It’s a Cinch – DIY Music Lyric Plate

Make a Music Lyric Plate - the perfect gift! kellyelko.com

To know me is the realize that I will only do an easy craft.

If it involves anything requiring the least amount of patience, I’m out.

My Music Lyric plate fits the bill – it took me less than 5 minutes!

$2 DIY Song Lyric Plate - personalize for any occasion (the perfect gift)! kellyelko.com

I was inspired by this Halloween plate from Brooklyn Limestone where she wrote the words from The Raven.

$2 DIY Song Lyric Plate - personalize for any occasion! kellyelko.com

My plate is for The Hubs who, being from Jersey, is a true Springsteen devotee.
So of course I had to write the lyrics from Born to Run.

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How to Make a Personalized Song Lyric Plate

* Dollar Store White Ceramic Plates ($1 each)
* Porcelain or Vitrea Marker 
(I used Vitrea – it’s for glass but worked perfectly on the plates and they can also go in dishwasher) 
* Painters Tape

P.S. if you don’t want to make your own plates, these black and white Christmas plates are a gorgeous alternative.

$2 DIY Song Lyric Plate - personalize for any occasion! kellyelko.com

* I put blue painters tape across the plate as a guide and moved the piece of tape down when I finished a line.

* I only used the rim of the plate but you could write across the whole surface if you like.

$2 DIY Song Lyric Plate - personalize for any occasion! kellyelko.com

The Porcelain marker directions say to wait 24 hours for the plate to dry then bake it in the oven at 300 for 40 minutes.

I plan to make three more plates with my (and my girls) favorite lyrics
(I foresee some Bieber & Taylor Swift)!

So for $7, I have 4 personalized plates that took less than 20 minutes.

$2 DIY Song Lyric Plate - personalize for any occasion! kellyelko.com

Baby, I was born to run – and so are you (to the Dollar Store & Michael’s)!

Great news – see how my song lyric plate has held up to hundreds of trips in and out of the dishwasher here.

Want more ideas – check out all off my Simple Projects.

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254 Comments

  1. i LOVE this project!!!! oh the possibilities!!!! i sure have tons of plates and i have the markers and…well i guess i have no excuses…i have to get to it since it is a CINCH!!!! you rock my friend!!!! : ) hugs…

  2. Pinned it, tweeted it, I’m clearly in love with the idea. The down side for me is I have awful handwriting, like incredibly bad. I’m thankful that by the time I got to architecture school everything was on the computer so I didn’t have to fail at hand-lettering:) Maybe I’ll bribe someone with nicer script to come do it for me…

    1. Thanks for the pin/tweet!
      Just consider your handwriting “artsy” and if anyone questions, look down your nose in disgust!

      I don’t think my handwriting is great – a bit illegible but it works! (I’ll write yours – just say the word)!

  3. That is totally AWESOME. Sorry, the Valley girl showed up. Anyhow… LOVE them. Super cool idea. And so customizable. Yes, that’s a word. Because I said.

  4. What a lovely idea – would be great as a wedding gift – say all the bridesmaids and groomsmen writing a message to the bride and groom as a keepsake. Thanks for sharing!

    1. Kristi,
      I thought my handwriting was kind of sloppy – I’ll call it artsy!! Can’t compare to Brooklyn Limestone’s version!
      Testing out my new auto response (that you taught me)! Let me know if you receive this automated message.
      Kelly

  5. Glad you liked it.

    Have you tested it out in the wash? I thought the vitrea paint was for clear glass only. Wondering if it works on ceramic as well as the porcelain one.

    1. Oops – it was the only marker in that section – I thought it was a different brand! It doesn’t say anywhere on the marker or package that it’s for glass! Will test it out and see how it washes and update my post with results. Thanks for letting me know!

  6. Kelly, this is just a genius idea!! I can see endless possibilities here. Pinning this next! I hope you will link this up next weekend. Don’t forget, I go to WordPress tomorrow! You will have to drop by to see my new look and my big announcement about a certain project at a certain magazine 🙂

    1. How exciting!! You’re such a tease!! Can’t wait to see what the big news is!
      Good luck with WP – if you need a great teacher – I know a gal who’s starting up video classes – she’s taught me so much already!
      Kelly

  7. These are so cute! I made bowls a few years ago and the paint is starting to come off a tiny bit, but we use them everyday. The writing is on the outside. Fun, cute and inexpensive- can’t beat that! I love that you used lyrics.

  8. Girls night out we got together and painted thrift store glassware last year for Christmas presents. I love your lyric plate idea and pens give you so much more control. Painting letters was sooooo difficult. So many gift ideas for the worded plate are swirling in my head. Will share and pin your awesome cinchy project:)

  9. Great idea! I love sentimental gifts and this would be perfect. I’d like to make something similar on a coffee mug! You have beautiful handwriting. 😉

  10. Hey Kelly- awesome idea, I’ve got to go thrifting to pick up some plates! I was clicking around your blog, wanted to let you know that your kitchen demijohns are supreme. Thanks for visiting for a song 🙂

  11. Cool! So great that you’re personalizing each plate with lyrics that each member of your family loves. Heck, you could personalize almost anything that’s ceramic and moderately flat!

  12. I think this would be so much fun to do as a family craft! I will be running like Bruce to those stores! Thanks for the inspiration and great idea!

  13. This is such a great idea with so many possibilities! We’d love for you to share this at our first ever Beautify It Monday link party going on right now!

    Bringingbeauty.blogspot.com

  14. I love this idea! I am getting a little bored with some plain white mugs and this is giving me an idea about jazzing them up!

    Happy to join one of your challenges again.

  15. Awesome!! This plate is so cool. And I’m with you…if a craft isn’t easy, it’s hard for me to even think about doing it. So this is right up my alley! I’d love to use a plate like this on my plate wall in my dining room. Thanks so much for the inspiration! 🙂

  16. We are going to make these at our craft group tonight!!! Not sure of how the handwriting is going to look as the wine bottles empty…lol… but it’s a cute idea! Thanks for sharing it.

  17. OK, seriously you just messed me up. I now have a thousand songs swirling in my head. lol. But seriously this is such a wonderful idea. These would make amazing gifts (After I make my own set of course). Now I just need to work on my hand writing. 🙂 I would love it if you could share this wonderful post at our WIW linky party. Hope to see you there.

    Paula
    Ivyandelephants.blogspot.com

  18. I’ll be featuring YOU tonight at {wow me} wednesday! You were one of the top ten most viewed links from last week’s party! Wahoo! 🙂 Thank you so much for sharing.

    Ginger @ gingersnapcrafts.com

  19. *fist pump* I’m from Jersey as well! This plate is awesome. I meant to do something like this for my sister’s bridal shower, I bought the plate just never bought the marker. It looks great.

  20. Hi Kelly! I hope you don’t mind but I’ve linked to this post from my blog (and used a picture too) as you inspired a project for a friend’s birthday present (also for my Wedding Anniversary, but I’ve not blogged about that yet as it’s a surprise for Mr.D!!) If it’s a problem, let me know and I’ll take the link down immediately. I love your song lyric plates, and I’m totally stealing the idea to write “our” song on a couple of dinner plates for our anniversary dinner!!!

  21. Just curious…which dollar store did you find the ceramic plates? I can’t seem to nail any down! Thanks for the tips! 🙂

  22. I love this. I have some beautiful white plates my Mom gave me last time I was at her house and I just hadn’t done anything with them. The outside is an open pattern so I was thinking chalk paint in the middle, but on second thought I like this much better.

      1. Pebeo specifically says their products are not for use on surfaces that will come in contact with food. I’d be wary of using the plates considering how close it would be to food (I know my food rarely stays off the rims of plates!). Would look beautiful as a charger or as a decorative wall hanging though!

  23. My friend Andrea is a big Green Day fan and all around music fan. She took up guitar a couple of years ago. Sadly she and her husband will be moving across the country in less than a month. This will be the perfect (simple and inexpensive) but so personal and meaningful going away gift for her. I think I will do two plates one with songs lyrics from her favourite group and one with mine. Bryan Adams is my all time fave and he has a song called You’ve Been a Friend to Me which I think is fitting.
    Thank you so much. Glad I found this.

  24. HOLIDAY TWIST:

    1. Write lyrics to favorite Holiday tune and include a plate of homemade cookies.

    2. Have kids write letter to Santa on the plate and use the plate for milk and cookies for him. Then display the previous plates as memories for the kids.

    3. grandparents: draw handprint of kid and include their writing around the plate.

  25. This is SO GREAT! We did a girls’ night in && this was one of the projects! I ended up writing Jack Johnson’ banana pancakes song on the plate && it’ll be perfect to serve, well, pancakes! 😀 Thank you!!

  26. I was wondering what part of the store you found this marker in? I went to hobby lobby and Michael’s with no luck in finding it and the employees didn’t help me at all. I really want to do this but couldn’t find the markers.

  27. I had NO idea this was possible and you have no idea how excited I am now! My daughter wants a tattoo of some of her favorite lyrics in my handwriting. Maybe she’ll take the plate instead?! 🙂

  28. This is such a great idea! Simple really is the best for me as well, since time is so limited by working and raising children.
    Hope you are having a wonderful Christmas!

  29. Hi, Kelly,
    I am linking to you in a round up I’m doing about great Valentine’s projects. I am linking to both this post and your site. If this is not okay with you, please just let me know. Love your project!
    Marty@Marty’s Musings

  30. Thought this would be a great b’day gift for my son (will be 44) – would write about the day he was born. SO, no luck at Dollar Tree or Dollar General on the plates and no luck city-wide on the Vitrea marker. With no time for ordering, I found plates at Target and Walmart and will have to use oil-based Sharpie markers. Off to compose! Thanks for the wonderful idea.

    1. I was thinking of doing this… I have a close friend who is getting married. I am going to use there wedding song!! LOVE IT!!

  31. I love your idea, my only problem is my handwriting. It’s terrible! Any suggestions as to how I could do this without my handwriting on it? Maybe Mod Podge?

  32. Thanks so very much for the Lyric Plate and etched glass ‘how tos’…..going to work on some projects for my son and new daughter’s wedding anniversary.

  33. I love this idea. I didn’t see in the directions what kind of Pen you used. I would love to do this for my daughter for her birthday. My husband passed away in December 2015, and I would love to do his favorite song on it for her birthday. I know she would love this. Thank you for a great idea. Sheri

  34. I love this and have already made some. Are there copyright laws about writing the song lyrics? I’ve tried researching it.

  35. I love the plate idea as a gift. I am going to make one for my 25th wedding anniversary as a gift for my husband on June 22nd. I also plan to have my kindergarten students make it as a Christmas gift for their parents. I purchased a large multi pack of colored Sharpies. They will offer a nice variety for kids. Thank you!!! 🙂

  36. I love this beautiful idea, thank you for sharing! I hate, however, that my handwriting will never look as pretty as yours does – but I’m going to try it! 🙂 Thanks again!

  37. My 2 sisters, myself, and our 3 wonderful husbands are renewing our vows in May ’17. I have been looking for something unique to do and thanks to you I found it! I will be writing our personalized vows on our plates as a gift to my sisters. Thanks so much! ?

  38. Thank you for this simple tip. I’m amazed at how one can make a ‘designer’ artsy plate in a heart beat! Personalized and perfect. !

  39. Love this idea! How did you plan out the spacing…I envision doing it…and having 5 more words I can’t fit…
    Thanks

  40. My 3 Year Old Granddaughter goes around Singing all of Her Favorite Nursery Rythms. I plan on doing Her Favorite ones for Her .There are sticker that can be Added, And are Dishwasher Safe , But I plan on Hers going on Her Bedroom Wall with Plate Hangers they will be Cute. I’m even Gonna let Her Help me .These will be wonderful Keepsakes for Her when She grown with Her own Children. She only 3 But real smart, And does real good in Kitchen with me , And other Crafts we have done together….Thank You so much I cannot wait to make these with Her.

  41. Hi Kelly! Before entering into this post it mentioned using black permanent markers but in your post it mentioned Vitrea. Can permanent markers be used too!

  42. I’ve been making the song lyric plates for the past 3 years for Christmas gifts. Everyone loves them. This year, I’m having a friend/family get together dinner and plan on trying this with small saucers (white, from the Dollar Store) and putting snowmen, holly, etc. around the edges and then filling them with some homemade goodies. I’m starting with 9 today and then I’ll have about 20 or so more to go. I love the idea and so has everyone I’ve made a plate for. I’ve given them to a 10 year old up to a 62 year old. Great gift, handmade and appreciated by everyone I’ve given them to.

  43. I painted a science on a plate with India ink once…came out great. Mom put it on display for over 10 years. Then one day she wiped it with a wet cloth to clean it! Clean it she did…so sad. Great to know about this project, thanks.

  44. For my sister in law a huge fan of the late great Tom Petty I foresee a number of desert plates coming her way ! This will be an epic Christmas gift! Thank you!

  45. What size Vitrea Marker did you use? I just ordered one that is 1.2 mm & it’s not fine enough to write on a plate rim. The site on Amazon didn’t offer different sizes either. Very disappointing. ?

    1. Jen – I did exactly what the pen directions said: The Porcelain marker directions say to wait 24 hours for the plate to dry then bake it in the oven at 300 for 40 minutes.

  46. Love this! I’ve been wanting to make a plate that says Happy Birthday around the rim! Now I can make it and my husband’s birthday is in one week!!

  47. Did this with my granddaughter for fathers day gifts. She drew pictures on the plates, so cute, but after we baked them, the colors faded quite a bit, in my opinion, looked so much better before we baked them

  48. Love this. Yours came out great. After you bake the plates do you have to put something like mod podge over them to protect them. Do you need to wait a certain amount of time before using them for them to cure.

  49. Wow. This is such an amazing idea. I am truly thrilled and so excited to make these. I am pinching pennies this year for Christmas, not anymore!!! I now have gifts to give everyone!! Who wouldn’t want their favorite song on a plate!!!

  50. How long and what temp should these be baked at? I see two didferent things and don’t want to meas it up!

  51. Hi! The plate I purchased doesn’t say oven safe. I’m hesitant to put it in the oven. Are your plates oven safe?

  52. It’s a good thing I clicked on the instructions. The pin says you can use a Sharpie, but you really need a special glass/plate marker

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