Create bluebonnet nostalgia with these do-it-yourself projects for your home.

One of my favorite sights of spring is a field of bluebonnets, so I wanted to bring a little touch of bluebonnets into my kitchen. I searched for towels, placemats, and other accessories, but then I settled on making these decor items.

I started this project with four empty glass bottles. I used 750 ml California Olive Ranch olive oil bottles, mainly because that’s what I had on hand, but also because I thought the flat side would be easy to paint. Feel free to use any bottles or jars you want.

If you’re upcycling an empty bottle, be sure to clean off the labels and the adhesive completely. I found that rubbing mineral oil or olive oil on the glue residue helped it come off more easily. I washed the bottles in my dishwasher, and then I cleaned the outer surfaces again with rubbing alchohol.

After the bottles were clean and dry, I used a 1″ foam brush and painted the sides with a thin coat of chalk paint. I chose Folk Art Home Decor Chalk paint, Ultra Matte Acrylic in these colors: 6442 Castle, 5945 French Linen, 6358 Parisian Gray, and 6359 Maui Sand for the backgrounds, but you can use any brand or color you prefer. Let the first coat of paint dry at least 30 minutes, then add a second coat. I painted inside the opening of the bottle about 1″ so the dark green glass didn’t show.

I decided to add letters to my bottles to spell the word HOME. I used Linen White chalk paint and applied it with a paint dauber and stencils. If you want to add letters, choose any word or initials that have meaning to you.

With a small chisel brush I painted thin upward lines for stems and some fan-shaped leaves. I used green paint that I had left from other projects: Sage and Antique Green mixed with white.

When the stems were dry, I started the fun part– blossoms! I used acrylic paint in a color called Nautical, but a deep blue like Cobalt is good, too. With the same chisel brush, I applied dabs of blue at random, starting near the bottom of the stems and working upward, keeping in mind that bluebonnets are usually wider on the bottom than on the top and that the very top of the flower may be a lighter color.

I mixed the dark blue paint with a little white for a light blue color and added it here and there throughout the flowers. I finished with a few touches of white for highlights and at the very top. Just for fun, I tied some old twine around the bottle necks.

When I finished the bottles, I wanted to see what I could do with an empty glass jar.

This yogurt jar is covered with two coats of Rust-oleum Linen White Chalked paint and then the bluebonnets are added around all sides of the jar using the method described above.

I added light blue paint on one of the upper lines on the jar and also rubbed off some of the top edge to make it look distressed. I didn’t seal the jar with any sort of protective coat, so the outside is not waterproof. I’ll just need to be careful when adding water to my plant not to spill any on the outside.

The finished product is kind of impressionistic, but the flowers look enough like bluebonnets to remind me of spring in Texas.

“Where flowers bloom, so does hope.”

Ladybird Johnson