The DIY Bug #1-DIY Gray Painted Soda Bottle and Peacock Themed Painted Ikea Pot

I just came up with another idea for a series title "The DIY Bug," only because after I did both of these projects I had to explain to my roommate that the only reason was because I have been taken over by the DIY Bug. Now I have TWO series on my blog! My first series is a weekly series called "Weekly Nail Obsession."

The most recent Weekly Nail Obsession

 While Weekly Nail Obsession is a weekly series, this one will probably only be every couple weeks.

The other day I was so overtaken by the DIY Bug that I skipped class and had to go to Michael's and buy some craft supplies. If I were at home I probably could have just scrounged some supplies up from around the house. Here at school though I have limited space for extra stuff. So as I was driving to the craft store I was trying to come up with ideas of what to do, the first thing I decided I was going to do was to paint my crusty looking terracotta Ikea pot. I hadn't devised a plan yet, but I knew I was going to do something. As I walked into the Michaels, I was greeted by a large selection of flowers and vases. I didn't know what practical thing I could do for my dorm room with these items, but I knew I wanted to incorporate them somehow! 

As I was searching the store for acrylic paint, I realized that I didn't have a paint brush either, this was the first item I found. I wasn't planning spending too much on anything and this brush was the most expensive item I bought. I purchased the Royal & Langnickel 3/4 in. flat brush (I'm not exactly sure what is called). I kept looking for the paint, or should I say the cheap acrylic paint, all I could find was paint that cost $5 or more per color and I knew I wanted, at least, two colors plus white. That was just too expensive, but I kept up my search.

I had migrated all the way to the opposite end of the store, seriously, from paint brushes and canvases, to wooden boxes and letters, and finally, I found what I needed. The cheap acrylic paint and by cheap I mean $0.33 each. Craft Smart paints were on sale  6/$1.99! That was so unbelievably cheap! The colors I picked were
Navy Blue,Violet, Ocean Breeze, Grape Taffy, Grey, and White. I modeled them after a couple Thirty-One cubes I have so my bookshelf would be coherent in my color palette for my room. I love how these colors go together, I have been thinking of painting my room at home these colors!

After I picked out the colors I wanted to come up with another project to DIY. Then I remembered the flowers and vases, I walked back to the other end of the store and I was looking at vases, but they were too expensive and not the look I was going for. Then I saw this soda bottle that was only $2, it was the right size and had the look I wanted. I picked out a couple flowers and I was on my way.

As soon as I got back to my room I painted the aloe pot white and then I arranged the flowers in the clear bottle just to see what it would look like when it was all finished. When I was looking at the flower arrangement, I couldn't decide if I wanted to paint the bottle purple or grey. Since I didn't want the bottle to distract from the flowers I decided on grey, which is a much lighter shade than the flower. I poured about half of the bottle of acrylic paint into the bottle and allowed it to cover the whole bottle. Just a bit of advice, the bottle does not need a half bottle of paint!!! After the
whole inside of the bottle was covered I propped it upside down in a cup with paper towels in the bottom to sop up the extra paint. It took forever!!! I had to leave it upside down all night and even then it still wasn't completely done dripping. I got sick of waiting so when I went to class I left it propped up against my fan. When I got out of class it was dry and I made my flower arrangement!!!

While the bottle was drying I finished my aloe plant, I decided on the light blue for the main color. As I was looking at my aloe I couldn't decided on what I wanted to do so I looked back to my inspiration (the Thirty-One Cubes) I really like the dots on the blue and on the cube the dots were a light blue similar to my color and happened to have a navy blue like the base of the cube. I had inspiration to make layered dots with grey on the bottom and then navy blue on top.

If I had been at home, I probably could have found something to make the dots perfectly circle, but at college I just had to wing it! Plus I liked that the dots on the cube were not perfect. I was brainstorming easy ways to make dots, I looked down at my hands and boom the idea came to me. I stuck my thumb in the paint and began put thumbprints in round shapes. After I finished the entire pot, I began again at the beginning with navy blue. After the pot was finished I painted the other piece of the pot navy blue too.

 My DIY craving had been filled and after my creations had dried I put them on my bookshelf. I finally spruced up the top of my bookshelf and I had gotten a couple hours of amusement out of it I felt so accomplished and creative like I haven't felt in months! It was almost liberating to be creative once again, I had been so bogged down with school work and worrying about grades and money that I forgot to exercise my creative bones! 

Alright Dearies I Hope You All Have a Wonderful Day!!

If you have any comments, questions, concerns, or suggestions just let me know in the comments below. :)