Thank you everyone for all of your great questions for this new section - We were  really overwhelmed by your response! We will definitely have to make this a weekly feature to get as many of your great questions in as possible!!

A few things to note for the coming weeks:

1. Though we LOVE your comments, unfortunately it is too difficult to keep track of your questions in that forum. If you would like to have your question considered in the future, please send them to us VIA EMAIL to thecraftsdept@marthastewart.com with the subject ASK THE CRAFTS DEPT.

2. Pictures help! If you have a photo to go with your question, it is a huge help to us. It can really help us to understand your problem better and to give you a more specific response. If you do not want us to post your photo with your question on the site, please let us know. 

3. Questions not answered here are not forgotten - we will keep all questions on file for the coming weeks so yours may still come up again in the future. 

And now - on to the good stuff!

Susan asks:

I have a three tiered glass serving tray that is peachy colored. . . I want to have this pink instead for a baby shower. Is there a way I can paint these serving dishes and then after they are used for serving food, take the pink color off and use them as a peachy glass again?

We thought this was a great question - and timely considering that the holiday season is fast approaching. I'm sure many of you will be looking for ways to update old serving dishes for the new season. 

Unfortunately, we couldn't think of any type of painting technique that would work in the way you described. Many paints are too toxic to use with food, and those that aren't are usually permanent. A safer (and probably easier) option is to decorate your stand to mask the peachy color, rather than painting over it completely. It's easy to add tissue or ribbon around the edge of the stand, and use paper, tissue or decorative serving papers to cover the top.  

For this cupcake tier from our Weddings magazine, we added a paper doily border and a thin satin ribbon. 

For more ideas, click below

This paper chain border is another sweet way to to decorate your display. This table is Easter themed, but I can see these same motifs working very well at a baby shower - and the decorations can be carried to the table settings with the adorable egg cups. You can use yours for candy instead! 

We used seam binding to cover this stand, but any light-weight ribbon will do the trick. Use your extra ribbon to create a hanging decoration for a festive atmosphere. 

For this stand, also from weddings, we created a tiered border using tissue paper cut with decoratively edged scallops. The tissue paper table cloth is also a fun way to add color without spending a ton of money. 

And finally, though this probably isn't quite the look you're going for at a baby shower, we thought we we add this Halloween themed party buffet as well to show how versatile this border technique can be. These spooky spikes are created in much the same way as the tissue scallops above, but give a much different look - one you may want to use on halloween night!

Posted by Corinne Gill on September 23, 2009 in Ask the Crafts Dept.