I Made This: Polka Dot Tablecloth

A friend of mine recently gave me the most adorable polka dotted notebook, and upon giving it to me, she said, “It just reminded me of you, since polka dots are your thing.” I was kind of…confused. Until I looked at my blog’s background, my favorite scarf and my newest favorite shirt.

Polka dots as my “thing?” I’ll allow it.

Ever since I saw this Confetti Tablecloth DIY on Oh Happy Day, I’ve wanted to make one. I was describing it to Andrew and when he saw it, he said, “That’s not confetti, it’s polka dots!” I sort of had to agree.

Here’s what you need to make one of your own:

• A tablecloth. Obviously. I bought a round white one at Target since our kitchen table is round.
• Craft paint, in any colors you prefer that look cute together. The colors in the tutorial above are more “jewel toned” but I went for brights.
• A circle punch or some sort of circle stencil and some paper to punch it through and create your stencil.
• Spongey brushes.

What you don’t need:

A cat who really, really likes to walk through paint. Poor Harry had to be relegated to the bathroom for this project because if I’ve learned anything in seven years of being his mommy, it’s that he cannot resist the siren song of paint in his paws.

Start by cutting out your circle templates:

Next, put your paint on a super fancy palette, like mine. Then start randomly painting polka dots. I didn’t really follow a rhyme or reason, because I wanted them to be scattered. I do have more pink dots than any other because I like pink best, so hey, why not? But I basically tried to scatter them all over, and get between 5-7 of each color. Do one color at a time, and rinse your brush between colors:

Your finished product will start coming together. You might have to go back and add a few dots once you’ve covered more of the area and can see where you’re lacking certain colors. Let it all dry and then…

Final totally optional step? Fail at awkwardly staging a tea time type situation:

Whatever! My weird staging might not have worked out, but this tablecloth still makes me very, very happy.