Shabby Tea Tray makeover. By Louise Crosbie.

Hello everyone.

The project I’m sharing with you today came about because I promised myself I’d use up some of my (huge stash of) Rub-ons. 
It’s embarrassing how many I have if I’m honest. Especially as they don’t stay useable forever. More so after the packet has been opened. They can stop being as sticky after a few months. So rather than leaving it another four or five months and discovering I’d left it too long, I have decided to make my next three projects “rub-on” based. 😄

I’ve been using them on my junk journals recently so I’ve made a start but today I start in earnest.

This Tea tray has been carrying my husband’s and my pots of tea for years. But it eventually lost its paint and the moisture from splashed tea started to warp the plywood base. So I decided I should throw it out. It’s been waiting to go for months but today I decided to see if I could resurrect it lol.

Here is how it looked before the makeover…

As you can see it was in a pretty poor state. 

After some gesso and paint based base coats, I added the rub-ons. These are from the 49 and Market 12x12 Moonlit Garden sheet. Not “too” old but I opened them the day I got them and used one small bit. So I needed to get on and use the rest. 

The tray was always shabby chic, even when it was nice and new, so I decided to keep it shabby and vintage.

It is slightly ironic that I spent time trying to clean the tea stains off only to then add burnt sienna to the tray to make it look old and stained. 

When I was finished, I sealed it well to make it water proof and stain resistant. So hopefully it can return to duty as a tea serving tray again.

If you’re interested in the process, I did make a short video for The Mad Scrapper Facebook group. The group is called “The Craft Club” and we intend to try and bring craft videos and ideas to customers and crafters regardless of their location.

Why not join our Facebook “Craft Club” HERE. 

And here’s the video link. VIDEO

Supply List

Moonlit garden rub-ons
Heavy white gesso. 
Black archival ink. 
Liquid acrylic Burnt sienna
Liquid acrylic Avocado Green