First, I traced the sides and the cutouts onto the back of the patterned papers I chose for the projects, which are from BasicGrey's Fruitcake and Figgy Pudding collections. I used scissors to cut around the outsides, then an exacto knife and glass mat to cut out the cutouts. I also numbered each side and wrote that number on the papers so they would match up.
I primed the areas where the paint would go and painted them with two coats of paint. Word ow warning, the ones with the snowflake cutouts look cute, but they were a pain in the you-know-what to trace, cut out and paint. Once the paint is dry, then decoupage the paper onto the outsides of the dishes. I used the cans of soup as weights so the paper would stay adhered to the sides.
Once the papers were dry, then I coated the outside and inside with a good, thick layer of decoupage. Make sure to have a small brush on hand to get the excess decoupage out of the cut outs.
And here is what they look like with candy in them.
