Welcome, Purplemoon! I have never made a stacking plate, so I would be the last to give you advice.
That is too bad about Target, I think they have a problem with packing from what I have read on their site and from personal experience, however they were very nice and sent a new item out to me immediately and arranged for pick up of the damaged.
Although I have been a member of THS for years, I only popped in to this forum once in a while. It was usually very quiet, but now we have lots to talk about.
I am sure the others will give you some tips, but I just wanted to welcome you.

Hi Purplemoon, I know you from Garden Junk. So glad you came over and are joining us in our pursuit of learning to make stacked plates, pretty vignettes, and luscious looking tablesettings for holidays and other days as well.

So sorry about your order from Target--but glad you were able to salvage them. I haven't ordered any--I just used some plates I had on hand and used florist clay to hold them temporairly. Someone said hot glue will work too--and of course, we Garden Junkers know that if we want them together permanently--we use GE Silicone II, right? ;o)

So glad your DIL is interested in doing the stacked plates too--that will make it fun for both of you, and you can even shop for accessories together. I don't know about you, but mine are a work in progress, and I plan to keep collecting more items to use and playing with mine to try to get them looking luscious like Judith's.

Glad you joined in, and hope you'll keep coming back to chat with us.

Luvs

Purplemoon, Welcome to the madness! lol Yes, Judith has really started something with her stacking plates and we love her for it.

Sorry to hear about your experience with the broken plates from Target, but it turned out pretty good. And Luvs is so right, you and your DIL will have so much fun doing these.

I think you are off to a great start with your plates. I love how you have your red roses hanging over and the red garland. I would love to see a closeup of your garland. What is it please?

I'm sure you'll have great ideas to share with us all and we look forward to it.

Thank all of you for the 'welcome'. And Sandy, glad you liked the red roses hanging over side. I had second thoughts about that after seeing my photos . I tried to get close up of the garland for you. It's beads and shiny hearts, from Michaels. They have something similar for St Patricks too.
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Karen

On of the reasons I joined was because of Judith's beautiful creations and the pics of other talented people who post.
My target story - after xmas I ordered a large topiary on clearance. A few days later I get a small box, I thought, well maybe it's the base. It was a lacquered bowl from Vietnam. I called and they said the topiary was no longer avaiable and asked me it I wanted to go on a wait list. I said okay and they told me to keep the bowl. I found it at their website and it's $19.99. So a few days later I get a big box from target and it's the topiary.

If you have pets or children and you want a temporary gluing solution - it's called Museum Wax. I first heard about after California earthquakes and how they use this glue this to secure items in surfaces. It holds well and can be removered without causing damage. I have various decorative pots w/saucers,If I fill them with faux plants I glue the saucer. Then when I decide to put live plants I can take them apart. If you have something with a lid on display, you can glue it also.

Here is a link that might be useful: Museum Wax

Here's another link - I linked to the wrong site.

Here is a link that might be useful: Museum Wax

Karen, Uh-oh! Now I have to go to Michael's and buy the garland for St Paddy's Day. Poor, poor DH! LOL I love your red garland for Valentine's, but I'm using pink so I can't use the red garland. Isn't it strange that we design something we see so many more details when we take pics?

Chijim, What a great story about Target. That is certainly wonderful "customer service". I hope you really like the lacquered bowl also. And thank you for the tip on the museum wax. I'm going to check the site now.

Welcome purplemoon to the lovers of plates and all things decorative for the home. I first "met" Judith after seeing her stacking thread. I did a pedestal for my daughter's sweet 16 with the much appreciated support and emails back and forth with Judith. She's a dream. You will find the gals on this forum very helpful and also very, very nice.

I bought my pedestals from Target.com, but with no problems. Sorry you had such a problem with yours. However, I did have a problem before Christmas with some stemware and I thought that Target would be difficult to deal with. They were not. I had all glasses replaced before the holiday and was told to keep what was not broken in the two sets I received. It was very decent since now I have some "extras" in case of breakage!

I used a glue gun on my daughter's pedestal and also that wax that use for sticking a candle into a stick, it's gummy wax. I don't know the brand name.

Any event, welcome it is nice to have another creative voice participating.

P.S. Your valentine stack is beautiful. I am just starting my VD table. Last night I was up in the attic looking around for ideas:-0. I may even post a pic on the valentine deocrating thread if my floors are laid before the day since my d/r table is now covered with books, etc. from my office in anticipation of installation on Wednesday. Any positive thoughts in that regard from all of you gals would be appreciated!!!

I went back and looked at Judith's "stackers" for about the 40th time, and also the lovely Valentine one Tamgypsy recently posted. I definitely need a LOT of practice , mine looks so sparse and bare which I didn't realize when I did it. DH will be shocked to hear I didn't buy enough stuff. LOL. I'll have to get busy finding more stuff for ST Paddy's. Especially flowers of some kind, silk of course. Back to Michaels soon!!!!
Karen

Welcome purplemoon...and welcome to the 'dish-a-holics' ...:)
Thank you for the compliment, I am just learning how to do this myself. The valentines one is my second attempt at this (I did a silver 'winter' themed one before) and I used a silver tiered tray for it. I wanted to see how easy or hard it would be before I bought the stacking plates and I actually received mine last week and I think I may try to use it for Easter.
With the valentines one I struggled with fillers...I used tops of white and red silk roses...to take up some of the empty spots...I wanted to add some cherubs but had not luck finding them...maybe little tied bows or red foil wrapped valentines candy...could be a filler fairly cheap...I reused some red things that I use for christmas which helped not having to buy everything new....Joann's here has a sale on there valentines stuff...they had little crocket looking ornaments and such....
Maybe Judith will have some suggestions and ideas for you...I am no expert on stacking plates by any means and just wanted to welcome you...:)

purplemoon, I wanted more green carnations for my stacking plates and tree for St Paddy's. I found some for $1 each. Too much considering how many I need so I went to the dollar store and bought white ones and painted them green and added some gold glitter. I use the regular acrylic paints from Walmart mixed with quite a bit of water if I want the flowers to stay soft and if I want them to be kind of ceramic looking I don't add water to the paint. Just an idea.

Sandi, you are a true "crafter"--what a great idea on painting the flowers. I think that is a wonderful idea, but would never have thought about it on my own. Great idea!

Purplemoon, sometimes you can reuse Christmas ornaments or decorations for other holidays too. That way you don't have to purchase so many new things each time you want to do the stacked plates for a holiday. I know I reused my grapes and gold glitter leaves on mine.

Hope you are having lots of fun doing it. Luvs

Luvs, shhhh don't let my DH hear you say I don't have to purchase new things . Actually all my Xmas decor is very packed away in storeroom, in the back now, so be real pain to get to it. But will be fun next season to see what I have there to use!
My darling DIL just finished her first stacker, she said with the help of her two little boys (8 and 4). I may be a bit prejudiced but I think they did a good job. She's hooked too now.........Judith, you got another one!
Karen
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Karen, Tell your DIL she did a great job. I love the little bears with the hearts and the garland. I especially like the spray of berries coming from the sundae cup. It looks like there is something else with the berries, but I can't tell what it is. Don't yall just love these stacking plates?

Sandi, haven't seen Suzie's plate in person yet, just the pix she sent. I thought the red "angel" bear was only thing in top besides the berries. Need new glasses
Your tip on painting silk flowers was TERRIFIC, thank you for the idea and and the info on two ways to do it. Guess I need to hit dollar store now!
Karen

I agree, she did a great job, looks really cute, and I love the way she used the berries at the top too. Bet she and her boys had a good time putting it together too. Love those little white bears with their hearts. Yep, you two are now members of the stacked plate addiction club! ;o) Luvs

P.S. You're right--won't mention NOT needing to shop anymore just in case your (or mine) DH might "hear". Ha ha

Welcome Purplemoon, how wonderful to have another enthusist here! Your stacking plates are cute! If you want it "fuller" maybe you could add a few round sparkly Xmas ornis to it, and add some larger red roses, those slightly bigger things help add height and weight to the design.
Your DIL did wonderful on her plates too, it is so cool that you two could do this together! I'm sure the dish manufactors in certain areas are wondering why the rush on the cake plates, they're probably thinking everyone is doing some "cookin" LOLOLO
The easter plates should be pretty easy to do for everyone, since so much is available out there compaired to V-Day.

Luvs, Many, many years ago (I would have felt younger with only one many) when I decided to start decorating for all of the holidays I couldn't find what I wanted. Either they weren't available or I didn't know where to order them so I had to start either making my own or altering what I could find to fit my themes. Now there is so much more available that you could probably buy anything you wanted without having to redo it.
I just finished my 2nd round of green carnations and my hands look like the hulk fell in a pot of gold glitter. LOL

luvs and sandi, you are both so talented in the crafts arena, that this tablesetting stuff will be a breeze for both of you. I wish I had all your artistic talent myself.

Thanks for the kind words Judith--we shall see. Seems to me, this tablesetting is all about the details--it's the extras that really make it special. I get an idea--but not always the complete picture. So it is "work" for me. It does intrigue me because of the creativity part of it. ;o)

Sandi, what a mental image of the Hulk you "painted" with your words--made me laugh out loud--well, more like a "snort" really! Ha ha Can't wait to see your final "masterpiece".

Luvs