Today I'm sharing how to make a DIY white painted vase with 3-D floral embellishments. I'll also show you how to cure acrylic paint.

Ever see something and think "I can make that"? Happens to me all the time. My most recent obsession appeared in the form of white ceramic vases decorated with 3-D porcelain flowers.

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I'm not sure what drew me to them in the first place, but once I saw them for sale online I couldn't unsee them.

White Multifunctional Ceramic Vase

(non-affiliate link)

White Ceramic Bottle Neck Vase

with Raised Lily Flowers

(affiliate link)

Then when I saw them in a recent spread for Best of Flea Market Home & Living 2020 magazine it finally put me into DIY mode.

Aren't these vases gorgeous? And just look at that vintage mantel! Swoon! Check out the magazine to see the entire swoon-worthy shabby chic home in an article entitled "Shabby To Chic."

white painted glass vase

Based on a recent DIY experience, I knew I could recreate the vases I'd been seeing for sale all around me. I had painted a glass vase with white paint (above) and was surprisingly pleased with the outcome. I say that because I had painted it as a base coat for my DIY Chinoiserie Vase. It was never intended as a plain white vase per se. But it ended up looking great as is after the paint job. Based on that experience, I knew I could recreate the vases I'd fallen in love with.

I started with three plain glass vases -- one from Dollar Tree and two from Wal-Mart ($1.97 and $2.97).

I painted them with two coats of my favorite white paint just as I did with the DIY chinoiserie vase. But they didn't look anywhere near as good! This time the paint just looked streaky and there were bare spots and brush marks no matter what I did. Super frustrating. So I switched gears and painted them with some white acrylic paint I had on hand. Three additional coats later I had something I could work with.

This time I also decided to "cure" the paint just to be safe.

HOW TO CURE ACRYLIC PAINT ON GLASS VASES

1. Place vase(s) onto parchment paper on a baking tray.

2. Put tray into a COLD (room temp) oven. NOTE: This is very important! Be sure that the oven is cold (room temp) so that the glass vase(s) gets a gradual change in temperature after you turn the oven on. (Glass can break otherwise.)

3. Set the oven to 350 degrees.

4. Bake for 30 minutes (includes warm-up time).

5. Turn oven off and let the vase(s) cool INSIDE THE OVEN.

6. Take out the vase(s) when the oven and the vase(s) are cool to the touch.

There will probably be a weird smell once they start baking. That's normal. I did check mine periodically to make sure they weren't burning, but all was well! They say you can put something that's been cured on the top rack of the dishwasher, but personally I would only hand wash them.

While the original plan was to use large vases, I couldn't help myself when I saw this trio of white ceramic bud vases at Target for $3.00. Best part? No painting necessary! If you can't find them at your local Target you can always get some small white vases online.

Once the curing process for the large vases was complete, it was time to add the flowers. I spent quite a bit of time hemming and hawing over what flowers I wanted to use for this. I finally picked up the package of 12 small paper flowers on the left (for bud vases) and the larger paper flowers on the right (for the larger vases). They're all from Michael's.

I'm in love.

CAVEAT: Before using the large paper flowers, I flattened them out to look more like the flowers in the Best of Flea Market Home & Living 2020 magazine article. Since they were made of paper it was fairly easy to gently pull out the outer two layers of petals and more or less flatten them. I left the innermost part of the flower intact. I then chose a spot on each vase and used my trusty glue gun to glue the flowers on!

The smaller flowers were flatter so I didn't need to do anything with them other than glue them on. I think they're perfect!

white porcelain bud vase lamb's ear garland pink flowers

white faux fireplace mantel cathedral arches LED taper candles peonies

I had fun styling the vases on the DIY faux fireplace mantel in the master bedroom.

large faux pink peonies white vase silver candlestick

The gorgeous pink peonies came from a wreath I've had for a few years. Last year I used it on the French farmhouse spring mantel in the living room. But when taken apart, the flowers, buds and greens can be used in SO many different ways around the house!

I also added my favorite faux lamb's ear garland into the mix.

And you can never go wrong with brass and silver candlesticks.

six white vases pink peonies white paper flowers fireplace mantel

cathedral arch architectural salvage vase display pink flowers

Cathedral arches are a great way to balance out your mantel decor.

romantic shabby chic mantel gold French mirror candles arch garland

window frame panels candles leaves flowers gold mirror

bright floral mantel display round gold mirror

And this round gilded French mirror just ramps up the romance.

white bud vase paper flower embellishment pink flowers

shabby chic gilded round French mirror pink peonies lamb's ear

I'm super happy with how all of my white vases with 3-D floral embellishments turned out. Which ones do you like best? The large ones or the sweet bud vases?

All I can say is they're definitely a welcome addition to our spring decor. Only twenty more days until the first day of spring! After months of cold and snow I am very much looking forward to it. I'm sure I'll be adding more spring touches in the coming weeks so stay tuned!

Well, that's it until next time, friends!

I hope you enjoyed reading about my

DIY Painted White Vases

With 3-D Floral Embellishments

PLUS

How To Cure Acrylic Paint

and that I've inspired you in some way.