DIY Monogrammed Jewelry Dish

On Friday, I shared how I monogrammed thrift store gloves. I was on such a monogramming kick that I decided to personalize something for another niece, Myah (age 14). I bought her some adorable vintage jewelry at the same store where I found the gloves, but I needed something to add to the gift bag. I just couldn't think of anything that made me happy until I rediscovered a ceramic decorative basket thing. My aunt had given it to me when she was passing along a ton of beautiful furniture, but the style didn't really work for me. The basket had been hiding out behind some picture frames on my bookshelf, totally forgotten.

This project was super easy. I already had the gold spray paint on hand and I used a 50% off coupon to buy the blue Martha Stewart extra fine glitter from Michaels. I also brought along an extra coupon and J to get the mod podge 50% off as well.

First, I spray painted my ceramic dish using lots of light coats and allowing for drying time. Because I am forgetful, this spray painting step took a few days. I also ended up covered in spray paint because the crevices were impossible to get on the basket without me holding the dish in one hand while spraying with the other.

Once the spray painting was done, it was time to create my stencil. I used the same method as I did for the glove stencil. I found a font that I liked for the letter, which happened to be M this time around, and then traced it onto tissue paper that I held on my laptop screen. For this letter, I used the google font Parisienne. It is scripty and pretty, but not too fancy. You have to keep in mind the cutting and tracing when choosing your stencil font. I positioned and taped the stencil onto the dish, and then traced around the edges. Keep in mind that when working with glitter, you do not have to be perfect.

Then the fun began! I love love love working with glitter. I wanted to keep the glitter pretty low to the surface since Myah will be using this dish to hold jewelry, so I used a thin layer of of mod podge. Because the layers were thin, I had to work in small sections. Very small.

Once that section dried, I dumped the excess glitter onto a piece of paper to reuse. I repeated this process until I had most of the M glittered. As you can see in the picture below, I had gaps between my glittered bits for the first go around. This is because I did not want to disturb the already laid down glitter with my paint brush. Once it was all dry, I was able to go back and fill in my gaps along with any spots that were a bit too thin on glitter (like the curly bit on the left side of the M). I also used this time to straighten out any crooked bits. You can paint mod podge over the dried glitter and just dump more glitter on top. Isn't it great to have a project that isn't based on perfection?

I am super thrilled with the end result. And more importantly, Myah loved it as well! I did not use any sealers to protect the glitter because they tend to make the glitter less glittery. I figure her tastes will change before the dish gets too scratched up. She is only 14 years old, after all. And the jewelry in the picture is what I found in the thrift store. The bracelet and dangly earrings coordinate and I couldn't pass up a $1 pair of earrings with M's on them!

Enjoy this post? Check out our other DIY projects or read about my very first attempt at beading monogrammed gloves!