Decorative Plates

I've gotten really sick of stark bare walls and I've been trying a few different things to really liven up our dinning room. I found this mirror for 20$ at Marshall's (score!). It was a little cracked and boring white. So I gave it a goat of gray to really spiff it up. I hung it opposite some windows. That is a design trick that is supposed to make the room feel bigger. I have our Parisian street art pictures hanging on another wall, along with a little flying birdie my friend Margaret got me. However that still left some blank spots in the room. What to do?

Originally I had planned to start collecting graphic plates and hanging them on the wall. That hit a snag when I did not like anything I was finding, either in the design or price. So I decided to put my own DIY spin on it and made some plates of my own! I abandoned my plan of an entire wall of plates and decided to hang them on each end of the windows. It makes it look balanced and we now have plenty of visual interest in this room!

Materials & Tools

• White glass plate 
• Spray paint (two contrasting colors) 
• Contact paper 
• Exacto Knife 
• Plate hanger 

Instructions 

• I recommend purchasing plates from the Dollar Tree because they come in different shapes and sizes and they are only a dollar so if you make a mistake its not a big deal. 

• Plan out a design, make it simple and not too intricate. Trace and cut out the design on contact paper (or if you have a silhouette machine just use that) 

• In a well ventilated area, spray paint a base coat. (this should be the color you want your actual design to be) Allow design to dry. I recommend letting it sit over night.

• Peel out your design and stick it on the plate

• Spray a top coat of a contrasting coloring and allow to dry. (don't wait too long because you run the risk of peeling off the paint from your design) 

• Allow the paint to dry for at least a day before you hang it up. (otherwise your house is going to smell like paint fumes) 

Linking up with: 

Craft-o-maniac 

Candy Corn bottles

With October in full swing I have been doing more and more decorating each day. I added some flair to our front yard complete with cornstalks! I'm quite proud of myself and how it is coming together.

I've also been doing a lot of indoor stuff and one such project is turning old wine bottles into something spooky. Here is how I've made some candy corn bottles!

Materials & Tools

• Recycled glass bottles 
• Spray Paint in these colors: 
• white
• Orange
• Yellow
• Painters tape  

Instructions

• Remove the labels from the wine bottles. You can check out in detail how I did that for my potion bottle tutorial
• Once the label has been removed and the bottle is dry, you are ready to spray paint! Make sure you are either outside or in a well ventilated area. I use a dust mask while painting. 
• For the first coat, paint the entire bottle white. Then allow to dry and remove the tape.
• 1/3 of the way down tape up the bottle and get ready for your second coat. To prevent your next color from bleeding over take a piece of newspaper and wrap it around the bottle. Spray paint yellow and allow to dry and remove tape.

Painter's tape fail

• I've learned that my painters tape is super duper strong and ripped up the paint. So for the last coat I wrapped some newspaper around it while I spray painted. 
• Now you are ready for some 'corny' halloween fun! 

If you like this craft then check out some of my other Halloween Tutorials!