I always ooh and aww over the pretty plate sets at Anthropologie. They’re so colorful and fancy and I just adore them. And one thing I’ve been wanting to do since high school (yes, high school!) is design my own dishes. I have so many too many designs I want to try, so I figured I’d just start here with this fun poppy floral mix with simple black and white geometric pattern.
You can TOTALLY make these exact same dishes (it’s easy!) or you can tweak them to your own taste. But either way, I demand that you share them with us on Instagram. Use #ABMcrafty to show off your pretty projects!
-food-safe markers (I used these)
-food-safe ceramic dishes to decorate
-an oven
For this set, I did two different types of dishes: colorful and simple. Then I layered them both together for a fun look. For the colorful poppy flower design, see 1, 3 and 4. The paint pens work best when creating lots of small lines to fill in a space, rather than trying to fill it perfectly. If you need more than one layer of paint for more coverage, you will have to bake it between layers or else the second layer of paint will rub the first one off. (I did two layers on my mugs below, so the lines were super dark!) 2. Try some super simple patterns with just black marker. I like these messy dashes and grid patterns. Other fun patterns to try would be messy dots, scribbles, cactus pattern (I ALMOST did that instead of flowers) or cursive words with your favorite song lyrics!
When it comes time to bake, heat your oven to 375 degrees and bake for 45 minutes. Allow them to completely cool before handling or painting more (ouch!).
I went ahead and made four place settings for a double date dinner party. Here are my new plate sets!
Thanks for reading! I can’t wait to see what you guys make. Please tag #ABMcrafty so we can see, and we’ll be sure to repost our favorite projects on Insta! xo- Elsie
Credits// Author and Photography: Elsie Larson (and last photo by Laura Gummerman). Photos edited with A Beautiful Mess Actions.
58 Comments
These are adorable. Totally want to try this. I wish you would design dishes to sell so I could buy them. 🙂
So beautiful and inspiring!! Love it so much!
Cute!
I love the black and white!
Abbie E.
http://abulouslife.blogspot.com/
What a fun idea. I have an old, cheap, “fancy” set of china that is just kind of plain and ugly. This would be the perfect technique for snazzy-ing them up! Thanks for the inspo!
So beautiful and inspiring!! Love them!! I will try, yes!
Augh! I would love to someday!!
xx- Elsie
If you don’t love it, change it!
xx- Elsie
This would be a fun project to do with the kiddos
I love these, they are adorable! I can’t wait to try!! Who knew gift planning could be as fun as gift getting 🙂
These are gorgeous. Great idea for some personalised Xmas presents.
These are so fun! What a great gift these would make. ♡♡
xoxoBella | http://xoxobella.com
These look amazing! You did a great job!
xo, Liz
http://lipstickandconfetti.com
I always wanted to make these. Will try it out as soon as I find/get these markers 🙂
They make great presents too!
Oh and yes, you guys are sweet together. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
http://cosyhippie.blogspot.com/
Where were the plates you used for this from? 🙂 I’m definitely trying this out!!! I just gotta find some plates at a good price! Thanks for sharing.
Dear Elsie,
you’re really talented ! I LOVE Anthropologie dishes, especially the Nathalie Lete funky collection, but I like even more yours. Did you tought about decorating with markers old patterned dishes to enrich them? It might be funny too to make a mix.
Wishing you a lovely day from France.
http://www.befrenchie.fr/en/
I also wanted to ask about the plates. The ilovetocreate site had mugs to buy, but no plates. Can you just use any old ceramic plates?
They Looks amazing! Very good idea to and some “soul” to the house 🙂
Me gustan mucho, de hecho el otro día hice un post en mi blog sobre platos de cerámica pintados con rotuladores porcelánicos. Pero una de mis seguidores me hizo una pregunta que me hizo dudar. Pueden resultar tóxicos si se les pone comida caliente sobre las pinturas?. Espero que vosotras sepáis la respuesta, yo tengo mis dudas también¡¡ Gracias¡¡ 😉
Love the eye cups, and your patterns
I got these from Target.
xx! Elsie
Fun idea!
Elsie
Target! 🙂
xx- elsie
I’m in LOVE! Thank you Elsie for sharing this! I’d be oh-so-happy to receive a handmade painted dish set as a gift during the holidays. I’m sure a lot of my friends who love to host will also appreciate such a gift.
I’m definitely going to have to bookmark this as a great holiday gift idea. Even non-crafty people like me could probably pull something like this off with reasonable success!
LOVE this so much!!! Thank you for amazing diy projects!
♥ Heather
I think this is a really good idea for your shop! I would be all over this.
So inspiring! Love the simple black stripes on the white.
I used a sharpie oil based paint pen to decorate a mug, but even after baking and hand washing, some of the ink starts to scratch off. Anyone experience this or have any tips? I see Elsie is using a different brand of pen here, maybe that’s the answer.
These dishes turned out gorgeous! I can’t wait to try to make some myself. I think these would make a great a gift for the holidays.
-Helen
http://www.sweethelengrace.com
Love this idea!
Those are so cute, I love the colour explosion on the edge of the plate in combination with the black and white graphic details in the middle. Almost too pretty to eat from!
https://www.makeandmess.com/
Oh wow! It looks so so good. I have always been on the fence with ceramic or glass markers but the results with these ones, expecially the black marker, looks so neat and profesionnal! I will definitaly try this type of project soon!
Thanks for sharing!
I love how these turned out! The shape of the plates you chose is beautiful, too!
wow such an amazing idea! It looks gorgeous
I’ve done this before and the results didn’t last. Any tips?
wow they look amazing!
http://ohlalablogpt.blogspot.pt
This is such a great idea and so personal! Would make great gifts too!
http://sprinkleofroses.blogspot.co.uk/
These are so cute!! I love the colors and design!
XO, Jillian
http://rhymeandreason-jillian.com/
Wow, very impressive! And super creative 🙂
Ahhh I love this idea! This would be such a fun way to create a set of holiday dishes – and much cheaper than buying a collection from a store! Beautiful job!
This is such a cute little craft http://www.hannamarielei.com
Where did you get the gold flatware?
These are stunning – what’s the dishwasher situation do you think… have you tried?
super fun idea! I love anthropologie’s plates and this is a fun way to do your own designs 🙂
http://floatingthrufields.blogspot.com/
I love this, once tried with Sharpie but the ink would go away when washing… please give us an update of how these ones result! — Thanks for sharing
Ahhhh must try! Elsie have you changed your hair? I love it! 😉
Looks beautiful! It would be fun to know how they last… You`ll probably wash them by hand:)
Oh how I wish I had seen this FOREVER ago! I love decorating my own dish ware but have such a hard time finding plain white dishes. The site that you got the markers from is awesome and I’m sure will be getting a lot of my money in the near future for Xmas gift making…
I love those eye mugs! This is such an inventive idea!
Steph – http://nourishmeclean.blogspot.com
so adorable! I can never find the dishes I want in stores (for a reasonable price)–I can’t wait to try this!
I love Jeremy’s sweater! Where is it from??
How do these hold up? I have done painted mugs before and the writing fades quickly. Am I doing something wrong?
Great Idea!Thanks!
so the plates are not special….they’re regular plates that you use the special markers on.Right? ( I have a 5 year old grand daughter that I could work with to make some special plates for her parents!)
This DIY is so cute and adorable! Love it<3
This is very pretty, but the company that sells these market does not vouch for them to be safe when used in other ceramic but their own ‘PaintedByMe mugs’, and this should be clearly stated to the public.
Thanks for sharing! I love this idea. I’m thinking of making these as a Christmas present for my sister. Is your flatware vintage? I love the gold.
Can these be washed as well?
I love this look! It’s crazy how a couple changes made such a HUGE difference. I want a bigger dresser for my room and this might be Embankment Stair the perfect thing! Also, thanks for organization tips!