Monday, November 19, 2012

Festive Flatware

Happy Thanksgiving week everyone! When I was out shopping the other day, I saw these really cute holiday themed dishes. Alas, I know I don't have the room to store special holiday flatware.
Festive Flatware Tutorial from Make It Handmade. Paint your plates to dress up your holiday table!

But I did come up with an idea to jazz up our table temporarily. Poster paints! I was really impressed with how washable crayola paints were when I used them for our painted rangoli. I thought the same paint would work out perfectly our dishes*. 

Festive Flatware Tutorial from Make It Handmade. Paint your plates to dress up your holiday table!
 *This paint is water soluble and temporary, so don't put food directly on painted plates! 

 These are great for holding wrapped candy, cupcakes, keys etc. The paint will wash off easily in the dishwasher or by hand when you are ready to have your plain white dishes back. It's quicker than shopping-- I did the mug and plate in a few minutes while the kids ate breakfast. I've put together a quick tutorial on how you can do the same for a few dishes for your table too.


Festive Flatware Tutorial

First grab your poster paints. I've read that non washable poster paints or tempra paints should still wash off non porus surfaces (like porcelain , corningware and glass), and give a bit more even coverage. Whatever you decide to use, please test on the back of a plate to make sure you are happy with how they wash off.

Festive Flatware Tutorial from Make It Handmade. Paint your plates to dress up your holiday table!
 For this little plate I decided to simple stripes around the edge of the plate. I almost left it like this because it reminds me of peppermint.
Festive Flatware Tutorial from Make It Handmade. Paint your plates to dress up your holiday table!
 But I decided to fill in with some Christmas green.
Festive Flatware Tutorial from Make It Handmade. Paint your plates to dress up your holiday table!
For the oversized tea cup, I decide to write a little message for my husband.
Festive Flatware Tutorial from Make It Handmade. Paint your plates to dress up your holiday table!


If I was a good blogger, I'd have made some cupcakes for the pictures, but no such luck. :) The hardest part was keeping that mug hidden from my husband until we had tea in the morning.

Tips and Tricks:


1. Test a small area first! The mug I used was porcelain  and the plate was made from corningware and everything washed off without a fuss (and I hate scrubbing dishes!). 

2. I trimmed one of my son's paint brushes to give me a 'fine tip' to make it easier to write with the paint. 

3. I found I got a more even coat by layering the paint and waiting for it to dry between coats. Luckily it dries in just a few minutes. 


I'd love to know if you try this out! I'll be taking the rest of the week off from blogging and will be back with new projects next week. I hope everyone has a happy, warm, and safe holiday!