As a crafter you know that dollar stores are an incredible way to get so many crafty items at a low cost. That said, sometimes we want to keep our shopping secrets to ourselves. So here is a fun way to transform a simple dollar store metal container and give it a high end look. No one will ever know!
What You'll Need:
Here is what I used for this project:
- Dollar store metal container (but you can use any container type - metal, ceramic, glass, wood, etc.!)
- Craft acrylic paint
- Baking powder
Mix Your Paint and Baking Powder!
To get started, first select your craft acrylic paints to get to the color you are wanting for your container! For this, I went with Craftsmart Terra Cotta mixed with a little Coral and Natural Beige. Once you have the color all set up, add 1 teaspoon of baking powder for every 1.5-2 ounces of acrylic paint** and mix very well! You will start to see the paint bubbling and sort of foaming up a bit.
**When I first tried this technique, I followed a tip online that said to do 1 teaspoon for every 1 ounce of paint. Unfortunately, that made my paint mixture very gritty and it hardened very quickly. If a gritty, thick texture is what you are wanting on your container, you can definitely add more baking powder to achieve it!!
Paint Your Container!
Once you have your mixture ready to go, you will want to be pretty quick about painting your container! Since it is somewhat foamy, I would suggest using either a flat, wide bristle brush or a foam brush to apply it. You should only need one layer of paint but if you decide to do a second layer, wait until the first has completely dried! If not, you might pull up the paint that is already down.
After the paint mixture has fully dried, you are ready to turn it into a beautiful floral arrangement (which we are doing next) or you can use it to hold knick knacks, pens...whatever you see fit!
I did not seal the container once it had dried and the paint did not peel off, even after much handling.
Create a Tape Grid!
I add flowers to just about everything so it was obvious what I wanted to use this new terra cotta vibed container for!
To give me the ability to change out the flowers and greenery whenever I wanted, I chose to use a taped grid over the top of the container instead of gluing down foam inside. Plus, foam doesn't always love to stay hot glued to metal containers which made this technique the go-to.
Now normally, I will use clear floral tape for this but since it was going to be tough to show in pics, I pulled out my handy green vinyl tape! To create the grid, simply cut a few pieces of tape and attach them to the top of the container from top to bottom and then again from left to right!
Now you are ready to start adding your greenery, filler and flowers 
Add Your Greenery!
The best part of the grid technique is just how easy it can be to get started on adding your greenery!
First step is to cut down your greenery and/or filler bunches into smaller sections as seen in the top left picture. Next, just place it into your container!
For this arrangement, I started by adding in an olive bunch (top right pic), then sage greenery (bottom left) and finally, summer blooming mix (bottom right).
I did want a more wild feel to this so I wasn't too concerned with it looking messy. Once the flowers are popped in, it will look more pulled together!
Add Your Flowers!
To help achieve the wild, freshly picked feel for this arrangement, I chose lilies and garden roses to add in. The pointed petals play so well with the vibe!
I left these in their raw, unpainted form and stemmed them onto 18 gauge wire using just a dab of hot glue. All that is left to do is cut the wire to the size you need and add the flowers to your greenery/filler base.
Ready for Your Home!
And there you have it! A beautiful wood flower arrangement in a faux terra cotta container. We may have made it in a $1 container, but we think it looks like a million bucks!
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