I taped it to my plate and carefully held it in place while I lightly painted using a stippling technique (an upright pouncing of your paint brush so that you don't accidentally move your template aside and paint underneath). I chose an olive green acrylic craft store paint by DecoArt (less than $1 on sale!).
Very carefully remove the paper, shortly after you finish with the paint so that you don't have bleeding. Once your paper is removed you can see if there are any areas you might want to touch up.
Since the majority of this image is twig and branch, it doesn't require perfection and is supposed to have a graphic quality. Don't worry if you aren't a skilled painter, this project can be done by anyone.
Note: if you purchase a ceramic plate to try this project with, you might want to consider choosing a paint that states it is for use on ceramic like DecoArt Gloss Enamels.