April DIY w/Jenny Chesnick

 

Hi Crate Paper fans, Jen Chesnick here with you today with a new DIY project! Today we are going to play with the Portrait collection and with a little elbow grease and some spray paint we are going to turn this old worn out tray into something beautiful for the home. Let’s get started!

The Essentials: Portrait Collection Paper, Chipboard & Label Stickers. Antique Printers tray or something similar you can re-vamp with style. Misc ephemera from your stash; think of all those bits and bobs we all tend to have lying about. Extreme Tac tape adhesive, Craft Glue & U-cut foam. Chisel, Dremel power tool , spray paint, sand paper & wood glue (Actual Tools!)

 

To start, I enlisted my husband to bear the brunt of most of the elbow grease for me while I played photographer. This was a fun way to get him involved in one of my many projects without him feeling silly! He loved using his power tools on this one and was such a great sport. Now you don’t need help to do any of the “fixing” of the tray as everything can easily be done by one person, alone. Just don’t tell him that, ok?

 

We started with a chisel to remove damaged pieces from the tray. The wood was soft and worn so it was really easy to cut out the rough spots. We also used our Dremel to sand down the edges against the remaining wood. If you don’t own one of these tools I highly recommend one for crafting or other DYI projects.

 

Cutting out the damaged pieces also left open more space for photos. Since most the pieces came together to create 1x4 rectangles, there really wasn't a whole lot of space “inside” the tray to place items. So, after we finished removing the damaged spots, we left them open and used wood glue to fill in the empty notches to ensure the remaining pieces were secure.

 

Now that the hard part is over, we moved outdoors to spray-paint our tray. Again I enlisted my husband for the task at hand! In the pic above you can see how all the squares have turned out pre-paint.

 

We used satin indoor spray paint on the tray. Now you certainly should prime your piece beforehand if it is older wood with stain similar to this and you'll want solid coverage. I wanted my tray to still have a shabby vintage feel to match the vintage vibe of Portrait, so I chose not to prime my tray. It's time to paint the tray! Be sure to give it a nice even coat of paint! Less is more when it comes to spray paint. You can always go back and do another coat.

 

Once you are done with painting I recommend letting your piece air dry outside for a least a few hours. Not only will you get a nice finish, the fumes will die down as well. In the photos below you can see how the paint turned out. I used a small piece of sandpaper to “knock down” the edges a bit to make it feel a bit more worn. I wasn’t too concerned with the coverage of paint on the inside of the tray since it was going to be covered with paper anyway.

 

 Now for my part and no, my husband did not have anything to do with the decorating of the project outside of saying “That’s so busy! No don’t put that there, put it here” true story. 

 

Let’s take a closer look at some of my favorite squares. I loved adding these metal tags to the “outside”of the tray. It gives it a nice 3D feel and it’s just another area to decorate. I used chipboard and label stickers to embellish the tag. I used a very high tac craft glue along with U-Cut foam to secure the tag to the tray.

 

For some more 3D embellishing, I layered chipboard florals from Portrait along with these coordinating flowers. I punched out some butterflies to just give it another added touch.

 

Another metal tag layered heavily and more flowers adds another cluster of dimension underneath my two “snapshots”.

 

Of course, this project cannot be finished without the wedding date! Using my circle punch, I punched out the center of the label sticker to create a spot for it. I fanned out the alphabet stickers to give it a more rounded appearance.

 

See the film strips? Don’t they just add an extra level of awesome-ness? They match Portrait so perfectly! To get them to stay rolled, I simply rolled them up and using a stapler, I attached them together. Using craft glue, I secured them to the back of the tray.

Well there you have it Crate Fans! I hope you enjoyed my little DIY project. I do hope to see "your own version" soon!

Comments

[Jennifer Sanborn]

That looks like it was a lot of fun to create!! Nice work!! Very pretty!

[Amy H]

WOW - this is unbelievable, Jen! I love it!

[ANNETTE A]

WOW THAT IS SUPER COOL...Very creative and really awesome...thanks for sharing

[marianne-g]

Amazing!!!

[kate blue]

totally fab!! I have 2 of these that are screaming "get er done!" Love that you added "pops" of dimension on the outside and added photos on the outside too!

[Lisa C.]

Wow - this is beautiful!!

[MichelleGB]

It's gorgeous! I love how you fixed up and finished the tray! Thanks for sharing the details!

[Beth W]

You have given me a great idea.I have several serving trays to alter-I could put thin strips in them to make my own printer's trays.!

[meganklauer]

Wow! What an amazing project!

[Diana]

Gorgeous!!! it looks like a lot of work, but the end results are simply amazing =Di

[Emily B]

Chez this IS PHENOMONAL!!!!!! I love love love love it!!

[Maria]

Absolutely wonderful!! Looks amazing!! :)

[marcy]

I have a tray leaning against the wall upstairs. I just haven't found the right spot for it. Maybe a little facelift is in order??

[jo]

This is stunning, and such a do(able) project. I see a lot of these small sorting trays at car boot sales, or thrift markets. Brilliant, I will have a go at this, if ever I find one. x

[AnnaMarie]

I love this!

[lalapalooza]

This is amazing---I have one on my wall, with some miniatures in it, but NEVER did I think to put a picture in it! Love the distressed look of the wood. This is totally gonna be a summer project for me. Thanks!

[Larissa Hesektt]

Thanks for sharing this is so beautiful!! Sure is going to be a great decoration!! Have a GLORIOUS EASTER!! =)

[Jenny Chesnick]

thanks everybody! can't wait to see your creations too.

[{leah}]

Gorgeous!!

[graceincalifornia]

what a cool way to display memorabilias :) TFS!

[Becky Gromala]

Gorgeous job! I just bought a tray just like yours for $20 yesterday now I can't wait to play with it. TFS

[Julie Tucker-Wolek]

This is AMAZING Chez! :):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):)

[Tona]

You created a wonderful piece of art!

[Rebecca Young]

Stunning is all I can say...!

[Heather]

great project chez and what a beautiful keepsake!