I Try TV Trays

I have a confession. I am terrible at arts and crafts. Anything to do with details and skill that require patience does not work out for me. It's not a lack of desire. Aaron could probably tell you the amount of Pinterest projects I have attempted and... well I try really hard the first part and then I realize it's hard and then I just slap the rest of it together. This is not a character trait I am proud of.

I never learn. I told Aaron I wanted to do a project this weekend involving our TV trays. He had a look of "oh here we go again" flash across his eyes. He is the good supportive husband, however and helped me get all the materials. As my husband who has the vernacular of an eighty year-old southern gentleman man would say, I have "gone around my elbow to get to my thumb" to get to this one point.

I did a project... the whole project... and I'm not ashamed of it!

I saw this on Pinterest...

So charming! Here is the link, the instructions are super easy to follow.

Okay, so here is what my TV trays look like. Not cute. They have a lot of wear and tear from past failed projects.

First step is to paint with white chalk paint. Already it looks so much better. What is up with the magic of chalk paint?

Next step is to go to Picmonkey.com and to design the sign and then go to Blockposters to print it out. I had a seven day free trial with picmonkey. I just canceled my membership as soon as I was done so I didn't have to pay $71. After you print out the poster, rub chalk on the back of the poster.

Tape it where you want on the tray, and then outline the letters. The chalk will transfer onto the tray.

Then you get a fine black marker, and trace the chalk. Yes, this is tedious.

Finally, you paint the letters. I used a wooden skewer for the finer details and used a cotton swab/ rubbing alcohol to clean up my mistakes.

Lastly, you rub sandpaper over it to get that antique look.

Here are the results!

I am pretty proud! My favorite is the "antiques." I am not a huge fan for how the "bakery" tray turned out. That was the first one I was experimenting with the sandpaper, and it looks like it was in an actual bakery.

So here you are, Aaron, who said "please don't ruin our TV trays." Good enough to eat off of.