Checkered Plaid Decoupage Deer Plaque DIY

5 Materials
$10
1 Day
Easy

Imagine my delight when I found napkins online with a deer silhouette design in some of my favorite colors! Just perfect for a winter-time theme! And what a theme! Checkered patterns are very popular now and work with just about every design style. So whether your space is traditional, rustic, shabby chic, coastal or modern, this versatile pattern can be a welcome addition to your home decor! Take a look at the galvanized plaque and napkin that I'm using! The colors in the napkin are quite lovely! A deep pink and shades of plum/berries! Who would have thought to color a deer with these!

First, to be safe so the paint won't lift, cover the entire sign with a good metal primer paint first and let dry completely and then use the paint colors of your choice (deep pink) to cover again . . . adding a second coat and let dry.

Then, find the center of the sign (I eyeballed it using the v shape protrusions as a guide) and lay down a narrow strip of painter's tape across the entire width (this will be the spacer strip). Then add two more strips to the right and left of the first tape, smoothing down and out the side edges. You don't want paint getting under the edges.

Remove the spacer strip and add it next to the strip that's there. Make sure you are lining up all the strips as straight and accurate as possible next to each other, smoothing the edges down as you go. Then continue to add new strips of painter's tape.

And keep re-using the spacer strip for the entire sign, left and right, so the lines and spacing will be straight. Continue as before until you reach the end of the sign.

Once all the tape is in place and smoothed down, begin painting over the exposed areas with a spouncer sponge brush. I'm using the color Mulberry for this.

 Paint all the open spaces not covered by the tape.

Once all the open areas are painted, remove all the tape strips and let the paint dry completely!

 In the pic below, the painted lines looked nice but the edges could have been sharper. It was probably because of the painter's tape that I used. I noticed that it didn't have a good gripe. So I bought Frog tape to try instead and found that its' gripe was too good and lifted the paint even more! So I stuck with the blue kind.

Once dry, add painter's tape strips in the opposite direction, following the same steps as before, completely covering the sign.

Next, paint the open areas with the same color as before.

 I made the mistake of removing the painter's tape once I had painted all the exposed spaces. Instead, the tape should have remained on and left to dry before moving on to the next step.

So I had to re-tape over the areas to paint on the next color.

This time I used cosmetic sponges that I got at the dollar store to paint the spaces. This type of sponge seemed much easier to use and didn't leave bubbles like the spoucher sponge brush.

Once all the open spaces were painted, I removed all of the painter's tapes to reveal this lovely pattern.

Since the napkin has broken strips in the pattern, I thought I would add a couple of narrow strips along the top and sides . . . using the same steps as before but lightly brushing on the paint in small lines!

To decoupage the napkin on to the plaque, paint mod podge along the center following the size and shape of the napkin. Lay the napkin down, face up and smooth out. 

*I did not remove the white layers of the napkin because I didn't want the stripe pattern of the plaque to show through as much.

 

Once dry, I added two more pieces of napkins over the first one to define the image and dabbed on a bit of white paint and water to the background. 

And finally, I painted on additional mod podge over the entire plaque to seal once it was completely dry.

Sorry about the lighting. It's showing like a cranberry, but it really has more plum, as shown above.

This plaque was oh so fun to create! It's such a simple and easy way to bring color and a trendy pattern to any decor!

Suggested materials:
  • Plain galvanized metal sign
  • Multi-surface acrylic craft paint
  • Painter's tape .94" width
See all materials
Gail@Purple Hues and Me
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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