Stenciled tray

I was so pumped by my first craft project involving a simple tray that I picked up at a thrift store, so when I saw another tray at a yard sale I of course had to have it. (I know I keep talking about yard sales… I totally stocked up when Beth and I went yard sale shopping in May. It was awesome.)

Unfortunately, I don’t think this project turned out all that great. You’ll have to let me know what you think. The main reason I’m even sharing this with you is so if you use a stencil you know the trick that I decided NOT to do. Big mistake.

Anyway, instead of turning this tray into something else completely, I just wanted to make the into a prettier tray. I figured the hubby and I could use a tray on our coffee table to collect our remotes since we now have three floating around.

I didn’t take a before picture, but the tray was a dirty white and needed a fresh coat of paint. I stuck with white because it will pop off the coffee table, which will eventually be stained black. I also recently picked up a few stencils at Michaels, so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try them out. I chose a stencil of a bird (I love birds) for the tray.

Using two different shades of bluish green, I painted over the leaves and over the bird. I didn’t use stencil adhesive, but I really wish I had because the stencil definitely moved around a little.

Once I had two coats of paint on my stencil, I peeled it back to reveal the stenciled design on my tray.

As you can see around the edges, the paint spread a bit — especially close to the base of the branch. I knew it was going to be messed up even before I peeled the stencil up because part of the small leaves came up underneath my brush (Crap! The worst part is I even bought stencil adhesive, but with all the craziness in my craft room I couldn’t find it. Oh well!). So, I improvised. I took an artist’s brush and some silver paint and traced the edges of the stencil.

To finish it off, I added silver dots along parts of the stencil and around the edges of the tray.

I think it was a good save, but here’s where you come in. Should I sand it down and try it again with no silver paint? I can’t decide if I like it or not (which probably means I don’t like it…). I kind of like the silver paint, and I think it needed something extra in addition to the stencil… but I’m not sure what.

I’m open to suggestions!

Moral of this project: Use stencil adhesive!