DIY Planter

SPRING SPRING SPRING!

Hi again everyone. I’m Melanie from Artzy Creations sharing with you this great spring project for making your own bright and colorful Duck Tape Plant Pockets. One of my favorite things about Spring is all of the beautiful flowers, but more importantly GARDENING! I Love gardening… especially flowers 🙂 Well, one thing that I LOVE to make crafts out of is Duck Tape. It’s so easy to work with and it comes in SO many bright colors & fun patterns. For this project, I decided to combine both of these things and come up is a springtime project that would get anyone excited about Spring. It might look a little complicated, but once you get the hang of them they are really easy to make. Materials:

(1) Roll Colored or Patterned Duck Tape (it will make 2 flower pockets if you don’t mess up 🙂 )
Cut Mat
Metal Ruler/ Straight Edge
X-Acto Knife & Blades (Scissors can work too, but I prefer an X-Acto knife. Use what you feel most comfortable with)
Fine Point Sharpie Marker
3/8″ Metal Grommets and Tools to Install (Found at most hardware stores)
Rope (I found the heavy duty twine at Michael’s.)

Step 1: Tear off a strip of tape just a little over 24″ in length and stick it to your cut mat. Try to use the lines as guides to get it pretty straight. It doesn’t have to be perfect because you can square it up later, so just get it close. Tear your next piece and slightly overlap the first piece and repeat using (6) strips total. Carefully peel the sheet of tape up and flip it over. Tear 6 more pieces of tape and place them sticky sides together. Step 2: Line up your straightest edge using the guides on your mat. Next, using your straight edge and x-acto knife, trim off and square up your end. Step 3: From your squared end, measure 1-1/2″ on both of your long sides and make a small mark. This is your fold. The reason you’re folding it is so that your Duck Tape fabric is doubled up. This will help keep the grommets from pulling out or ripping. Fold your piece back and tape it down. After it’s taped down, trim the excess on each side. Step 4: Now from your folded or doubled up end, measure and mark 10-1/2″, 12″, and 13-1/2″. Do this on both sides. Fold your Duck Tape fabric along your 12″ marks. Step 5: Now comes the part where you square up your sides if you need to, and trim your pocket to the correct width. First, with your pocket folded along your 12″ mark, align the top of your pocket with the grids on your cut mat. Take your straight edge and trim just enough of 1 side so that it’s straight. Next, measure 9-1/2″ from the side you just trimmed and mark it top and bottom. This is your final pocket width, so use your straight edge and trim this side up too. After cutting your pocket to the correct width, measure 1-1/2″ from the bottom of your pocket and make marks on both sides. Tear off a piece of tape approximately 11″ long. Using your 1-1/2″ marks as your guides, stick the tape to your pocket. Peel it up, flip it over and fold the tape over so it sticks to the back of the pocket. This doubled up strip at the bottom is just like the one at the top and is for your grommets. Step 6: open your pocket up so you can see the inside, and using a piece of tape, tape the inside to close it off. Your next step is to cut some slots close to the seam. These are for your drainage so your flowers don’t drown 🙂 Trim the little bit of excess off of the sides. Now, measure from the seam and mark 6″ and 7″and make a marks. do this for both sides. The 6″ mark is your fold line and the 7″ is your 1″ lip, but before you fold it over, go ahead and trim it off. Then fold it to the inside and tape it in place.

“Stick” with me here…. you’re almost done!

Step 7: Tape both sides to create the pocket. Take another piece of tape about 11-12″ long and align it with the top of your pocket and wrap the tape to the rear. This will reinforce the top of the pocket and keep the sides from tearing. If you really want to be safe add anther one on top of the last. That’s it! Your pocket is done. Now it’s time for the grommets. Step 8: Make sure you’re on the back side, and measure 1-1/2″ over from each corner. Make small marks with a marker or a pencil. If we remember a little bit of geometry, we know that when we draw diagonal lines, the intersection is the center of the square. This is where we will punch our hole for the 3/8″ grommet. If you only want individual flower pockets, just add the grommets to the top, but if you want to link them up, punch holes at all four corners. Step 9: Using your grommet pliers or the hammer and grommet tool, install your grommets at each of the corners. Finally, you can use cord or rope to tie your pockets together, or just put nails through the grommets to hang them.