How to Make a Painted Table Runner

This is one of those projects that evolved as it progressed, and I just love the finished product! It’s also a project that’s just as fun to make as it is to display afterwards. Don’t you love that feeling when you make something and you think to yourself, “If I saw this on the shelf at a store I would totally buy it!” Best feeling ever. That’s how I feel about this painted table runner! It’s perfect for the holidays and winter in general — I love it under my holiday centerpiece.

So I’m going to level with you. I always have a hard time with stencils when I use them in my projects. I feel like they’re always slipping around or I can’t get the edges crisp. But I found these stencils from Martha Stewart Crafts that actually have a silkscreen on them with adhesive on the back, and it makes for the coolest stencil work. (I especially love how it looks with the winter branch motif that we created.) They’re easy to use and fully washable — I reused mine over and over during the project after washing.

How to Make a Painted Table Runner

Materials

• Martha Stewart Adhesive Silkscreen Stencil, Winter Greens
• Martha Stewart Family Friendly Multi-surface craft paint
• Foam pouncers
• Scissors
• Plain canvas cloth

Make Time: 1 Hour (Plus Drying Time)

Step 1: Start by cutting your canvas cloth to the size you’d like for your table runner. Ours is about 14″ x 60″.

Step 2: Choose your first stencil and gently cut it away from the rest of the sheet. Leave the white backing paper intact; you can use it to store your stencils later. Place the stencil down on the edge of the runner, load your pouncer with a bit of paint, and gently press the paint through the stencil’s silkscreen. Continue with this stencil all the way around your runner. Once you’re done with the stencil, rinse it and set it aside to dry.

Step 3: Use the same method described in Step 2 to repeat the process with a second type of stencil. This will begin to vary the types of branches used and create lots of texture.

Step 4: Repeat the process again, with a new branch and a lighter shade of paint. You’ll start overlapping branches here; this helps create depth in your project to really make it feel like a forest of branches!

Step 5: Repeat the process now with a lighter shade of paint (we used Champagne), in one of the stencils you used previously. Layer this stencil but let it hang off of the runner slightly so that it’s not completely covering the branches you previously painted.

Step 6: Use a pouncer to lightly go over some of the branches with a glitter paint. We used Sugar Cube Leaf Glitter to mimic the look of sparkly snow.

Step 7: Use a stencil and a pouncer to go over some of the branches with white paint to look like collected snow on leaves.

Step 8: Finally, use a small paintbrush to add some bright red dots throughout the branches, to look like berries.

Isn’t that awesome?! I think all of the layers are so interesting to create, and they really come together to create a lush, lovely project from totally simple materials. It looks perfect with a holiday centerpiece, or would be great on a buffet table at your next celebration! I’ll definitely be keeping this in our annual holiday decor rotation. Have fun! xoxo

This post is sponsored by Martha Stewart Paint and Plaid Crafts. Martha Stewart craft paint and stencils can be found exclusively at Michaels.