DIY marble cutting boards and cake plates

I promised this post on Friday. It's only Saturday so... that goes in the win column. As some of you know from following me on instagram, my husband and I recently finished a project using some countertop remnants from my last home. I installed carrara marble and love love loved how it looked.  I had a small piece left over so I hoarded the extra piece in my garage until I could come up with a way to use it.

While at perusing world market one day, I saw these babies...

And these from wayfair. Hello nurse.

And knew exactly what I wanted to do with the remnant. I was scared to tackle this project because stone is so hard. In my brain, I imagined pieces chipping off and flying into my eyes and being blind for the rest of my life. Which is obviously a reasonable fear. So I googled how to cut your own marble and found a number of ways to do it. What we ended up using was a mixture of an angle grinder with a masonry wheel and a jig saw with a diamond blade. I traced a few patterns on the marble using a couple different sized bowls and cutting boards that I already had.

The diamond bit was purchased at Home Depot in the tile section. When I asked where I could find it, the guys at home depot had no idea what I was even talking about. Then again, one day I asked where a speed square was and some dude said they didn't have it. Uh... ok. Does this bother anyone else? I know men are proud and junk but if you don't know, just say it. Ugh. So anyways, I wandered around until I could find it myself.

The angle grinder was perfect for the straight sides and the jig saw blade worked perfectly for the round parts and corners.

The jig saw worked exactly like it does with wood, just took way longer. The main thing I learned was to go slow and keep it wet. The diamond blade cuts way better when it stays wet. So we just poured a little water from a bowl as we went.

Sorry the picture sucks. I was trying to show the water, the jig saw, and the tile while taking a picture and I'm pretty sure there was a kid tugging on my leg for me to push play on a movie or something. Anyways, we just poured a tiny bit of water while we were cutting and it worked way way better. After the forms were cut out, I just sanded down the edges with a sander like regular wood. It worked like a charm.

I glued the round cut outs to a few candle sticks I bought from Target. Here they are in all their glory. I love how they turned out. I had some fun taking pictures of them at my friend Kalli's house. She has a plethora of awesome accessories at my disposal. Here they are in her gorgeous kitchen.

And here are the cutting boards. I was so glad to be able to use my left over marble and do a project that intimidated me. It's so fun to learn new things. Now I can say I've cut marble. I've also won a state championship and helped deliver a breach calf. But those are stories for a different time. If you have any questions, feel free to ask away!