How to Decorate Tablecloths

Tablecloths are used to protect tables and add a decorative touch during the holidays, birthday dinners and Sunday brunches. A good quality tablecloth is an investment that can be enjoyed for many years to come. Give your tablecloth new life by painting decorative touches on your future family heirloom.

Instructions

1

Cut a potato in half. Keep both halves in case you do not like the first design you create.

2

Draw a design onto a piece of tracing paper. This design could be anything from a tree for Christmas to a cake for a child's birthday.

3

Place the tracing paper onto the flesh of the potato, making sure to center the design on the middle of the potato. Attach the paper with a piece of tape.

4

Cut the design you traced into the potato by carefully carving it with a utility knife approximately 1/2-inch deep. Cut away the sides of the potato about 1/2 inch around the design.

5

Pour a few ounces of paint into a shallow bowl or the lid of an ice cream pail.

6

Pull off the tracing paper and rinse the potato with cold water. Dry the potato with a paper towel. Rinsing the potato will ensure that the natural brown dye found in the skin of the potato does not run into your paint.

7

Dip the potato into the paint and place it firmly onto a piece of white paper. This will act as a test before you try your pattern on the tablecloth.

8

Lay the tablecloth onto the floor. This will allow you to make prints on the entire cloth.

9

Dip the potato into the paint and place it firmly onto the tablecloth. Continue to stamp the tablecloth with the potato until the desired effect has been reached.