Time sure does fly...seems like just yesterday I was prepping for preschool graduation, and now here we are 3 weeks later and I still haven't had time to recap the whole affair. In my defense, it's been a busy three weeks with graduation, Father's Day, a trip to Maine and 4th of July. (Yah, yah...excuses, excuses.)
But back to the party.... I whipped up some cake plates just for the fun of it. They were inspired by two tutorials I found on Pinterest....this one for colorful dessert stands and this one for colorful tiered trays. Unfortunately, both of these tutorials used spray-painted plates which are not food safe and I didn't want to mess around with using doilies on my plates.
My solution was to find colorful plastic dishware that did not need to be painted...this also saved me a step by not having to paint them. I had fun shopping the thrift store for interesting (and cheap) brass candlesticks and plastic dishes. Then I had even more fun mixing and matching the sticks with the dishes. My total cost for all of the plates, bowls and candlesticks was about $11 which breaks down to less than $2 per cake plate.
After washing, I primed all of the brass candlesticks with primer paint and then hit them with various colors of enamel to match my color scheme. To finish them off, I applied clear bathroom caulk to each candlestick and firmly pressed it in to place on a plate or bowl, then let them dry overnight. I had read in one of the tutorials that this would make them washable in the sink. Sadly, this did not work! I had two cake plates break on the way to the party. Wah! So, if you make these, beware of caulk. Just go with whatever crazy glue option you like best and call it good. They are easy enough to wipe off when you're done, so they don't really need to be waterproof for soaking in the sink or dishwasher.
And here are my finished plates....ta da!
I used the big pink bowl for a "potato chip salad" which was basically all kinds of root vegetable chips (sweet potato, beet, etc.) with pretzel chips all tossed together. The blue plate held my world famous spinach dip in a bread bowl and the tower became my Dr. Seuss inspired veggie centerpiece. (You can see the globe I also made peeking out from the back - I'll share the scoop on that in the next post.)
For the veggie tower, I wanted fresh, local veggies to match my color scheme...yes, I obsess about these details. I picked carrots, radishes and fresh green veggies to work with...most of this came from the farmer's market, but the snow peas were from my garden. I piled on the carrots because they were the most cost effective and used the radishes for color and drama. A couple of cucumbers went a long way when thinly sliced and the broccoli was blanched to brighten the color and make it easier to chew.
Radish flowers and carrot curls added an element of whimsy and are super easy to make. Check out these videos for the how-to:
The carrots that didn't get curled got sliced into chips...I've never been a fan of carrot sticks and I refuse to buy those little carrot stubs in a bag that are really just big carrots that have been ground down and rinsed in bleach. Bleh. So, carrot chips it is...just slice them on a sharp angle and they are perfect for dipping.
Then it came down to arranging on the plates.
So, that's the project...way easier than it looks. I hope you're feeling inspired and empowered to try some fancy veggies for your next party or potluck...your friends will be astounded by carrot curls and radish flowers, I promise! If you make a wild platter and you blog about it, send me a photo and I'll link to your blog at the end of this post. :)
If you are just tuning in to my Oh, The Places You'll Go party posts, you may also be interested in the inspiration and my DIY balloon invitations. Next up, I'll be sharing a tutorial for a fun globe decoration, so I hope you'll come back and visit again soon! If you want to keep in touch...here's where I am...
Facebook | Twitter | BlogLovin | Subscribe to this Blog
XOXO, Cindi
