{My "Meh" Bowl Makeover}

Hey, y'all!  Today I have a post to share with you that I actually started to just write off as a craft "meh."  That's Pitter and Glink speak for a not-so-amazingly-cute project.  I am a bit of a perfectionist, and I only want the best projects on my blog or at least only projects that I love.  At the same time, I never want y'all to think I'm perfect because I'm nowhere near perfect.  So after talking to some other bloggers, I decided to go ahead and post it since I put in all the work anyway.  So here goes...

Several weeks ago I found the cutest little white ceramic bowl in the thrift store.

As you can see, it was only fifty cents.  I knew that I could use some paint to make it something spectacular...well, at least I thought I could.  So I started by painting the inside of the bowl pink and then hand painting a ikat-like design.

When I finished, I just wasn't digging it.  Since I didn't heat set the paint, I was able to wash the paint off the bowl.  So the tutorial that follows is attempt number two, which I started by painting the inside of the bowl blue using Martha Stewart's pearl paint.

I did two coats of paint, and then I decided I would do a sort of tribal design in the bowl using a sponge and more Martha paint.

I cut some different size squares and a triangle out of a kitchen sponge and used them to create my design.

At this point in the process, I should have heat set the paint in the oven using the same directions as I used with my Dollar Store Stenciled Mugs.  There's one problem, though: I was not in love with the final piece, and I'm still not.

It's not hideous, but I think it could be better.  I almost like my first attempt better than the second one.  What would you do?  Would you move on to attempt number three, or would you leave the bowl as is?

Maybe I'm just being hard on myself and the bowl is cute and I should go ahead and heat set the paint.  It's definitely never going to be a feature piece in a room or anything because it's very tiny.  Nonetheless, I just don't love it, and I really want to.  Help me out, creative ladies!  :)