More fun with plates

It's the end of a busy Thursday and my eyes are tired. Maybe it's the weird spring weather or our current level of crazy or something else totally unrelated... but, I'm tired. I wake up tired, feel tired during the day, and fall asleep tired. Repeat. Needless to say, I'm ready for a nice weekend - and what a coincidence that it's Mothers Day weekend!

Many of you were able to see my dining room redo post a few days back. I had such a great time gathering things to make that room a little more lovely. I still have one empty wall but until something comes to mind that I can really commit to - I'm leaving it alone. In the meantime, I've been having a little more fun with plates. Tonight I'll share a quick little project I threw together for our high school banquet last weekend.

.:DIY mini-cake stands:.

First up, do some shopping. I found all of my plates in one rushed trip to Goodwill, all scattered throughout the dish section. I wanted a little variety and it worked out.

Then swing into your local Dollar Tree or even that same Goodwill store. I can always find these candle holders at The Dollar Tree. Consistently. Once you get everything home - give it all a good wash. I didn't run things through the dishwasher this time (no time!), but normally I would. In my opinion it helps glue and paint stick better when all the dust and whatnot is cleaned off.

Then, you'll want to notice your leetle baby who is always by your side trying to grab anything she can get her grubby hands on supporting you. I LOVE this little munchie crunchie faced baby. Love!

Once you've paused to smooch her baby cheeks 49,847 times... get back to work.

Glue the candle holders to the backs of the plates, flip upside down and let dry. I used hot glue this time which DID NOT hold well. Normally I would use Gorilla Glue or something glass specific. But, I was short on time and the hot glue worked for exactly the amount of time I needed it to - 1 night. :)

I suppose the ok-ness of the hot glue is that I can just peel it off and start fresh with something else.
Once the glue has dried its time to take those puppies to the garage and do some spray painting!

I chose to use a chalkboard spray paint because it's what I had on hand. It ended up being a great choice and the matte finish was perfect! This is the brand I used - very happy with it. {and make sure to get one of those spray things - unless you enjoy stained hands for days...}

The painting can be tedious as you have to wait until one side is dry to do the other, etc. I'd say this step took me about an hour or so with the waiting times in between coats. It was super warm this day so it helped to dry faster.

Once they are dry - voila! DIY mini-cake stands. I love the different patterns and how they turned out. The matte paint looked awesome.

This was an inexpensive and easy way to glam up a high school end of the year banquet. :) You could really do any color combination and use any kind of plates or candle holders. Endless options!

I topped them with white pillar candles and they made lovely little centerpieces. Of course I didn't get any pictures of the actual event or the tables... but snagged this shot from hubby's phone.
You can get the idea. :) Congrats class of 2015!