Bumble Bee Tray

While recuperating I decided to do a couple of little projects. Mind you I've had this tray for years just hanging out in my crafts closet. Since I wasn't up to big things I decided to tackle something small. I love trays for some reason. I have a collection of silver plate trays, but I've always liked these wooden ones too. I am smitten with images using bees  and when I saw  a great bee graphic from  The Graphics Fairy I knew I wanted to add it to my tray. I started with a basic tray from the craft store.

I sanded it and gave it a coat of  a  half  gesso and half paint mix, the paint is Sharkey Gray. After that coat dried I added a wash of Magnetite and water and wiped some off to expose the Sharkey Gray, after that I added a 50/50 wash of Glass Of Milk and water and wiped off the desired amount. I transferred the printed image to the tray using Matte Gel Medium. After letting the paint dry for 24 hours cut out your graphic as close to the image as possible, then apply the Matte Gel Medium to the image in a smooth light coat. This part is a little tricky because you don't want too much or too little. After you smear the medium onto the image, I use my finger but you can use a brush if you'd like, press the image printed side down, get it centered and even then burnish the image with the back of a spoon in a circular motion, not hard enough to rip the paper but firmly enough to transfer the image. Lift up a corner and peek to see if the image is transferring. If it has, at this point you can lift the paper off or you can let it dry completely. I chose the latter. If you let it dry you will have to dampen your finger and rub the paper,when you can see the image through the paper start rubbing the paper away in a circular motion, don't rub to hard and do small sections at a time. This part can be a little tedious. After the image was transferred I applied a second coat of the Glass of Milk wash and wiped off the desired amount.  After all was done  I gave it a couple of light coats of wipe on poly in satin. Here is the finished tray.

I guess because the tray was old the wood was a little dry and it cracked close to the front. You can see it in the pics, Thats okay with me it just added to the weathered feeling of the tray. I love happy accidents. If you want you can also sand away some of the transferred image to give it a more time worn look.  I think its a cute little tray and I like the worn an uneven look of the paint.There's more coming so stay tuned. I'm linking up with these great parties:
  
Its So Very Cheri for Party Time  Between Naps On  The Porch  for Met. Monday and  The Graphics Fairy for Brag Monday and  Chocolate Drool And Kisses  for Sharing Monday and  Bunny Jeans Decor and More for Bunny Hop Wednesday and  Funky Junk Interiors  for SNS. Kreative Korner  for Tea Time Thursday and The 36th Avenue for Share Awesomeness Thursday and  The Lettered Cottage  For How To's Day.