Painted Glass Appetizer Plates

Hanukkah comes early this year. It actually starts on Thanksgiving. Inspired by some votive holders I made as a gift last year, I made some little appetizer plates this year in festive Hanukkah colors. These are for the same friend.

For this project you will need:

• Clear glass plates ( I got mine at Cost Plus)
• All purpose craft paint ( I used Martha Stewart Gloss and Glitter paints)
• An oven or 21 days ( will explain below)

You’ll be painting the underside of the plates so clean the bottom with alcohol to ensure your paints adhere. This is kind of a reverse process . Place your plate with the bottom side up. I found it easier to elevate the plate on something.  I started with the gold glitter paint ( Florentine Gold) and went around the rim. Let dry and went around with a second coat.

I didn’t want perfectly even coverage. I wanted a kind of mottled, watercolor effect so my painting was random. Once the second coat of glitter was dry, I used a sponge paint dauber and “spounced” one shade of blue (Martha Stewart High Gloss Pond) randomly around the rim. When that was dry, I painted over that with High Gloss Indigo.

Kind of looks like I taped it off with painters tape doesn’t it? Once that was dry, I used another sponge pouncer and more of the Florentine Gold glitter paint and went over the unpainted part of the plate.

Here’s where the oven comes in. You can either “cure” your plates by letting the paint sit for 21 days, or you can let them dry for an hour, and bake them in the oven. Place your piece in a cold oven, turn to 350 degrees ( the glass needs to heat up gradually), bake for 30 minutes and then let your oven cool down to room temp.  They are now top rack dishwasher safe and all the paint is on the underside so the tops are food safe.

This was a really easy, fun, and rewarding project. You could make a few of these as gifts, for your own holiday entertaining, and the only limit is your imagination on a color scheme.

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Halloween Crafting With Martha Stewart Decoupage: Glitter Finish Stars and Pumpkin

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post by Plaid, Martha Stewart Crafts, and The Blueprint Social. Project ideas and opinions are my own.

I have three words for you: Martha Stewart Decoupage.  It is no secret that I love to decoupage things. The dog runs away when she sees me with decoupage medium in my hand. Martha and Plaid have taken decoupage to a whole ‘nother level with a new line of decoupage formulas that can be used on surfaces such as glass, fabric, paper, metal and wood to create a lustrous finish and are dishwasher safe, machine washable, non-yellowing, dry hard with no tack, and can be used indoors or out.

I was so excited when the wonderful folks from Plaid sent me some of these new goodies to play with, but I was beside myself with the kind of  joy that usually only chocolate brings when I saw that included in my box was GLITTER FINISH DECOUPAGE. 

While the glitter finish caught my eye immediately there are some other mind blowing finishes including glow in the dark, matte and gloss. But back to the GLITTER! I had some wood stars in my stash I’d been wanting to play with and an idea was born.

I chose Black Nickel Metallic paint from the paints that came in my box and painted the stars. I went over some sections of the stars with Onyx glitter paint and left others with just the Black Nickel metallic.

Using some of the decoupage papers that were also included, I cut out pieces to cover some sections of the stars. The papers are a great weight and texture to absorb the decoupage mediums. Since the glitter finish has the glitter mixed in, you just coat your surface, the back of your paper , adhere, and then coat the top of your paper. It works just like other decoupage mediums. Except of course for the fabulous part where it dries all glittery and you’re not covered in glitter! Also with the glitter being part of the medium you get a consistent all over glitter finish without bare spots.

You can do one coat or more depending on what effect you want. I was happy with just one coat. I punched circles from scraps of the paper and using the glitter decoupage glued them into flattened bottlecaps and went over the top with more decoupage medium.

I was having too much fun to stop. Since the products say they are multi-surface, I decided to see what I could do with a foam pumpkin from the dollar store. Guess what? The paints cover EVERYTHING.

No prep, no primer. Just painted the pumpkin with the Black Nickel, let dry and added one more coat. Then I cut some leaf shaped pieces from more of the decoupage paper and added to the pumpkin using the glitter finish decoupage medium.

You can see that even before the decoupage is dry, the glitter starts to appear!  I didn’t use glitter paint on the pumpkin but just slathered the whole thing with the glitter decoupage.

Dries to a clear glittery finish.

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I am so in love with this. I can’t wait to play with it some more and put it on everything! The full line is available at Michaels.  In the meantime, be sure to check out these links for more inspiration:

• Plaid’s Facebook Page
• Follow Plaid for Inspiration on Pinterest

Silkscreened Box and Votive with Martha Stewart Crafts

What better occasion is there than Mother’s Day  to make a handmade gift? I’m sharing a project I made using supplies from Martha Stewart Crafts. This was actually made for The Mumster’s Birthday but would work great for Mother’s Day too.

For this project I used High Gloss Acrylic Paints (Hydrangea Purple and Gray Wolf) Silk Screens, and Glass Etching Cream from Martha Stewart Crafts by Plaid.

Other supplies you’ll need:

• Box to cover (I used a cigar box)
• Glass votive holder
• Embellishments
• Paper

I painted my box with the Gray Wolf  and then decoupaged my paper onto it. The real fun began with the paisley silk screen stencils. These are super thin and have a sticky backing that help keep them in place.

I used the spouncers to apply the Hydrangea Purple paint, going evenly over the surface. Since the silkscreens are so flexible, I was able to angle and position them any way I wanted.

I  covered each side, the top and bottom of the box using the large paisley silkscreen. Once the paint was dry, I embellished with self adhesive pearls.

Now for the votive!

I have been wanting to ( but afraid ) play with glass etching cream for a while. It was so easy I was kicking myself for not doing it sooner. I used a votive holder from the dollar store. Clean it up and make sure to wipe down with rubbing alcohol.

I used a smaller silkscreen for the votive and again since they’re flexible and have a sticky side, they’re easy to use on curved surfaces. Laid this on my surface and then using the brush that comes with the etching cream, applied an even coat. Wait 15 minutes and rinse! I repeated two more times.

To finish, I wrapped plain twine around the top and added a dragonfly charm.

The Mother’s Day gift possibilities are endless.

To find out more about these and  more fun products from the Martha Stewart Crafts by Plaid line  be sure to check out the Plaid blog, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest pages.

I picked this day to share my post because today is The Mumster’s birthday and I knew I wanted to make something special for her with these products. Happy Birthday Mom. Love you.

This post was sponsored by Plaid and The Blueprint Social. Project ideas and opinions are my own.

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