Jul
10

DIY Splatter Paint Popsicle Stick Runner

Last Saturday, I hosted a baby shower for my friend Jenn, who is having her first baby in September. It was a lot of fun to throw, and it turned out super cute! I planned it with my friends Ellen and Renae, who both posted about the shower on their blogs today too. Our theme was "about to pop," so we picked food and decor elements that had the word "pop" in them. We served lemon poppyseed cake, popsicles, white chocolate confetti popcorn, and soda pop, and for favors we put a push pop full of candy at each place setting. I painted soda pop bottles in our colors (pink, yellow, orange, and aqua), and we filled them with flowers from the farmer's market for the centerpiece. I loved how everything came together, but my favorite detail (which I'm sharing instructions for today) was the popsicle stick runner!

Splatter paint popsicle stick runner | At Home in Love

I was inspired by this runner, but instead of painting all the sticks individually, I decided to try splatter painting! It was a lot of fun, and a lot less time consuming than painting each and every popsicle stick. Plus, I think it fit the theme better.

DIY instructions for a popsicle stick runner | At Home in Love

The first thing I did was to arrange the popsicle sticks on my table. I left room for a place setting at each end, and I purposely didn't line the popsicle sticks up perfectly. Once I had an arrangement I liked, I used blue painter's tape to connect them. I did long strips down each row, then little pieces of tape intermittently connecting the two rows. As you can see, I wasn't very scientific about this...it's the back side anyways. I set out lots of paper bags outside and laid my assembled runner on top of them (tape side down). I'd recommend laying down more paper than you think you'll need and wearing clothes that you don't care much about, because the paint will get everywhere!

Splatter paint

For the paint itself, I used acrylic paint diluted with a little bit of water to make it more runny. Don't add too much water--just a splash so that the paint will drip off the brush freely. The splattering part was super fun! It's supposed to look messy, so I just went for it and tried some different techniques. Holding the brush a few feet above the runner creates a nice round splash when the paint drips off. Flicking your wrist (a little closer to the runner) makes streaks that look like little comets. I think a mix of both methods worked well.

Splatter paint runner & painted soda bottles for vases

After I finished using each color for splattering, I painted a few soda bottles with the remaining paint in the jar. I liked how it left the bottles a little streaky and painterly.

"About to pop" baby shower ideas

On the day of the shower, we laid down kraft paper, then put the runner and bottles on top of that. We also made garlands (like the one on the back of the chair) by punching out circles from paint chips. It's kind of a genius idea, if I do say so myself...paint chips are free and you can get them in every color! We also hung some of the paint chip circles from my dining room light. You may remember my post on stripped shades--I finally put mine up! I decided to wrap it with fabric strips...for now anyways.

"About to pop" baby shower with lots of bright colors & painterly details

Splatter paint popsicle stick runner

Splatter paint DIY runner

Have you ever tried splatter painting something? Even if you don't do a popsicle stick runner, I'd totally recommend giving splatter paint a try. I can see this looking awesome on pillows, a tablecloth, some dinner napkins, etc.

See more details from our shower (including our cute DIY onesies) in Renae's post and Ellen's post.

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  1. Posted by Jenn V on Wednesday, July 10th, 2013

    Thanks so much for the shower. It was awesome! Great photos, Aileen!
    • Posted by Aileen on Wednesday, July 10th, 2013

      You're welcome :)
  2. Posted by kelsey on Wednesday, July 10th, 2013

    this is so colorful and fantastic!
    kw ladies in navy
  3. Posted by Debbie on Wednesday, July 10th, 2013

    Wow! That table runner is awesome. What a great idea. All the decor, and the great sentiment from friends makes my heart so happy. A big thank you from Jenn's mom!
    • Posted by Aileen on Wednesday, July 10th, 2013

      Aww, thanks Debbie! It was so much fun to put together, and we are all so excited for Jenn!
  4. Posted by steph | stuff steph does on Wednesday, July 10th, 2013

    Such an ADORABLE shower! Love the theme, love the decor, and the table runner was a great touch.
    • Posted by Aileen on Wednesday, July 10th, 2013

      Thank you!!
  5. Posted by Diane on Monday, July 15th, 2013

    I am loving this! What a great idea - thanks for sharing. I might try to make a wall piece with this idea!
    • Posted by Aileen on Monday, July 15th, 2013

      Ooh, something splatter painted would be fantastic on the wall!
  6. Posted by Lizzy on Thursday, March 6th, 2014

    I LOVE this DIY but mainly because last summer for 4-H I attempted a Popsicle stick table runner myself! I made mine glow in the dark and colorful like urs the reason I made it glow in the dark is because I wanted us to have a table runner when we go camping
    So glow in the dark was just perfect for that. I did hot glue mine to felt though the only problem I face is storeing it can be difficult ...super cute btw!
    • Posted by Aileen on Friday, March 7th, 2014

      Ooh, a glow in the dark runner--FUN! That's an awesome idea for camping.
  7. Posted by Angela on Monday, August 7th, 2017

    super genial! A faire même avec la complicité des enfants. Matériel pas cher pour petit budget. Merci pour l'astuce
  8. Posted by Cassie on Saturday, October 20th, 2018

    Love Love Love! What kind of bottles did you use?
    • Posted by Aileen on Monday, October 22nd, 2018

      Mostly empty soda bottles & salad dressing bottles...just whatever I had in recycling from the past few months!
  9. Posted by Audrey on Monday, December 3rd, 2018

    So cute! I love this, splatter art is my fave! My daughters love using this every night they can manage it,
  10. Posted by Audrey on Monday, December 3rd, 2018

    I love it but, my favorite version I made was one with colored popsicle sticks, you should try it!
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