Chalkboard Trays

Although I do not do tremendous amounts of entertaining at my home I still enjoy these inexpensive tarnished trays that are abundant at Goodwills and Thrift shops. My personal collection was too large and unused so it was time to make them usefull. If there is anything I learned from Rachel Ashwell's Shabby Chic books it was that " Less is more, So the "less" must be perfect."


We are way too busy and our time is too precious to be walking around tubs of useless items that we are fond of but don't use. Everything must have a purpose and it's place. While considering that...... some items purpose might be too just look really pretty on that shelf.
With this tray I taped off the edging with blue painters tape and then spray pained the center with Chalkboard paint. There are mini quart cans out there somewhere that would make this step a lot easier but the only chalkboard paint I had readily available was this spray paint. Make do with what you have right?

Because I used spray paint , there was not a clear fine line around the edging so with a hand held small tipped brush I painted taupe colored acrylic paint around the edging of the tray.

After I let the paint dry I embellished with a handmade cream crepe paper rose, a vintage rhinestone trinket and of course my favorite little german glitter glass stars from MemrieMare.Etsy.com.
I thought this would work well as a message board in the kitchen or entryway hanging with a plate hanger or more permanent with a lovely saying such as this one in french meaning "I Love you". I think this would work best sitting in a frame easel on a hutch.
There certainly will be more of these coming soon in my Etsy shop. This one though is in California being considered for Somerset Home magazine. We'll see!