Pinterest Challenge Complete

For the winter edition of the Pinterest Challenge, I went through my pinterest boards and chose this monogrammed tray as my inspiration. I found it on the blog Being Brook.

(Click image for direct link)

I started with this tray from the dollar spot at Target. It was cute, but could definitely use an upgrade.

The supplies I started with: letter stencils, Martha Stewart floral stencils, acrylic craft paint and foam stencil brushes (all from Michael's). Notice I said "started with" - that should give you a clue that this project did not progess in the way I imagined...

I started by tracing the stencils directly onto the tray just to get an idea of the layout and what it would look like. I knew they would eventually get painted over, but it helped me see how everything would look.

Then I began brushing on the paint with a craft paint brush and things were not looking good. The coverage was very minimal and I wasn't expecting that. I started painting this in the morning before leaving to work and was hoping to get the pink layer finished before I left so I could work on the stencil part when I got home. At the rate I was progressing, I would not make it to work on time so I just had to leave it for later.

As I was driving home, I knew I'd have to pull out the big guns a.k.a. spray paint, and made a detour to Home Depot. I already had primer at home, but wanted to get a bright pink, fun color.

A few coats was all it took to cover up all the polka dots. Phew! (Don't mind my impromptu ribbon roll supports!)

Another few coats of spray paint in "Berry Pink" and I was good to go.

 

Now for the stenciling. On the original tray, Brook used a Silhouette to create her stencil. Since that is not in the budget right now, I relied on good old Martha. Since I have never used a stencil before, I wanted to do a dry run so to speak. I practiced on some craft paper. The first time I used too much paint so it bled through and the design was not very crisp. The second time was much better, and I also learned that even using the smallest brush, it was hard to keep the paint from going off the edges onto the surrounding paper.

I took some painters tape and put it around the edges where the openings were close to the edge of the stencil.

This is how it came out. The lines aren't perfectly crisp but I am totally okay with that. I'm actually really happy with it, especially considering how it was looking in the beginning. I decided not to put any name across the middle because I am becoming a little attached to it myself!

I put some of my stuff on it just to see how it looks and me likey :-) Sorry for the discrepancies in how the color is coming out. I'm still learning my camera, but the true color is closest to the one above, it's not a coral color as its showing below.

What do you think?

Also linking up here:
House of Hepworths | Pincushion Creations