Take Your Place

I wasn't going to post this project, solely because I never got the chance to take anything more than iPhone photos. But then I was talking about it with a friend the other day and realized that maybe it was worth sharing anyway - so without further ado, I present to you: our New Year's Eve tablescape.

This idea came from a really great hand-lettering book the fiancé gave me for Christmas. The second I saw this project, I knew I had to find a reason to try it out. And it just so happened that a mere 12 hours earlier, we had decided to host a ramen and dumplings dinner party for a few of our close friends on New Year's Eve (followed of course, by a Taylor Swift dance party and considerable champagne).

I popped over to FedEx and asked them to cut me about 6 feet of the kraft paper they use to wrap parcels. I'm not sure if the width is standard, but this particular roll was 3 feet wide, which was exactly the width of our table. You may need to cut your paper or lay two sheets side-by-side depending on your table and paper width.

I laid the paper out flat, taping the ends to the underside of the table. Because we were having ramen for dinner, I flipped a ramen bowl upside down at each plate and traced the outside lightly with a pencil. You could obviously do this with any type of plate. Just make sure they're evenly spaced! Then, I filled in each circle with black paint and let it dry overnight. The paint will wrinkle the paper somewhat but I didn't find it noticeable once the table was set.

The following day, I took a pencil and lightly wrote the name of each guest in cursive across the top of each circle. I think the names would also look really good in block letters or even simple printing.

With white paint and a thin paint brush, I traced over each name. And that's it!

Simple but impactful. Aaaaand now I'm craving dumplings again.