DIY Sturdy Display Stands

For my Easter dining room table display I was all geared up to

make some cute candlestick cake plates (like I had seen tutorials

 for on several blogs like this one) to put Easter items on.

I'm sure they would be fine to put light-weight items on

 like sisal bunnies, etc. but I started thinking about 

making stands that would be sturdy enough to use in

 the future for heavier items too. Maybe even in for

food buffets, etc.

In looking at the real elevated cake stands that I have, the

bases seemed to be fairly wide at the bottom to give more

stability...almost like an upside-down vase. 

My own hoarder house turned up several items that could

be used to follow the basic candlestick tutorials but use

vases instead of candlesticks. The glass vases also have

more weight which will probably help the stands' stability.

Here is a low glass vase (previously painted white),

a lonely saucer and a mis-placed plate combo...

This is a thrift store footed vase and another odd plate...

These are small baking dishes I got several years ago when

I thought I was going to make the neighbors treats for

Christmas...that hasn't happened yet.  I was looking for 

something square to match the shape of the baking dish

and found these heavy Dollar Tree glass vases/votives.

Now this combo does not qualify as "sturdy" since it is all

plastic disposable food items.  Since I'm already painting, 

gluing, etc. they are going to be added into the mix for fun. 

The plastic dome came off of a mini-cake from the store.

A side project that also involves paint and glue are jars

with little animals attached to the lids like this.

They already have a base coat of white.

Most tutorials for the making of cake/treat/cupcake stands

use E-6000 glue to join the pieces together.  I had the

"Amazing Goop Household" adhesive on hand so I used it

to join the pieces.  It worked great for this project. 

I turned the plates face down on the table, put glue on

the bottom of the vases then placed the glued side

 of the vase down on the plate.  With this glue

you have time to move the vase around a few minutes

so you can eyeball from a few angles where the center is.

After a few hours of drying, you can paint the plates.

I think that painting the pieces joins them visually.

The instructions say that the glue is not completely ready

for 24-hours so if you paint before the 24 hours is up
 be careful how you pick the stands up.

I tried the bottled paints in the craft section that said

 "glossy" but they were not glossy enough to look glassy.

They didn't look bad but they did not have the look I wanted.

Spray paint to the rescue!  It really does give wonderful

results. Not that I want these stands to look like milk glass

but spray painting glass is a technique that I have had

good results with. 

The first time I tried spraying items to try to mimick

milk glass was for a magazine copy cat challenge blog

party.  That post was "Martha, Milk Glass and Myrtles".

Since then I have been on the lookout for glass pieces

that can be spray painted and added to my faux

milk glass collection I have going now.

I didn't want the new display stands to be milk glass white, however. I have found that an off white color is useful

in seasonal vignettes and in food presentation. 

A couple of the stands got sprayed with a combination of

white spray paint and then almond spray paint.

Those sprays were not glossy paints so then these stands

 got a couple of coats of a clear gloss finish sprayed on.

I tried to be good and spray paint inside boxes but it

is harder to get around all the sides that way.

These little Easter animals got spray painted blue before

the plastic cake stand got into the box so I could get

all the way around them.  

Do you see the dandelion seed that floated into the box during spraying?

I glued a wooden ball on top of the plastic cake dome to make it look fancy.  

I should have waited to glue it on until the ball was painted.  This way I had to tape it off. 

Here is the pretty dandelion seed blinged out with

a touch of Easter blue.

I was hoping that the paint was not getting on the "faces"

of the square baking dishes while they were getting spray

 painted green.  That way food could be placed in the dish later.

I wanted one of the little chick jar toppers to be pink

but I didn't have pink spray paint.  She got painted

with acrylic paint...she may get a gloss coat later.

Here's how she and her friends turned out...

They got to be in the Easter vignette along with

 the sturdy display stands.

In the center of the display are the mint green cake stands

that gave me the idea to use vases as bases.

The larger cake stand holds cute lambs from Pier 1.

The smaller mint green cake stand holds a vintage-

looking pink bunny with a cart of eggs. 

The home-made display stands mix in well with 

the "real" cake stands to elevate Easter items.

Behind the main Easter vignette is a display cabinet with

more assorted Easter items.

In the kitchen is a new two-tiered display stand that

is not a DIY project.  I saw it at World Market and thought

that it had good potential to have lots of future uses. 

I'm hoping that my hodge-podge/glued together/

spray painted sturdy display stands with have lots

of future uses also.  On the painted surfaces of the stands

I will not place food directly on them.  If the stands need

to be washed, they will be hand-washed only. 

Be looking for them in future blog posts! 
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DIY Faux Moss Terrariums

You can mix real greenery with some faux moss shapes

 and flowers to achieve a "fool the eye" terrarium. 

These terrariums won't last as long as a real one but

they do look good in vignettes or even as centerpieces.

The moss shapes (they look kind of like rocks covered 

with moss) are actually styrofoam covered with a 

green fuzzy product.  They can be used as vase fillers.

The ones I bought came from Dollar Tree...you get

about five moss shapes per pack there.

To keep the real greenery looking fresh you will need 

floral foam to stick it in.  Be sure to get the floral foam

that says for "Fresh" flowers not the silk flower foam.

The foam in the photo above also came from Dollar Tree.

You can also find floral foam for fresh flowers in 

the craft stores.  You only need a small amount for this 

project (unless you are making a lot of terrariums).

Soak the floral foam in water until it is 

fully saturated with water.

Gather some greenery.  Greenery from bushes is usually

pretty hardy.  The hardier your greenery, the longer your

terrarium will look nice and fresh.  This is pittisporum. 

You could use faux greenery too but real greenery is what

gives the terrariums their authentic look. 

You can use different types of containers for this project.

I have glass jars and some lids left over from the candy

table at my daughter's wedding so I am using some of those.

Cut the greenery so it will fit inside of your container.

Cut a piece of wet floral foam.  You want it to be large 

enough to support and keep the cut end of the greenery

wet but small enough to hide under the moss rocks. 

Push the cut end of the stem into but not through

the piece of wet floral foam. 

If the stem goes through the foam, either try pushing the

stem in another place on the foam or get a new piece.

If the cut end of the stem is not totally surrounded by

the wet foam it will dry out quickly.  These faux

terrariums should look nice for a week or so if your

greenery is hardy and you have it in the foam correctly.

Depending on the size of the bottom of your container,

you may be able to hide the floral foam with whole 

moss rocks.  On most of mine I had to cut the moss 

rock in half with a steak knife.  Well, also cutting the

moss rocks makes them go further in hiding the foam.

Beware of the white foam inside of the moss rock that is

exposed from cutting...it is a "giveaway" of the not real-ness.

One trick that I discovered in trying to hide the floral foam

is that you can use toothpicks to push through the moss 

rocks and into the wet foam.  That keeps the moss rock in

contact with the foam and gives you more control in hiding. 

You don't have to add flowers to your faux terrarium

but I think it adds some variety and interest.   I found 

a couple of stems that had small white flowers at Jo Ann's.

I cut the individual flower branches off the main stem

 leaving as much stem on them as possible. 

To save money I only used one little flower stem per

terrarium except in the Wardian box...it was long instead

of high.  I thought three little flower arrangements looked

cute in there.  The box had a bottom that hid the foam so

I did not use the moss rocks in it. 

This pretty "thing" (not sure what to call it) came from

Hobby Lobby.  I was running out of my favorite flowers

so I used some from the attic to save another trip to the store.

This plastic container looks more upscale with a fancy top.

You can add extra moss rocks if you have a taller

container...

Some of the apothecary jar tops that I wanted to 

use on the wider jars were too narrow so I got

a clear glass plate at Dollar Tree, put it over the 

opening, then put the nice topper on the plate. 

All together now...here are the  faux terrariums on the mantle...

The whites and greens in the terrariums go well with the 

print that has been turned into a faux painting.

Staying with the moss rock theme in that room (and using

faux florals with real greenery) is the coffee table arrangement.

A couple of months ago a strange sprout shot up out of a pot

within the "step-child" collection of houseplants that are not

really good enough to come back into the house (except when

the temperatures get below freezing the lot of them comes in.)

It turns out it was a fabulous orchid that I had forgotten about!

Well, THAT got to come back in the house.  

We enjoyed the flowers but then they "bloomed out".

  The leaves were still fine.  I added moss rocks to the pot

and faux orchids to the stems so the orchid lives on. 

On the end tables in that room tiny arrangements were made 

using only the moss rocks and the flowers...the containers

were too small to add floral foam and real greenery.

These are a quick and easy way to add some greenery and

freshness in your decor without a lot of time and money.

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