Repurposed Wicker Plates Into Art

4 Materials
$3
3 Hours
Easy

I love to have colorful flowers around me, especially in winter when everything is cold and white outside, and it's easy to create art pieces with beautiful floral graphics.

I immediately got this idea when I found a $1 set of 4 wicker plates at the thrift store recently. I believe these are meant to be used under paper plates for stability.

As soon as I got home that day I went into my graphics stash and found 4 floral graphics.

Here's one of the floral graphics printed on regular photocopy paper. So pretty! You'll see the others later.

I cut the graphic out with an exacto knife on a cutting mat.

Make sure your knife is sharp, and you don't need much pressure at all.

Because I've never decoupaged on a wicker plate before I decided to start with the easiest cut out, which was this water lily graphic.

All I needed for this project was some DecoArt Paper Decoupage Medium, and a foam brush.

I did a dry fit to see how I wanted to place it.

You could spray paint the wicker plates any color you like before applying the flowers.

I'm keeping the plates natural because I like the contrast with the flowers, and they'll be hanging on a white wall.

I added some of the decoupage medium onto the wicker plate, making sure not to overdo it.

You just want there to be enough for the paper to hang on to.

Then I did the back of the flower.

After putting it in place I added a nice coat of the medium on the top and used my fingers to gently smooth out the paper.

To do this you need plenty of medium on the paper.

If the paper is dry your fingers will pull the paper away rather than smooth it down.

Using your fingers is really the best way to do this, but wash them often to remove any decoupage medium buildup that could mess up your flowers.

Some of the other flower graphics had small detailed cut out areas.

For those flowers I added the medium to the main areas only before putting in place on the plate.

Then I pulled those small pieces up slightly, added the medium, and then smoothed them into place.

You could also cut the flower into sections and apply the pieces that way.

Whatever works really.

Once done, I gave my flower two coats of the decoupage medium, letting it dry in between.

It doesn't matter if you get some on the plate where the flower isn't because the medium dries clear, but you don't need to spread it all over the plate.

The biggest thing is to make sure that your flower is adhered to the plate well, especially at the edges.

You could hang the wicker plate art on the wall with command strips or nails, but I have a thing for plate hangers.

I pick up interesting ones whenever I see them, and I recently got this black iron one for a dollar.

They make a nice statement by grouping items together in one focal piece.

I spray painted the plate hanger a pretty summer green.

A perfect color with the flowers and against the white wall.

I'm not a candle gal so I had to find something to sit on the candle holder.

So I spray painted a silver metal Eiffel Tower ornament a pretty berry pink.

It's a little small, but it'll do for now.

I like having reminders around of our trip to Paris for my 50th birthday way back in 2011.

I have a few other Eiffel Towers, but they're either smallish like this one or too big.

One day I hope to find one that's just right. To see more pics of this project check our my Repurposed Wicker Plates into Art blog post here.

If you enjoyed this project you can find more decoupage projects on my blog here.

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Tuula - Color Me Thrifty
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