I hope this post finds you feeling inspired and ready to paint! This is a rather quick do-it-yourself planter project and can be done for under $11. I wanted to have plants in my home that didn’t require much maintenance, so I went with cactuses and succulents. I bought them at Home Depot for about $3 each.

I didn’t want such beautiful plants to be in boring planters, so naturally, I painted them to suit my style.

All you need for this project is:

1 small plant of your choice (cactus or succulent)

1 terracotta pot (at Walmart for $0.74!!)

1 terracotta planter saucer

Miracle-Gro Cactus, Palm, & Citrus Potting Mix ($4.78 at Home Depot)

White paint (I used acrylic from Michael’s Craft Store)

Paint to match a liked color on your plant (I mixed mine using primary colors)

Foam brushes

Masking tape

Scissors

Prep time: 5 minutes

Project time: 45 minutes – 1 hour

I already had the paint, brushes, and masking tape because I hoard so much crafting supplies at home. Regardless if you already have these items, they are rather cheap to buy using coupons at most any craft store.

Step 1: Paint your terracotta pot and saucer white

Paint the inside of the pot, paint the outside of the pot, and the top of the saucer. Painting them white gives a modern look for the end result and allows for the true hues in the color you mix to stand out; similar to the job of primer.

Allow your pots to dry completely.

Step 2: Taping off your design

When taping off your design, use scissors to cut the tape. This will help create sharper lines when you are painting over the tape.

To create a more modern look, use a simpler design to create high impact on your planter.

Step 3: Paint your potter

I personally picked some darker hues to match the colors of my succulents, but you can obviously pick the color of your choice. I also made sure to create positive and negative space in the design using color.

I also painted the inside of the potter the same color as the outside of the potter to create contrast with the soil. Some of the color with be visible at the top once the plant is potted.

Step 4: Paint your saucer

I did a graduation of color, commonly known as the ombre, on the saucer to give it a little bit more of an appeal rather than just being one solid color without design.

Allow your potter and saucer to dry completely before putting soil in your potter.

Step 5: Planting your cute baby cactus or succulent

Add the cactus, palm, & citrus soil 1/3 the height of the planter at the bottom of the potter. Make sure to water this portion of the soil before adding your plant, as your cactus will need to adapt to the new nutrients and soil.

Pull your plant from the temporary container it came in. Make sure to grab as close to the soil as possible to minimize damage to the plant and making a mess of the soil.

Place the plant in the potter. Add soil as might be needed to the top to assure there is enough soil for your plant to be supported and allow for optimal growth.

Step 6: Watering your new baby

Please make sure to not drown your plant! Succulents and cactuses are drought resistant, meaning they do not need to be watered excessively. I water my cactuses and succulents on a weekly basis and they are strong and growing on my windowsill.

Also, make sure these plants get plenty of sunlight; it’s imperative to their health. Don’t forget to soak up some sun and get your tan going as well and you’re DONE! And here’s the final product one more time!

All in all, crafting is helping me heal and recover from depression. I’m sure there are others who use their abilities to heal, but mine happens to be crafting and I do A LOT of it.

I hope you had a wonderful time creating and healing!

Sending lots of love from the Sunshine State,

Lauren A.