Anthro-inspired Plate Stand - For $2!

Oh my goodness, I'm so excited about this post!
Have you ever had a crafty "a-ha" moment? Mine happened on Saturday, when Kiddo and I took a spin through the Dollar Tree to find some inexpensive picture frames for an upcoming project. Right next to the frames were some display easels. Immediately, I remembered the cute crossed spoons plate stands I saw at Anthropologie during our girls' trip to New York City last summer.

Cute, right? But not worth the $20 splurge when I knew I could make it myself. With a huge grin on my face, I snagged a couple of those easels and some spoons from the kitchen section. At a total cost of $4.00 for two stands, I was beyond excited -- so much that as soon as Kiddo went down for his nap, I went right to work!
Here are the supplies I used:

• Display Easel 
• 2 spoons
• Hot Glue Gun 

That's it! Simple, right? Let's get started.

After removing all the adhesive from the spoons (which was a pain), I laid them out until I liked the way they looked. Then I glued them together with my hot glue gun.
You most definitely could use a stronger glue like gorilla glue, super glue, or E-6000, but my glue gun was most easily accessible. And it turned out to be a really good thing, since I was able to peel the glue off when I made a mistake. :)

After I glued the spoons together, I bent the back of the easel to make it a little more upright. I didn't want my plates to lean too far back.

And finally, I glued the spoons to the easel. To make it straight, I used a wet-erase marker to mark the where glue should go on the easel. After gluing on the spoons, I just dabbed the marks with a damp paper towel and it came right off.
I'll admit I went  a little crazy with the glue. To make sure everything stayed put, I put a dab of glue to stick the two together, and then a layer of glue over the top to seal it in. I probably used most of a glue stick just for one stand.

Here's the finished product!

So exciting! And to confirm that I am the messy creative type, this is what the rest of my work space looked like. I'm always working on becoming neater and more organized, but apparently, I have a long way to go.

After making my second plate stand, I got to the work of styling it for photos. As I've mentioned a few times before, decor and styling just doesn't come naturally to me. I knew I wanted them to go on my dining room hutch, which has been empty since after Christmas (YIKES!).

First, I put the plate stands in place. Then I placed the white ceramic berry basket in the middle, and added in some faux hydrangea blooms I had saved from our wedding. Very simple, but I think it works perfectly. Plus, it's far back enough on the shelf that it shouldn't be a temptation for my two-year-old.

The new display really completes the hutch. When it was all completed, I did a happy dance, and now every time I see it, I feel a little flutter of happiness...

And for $2 each - just ten percent of the Anthro version - I am beyond happy with the final product!