DIY Handpainted Snowman Christmas Cookie Platter

If you’re an avid painted you’re probably all like, I got this! If you’re new to painting you might be thinking, Me? Paint glass? Permanently?! But the truth is if you have at least one hand (and if you don’t, don’t let that stop you!) and a couple of paint brushes, you can make your own DIY Handpainted Snowman Christmas Cookie Platter. I’ve even included a FREE printable image painting guide!

So first things first, you’ll need a few supplies. And you’ll actually need a couple more things than your hands and some brushes. But not much more.

Supplies:

• Glass plate – a dollar store is a great place to find one. Mine is approx 11″ in diameter
• DecoArt Americana Multi-surface paints
• Paint brushes – I used one small pointy one, one small flat edge, one medium flat edge and one large flat edged brush. The kind you get in a craft pack.
• Rubbing alcohol – for cleaning the glass prior to painting
• Paper towels – as a cleaning cloth
• Printer – or some way to print out the Snowman Image (<–Click this link, right click on image, save & print)

Colors I used:

• Black Tie – for hat & coal
• Lipstick – for hat trim & scarf
• Shrimp – for carrot nose
• Cotton Ball -for snowman & snowflakes
• Jade – for background color

After you’ve printed your image place it on the inside of your plate, tape it in place and turn your plate upside down. You will actually be applying the paint to the bottom of your plate. My plate is a little over 11″ in diameter. For that reason, I made this image approx 8″ x 9″. If that’s too big or too small you can adjust that prior to printing.

An important note about the image: The image I have provided for you to download is already an inverted, mirror-image. All that means is, once you flip the plate back over and view it from the top, the image will appear just as it should.

After affixing your image to the inside of the plate and flipping it over, clean the bottom with a lint free paper towel and rubbing alcohol to the entire surface you intend to paint. Allow to dry.

Your first steps are to paint the nose, hat sash, scarf…

The hat, eyes, and buttons.

You will be tempted to glop on the paint since it will appear thin.

DO. NOT. DO. IT.

It’s pretty quick to dry so just apply thin coats and reapply to reach desired coverage. I applied 4 coats of each color.

Again, it’s pretty quick to dry so I just walked away and did other things while I waited for it to dry.

Your next step is to paint the snowman and snowflakes. Here’s where it might look a little confusing. Since you won’t be viewing your snowman from the bottom there’s no need to paint around his small nose, eyes, and buttons. Just paint that entire area in. Again, another 3 – 4 coats. At this point I allowed it to dry overnight.

The next day, flip your plate over and view it from the top to check and see if there are any gaps in your paint job. If so, fill those in, allow to dry thoroughly before moving on to the final painting step.

Your final painting step is to add your background color. Place your plate upside, again, this time on top of something to lift it up.

Paint the entire outside of your plate, 3 – 4 coats, allowing to dry in between.

Then flip it over and check it out. I mean, it’s SO cute, am I right?

Give it 4 days to air cure. After your patience, you’ll be rewarded with an adorable, one of a kind, top-rack dishwasher safe cookie platter. Yay, you!

After you’ve given your platter at least 4 full days to cure, pop it into a NON-preheated oven. Bake 30 mins at 325. Cool with oven door open.

If you’re not interested in your platter being dishwasher safe you’ll need to allow it to air cure for 7 days instead.

I. Am. In. Love.

Santa will be having his cookies on a brand new, one of a kind, I-did-it-myself Snowman Cookie Platter!

The best part is this is a project that anyone can do! You could even get the kids in on it.

Want to make dessert plates instead? Go for it! The possibilities are endless. You could even do several all at once. You’ll want to plan ahead about a week from start to finish. Day 1: Painting snowman and snowflakes, Day 2: Painting background and Days 3 – 7: air cure then bake on the 7th day.

So what do you think? Are you game for hand painting your own plates or platters this year?