Zebra Charger Plate

Hello all!! I hope this day finds you in great health and happiness. It's Danita from http://danitasdesigns.blogspot.com/

Those that know me, know I like to decorate charger plates for gifts. I'm often get asked "how do you center your image?" so I decided to give you a quick demo using my Cameo. ( The basics are the same even if you are usng another die cutter machine)

I was asked to make this plate for a teenage girl who loves zebra print. Personally I would have gone with a different contrast color rather than pink, but this is the color that was requested. I hope you can see it. It was rather hard to photograph.

The first thing I do (and most important) is measure the circumference of the inside circle of the plate and work inside of it. In this case the measurement is 8.25 inches.  You will need to make sure you measure this because not all charger plates are the same.

Then pick your design.  I chose a circle flourish design (from the Silhouette store) and placed it inside the circle. (sorry the picture is not that clear). Circle designs work best because you can just size it to fit. Then  placed the intials (also from the Silhouette store) and welded them together. I added six single flourishes to the design also. Then cut.

(try to place images a close together as possible if you want to save vinyl)

Once you have everything cut out and weeded ( notice the initials are different fromt the finished product, I made a boo boo but forgot to tak a picture of the corretion, so for the purpose of this demo....well, you get the idea. lol) You do not have to "mirror" your images (yay!) for charge plates.

I used clear transfer tape on the image. Make sure you burnish (rub hard) your image so that it will stick to the tape. Peel it up slowly.  If any of the image doesn't transfer to the tape, simply lay the transfer tape back over it and burnish it some more. Now cut away the single flourishes from the circle design. Place image on the plate and burnish it. A lot of burnishing I know, but it helps to adhere the image to the charger plate better and smoother.

 I just kind of eye where I want the flourishes on the outer rim to go and make them with a water base maker( so it will rub off). Add your bling and you're done!!

It's a quick and easy gift and I have found that people love anything with their name of initials on it!

Thanks for looking and you can check out more of my charger plates on my blog. Here's the link: http://danitasdesigns.blogspot.com/search/label/Charger%20Plates