Decorative Plates

My daughter made one of these plates last year at my sisters house and I loved the idea so much that I thought that I would try it out myself! Once again, it's a simple craft that doesn't cost a lot of money or take a lot of time. All it is is paper napkins cut and glued onto the backside of a clear plate. They are still able to be eaten off of but will need to be hand-washed (sigh... I know!).

What you need:



Paper napkins (decorative)
Mod Podge
Foam paintbrush
Scissors
Clear glass dessert plate ($1 at Walmart or dollar stores)

What you do:

1. Cut out shapes from the napkins. Your theme possibilities are endless!

2. Arrange the cut pieces onto your plate in the pattern that you would like. Be sure to do this before starting any gluing. Also, I've found that the more area covered, the better the results. Since the plates are clear and you will be putting glue over them, the areas that are not covered with a "picture" will be a blurred clear, not a crystal clear. So more is better with this project!



3. Before starting any gluing, be sure to TURN YOUR PLATE OVER. You will be gluing on the bottom side of the plates. If you glue on the top surface of the plate, you will not be able to eat off of it.

Turn your plate to be face down. I also put a plastic bowl underneath mine to raise it up so that it won't be glued to the counter. Also, you may want to throw a sheet of newspaper or a paper grocery bag down underneath it all to catch any glue drips.



4. Use your foam brush to apply a layer of the Mod Podge onto the entire bottom of the plate.



5. Place your cut pieces onto the bottom of the plate, in the positions that you tried out in step 2. Be sure you are paying attention to how you are placing your pieces. Since you are decorating the bottom of the plate, but will want to see the pictures through the plate, so you need to be sure that you are gluing your pictures face down as well. Also, make sure there aren't any little edges sticking off of the rim of the plate.



6. Once you have all of your napkin pieces on the plate, load the foam brush with a good gob of Mod Podge. Carefully brush the glue over the entire bottom of the plate, being extremely careful as to not rip any of your pieces. They are delicate, so you really need to dab the glue on before doing big brush strokes. Thick layers of glue are good!



7. Once you have covered the entire surface with glue, wrap your foam brush in some plastic and set it all aside to allow the glue to dry.




8. Once it is dry, repeat step 6 and put a second thick coat of glue on the entire bottom of the plate. This will seal your paper napkin pieces in nice and tight. If you're feeling frisky, you could even do a third coat of glue once the second coat dries.

Here are our finished projects! Think how cute Christmas ones would be.... Santa would sure love to eat his cookies off of a homemade plate!