I don’t consider myself to have a green thumb. I’ve got probably a 20% success rate when it comes to keeping plants alive. However, when spring rolls in, I want nothing more than to surround myself with as many plants as I can get my hands on. That’s most likely how this planter idea was born. I needed a house number sign for my apartment, but I wanted more plants.
Right now, I’ve got some herbs growing in my planter. I’m thinking once the seasons switch, I’ll replant some more weather tolerant plants, or maybe even get some plastic ones.
Materials
- One 4 inch Planter for each number you need
- Number Stencils
- Painter’s Tape
- Craft Paint (if your planters are plastic like mine, I’d highly recommend going the spray paint route, I went with craft paint so I could touch it up with a paintbrush but I know I’ll have to touch up chips quite a bit)
- Dauber or Stencil Brush
- Paintbrush
- Clear Acrylic Spray
- Jute Twine
- Measuring Tape or Ruler
- Super Glue
How to Make it
Clean your planters and let them dry completely. Paint a base coat if you’d like your planters to be a different color. Cut out your different number stencils and tape around the edges to hold them in place. I placed my finger down the middle of the stencil up to the top of the planter to make sure I was properly centering it. If you’re spray painting, you may want to cover the rest of the planter with a piece of paper or a plastic bag to prevent overspray.
Gently daub light coats of paint over the stencil. The lighter the coat, the less chance you will have of the paint bleeding underneath the stencil. Let dry completely between coats.
Once the paint is completely dry, gently remove your stencils from the planter. Touch up your edges and fill in any unwanted “bridges” to smooth out your numbers. Let dry overnight.
Give each planter a hearty coat of clear acrylic spray to help the numbers last longer. This is especially important if you took the risk of using regular craft paint with plastic, like me.
Cut your jute twine into 8 pieces, each about twice as long as you’d like your hanging planter to be.
Tie a knot with all 8 pieces about 3 inches from one end of the twine.
Tie two strands of the twine that are next to each other in a knot about 2 inches from your first knot and repeat with all other strands.
About 2 inches from those knots, tie two strands that are next to each other, but not already knotted together into a knot and repeat with all strands.
About 7 inches from your last knots, tie all 8 strands into a knot.
Repeat these last 3 steps until you have 1 more 8 strand knot than you do planters.
For your last knot, make a little loop and tie all strands with one knot. Reinforce the big knots with super glue and let dry. While the glue is drying, add plants to your number pots.
Hang your planter where you like. You can hang it from your porch roof with a hook screw, or use a long screw and leave plenty of space sticking out from the wall.Slide each planter into the twine so that it’s resting on top of one of the big knots.
Don’t forget to water your plants and enjoy!
