Clean the stones, cut the champagne cork to size (This will be used as the stand alone smaller cactus). Affix all the items to the jam jar lids using the reusable putty (see photo 1).

Use Craft Paint White (code CP21) as an undercoat, which will also allow your topcoat to be bright. Using the Dala air-drying clay, roll out in your hands 2 o 3 small "prickly pears" and allow to harden to dry before giving them an undercoat.

Once your undercoats are dry you can put the base coats on your stones, cork and other. While waiting for the undercoats to dry, you can start preparing your Dala Cacti Pot as per Step 2.

Preparing the pot for the cacti by cutting out two plastic disks from an empty margarine or ice cream container: one disk to fit and cover the holes at the bottom of the pot and another disk to fit on the rim of the pot onto which you wull be gluing your cacti (see photo 2).

After gluing the bottom disk in place, fill the pot with stones and sand to weigh the pot down so that it will not topple over once the cacti are secured in place.

Once the sand and stones are in the pot, you may glue down the top disc. Set the pot aside to await arrival of your Dala cacti!

Once your basecoats are dry, you can start adding some additional painting and decor to your cacti bits and pieces. Ensure your brushes are clean and dry after each coat of paint.

Use a toothpick to add white or any other colour dots to the stone or cork and to spread a dot of paint into a thorn. A thicker skewer can also be used to spread a drop of paint into a flower formation or thich thorn.

Once all your pieces of cacti have been paintied and decorated, you can start assembling the pieces onto the pot. Using a glue gun, fix the cork to your first stone piece before attaching the cork to the plastic top you secured to the top of the pot. 

Wait for the glue to dry before securing the next portion. Once all the cacti pieces are in place, you may have to touch up with the correct colour paint if any excess glue is showing.

When all pieces are in place you can now seal the cacti with either Dala Podge or Dala Deco Varnish to create a shiny finish to your cacti. 

Once this had dried, you can use the podge or varnish to coat the plastic disc onto which the cacti are glued - paint around the bottom of each of the cacti and into all corners. Making sure you have covered the complete base and before the varnish, sprinkle dry fine beach sand all round the disc, The podge or varnish will now dry and will hold the sand in place. You can also coloured sand as we did in this demonstration.

Feel free to decorate the nursery pot with bright colours from the Dala Craft Paint range.