Tea Station

I picked this black wooden tray up at the Salvation Army a few months ago. Then it disappeared into the craft room.

I was reminded of it this week when Jen at IHeartOrganizing posted a trash to treasure project, featuring a very similar tray. Great minds, maybe?

Anyhow, I ventured in to the disaster, and believe it or not, I remembered exactly where I had put it. I also remembered what I did with my bottle of Mod Podge and my scrapbook papers. The paint brush took a little longer to locate, since the drawer it was hiding in (I knew it was in there somewhere) was totally disorganized.

After a good wipe down to remove dust, I picked out a cute label and cut a piece of scrapbook paper to fit on the bottom. It was just a bit short on the ends, but since the tray is black, that didn’t matter. I cut it exactly wide enough from front to back, and as it turns out, that does matter. The paper that I chose stretched once it was saturated with glue, and since the tray has sides, there was nowhere for the excess to go. This created some air bubbles and wrinkles, and I couldn’t reposition the paper without tearing it (I stopped trying just before that happened). I did not have this problem when I was spiffing up some recycled cans. Live and learn.

I did the best I could to push out the bubbles and mash down the wrinkles. Then I coated the sides and edges of the tray with a coat of Mod Podge, and let it dry.

Once it dried, I added my tea-drinking necessities.