Teacher Appreciation

This is a subject very near & dear to my heart. Of course, being a teacher I believe in thanking those that teach, love and endure my children all day long!

Here's what I came up with this year - Chalkboard (how appropriate!) flower pots:

Materials needed: terracotta flower pots (the kind with a rim), paint (I used DecoArt Patio Paint from Michaels that is specifically designed to paint on terracotta or concrete and will withstand the weather), Rustoleum chalkboard paint (got mine at Home Depot), foam paint brushes and a small art paint brush, small wooden dowels*, cute scrapbook paper*, and glue*.

*not pictured

I painted the rim of the pots in one of my 4 colors - I used raspberry, lime, turquoise & purple. I made sure to paint down a little bit under the bottom of the rim so that I made sure to have great coverage once the whole pot was painted.

Then, because my kids' school mascot is a zebra, I decided to free hand zebra stipes on the rim. This was NOT easy or for the impatient crafter! I Googled "zebra print" and then sort of tried to do my best to copy what I saw. I'm sure there is a stencil out there or something that would have made this part of the process much easier! Then I painted 2 coats of chalkboard paint on the bottom part of the post. In hindsight, I think I would have done 3, maybe even 4 coats because I noticed a couple of days after I had given the pots to their teachers that at least one of them was REALLY scratched up! My mom & I went to an amazing new nursery called Enchanted Gardens and got some pretty flowers to plant in the pots. I then made little stakes from tiny wooden dowels (Hobby Lobby), cute scrapbook paper that coordinated with my pots (also Hob Lob), and my trusty E-6000 glue. I printed Thanks For Helping Me Grow This Year in a cute font and stuck them into my flower pots.

I think they turned out pretty darn cute and their teachers LOVED them! Thanks to all the teachers out there for making a difference in kids lives. Enjoy your summer break! You deserve it!

** Linking to Tatertots & Jello's June DIY Club and Fireflies and Jellybean's Show off Your Stuff Party.