Welcome to my blog!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I believe that everyone can have a beautiful home without spending a fortune! One of my favorite things to do is find creative ways to re-purpose things I already have on hand, or have picked up at yard sales and thrift stores. Join me as I share with you some of my favorite ideas for crafting and decorating, as well as travel adventures, and fun things that I pick up on my treasure hunts! Much of my work is influenced by my love all things French, nature, and of course shabby chic! I have gotten so many creative ideas from you very talented bloggers out there, and I hope that I can be an inspiration to you as well!

Friday, October 14, 2011

Tres Chic!

Bon Jour Mon Amis!
Do you love trays as much as I do?  Well, I am always thrilled when I discover an interesting tray that I can transform in some way.  Today I'd like to show you my latest tray chic creation.  (get it, tres chic?!!!)
 I always like to begin by showing you the "after", as I'm afraid that I might scare readers off by showing them the "before first!!   Anyway, the tray began life pretty enough (below), but has some water spots or some sort of damage to the finish. Too bad, as it could have been pretty!  I knew that with some paint and decoupage, I could give it a new lease on life.  I fell in love with this sweet birdie image over at the Graphics Fairy, and thought it would be perfect for my tray.
 I began by painting the tray white (by hand, which is oh so much more time consuming than spray paint!!), and followed by with some distressing and Ralph Lauren antiquing glaze.  Then came the hard part, trying to figure out how to enlarge the birdies to be large enough for the tray.  Since the tray is almost 2 feel long, printing the image onto a standard 8 1/2" x 11" piece of paper would be way too small.  So, it took quite a bit of finagling, but I finally figured out how to print it out into 4 separate sections.  I then cut the images out and decoupaged them to the tray.  I really love the colors and their sweet little faces, too!
 The tray has a great curvy shape which I also love!
 While this project was very time consuming, it was alot of fun, too!
 I've put this in my Etsy shop, though it is so tempting to keep it for myself!
Now I need to find some other use for this image, as I think it is a new favorite of mine!
Hope you have a tres magnifique weekend!

11 comments:

Myric said...

Oh 'tray chic'. That's clever Lol. The birds painting is lovely!

xoxo
Myric

Tete said...

Has Washington run out of glitter? I don't see any! LOL
Love your latest makeover...I love birdies.
Hope you are having a good week there.

Cindy Adkins said...

Oh Donna, this is unbelievable!!! GORGEOUS, my friend!!!! Totally "tres chic!"and oh my gosh--thank you so much for your prayers and putting the button on your sidebar--you are an angel.
Love,
Cindy

Rosemary@villabarnes said...

It's beautiful. The birds seem to be floating.

Musings from Kim K. said...

Your blue birds are the perfect touch for your tray. Another brilliant piece, Donna!!!

Kathy said...

so pretty...

Unknown said...

oh, my! this is the best. love the bird image. love graphic fairy!!
xo
lynn

john said...

tray chic hehehe I love it ! great to see the before and after pics....
Gail x

Debbie said...

Wow! this really turned out pretty, Donna!! LOVE the white and dark blues.
Good job girlie.
It's so windy here today....I feel like I'm in the Wizard of Oz movie.
xxxooo

Cindy Adkins said...

Hi Donna,
I hope you're having a great weekend!!!

XO
Cindy

Sonya Badgley said...

Hi Donna,
I just found you through Cindy. Thank you for leaving a sweet comment on her blog about my soldered piece.
I love your "Tray Chic" tray!! And the name is perfect! The birds are just adorable! It looks like you painted them on there!
Thanks for sharing with us and good to meet you.

Blessings,
Sonya