Copycat: Quartrefoil Tray

A couple of months ago, Stephen and I were walking back to our apartment when we stumbled upon this perfectly good wooden tray that someone had tossed out with their trash (don't worry - it wasn't IN their trash can, just hanging out next to it).  Stephen looked at me with a silly little grin, knowing exactly what was going through my mind.  That's right - I wanted it.  Who wouldn't?  It was in good shape and was FREE - score and SCORE!  We picked it up, carried it home and tucked it away in a closet until inspiration came to do something with it.

Fast forward.

Last week I thought about the tray and I remembered that we were heading to Kentucky for the weekend.  Because Chicago doesn't sell spray paint, I knew I was going to have to snag some outside of the city.  I picked up the spray paint and returned to Chicago knowing that I was going to tackle that tray once and for all....

...and then I stumbled upon this Quatrefoil Trey at Red Heads Craft More Fun.  As soon as I saw Courtney's tray, I KNEW I wanted to be a copycat.  That's one of my most favorite things about reading blogs!  I'm constantly being inspired by all the creativity surrounding me.  Thanks for the inspiration, Courtney!

What I used:
*A wooden tray
*Americana Acrylic Craft Paint in "Butter"
*Krylon Indoor/Outdoor Spray Paint in "Ivy Leaf"
*spray paint sprayer nozzler (yes, that is the technical name of it :-P)
*sandpaper
*the quatrefoil stencil
*pencil
*pair of scissors.

What I did:
*I gave my wooden tray a good rub down with sandpaper - keep with me people, it's not good for your minds to wander there!
*I then went to town on it with my spray paint.  That sucker ended up soaking up the entire can of spray paint - geeze-oh-pete!

*After about 100 layers of spray paint (okay, not really, more like 5-6) I went into the apartment and printed off the quatrefoil stencil and got to work cutting it out.
*Once I had cut it out, and the spray paint had time to dry, I laid the stencil down on my tray and began tracing the design on there.  I continued to trace the design, lining it up with what I had already traced, until the entire tray was covered.
*I took my Americana Butter and patiently painted and filled in the quatrefoil design on my tray.  I let that dry and then came back to it to add a second coat.

*Once all paint had dried, I came back to the tray and sanded the pants off it to give it a good, aged look.

Let me tell you - I LOVE IT!  I didn't realize how much I was going to like it until I finished and saw it hanging out on my coffee table.  I love the color that it brings up onto the table and I absolutely LOVE the contrast between the green and the butter (thanks to my friend Jenn who pointed me in that direction!)!  Better yet, I really love the price tag of this project!  In all, I spent about $5.  The tray was free (sorry, I'm not trying to rub it in...), the spray paint was like $3.87 and the Americana paint was like $1.20.

All thanks to Courtney, the redhead who has more fun crafting than myself ;) - without her post, my tray would've just been green...I'm soooo glad I saw her tray first!

I'm linking up to these parties:

(T) Today's Creative Blog; Sugar Bee Crafts; New Nostalgia; Coastal Charm; Hope Studios; (W) Trendy Treehouse; Blue Cricket Design; Domestically Speaking; The Thrifty Home; Someday Crafts; Women Who Do It All; Sew Woodsy; Night Owl Crafting; (Th) Gluesticks; Somewhat Simple; The Shabby Chic Cottage; House of Hepworths; Tales from Bloggeritaville; Fireflies and Jellybeans; It's Sew Stinkin Cute; Delightful Order; bouffe e bambini; Organize and Decorate Everything; (F)Chic on a Shoestring Decorating; It's a Hodgepodge Life; It's FUN to Craft!; Fingerprints on the Fridge; The Shabby Nest; Remodelaholic; Simply Designing; Home is Where My Story Begins; (S)Tatertots and Jello; The Creative Crate; A Vision to Remember; Young and Crafty; Along for the Ride; Funky Junk Interiors; Lolly Jane Boutique; (Sun)I Heart Naptime; Under the Table and Dreaming