DIY Faux Fruit Place Cards

After hosting dinner last month, and using shot glasses with little name tags as party favors, it dawned on me that reusable place cards are nice-to-haves.  I don’t use them enough to want to spend much money on them but they definitely help to set a lovely table.

With that in mind, when I spotted this bag of faux apples at Goodwill, I picked them up to do a little crafting.

First, I used Krylon’s Chalkboard paint, the same paint I used to turn a twin headboard into a chalkboard for the dining room, and sprayed my 10 faux apples, leaves and all.   After drying, I used a piece of chalk to ‘season’ a section of the apple.  [I learned this lesson from NOT seasoning my first chalkboard and having the first words written in chalk burned into the board.]     I only prepared a small surface of the faux fruit, because to function as place cards I will only need a small section to write on, but you could definitely go ahead and season the entire apple with chalk.

For ten apples and $4 for the bag, it only cost me 40 cents per place card.   Now, I have a chalkboard surface on which to write names and a cute apple shape to top plate settings!

Even if you’re not into hosting seated dinners with place cards, it’s still kind of cool to turn things into reusable, writeable surfaces.  You could use them to display a welcome message or fun reminder.

Have you used chalkboard paint yet?   Or have you tried magnetic paint?  I think it would be cool to use magnetic paint on an office wall.
-J

 

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