areas of the pot.
Use tiny terra cotta pots to make things for a child’s dollhouse. Use an upside-down pot and a circle of paper or foam to make a table. Smaller pots can be used for the accompanying chairs. Use a large dish – made as a drainage dish for the terra cotta pot – to make a pool for small dolls. You’ll find the drainage dishes where you buy the pots. Place one pot upside-down, a smaller one on top of that, then a terra cotta dish on top of that one. The dish should be glued on upside-down. Paint this arrangement to make a cool Lifeguard stand for a dollhouse pool.
Glue one pot upside-down on another of the same size. Now glue one more, right-side-up, on top. This is a cute way to display a small plant. Use larger versions, not glued together, to show off indoor plants. Make sure the pots are sitting somewhere unlikely to get bumped. Or, use colored tape to attach the top pot that holds the plant. There are lots of different dollhouse items you can make by playing around with the stacked pots and drainage dishes. Stack pots to make other crafts, too. For example, use the arrangement above, or just use one upside-down pot and one right-side-up pot, to make a fake birdbath. Glue a craft bird onto the rim of the top pot.
Make air fresheners with themes by starting with the Renuzit gel air fresheners. Twist the top of the air freshener and raise the cap to expose the gel. Use a Styrofoam ball to provide a cover for the freshener. Dig a hole out from the underside of the ball then slide it over the air freshener. Place the freshener with ball into a terra cotta pot. Settle the ball so that it is almost touching the pot. Glue cotton balls all over the ball and add a Styrofoam head to make a Santa. Or, glue silk flower petals and leaves all over the ball. There are lots of different themes you can make to set in many different areas of the home.
Paint a terra cotta pot then use cutouts to decorate it. Cut pictures of flowers, lighthouses, pets or other images to create the theme you want. Or, use cloth cutouts instead of paper for a totally different look. Make one with fruit and vegetable pictures and use it to hold utensils in the kitchen. Make one with lighthouse picture to hold towels and wash cloths or bath products in the bathroom. Make each one different by the types of embellishments you add. Use glue and tiny beads to make an elegant pot with a beaded rim. Or, glue large fake jewels around the pot to create something totally different. Use ordinary buttons to make a monogram. There are zillions of different designs you can do.
Make a huge assortment of characters by using things like wooden beads and pipe cleaners. Paint a terra cotta pot a bright color and turn it upside-down. Glue on a wooden ball to represent the head of the character. Use markers to create a face. Glue on yarn or even cotton balls to make hair. Take pieces of pipe cleaners and glue them on to make arms. Glue one end of the pipe cleaner to the pot, right beside the head. Do the same to the other side. Now bend them once to make elbows, once again to form hands. Paint the terra cotta pot two different colors – one at the top and one at the bottom – to make a character with a shirt and pants or shirt and skirt.
Small terra cotta pots can become nick-knacks or kids’ toys. Slightly larger ones work great for holding the remote, eyeglasses and other useful things on a night stand. Still bigger ones can be used to hold statues or even decorative, fake trees. Paint them and turn them into decor items or use them as-is to spruce up a deck. They’re inexpensive and have many, many uses.
Reference:
- Buy mini terra cotta pots here: www.michaels.com
