Mommas Like Me: DIY Tiered Plates {tutorial}

Ain't that the truth?!?

My list of crafty things I'd like to make is LONG. We're talking 68 {and counting} pins on Pinterest and another whole handwritten list...
LOOOONG.

I think if I were to craft non-stop for an entire month I still wouldn't be able to get through half my projects. Oh well, I'm sure I'll get to them eventually and it gives me something to look forward to doing, especially during the dreary winter months.

Today's project was one of the ones on my list that I couldn't wait to get to so I moved it to the top of the list {cause I like to be rebellious like that}.

Tiered Platters

I just love serving trays, pretty platters and cake stands so when I saw this project I knew I had to make some of my own.

It's super easy and inexpensive. To make both of these stands I only spent about $20. You could spend much less than that if you already had plates you wanted to use, I didn't, so I took a trip to good 'ol TJ Maxx and found these little cuties.

Ok, let's get to work!

Here's what you'll need

Plates {TJ Maxx}
Candlestick holders {dollar store}
Glue {JoAnn's}

**A note about the glue**
I was not particularly fond of this glue

As soon as I took the cap off it gushed out everywhere...ugh. It's true that it won't bond your skin which is good {I know because it got all over my hands}. Sometimes it would run out too fast and get everywhere and other times it had this sticky slimy stringy thing that wouldn't allow the glue to come out evenly. Anyways, I do not recommend this glue...it was a pain in the butt to work with. You do however want a glue that will work on glass, that is waterproof and dries clear. If you have a suggestion for a better glue for a project like this, please let me know.

Moving on...

Choose which plate you want on the bottom then find the center. You can be fancy and measure to find the center or you can be lazy like me and just guess. My bottom plate had rings on it so it made it a little easier to just guess.

Next, you want to take your candlestick and place glue around the bottom rim

Then turn it over and place it in the center of your bottom plate

Now if you are an impatient crafter like me, you're going to want to immediately glue on the next plate...

DON'T.

I made the mistake of not letting the glue dry first and accidentaly pulled the candlestick off the bottom plate and had to re-glue it. So, unlike me...

BE PATIENT.

Now then, once it's dry, place some glue around the top rim of the candlestick

Then place your second plate on top. Once again, I just guessed where the center was. The glue is pretty forgiving for the first couple minutes so you can move the plate around until you get it centered.

You can stop here if you only want two tiers, but I didn't want that cute yellow polka dot plate to be lonely so I added it on top repeating the same steps above. Just don't forget to let the glue dry in between steps!

Here it is all finished...

Yay! So cute!

So, the yellow polka dot plates actually came in a pack of four so I decided to make another tiered platter with the rest. The process is the same, except that since these plates were smaller I flipped the candle sticks upside-down to make more room on the plates. I flipped the plate over and glued the larger end of the candlestick to the underside of the plate

When dry, place glue on the small side of the candlestick holder, flip over and place on the topside of another plate in the center

See how there is more room on the plate by putting the smaller end of the candlestick down first? I repeated this process once more so that I had 3 tiers.
Here's what it looks like...