Keep Calm and Paint

 I am under stress this week. We have had sewage backing up into our basement, kids coming and going, engine problems, cell phone problems, relatives who are sick, deadlines and dead phone lines. It has been a long week.

I do not deal well with stress.

  I don't sleep. I crave chocolate. I have panic attacks.

Everyone feels stressed sometimes. How do you deal with it?

I paint when I am stressed. It relaxes me and takes my mind off of things.Yup. I paint. Anything and everything. I had two thrift store trays sitting around, this was the perfect opportunity to work on them.

This small tray has wooden sides and a card board bottom. I gave the sides a brief sanding and then painted them with Folk Art's Wrought Iron Craft paint. 

When the sides were dry I sanded them again for an aged look. Then I pulled out my bottle of Mod Podge and some chevron craft paper. I love Mod Podge. Remember the Vintage Post Card Table? It's one of my favorite Mod Podge projects.

 I trimmed the paper to fit inside the tray. I had to piece the last section and match the print. It wasn't difficult.

 I applied the Mod Podge to the bottom of the tray, it acts like a glue to keep the paper in place while you are working on it. I pushed the paper onto the tray and waited for it to dry before I could apply the finish coat.

Meanwhile, I started tray number two. This one was bigger, and had been painted previously. You can see the ugly print beneath the first coat of paint. In my frenzy, I forgot to take pictures of these things in their original state. You get the idea, it was UGLY.

After I painted the edges of the tray with several coats of the teal paint, I painted the Mod Podge in the bottom of the tray to affix the paper to it.

When both paper linings were dry, they each got two more thin coats of the Mod Podge.

After it was dry, my new teal tray looked at home on the coffee table. I feel better. Paint has that effect on me. Perhaps it's the fumes.

The smaller tray works great holding odds and ends in the bathroom. I will be re-decorating this room after this week's plumbing problems. It seems like a good idea.

Life is stressful. And when I get stressed, I can paint more things.

Keep Calm and Paint!

Designer Mom

p.s. You can now follow me on Hometalk. My friend Betty Bling has been very popular over there. Check it out!