DIY Paw Print LOVE Plate

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If you’ve ever wondered if I’m crazy, let me go ahead and solve that riddle for you: I am.

I don’t really know what possessed me, on a whim, on a random Thursday night to get out paint and try to work with the dogs on a craft. I’m tired. They’re tired. The carpets are beige. It’s basically a recipe for heartache and strife, amiright? Plus like, legit, I’ve already learned this lesson. Trying to get a print of these monster’s paws is like trying to nail jello to a tree. 

It was totally worth it though, I am so in love with our new paw print plate.

Here’s what you need:

• Enamel Paint (I used Plaid brand)
• Paint tray
• Plate
• Paint brush (The one I used was about 1/4″ wide and flat)
• A co-operative dog

OK, so I’m going to start this out with a warning, y’all.

**This craft is best attempted with a dog that doesn’t mind their paws being handled.** If your dog hates getting their nails done like poison and recoils in horror when you touch their foot, they are going to fight you like a rabid badger if you try this. Now is a good time for you to circle back, save this post for another day and maybe check out this article from Dogmantics on desensitizing your dog to paw handling.

If you’re like me and you’re all “Naw, I got this, Boo” even though you may or may not actually got this, here’s how you do it.

1. Clean your dogs paw pad with a damp rag. If they are fluffy, trim excess hair or you’ll make one heck of a mess.

2. Place a small amount of paint in your paint tray. Like a SMALL amount. I used too much. 

3. Use the paint brush to spread the paint into a thing layer a little larger than your dog’s paw. Set paint brush aside in a location that it will not IMMEDIATELY get all up in Felix’s fur. Curse freely if he gets into anyway.

4. Press your dog’s paw into the paint firmly and without letting them step all over your pants, your face and the beige carpet,  press your dog’s paw firmly onto your plate. Try to place it centered on the height and left of center on the width – or you know, if your dog is coming at you like a spider monkey, where ever on the plate you can make contact.

5. Allow the paw print to dry fully. The last thing you want after you wrassled your dog like an alligator is to smudge the darn thing when you add the lettering.

6. Lightly sketch your lettering onto the glass with a thin pencil. You’ll BARELY be able to see it and it wipes off SO EASILY, but it will give you a faint line to follow with the paint brush.

7. Dip your brush in the paint, blot off the excess and paint the “l” onto the plate. I got the best results by starting at the base of the “l”  then dragging the brush up and around off the edge of the plate. 

8. Get more paint on your brush and add the “ve” to your plate, again dragging your brush off the right edge.

**PRO TIP** If you want to practice this a couple times, cover the plate in plastic wrap, letter, thn wipe off paint. Repeat until you’re comfortable doing this in one fluid brush stroke.

9. Place the plate in a safe place to dry fully.

10. Display using a plate stand or plate hanger

Enamel paint isn’t exactly food-safe, so I don’t think I would use this plate to actually serve food and I totally wouldn’t EVER put it in the dishwasher, unless you want it to die a horrible death and leave tiny paint flecks all over your dishwasher and its contents.

OK, OK! I got your emails. I GET IT. Not everyone feels super crafty. 

Like, ok, I beleive in you and I think you totally got this, but if you really, really  aren’t coordinated enough to hand letter, you could also add the wording with a vinyl decal. If you’re interested in one, I’m happy to cut and send one to any of you who are interested. I have like 32 colours of vinyl or something ridiculous like that, so you’d have choices. Vinyl isn’t crazy expensive, so you’d be looking at $12 per decal, including regular mail shipping in US/Canada. I can list it on the Love, Felix Etsy shop if anyone wants one <3

Do you think your dog would be down for the crafts or is this one going to be a battle royale?

Have you ever taken you dog’s paw print in paint or ink? What did you do with it?