My Mom is a big New York Yankees fan and I wanted to make her something special for her birthday.  I was in Goodwill this past week and came across an unfinished wooden craft tray.  Someone had started to paint the tray, and I could see a pencil outline of a man and a woman in a boat.  Obviously, it was a craft that was started with good intention and never finished.  In my haste to begin this project, I didn’t take a before picture.  There are many wooden trays available at Thrift shops and craft stores.  For an example of this, click here.

The tray was unfinished for the most part and ready to paint. I painted over the previous pencil tracing and paint with a bit of white latex primer before getting started.   I printed the Yankee logo I wanted to use on my printer.  I traced this on to the middle of the tray’s surface.  I wanted to avoid painting this portion of the tray so that the color would not bleed through the print when I was ready to decoupage it on.

I painted the tray’s inside red, and the rest in Yankee’s Royal Blue. I placed it aside and I allowed it to dry in front of a stand up fan.  I then applied Mod Podge to the unpainted area with a foam craft brush in the middle of the tray.  I very carefully applied the print logo to the tray, smoothing out any air bubbles or wrinkles with my hands.  While I allowed this to dry, I touched up any painted areas that needed it. Once completely dry, I sealed the entire piece with Mod Podge.  My Mom loved it and we had lunch yesterday to celebrate her day!  Happy Birthday Mom!

Materials:

Unfinished Wooden Tray

Acrylic Paint

Mod Podge

Print/Decal

Scissors/foam craft brush

White latex primer (optional)