Vintage wooden tray with rope handles and feet

I love wood trays ... 

   

Especially of they have feet ... and they only cost 25¢.

 Really clever idea ... 

but ... that was not pretty enough for me. 


so ... i removed the dated decals ...

painted it turquoise ... 

... added wooden twist molding to the little side boards to tie in with the rope handles.

did a little distressing ... 

and added a French graphic from 

Karen at Graphic Fairy ... (thanks Karen) ...

also check out her methods of transfers. 





I reverse printed it with my ink-jet printer on the waxed side of freezer paper. This lets the wet ink just sit on top of the paper ... I wiped the tray with a damp cloth to slightly dampen it. If you get it too wet, the ink will just smear.

I know ... had to start over once. (quick learner) ...

Carefully lay the print face down and don't let it move. Rub the freezer paper until the ink transfers to the tray. You can use the back of a spoon to rub with. I think I just used my fingers and the back on my fingernails. I carefully checked several times to be sure the tray was accepting the ink.
 The transfer was good, but I wanted it a little darker, so I used a fine point uni-ball roller ink pen to go over the letters.

For the curly shadow around the letters, I used a Paper-Mate sharp-writer #2 pencil. 

I was surprised how well that turned out.

Makes a real pretty tray for display.  

Thanks for the visit.
Hope you will leave a note to let me know your were here.

Linking to:

Distressed Donna Downhome Make-it-Monday-#5
 


Revisionary Life ...
Thirfty Life Thursday