Friday, February 7, 2014

Tray Chic !


I have a bit of a cluttering problem. I’m not a malicious clutterer. It all starts off very innocent. A hair clip here...some lip gloss over there...bits of opened mail on the table. It’s as though I suddenly get tired and cannot possibly put these random things in their proper place. As my five year old niece exclaims, when she has a cold, “Oh what’s the use.”

A clever way to look more organized, while still leaving things in inappropriate places, is to put them in trays. You'll remember I started doing this little trick with fabric and picture frames on a previous post.

This time I picked up a couple wooden trays at Michaels and got to work. I designated one tray to be a mail tray for our kitchen table with the other tray set for my nightstand.

I primed both trays and chose the colors I wanted.


A salmon color for the mail tray and gray for the nightstand tray. I based this decision on some wrapping paper I found at TJ Maxx a month or so prior. I liked the designs (and the price) and bought them before I knew what I would do with them. 




I bought this design in light blue, salmon, and gray. There were more colors but I had to stop myself from going overboard. There are so many other craft projects where wrapping paper comes in handy. Book covers, mattes in picture frames, covering soup cans for pencil holders, etc.








Once both trays were primed, I taped off the tops  and painted them in contrasting colors.


Probably wasn't necessary but I then sprayed both with a clear sealant. 



Once all paint/sealant had dried, I measured the inside of the trays and cut the appropriate sizes from the wrapping paper.






Mod Podge is a crafter's best friend. It is the Janet Jackson of craft supplies. It is a sealer, adhesive, and finish all in one. A triple threat. Ok, I'm done.





Each tray received one coat of Mod Podge.





I then carefully placed the wrapping paper pieces inside the trays, lining up best I could, before adhering. It can be helpful to use an old credit card or zero balance gift card to slowly attach the paper and avoid bubbles from forming underneath.


When the wrapping paper was attached to each tray, I painted over the paper with two more coats (20 minutes between coats) of Mod Podge. 


I decided to add a little embellishment to my nightstand tray so I grabbed my hammer and thumb tacks and randomly added them around the tray.




The tray for the nightstand:



Mail Tray:




Just goes to show, sometimes my craft obsession and knack for buying things without an exact purpose pays off!





~ B