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I have long been a fan of Cheeky and their colorful paper plates, cups, and napkins and when I heard that they were coming out with a porcelain dish line at Target, I was so excited! I reached out to them to see if they would be interested in partnering with me on a blog post where I could create a DIY to go along with their new dishes and they were on board. Woo-hoo!
I am seriously in love with Cheeky’s Memphis collection (something about the neutrality of the black and white stripes and that hint of light blue), so I created two patterns that coordinate with this collection all while bringing in my signature pop of color. And of course I had to add in a little DIY! This time in the form of a DIY patterned napkin ring using….wait for it….printable shrink paper! So follow along for a free paper placemat download and tutorial on how to DIY your own patterned napkin rings.
The Supplies:
- Free Printable Placemat 1 and 2 and Free Printable Napkin Ring Patterns
- Printable Ink Jet Shrink Paper (I used to use Shrinky Dink by Alex Toys but have had some issues with it not shrinking correctly lately, so I used the brand Mambi Makers for this tutorial)
- Small glass bottle to use as a mold for the napkin rings (I used a small soy sauce bottle I had on hand)
- Spray Shellac
- Ink jet printer, scissors, oven, oven mitt, cookie sheet, and brown paper bag cut to fit the cookie sheet
Begin by printing out the printable napkin ring pattern. I already aligned two napkin rings on one sheet and set the opacity to 70. The opacity needs to be less than 100 because when the shrink paper shrinks, the ppm becomes higher and the color deepens.
Once you have your napkin rings printed out, go ahead and cut them out making sure to slightly round the corners.
Now it is time to shrink them! You will want to preheat your oven to 325°F, then lay your cut napkin rings on the brown paper lined sheet pan. You will only want to shrink one napkin ring at a time so that you can ensure you have time to form it into a ring after it is shrunk. The shrink plastic cools and hardens quickly, so you have to work fast!
Place your cookie sheet in the oven and watch as your paper shrinks on up. As soon as it looks like it has fully shrunk (there may still be a few curled edges), open the oven, pull out the oven rack and tray and wrap the shrink paper around your bottle. Use your oven mitt covered hand to hold the napkin ring in place as it cools (about 10-15 seconds). As I mentioned you have to work quickly. So quickly that you don’t really have time to bring the tray up to the top of the oven. And the heat coming out of the open oven will yield you a bit more time.
If your napkin ring doesn’t get wrapped correctly, just place it back in the oven on its side and let it heat up again for another minute or two. Then reform it around the bottle.
Once you have them just the way you like, go ahead and spray them with the clear shellac to seal the patterned napkin ring.
For the placemats, you will want to print out two 8.5″ by 11″ sheets per placemat and either tape or glue them together along the 11″ side. Then you can use them under the plates for a nice pop of color.
I couldn’t decide on my favorite pattern, and I thought they both coordinated so well with the Cheeky Memphis collection, so I used both in my table setting. But feel free to use whichever pattern you like best. Or even use your own for a very custom napkin ring!
Have you all seen the new Cheeky porcelain dinnerware line at Target? If not, you really need to check them out, because not only are they pretty and printed with several classic colors and patterns, but for each dinnerware set that sells, Cheeky donates 16 meals to feed those in need. Now that is something to feel good about!
