DIY Opulent Charger Plates

When setting a fabulous table, the accoutrement are just as important as the tablescaper's style.  A few weeks ago while planning my Christmas tablescape for 2015, I was at my local Hobby Lobby when I came across these burlap covered chargers.

Although more rustic than what I wanted to work with this year, I still liked the idea.  It appeared that the burlap had been glued onto plain chargers.  I decided to give making my own a try.  

To make chargers, you will need:

Plastic charger plates

A fabric of your choice

ModgePodge 

Paintbrush

Very sharp scissors

A sharp Exacto knife or cutting tool

I began with this beautiful brocade fabric.

The reverse is gorgeous too, but I decided I liked the pattern where the gold was more prevalent, because I was making these for Christmas.

I had these inexpensive chargers on-hand that I knew I'd likely not use again without painting or upgrading them somehow.  They are definitely showing their age!

I coated each charger plate generously with ModgePodge using a paintbrush to paint it on.

Gently press the fabric into the charger plate.  Once the fabric is semi-dry, use scissors to cut away.  When completely dry, use the Exacto to remove any frays.

*****Hindsight tip.  It was not necessary to ModgePodge over the top of the fabric.  Believe it or not, it caused the fabric not to adhere as well, and it also compromised the color.  

All set!

To see these brocaded chargers featured in my 2015 Christmas tablescape, you may do so by visiting the post on my blog Parsimonious Décor Darling here.  This project was easy, and you likely can use any fabric!  I may even try tartan plaid for next year!

If you enjoy this post, please visit the archives!  You may also visit my full profile to view my other blogs. Connect with me on my Facebook Page, Parsimonious Décor Darling.   You might like to visit my other blog hubs,

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Frugal Fab Fashionista, my fashion blog hub. 

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Simple Yet Elegant Coffin Place Settings

 

 

When one thinks of Halloween, there are always themes that are tried-and-true.  Traditional themes like vampires, ghosts and goblins, mummies, Frankenstein....et cetera have been around for years and years.  For this year's Halloween tablescape, I thought it would be great to have a mini coffin at each setting designating guests where to sit.  I wanted to add a bit of elegance to the coffins, and I did so by adding fabric liners to each.  Here is my process:

 

You will need:

 

Mini coffins

Black spray paint (contingent upon stock of your coffins)

Dark red fabric such as velvet or a very wide ribbon of the same color

Matching embroidery thread

Quilt batting

Plastic mesh needlepoint canvas

Scissors

Hot glue gun and glue sticks

Sharpie pen or crayon

Piece of paper

 

I began this project with several mini coffins from my local Michael's Crafts.  These coffins were plain and ready to paint.  Michael's does offer a pre-painted version, but they only had one in black, and I was a little pressed for time, so I didn't want to order or drive an hour to the next location.  I digress....

 

They are cute, aren't they?  They are available in different shapes, but I preferred this traditional coffin style.

 

I spray painted them all black.

 

 

Once the painting was done, I laid the coffins on the needlepoint canvas

 

and drew a template using a sharpie pen.

 

Trial and error tip:  I found that tracing with the sharpie pen made the template too big of course, because the canvas needed to fit inside.  It took a bit of trimming down with the scissors to get the canvas just the right size.  After using the sharpie to complete the first, I found that using a crayon to sketch over the opening of the coffin and using that as a template instead was a much more accurate method.

I used the first of these to template as many others as I needed, making sure to cut out each template first a little larger, and carefully trimming where needed.  You can always take more away....you can never put it back!  :)

 

Once all my canvases were complete,

 

I wanted to give each lining a little oomph by adding quilt batting.

  I cut out a piece of batting for each,

 

and trimmed them to size.

 

I laid each piece on my wide ribbon,

 

and using a coordinating embroidery thread,

 

added tufts to the lining by placing little knots sporadically down the length of my coffin template.

 

 

This process turned out to be really time-intensive, so in the end, I omitted this step.  Also, if you look at the top of my liner here, the tufts are almost not noticeable.  I believe if you'd like to keep this step, the tufts would show up better if you used a contrasting color like black.

 

 

For the last step, I folded in and hot glued all the sides down just before placing each liner into its coffin (with the uglier sides facing down).

 

It was easy to give some plain coffins a bit of added elegance, and in addition to place settings, these could be used as invitations as well for a Halloween wedding or soirée....or any fabulous macabre get-together!  To see these featured in my 2015 Día de Los Muertos Halloween Tablescape, you may visit the post on my blog Parsimonious Décor Darling here.

 

 

If you enjoy this post, please visit the archives!  You may also visit my full profile to view my other blogs. Connect with me on my Facebook Page, Parsimonious Décor Darling.   You might like to visit my other blog hubs,

The Marvelous Maison, a lifestyle blog hub and 

Frugal Fab Fashionista, my fashion blog hub. 

Follow me on Pinterest!!  Please be sure to kindly follow the board guidelines, as it takes time and effort to find fabulous pins across the Internet and Pinterest!  Thank you!  

Thank you for stopping by! ❤

DIY Sugar Skulls (Calaveras)

A beautiful Mexican tradition near Halloween time is the celebration of Dia de los Muertos.  During the celebration, families and friends of the faithfully departed pray to wish their lost loved ones luck in the afterlife.  The celebration lasts until November 2nd, and one tradition is the passing of calaveras to children.  Typically made of sugar or clay, the calavera is a representation of the human skull.  Over the years, the sugar skull has become popularized in western cultures as well. 

I recently planned my 2015 Halloween tablescape, and this year it will have a Dia de los Muertos theme.  Today's tutorial will show you how to take simple skulls and adorn them to look like sugar skulls.  I hope you enjoy the post!

My supply list:
Skulls

Ribbon

Assorted paint and brushes

Hot glue gun and glue sticks

Sharpie

Glass beads

Glitter

School glue
Decorative trim
Dixie Cup
Small paper card
Faux flowers
Spray paint


I began with two plain porcelain skulls.

I painted each skull's cavities with black craft paint.

Next, I added lines to represent the teeth of each.

Female Calavera:

I used a dark, rusty red paint

to outline the eyes of my female skull, and after that, used a sharpie to draw a simple pattern around the eyes.

I cut a bit of sparkly palette trim

for each eye socket of my female calavera, and added a few roses on the top of her head using hot glue.

I used the same red paint to draw in little lips.

Next, using a sharpie pen, I drew in some spider web detail.

To give her a little feminine charm, I created a bouffant hairstyle by gluing down a couple pieces of faux hair over a small balled up piece of hair.

Shown here.  Add more roses.

Male Calavera:


I added a simple mustache to my male skull.

To give him a bit of pomp and circumstance, I added a mini top hat.  I started with a Dixie cup.

I used a small bowl with a larger circumference to draw a template onto a small paper card, and traced the circumference of the Dixie cup.

Glue all the pieces together to form a mini hat.

I spray painted the hat black and allowed it to dry completely before gluing it to my skull.

I added a bit of red ribbon to the top hat, and used a sharpie to free-hand draw some simple patterns onto the male skull.

Two pieces of contrasting ribbon became a snappy bow-tie, and I used hot glue to attach it to the male calavera.

Almost done......

I debated awhile before deciding to give the male skull glowing eyes like his female counterpart.  I used two glass beads.

I covered the beads with regular school glue.

I sprinkled generously with red glitter, and allowed them to dry completely.

Completed eyes.

I used hot glue to hold them in place.  Completed Sugar skulls.

I decided not to use traditional Mexican colors, which is also an option, because I was making these to be part of a centerpiece with a vampire theme. To see these Calaveras in my 2015 Halloween  Día de los Muertos tablescape, you may do so by visiting the post on my blog Parsimonious Décor Darling here.

 

If you enjoy this post, please visit the archives!  You may also visit my full profile to view my other blogs. Connect with me on my Facebook Page, Parsimonious Décor Darling.   You might like to visit my other blog hubs,

The Marvelous Maison, a lifestyle blog hub and 

Frugal Fab Fashionista, my fashion blog hub. 

Follow me on Pinterest!!  Please be sure to kindly follow the board guidelines, as it takes time and effort to find fabulous pins across the Internet and Pinterest!  Thank you!  

Thank you for stopping by! ❤