Tray Chic Revisited or My 21 Steps of Design

I found a tray at a garage sale and brought it home.  It was huge, way to big to sit on a table.  I could have made a table out of it if I actually needed a table - which I emphatically DON'T (I need to get rid of furniture...).  So I decided to make a sign out of it (not that I have that much wall space to spare either!!)  Here, follow the example of an indecisive, obsessive, do-it-yourselfer, wanna-be decorator...

Step 1:

Take your tray out:

Step 2: Find a sign you like and copy it.  I hand painted mine because I had no idea how to transfer an image.

 Step 3:  Add embellishments to fill in the blank spaces:

Step 4:  Hang it on the wall: 

Step 5:   Live with it for a while (I gave it a month).

Step 6:  Read way too many blogs of really talented, artistic women, then suddenly at 2:23 am on a Wednesday night get a really awesome idea and let it simmer overnight (keeping you awake the whole time) until you figure it out.  

Step 7: Log onto Graphics Fairy and find  the PERFECT image.  Pay attention to your blog feed, an easy technique for what you want to do is sure to appear.

Step 8:  Paint the tray with one light coat of  Behr's Almond Cream.  

Step 9:  Paint BM Stone House lightly over the top of the Almond Cream paint with an almost dry brush to make it look more aged.  

Step 10: Print Graphics Fairy image, duly reversed.  

Step 11: Paint liberally with Mod Podge both the image and the section of the tray where the image will be pasted   

Step 12: Center the image as best you can and press it face down onto the tray, smoothing out any bubbles:

Wait until morning to proceed!!

Step 13: Drench paper with water, wait until it soaks in really, really well.  Peel paper off.  I used a paper towel to rub the little bits off.

Step 14: Hang on wall: 

Step 15:  Decide this looks like a big mess.  And don't tell your readers how many times you actually painted using different colours & techniques...

Step 16: Paint around the images with BM Lenox Tan, paying special attention to the edges of the images.

Step 17:  Hang on wall again:

Step 18:  Decide it's still lacking something...

Step 19:  Google more images.

Step 20:  Hand paint more stuff onto tray, decide to make it look more beat up and worn out.

Step 21:  Hang up your finished masterpiece.

Move onto next project...

Cheers!

Linked to:

Funky Junk Interiors
Homemaker on a Dime
Between Naps on the Front Porch
Mod Vintage Life
Coastal Charm
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Cherished Bliss
Homework
Not Just a Housewife
A Bowlful of Lemons
A Beach Cottage
Saavy Southern Style
DIY By Design
Clean & Scentsible
Thrifty Decorating
The Shabby Creek Cottage
The Artsy Girl Connection
The Vintage Farmhouse
Crafty, Scrappy, Happy
From My Front Porch to Yours
Brambleberry Cottage
Beyond the Picket Fence
Common Ground
LaurieAnna's Vintage Home
2805
At the Picket Fence
The Shabby Nest
Days of Chalk & Chocolate
My Romantic Home
My Repurposed Life
My Simple Home Life
aka Design
Perfectly Imperfect
the Graphics Fairy