DIY Faux Aged Terracotta Pots Using a Secret Ingredient!

Spring to me is all about flowers, greenery, and pots. I love terracotta pots, but I feel like the actual color has it's place...in small amounts for me. I do love how they look when they have been painted and have good age to them. I have been faux aging my terracotta pots for some time now and thought I would share the super easy way to do it!

My favorite place to get the pots are at Hobby Lobby. These ones don't have a large lip to them like the others you may find at common hardware stores. They are just smooth all the way up and down. Plus, they are super cheap when you catch them at 50%...which is usually every other week. The smaller pots are about $1 and the larger one shown below is $1.50.

 Okay....ready for my secret ingredient? This makes aging the pot so easy and fast. Petroleum jelly. Yep. Get a small dab on your finger and run it along the top and bottom rim of the pot. If you want more aging, then continue it down into the middle on some parts of the pot. You don't need a lot. Just enough to change the color of the pot.

 Next, paint it. I have used many types of white paint and not one is any better than the other. Depends on the look you are going for with a matte finish or glossy. Matte is better for the aged look so go for a crafty acrylic in that case. On these pots, I used a satin enamel in white. Since it's satin, even though it's enamel, it doesn't show a gloss.

 Do two coats of paint. The terracotta will soak it in pretty quickly allowing for a quicker than normal dry time. Just make sure it doesn't sit to long before the next step or else the petroleum jelly will also absorb and make the sanding a little more difficult.

Now, grab a square of sand paper and lightly sand the pot. You'll notice quickly where the petroleum jelly sections are since it will come right off. Work on that area gently until no more paint comes off and continue on until you think you got all of it.

 Here's the before and after of the pots.

 How easy and fast is that? I think it's about 30 minutes per pot which includes dry time. You can easily get in 5 to 8 pots in that half hour...you know, if you really love pots to make that many :)

 As you can see, I do! I made them in all different shapes and sizes. 

 I had fun playing around with my collection on my dining room table. One would think that I'm a plant lady, but I definitely have a black thumb of death. So, the fact that these are still green means two things: One, I just got them. Two, they will not be staying with me or I got them as a present :) The three main plants are actually going as teachers presents for the end of the school year which I'll share more about below.

 And again, playing with how to display these. It was super fun adding something different and unique to my tablescape that just screamed spring......while it was snowing outside. Yeah. Don't get me started on that. The first day of summer break for my littles and the highs are in the 40s...

 Here's how I used a few of these pots for teacher gifts. The ones on the table above are called Moondrop plants, and this one below is a succulent.

 I tied them all with some jute, adding a cute little tag that said: Thank you for helping me grow.

 And done! The total for each was under $5 which includes the pot. Not bad!

I don't know about you, but teacher gifts are always so hard for me! What are your go-to ideas? Comment below and let's share! :)

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