DIY: Pink Ombre Cacti Planter

I recently found myself with a bit of spare time, so decided to transform a cacti planter I'd purchased from Kmart.

When I bought the planter (for just $1 - it must have been massively on sale!) it was a red / orange colour. To tie-in with the decor of the Whim office, I thought it'd be lovely to give it a makeover and turn it into a beautiful ombre pink design.

As a side note, the planter already comes with a fake cactus in it - isn't that great? There's a variety of cacti to choose from too.

Want to make your very own version of this planter? You can find the step-by-step tutorial below :)

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

• Cacti planter (this one is available from Kmart, but even an old tin can you wish to recycle would do the trick - you'll just have to buy the cactus to place in it)
• Acrylic paints - for a pink colour scheme, I used tubes of red and white.
• Paintbrush
• Clear glazing medium
• Something to mix your paint on - I used a plastic food container lid.

STEP 1: Paint the entire planter in white. This will act as an 'undercoat' of sorts, so once the first layer has dried completely, it will require a second coat.

TIP: Use a hair-dryer to speed up the drying process.

STEP 2: Start painting the first gradient of pink on your planter. This will be the darkest shade of pink, as from here on you will only need to mix more white into your paint to achieve that gradual fade from dark pink to light pink.

Whether you'd like the darkest colour at the top of the planter or on the bottom is completely up to you! I chose to start from the bottom up.

STEP 3: As mentioned previously, continue to mix-in white paint to your pink paint in order to achieve a gradually lighter shade. Paint a small section of your planter in each shade, working your way to an off-white which will tie it all in nicely.

STEP 4: Once the paint on your planter has completely dried, it's time to apply a clear glaze to give it a polished and completed look. This glaze will also serve to prevent your paint chipping just from normal handling.

Pour a small amount of the glaze on a clean surface (such as another plastic lid) and paint it on evenly with your paint brush.

Ta-da! Now that your DIY pink ombre cactus planter is complete, it's time to place it on display to jazz-up your surroundings. Mine looks right at home next to this (also fake) succulent planter from Typo.

(I love living, breathing plants too, but just haven't had much luck with them over the years - haha!)

I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below and if you wish to share this tutorial on Pinterest, please feel free to pin the image below!