For the Dogs

Today I wanted to share a quick project I finished a few days ago. A while ago I was perusing good ol' Pinterest, and came across a pin that suggested putting a dog bowl in a planter to dress it up a bit. What a great idea! We don't have a dog, but wouldn't it be fun for neighbors who walk their dogs by our house?

I stopped at my local Home Depot to check out their planters. To be honest, I had a little bit of a hard time picking a planter. I was originally planning to get a plastic urn style planter, but I couldn't find what I had in my mind. After walking up and down the aisle a few times deciding between a few other options, I finally landed on a terracotta planter that seemed short enough for most dogs to get their noses into easily and wide enough to hold a bowl.

I then went to the local Petco with my planter in hand to find a bowl to fit. Plus it was a nice excuse to peek at the adoptable animals in the store. My kids were thrilled to see a quartet of kittens in a little tent, sleeping and playing. I nearly needed to buy leashes for the kids to haul them out of the store! :)

Once I decided to use a terracotta planter, I knew it needed to be painted! I used paints I had on hand, because goodness knows I have plenty of craft paint!

I painted the inside of the planter a lighter sky blue about halfway down the inside of the planter. With the bowl inside, there really isn't a need to paint the entire interior, but you certainly could. I then painted the outside of the planter in a dark blue. Once that was dry I added paw prints in white paint around the planter, just to make it clear to the humans what the intended purpose of the bowl is. :)

When everything was dry again, I used a craft varnish on both the outside and inside of the planter. Since I was using craft acrylic paints and it would be outside, I wanted a little extra protection for it.

One more time to dry, then I popped in the bowl, filled it with water and put it in the front yard along the sidewalk. I put it next to our huge tree and while it isn't the prettiest spot, I put it there because I didn't want walkers or bikers to miss it and accidentally knock it over. My husband and I have plans to redo the area around the tree anyway so it will look nicer once that is done.

We've already had some neighborhood pups stop during their walks and get a little refreshment, which just tickles me! Hopefully they continue to enjoy it! :)

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