Fields Of Heather: Painting & Decorating Dollar Tree Chargers

Seasonal Signs made from painted Dollar Tree Chargers

Related Links:

Easels To Display The Signs:

Dozens of Sites With Free SVGS
An Example Of How To Use Transfer Tape
Don't Forget Wordmark.it for choosing your fonts - it will show your text in every font you have installed on your computer.
Pinterest Board Of Dollar Tree Charger Ideas

Supplies Needed:

Dollar Tree Charger Plates
Craft Paints (I mostly use off white and black) Martha Stewart Brand is a little more expensive, but I do love the way it paints. Apple Barrel works fine!
A paint brush (I used an old crayola brush - soft bristled and thick)
651 vinyl
Transfer Tape (I like the contact paper found by the shelf liner at the Dollar Tree)

I've used this Americana Multi Purpose Satin, Martha Stewart Satin, and Apple Barrel regular paints, and all worked well. I do prefer the satin. This was a silver plate, painted antique white.

Painting Tips:

Choose chargers with a rougher texture, not the super glossy ones. I liked the gold and silver ones, the white ones were super slick and the paint did not adhere as well.
I just use craft paints. Satin made a better base coat, although I did use the regular glossy off white as a base with no problems.
The transfer tape peeled the paint on one plate. After that I started putting a layer of modge podge over the paint, before applying the vinyl. I recommend that - I think it helps.
The "technique" I use most is apparently called a dry brush technique. I paint a thick coat of off white on. Thick, leaving rough lines. I let it dry thoroughly, then "dry brush" black over the top. Basically you dip a brush into black paint, then brush most of the paint off on a cloth or paper towel. Then with most of the paint off the brush, paint quickly across the plate. I brush and brush and brush- rubbing the paint off as I go. And then sometimes I wipe more of the paint off with a diaper wipe or a soft cloth.
This is the best description I have come across of how to "dry brush".

Creating a Basic Design Template

For these chargers, I added a 12 inch circle in design space. (Choose shapes, circle, then at the top of the page type a 12 into the size box.)

Then I created a second circle, 8 inches in diameter.

At the top of the screen I chose Align, Center.

Then I chose select all, and sliced the smaller circle out of the large. Delete all of the center pieces.

For these chargers, the text I want to fit on the rim goes on what is left of the circle. The design for the inside section of the plate should fit inside that outline.

Some Call It Chaos...

I started with a silver charger for this one.

Free SVG is found here
Font for The Truckenmillers is Fish Fingers

The "easel" here is an old coaster holder. It's shaped like a typewriter, with the coasters being keyboards. I stood the coasters up in the back, so that the plate leans against them.

Valentines Day

The paint for this one is a bit dark. I don't think I would intentionally use this much black again.

Font is Fish Fingers
Find the Free SVG from Caluya Design Here
More Free SVGs For Valentines Day Here

St Patrick's Day

Font For the top and bottom is Fish Fingers

Prone to Shenanigans & Malarky SVG is free here.

Vintage Truck With Shamrocks SVG is free here.

Tip For Cutting Foil Vinyl

When cutting foil vinyl, I always cut it twice. After it finishes the cut, WITHOUT HITTING THE ARROW BUTTON TO UNLOAD THE VINYL, simply push the C button on your machine again. It will then repeat the exact same cut, in the exact same location.

Find more free St Patrick's Day SVGs Here -

https://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/2019/01/free-svgs-for-st-patricks-day.html

Easter

For this plate, I painted off white, then Covered that in a brown, then I dumped some white paint onto a diaper wipe and wiped it over the brown as a whitewash of sorts.

For this one I used simple clipart, and text.

How To Clean Up Simple Clipart To Use In Design Space

In our living room, we have an extremely large framed flour sack from a mill that was owned by my husbands family, over 100 years ago. I like to mimic the design of that flour sack in some of the other decor in our home - thus this design, inspired by something similar I saw on Pinterest.

Fourth Of July

You'll notice I use a lot of the truck designs... our name IS Truckenmiller, after all. :-) This particular truck is a file I paid for long before I realized how many free options are available.

Find LOTS Of Free "Little Red Truck" svgs here

Find the Free Flag SVG here

Party Like It's 1776 Free SVG Here

Note - this is the BEST Flag svg I have found. Most are really tedious to cut and weed - this one is crisp and as simple as the flag can be in a cut file!