Altered Art Tray Tutorial

 If this colorful tray with a sweet sentiment doesn’t make you smile, I don’t know what will.

1) Paint your tray if necessary. As you can see, mine started out pitch black. I painted just the sides and the handles because I knew I’d be covering the bottom. I used Americana Decor chalk paint in “Timeless.”

2) Distress your paint job if you like, then apply a coat of wax to protect your paint job.

4) If you like, age your dictionary pages further by spraying them with some strong coffee. (I have a spray bottle filled with strong coffee on my work bench for just this kind of project.) Allow the coffee to dry.

7) Above your bunting line, apply sky-blue paint. To do this, spray some water on a foam brush, apply a dot of paint. Sponge at the top of the tray squeezing out plenty of watery paint. Purposely cause some drippiness. Cover most of the dictionary paper with the blue paint. (Note the coffee-filled spray bottle above the tray.)

 I used Craft Studio “Neptune Blue.”

8) In the same manner, apply green paint below the bunting line. I used “Moss Green.”

9) Make your bird. To do this, tear tan/brown and pink scrapbook paper into small pieces. Modge Podge them to your cardstock bird, putting the pink on the bottom to create a pink breast. Don’t worry about your edges. Let your paper hang off. Once dry, turn the bird over and trim off all the excess paper.

10) Create the bunting. Cut out triangles and glue them to your line. Choose at least one coordinating, vibrant color to give it some pop (as I did with the purple).

11) Print out your sentiment. (I chose, “I sing because I’m happy, I sing because I’m free.”) Give it a spritz of coffee if you like, then cut out each word and glue them to your project.

12) Create the sun. Cut out a circle and several triangles and glue them down. 13) Trace all your elements using a very soft leaded pencil (you can use an extra fine sharpie) to make them really stand out.

14) Give the entire surface a coat of “regular” (glossy) Modge Podge, to protect it and give it a bit of a sheen. You can even sprinkle a bit of glitter here and there. (I sprinkled pink on the tail feathers and clear on the sun.)

I think the tray would make a lovely birthday or hostess gift, perhaps with a block of cheese and a box of crackers resting on top.

Bye for now,