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 

Sunday Snapshots

This week has been sort of a slow one, here is what I have been up to!

I got some snazzy Star Trek Fabric from Joann's. I am looking forward to the kinds of wackiness I will make with this stuff. I already made an iPad case and I will also make some pot holders for my trekkie father in law. I also got Star Wars fabric but I didn't realize that it was fleece! I can make scarves with it I guess.

I started thinking up some design ideas for our stark dinning room. On a trip to Home Goods I was inspired by their graphic plates. So I started collecting a few which will eventually hang on the wall. I need to add some more to my collection first. We also got this giant peacock picture.

I had read really great reviews for Everyday by David Leviathan. So its been on my reading list. My interest was piqued when my friend Morgan said she read it in a day and cried. I have a few things I need to get off my reading lists first, then I am going to tackle this. Here is the gist of the story: A person goes through life everyday in another persons body then one day falls in love with a hosts girlfriend. It sounds like a romantic Quantum Leap and I look forward to reading it.

Wednesday my partner in craft, Michele, came over and we worked on some more Iron Craft stuff. However before we did that, we had to eat. So we got lunch which ended up being this epic pile of nachos at Moe's. They also had this amazing soda machine!

I began work on some new themes for my upcoming storytime. I found this site called, Storytime Caitie. She has really amazing ideas and book recommendations  Sometimes I get in a funk and I don't know what to do, this helps give me some inspiration. For next week I decided to go with a Fantasy/Fairy Tale theme. So I made some Knights for a flannel board. I think they came out pretty adorable.