I love a project that comes together in minutes, don't you? These painted and stamped pots took about 30 minutes start to finish!

I'm not sure why these remind me of French antiques...they just do! Maybe it's the sprigs of French lavender I tucked into the wood bowl. Whatever you want to call them, these little dollar store pots went from blah to wow and I'm sure you'll find a ton of uses for them too!

Initially I planned to use rub ons to decorate my pots. In my scrapbooking heyday I amassed a huge collection of embellishments and I thought I still had them. However, after rummaging around my home I realized I had given them away. I briefly looked online to see if I could purchase some but they were all pricier than I wanted. I found a great tutorial online to make your own DIY rub ons using a transparency sheet and your printer, and I still hope to try this out someday soon.

But I decided to try using my clear stamps, and you'll see that I used a variety of stamps to embellish these little seedling pots, making each one unique. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

Here's what you'll need to make these French inspired seedling pots.

Funny story...when I got home and unwrapped my pots, one of them broke into three pieces. I was going to toss it, but decided to try gluing it. I used DAP RapidFuse glue and it held the pot together in under a minute! I was able to paint it and it looks so authentically old with the cracks! 😍

You don't need a lot of paint for these pots, and although I painted both the outside, inside and bottom of 15 pots, the entire process took about 10 minutes, including dry time.

The idea is to not be perfect! Yes, you heard me! You have my permission to be messy today 😀 You want terracotta to show through in spots, you don't want to cover it all up! Start by painting a light coat on the outside of each pot in a random, haphazard way and set aside to dry.

Once you've finished the last pot, the first one is likely dry. So go ahead and paint the inside and bottom. *If you're planning to actually use these pots to grow seeds, don't paint the insides of the pots!! Plants don't like paint!

Again, fairly light coat and don't try to cover too much or too evenly. These imperfections make the seedling pots look like they've been baking in a Parisian sun for decades 😉 and that's exactly the look we want!

Initially I tried using some of my rub ons. But they were too big, and ended up looking too dark and shiny. I much preferred the faded, distressed look of the stamps. They add to the illusion of age. I was able to quickly sand off the rub ons and just touched up that area with a little more white paint.

If you've never crafted with clear stamps before, you're in for a treat! They're SO much easier to use than rubber stamps. Because they're clear, and you use a clear block to mount them, you can see exactly where you are placing them! I used this same technique when I made my deconstructed stamped book stack.

Clear stamps are flexible which makes them ideal for getting a stamped image even on a curved surface, like these seedling pots.

Start by choosing your stamp and peeling it off the backing paper. Place it in a corner of the stamping block, flat side down. If you're using numbers or letters, they will look backwards.

Lay the block on a flat surface and tap the stamp pad directly to the top of the stamp. You sort of pounce it up and down a couple times until the stamp is covered in ink.

Check to make sure the stamp is inked well.

Press the block to the seedling pot firmly, rolling slightly from left to right, bottom to top to get the entire image transferred.

Clean stamp immediately using baby wipes, press dry with a paper towel and return to sheet.

I displayed my seedling pots in a long wood bowl similar to this one and tucked in some sprigs of various lavender just to add to that French feel. Tres bonne oui? ❤💜

These French seedling pots will look great however you choose to use them! You could stamp each person's initial and use them as place settings. I tucked a little Spanish moss into each pot to hold the sprig of lavender...so charming right?

We leave tomorrow for Yellowstone National Park! It was a trip that kind of fell into our laps. I'm excited to meet our oldest son in Denver and then drive to Montana...should be beautiful! If you've ever been and have a 'must see', please let me know in the comments!