Fantastic~Shabby Chic~ Decoupaged~ Serving Tray Tutorial~ make for under $2.00

SHABBY CHIC~ OH SO FABULOUS~ SERVING TRAY

A trip to the Thrift Store clears my mind, and starts the creative wheels turning! 

 Here is a Crazy, Shabby Chic, Fabulous Serving Tray, 

SURE to be a conversation piece at your next party!

Materials needed:

• Tray~ I got mine at the thrift store for $1.00... but they can be purchased unfinished at the craft store
• Calendar/Heavy Duty Scrapbook Paper
• Cream Acrylic Paint or color of YOUR choice!
• Scissors & Paper Cutter
• Mod Podge
• Paint Brush
• Tool to remove air bubbles
• Fine Grain Sandpaper
• Krylon Matte Acrylic Spray

 When I went to the Thrift Store, I did find my tray already stained, but unstained is fine too... you are going to be painting your tray with your Acrylic Paint! When you are painting the tray, you will want to paint with the grain of the wood, in thick even strokes. Usually, I use 2 coats of paint for good coverage. If you want your paint to dry more quickly, use a hair dryer on low heat between coats.

A dear friend of mine gave me an old calendar, KNOWING that I would put it to some Crazy~ Creative use. NOW is a great time to find calendars since they are marked down! Sure enough, I knew this calendar would look fabulous decoupaged into the base of my Thrift Store tray. Using a pair of scissors, and then a paper cutter, I cut out the pieces I wanted to use. Squares of your favorite 'heavier weight' scrapbook papers will work fine also. After I had chosen all the pieces that I wanted to use in my tray base, 

I laid them out, and took a picture~ 

just so I would remember how I wanted to place them when decoupaging!

I then applied a good coat of Mod Podge to the underside of the calendar squares and laid them in place. I then applied another coat of Mod Podge to the surface of the paper.   Using a wooden tool I began pushing out the air bubbles... BE GENTLE as it is easy to push holes in your paper. For stubborn air bubbles, I applied some Mod Podge to my fingers and gently pushed the remaining bubbles out.

Once all pieces were in place, I coated the entire surface of the tray base with another coat of Mod Podge. Keep in mind, you want to brush in one direction so that you do not have any 'odd' brush strokes once the Mod Podge is dried. I used a damp rag around the edges of the tray to remove the Mod Podge from the wood part of the tray. I gave ONE more coat of Mod Podge to keep the surface protected when using the tray.

Once the tray was completely dried, I used a piece of fine grain sand paper to remove some paint from the handles and the corners of the tray to give it that Shabby Chic look! Less is best! Once you have achieved the look you desire, use Krylon Matte Spray to coat your tray. Follow the directions on the bottle. 

 I usually use 2 coats of the Matte Spray for SUPER PROTECTION! :)

This tray is going to look Shabby Chic~ Fabulous with a Fab Dip/Chip combo at my next party. I loved this idea so much, that I ran to the Thrift Store again last week and um.... another project awaits me!

Hope you will find this to be a fun project that you can try. 

 It is easy, inexpensive, and OH SO CHIC!

Would LOVE to see your projects. Feel free to message me, and I would love to include YOUR idea on my next blog.

Living, Laughing and LOVING my life,

Patti