Trash To Treasure – Silver Tray Upcycle

From the Desk of Clearissa Coward’s Command Center – C4 Creations

Trash To Treasure – Silver Tray Upcycle

I recently had some time on my hands…go figure! And what do I do when I have a few extra minutes that are not spoken for? I craft/upcycle – that’s what I do. In this case I had an old silver tray that I picked up from a thrift shop a few months ago. I knew when I dropped my $1.50 that I could give this old tarnished silver tray new life, but it sat  in my craft closet looking as tarnished and useless as it had at the thrift shop for months. Finally, I had the time and an idea so I took the Trash to Treasure – Silver Tray Upcycle to task and turned it into something useful again.

First let me apologize that I did not snap a photo of the tray in its original state. But suffice it to say it was no longer silver but black with tarnish. I did not need another silver tray and truth be told, I did not want the hassle of having to polish another silver tray so I decided to do what I love and that is to put some paint on it and that is exactly what I did.

Supply List:

Silver tray – thrifted @ $1.50

Dixie Belle Paint  – Butter Cream @ $0.00

Dixie Belle Paint – Charcoal @0.00

Dixie Belle Paint – Clear CoatSatin Finish @ $0.00

Dixie Belle Paint – Grey @ $0.00

E6000 Glue

Sponge Brushes

Stencil Brush – you can use a sponge brush for this step but I prefer a stencil brush because I get less bleeding

Glue Gun

Glue Sticks

Farmers Market Stencil – Not the same one I used but similar. I cannot remember where I purchased mine

Toothbrush (can get from anywhere but I generally get mine from one of the dollar stores)

Black ribbon or twine

Process:

Paint tray – you can decide if you want one or two coats of paint. I used one on the tray but I generally use two if I’m painting glass.

Allow to dry between coats

Use a stencil to get the desired look – I used a stencil with a modern country feel

Once dry embellish – I used paint to go around the edges of the tray & glitter glue (that I already had) to bring in a little color

Allow to dry

Use a soft toothbrush to splatter grey or black paint on the tray to give it an old and weathered look – Optional

Embellish with glitter glue (optional)

Allow to dry

Apply one to two coats of Dixie Belle Clear Coat Satin Finish

Glue on black ribbon or twine – I used E6000 (to hold permanently) and hot glue (to hold in place while E6000 dries. Usually takes E6000 24 hours.

What do you think? Do you like it? Is this something you will try? You can find the silver trays for little or nothing at most thrift shops or the Goodwill.