Thursday, August 11, 2011

Upcycling Plates and Cutting Board

I needed some art for the dining "room" wall (I say "room" because it's really more of a dining area). I had an old wooden cutting board lying around that my mother gave me. I knew I would never use it, and it has been waiting for a purpose. 
So I decided to stencil the word "eat" on it with green paint.
                   
     

I also painted the nails I was going to use green. I planned to frame the board with the nails, instead of drilling through it. I had to dab the paint on the nails using a foam brush. Making actual strokes smeared the paint right off.
I also purchased some plastic plates from Walmart and Target to hang up.

                                      

The backs of the plates were not flat, so I needed something to even them out. I thought about using wood, but didn't want to waste any of my precious materials. I found that folding single sheets of computer paper and gluing them to the back matched the edges almost perfectly. You have to make sure and put plenty of hot glue between the layers of paper, otherwise when you mount the plates, they will droop a little. 

I am afraid I am not very creative about ways to mount things. I am sure there were better ways, but I used mounting squares. Hopefully they don't crash down while we are sleeping tonight! ;)


 These are the target plates. The large one, on the right, was $2.99, and the small one on the left was on sale for $1.79. I love moths, so I snatched them up. I hesitate to use the term "upcycling" in reference to the plates, as it implies they were not worthy of being plates. But they were! I love these plates. They just needed to be on my wall :)

The set of four green plates came from Walmart, and were one dollar and some change. I didn't know it when I bought them, but they are all a different shade of green. It worked out well that way!
And here is everything mounted on the wall!

What do you think?

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6 comments:

  1. I feel so honored that you chose my blog to link up to! Thanks a million. Those plate are absolutely beautiful! I have a soft spot for butterflies and those are gorgeous! Thank you so much for sharing and patying with me! Hope you will keep coming back!

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  2. I love what you did with the plates and the cutting board! Looks really pretty!

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  3. Hi, friend! You've got so much creativity and I'm admiring them all. Can you please share your creative posts at the Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop? Hope to see you there at the party :)

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  4. The plates are very funky and fun. They add so much color and pop to an apartment space.

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  5. Thank you! They are definitely good for longer, which is nice when you can't paint. And I can easily switch them for the seasons :)

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