DIY Cactus

So following on from my previous blog, "I Save Plants" where I mention about using my DIY painted pots to make fake a cactus using rocks. I did this for some home decor and since I had never previously had a green thumb, I figured, well I wouldn't be able to kill rocks.

So what I did was search my backyard for stones/rocks that looked like they would be a good cactus shape. I was a woman on a mission and put my prehistoric hunter gatherer instincts  into action. Our backyard isn't really a yard. Its a load of plants and no grass for the kids to play on. As well as a concrete slab that leads to the clothesline. Lucky for me, there are plenty of rocks and stones for "decoration" purposes in this "yard", although they are about as pretty and decorative as looking at a brick wall. So with my rocks gathered and neatly piled on my table covered with newspaper, I pulled out my acrylic paint's and got to work.


I mixed several shades of green paint together, I even got miss 16 month old to help me mix, Just keeping an eye out to make sure she didn't try to eat the paint, which is a normal occurrence with any craft and DIY project I get her involved in. So I had dark green through to lime green on one plastic container lid covered in foil, which is my very very professional paint mixing palette. I tried to marble the different shades of green so when I went to paint the colours would give of an awesome design on my rocks. well this didn't really work out as all the shades blended together as I brushed them on, but the thought was there that this was the new revelation for marble painting technique, so that counts to me. 

So with this failed attempt on marble painting, I went back to the old school boring way of starting with one shade, adding another, and another to have ombre, toning to my stones. Once every stone was painted in all these shades of green, I set them aside to dry. Me being always impatient, I tried to do this next step to one rock without the green paint being fully dried and well 2 points for guessing.... but I didn't work. So I had to put my impatient self to work on something else, which ended up being my most loved and adored thing in the world "Insert intense sarcasm" Dishes..you know the thing that is never bloody ending. when you think your done there is always more. The thing that most husbands are "allergic" to doing.  The one where if you try to say to yourself, just do it later it wont be to bad. But when later comes it seems like a football team has been fed and used every dish in your house.. yeah that thing. 

Anyway, i'm finished with my little rant, lets carry on with the cactus.

So once the rocks were dry from their green paint job, I pulled out the white paint and poured some onto my oh so classy foil lined plastic lid. And, using the smallest brush I could find, started to paint patterns going down each rock, For 1 rock I did lines of small dots going down the stone, For another rock, I did randomly placed larger dots all over the rock. for the 3rd stone I did a mix between + signs and dots. and for the last and biggest rock I did dashes going down the stone.


Now these don't look super realistic up close, and I didn't even think they looked realistic from a distance either, until a friend came over and was shocked to realise they were fake, let alone made from rocks.
So I pulled out one of my DIY painted pots, taped up the drainage hole in the bottom and filled the pot up with rice. Now i'm sure you could probably find something else to use that is better than using rice, but rice is what I had on hand, and lots of it. 
So I filled the pot with rice, arranged my cactus rocks to what I thought was most attractive. But being your DIY you can arrange however you see fit. Once I was happy with the placement, I topped off the rice with the little stones you put into fish tanks and bowls. Again just being what I had on hand. Now you are done. you have created your own, non killable, decorative cactus plant for your home. 

Another thing I have figured out with my cactus rocks is, because I keep it on top of my microwave, which is the first thing you see coming into our kitchen. that I could put essential oils into my pot, which the rice absorbs and this is also a DIY air fragrance for my kitchen. which can be handy when cutting up all the garlic I have been using in meals lately. 

So all in all, this is a very simple DIY and to do a quick run through. It is a lot more simple than I made it out to be with my added rambling and rants through this blog. So to recap. Get some rocks, Paint said rocks green, add white paint in random patterns on green rocks, add to a pot and your done.

So I hope you give this a try, and if you do let me know how it turned out in the comments below, even add a picture of your marvellous creation.

Also don't forget to check out my last few blogs
"Veggie Chicken Meatballs"
"I Stole From My Child"
"Kid Friendly Infused Water"
"Flat Garlic Bread/Pizza Recipe"
"My Children Won't Sleep! SOS!"
"DIY Crayon For This Kid"
"I'm Not A Glamorous Mum"
"Hidden Veggies For The Win!!"

And as miss 16 month old likes to say
Bub-eye

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