Just a little something I whipped up

with some inspiration from this beautiful site here.

My sister is having an "I got married last summer" reception here on Friday, and wants to do a vintage theme. Most everything we are using for decorating/serving we are raiding from my Grandma's house. Unfortunately, tiered dessert trays are not something my Grandma has and they are ridiculously expensive, even at a thrift store ($45 dollars!) So my Mom and I decided to make some.

We turned all this......

in to this.....

You will need
plates - we found all our plates at the thrift store, most of which cost a whopping 50 cents!

 candle sticks - again from the thrift store. Depending on what style of tier you want to do, will dictate what you are looking for here. We used short glass ones for a low base,

and taller brass and silver ones for the actual tiers.

Glass ones were about 25-50 cents, brass/silver $2

Epoxy glue (clear drying is best) - this you shouldn't get from the thrift store. Walmart is a safer bet. This was a splurge at $8/bottle - we were able to make 7 tiered plates (3-3tiered, 3-2 tiered, and 1 cake platter with 1 1/4 small bottles of epoxy)

tinfoil, Popsicle sticks - for mixing and spreading the glue. Plan to use a few of these, especially if you are using quick drying epoxy

Once you've gathered everything, and have decided which plates and candle sticks you want together, you are ready to go.

Mix the glue on a piece of tinfoil as per instructions on the bottle.

Spread on the candle sticks

Place on the bottom on the plates and allow to dry (again follow instructions on glue for drying times).

Once dry, attach the tiers together, one at a time allowing to dry in between.

Voila! You have some beautiful tiered plates for between $2-$7!

Helpful Hints:

If you are making several tiered plates like me, you may want to use a slow drying epoxy so you have more time to glue everything before your glue dries. Unless of course you are impatient like me, then just get the fast drying glue, mix small amounts at a time and work really fast!

You may want to mark the center of each plate using a ruler so that the candle sticks end up in the center. Unless of course you are like me, and couldn't be bothered, then just eyeball it and hope for the best.

You may want to do this without any help from children - the fumes from the glue seems to induce tantrums of epic proportions....you know, just sayin',
theoretically of course

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