Well hello thar. Now, I often start these blog posts asking if you’ve got your cuppa ready.
Well, thought I, where is mine?!
I decided therefore that if I was going to make my own, I’d jolly we’ll make something lovely to carry it from kitchen to ‘lounge’ on.
So, if you’ve got your cuppa ready, let me tell you more …
A wee while back I did an All Counties Challenge Workshop at The Mulberry Bush in Thatcham.
The trouble with doing workshops in shops however is that one oft makes a few ‘accidental’ purchases.
This visit was no exception.
Whilst in the store I was introduced to a range of paints and mediums from a person called Jo Sonja.
After being allowed to play with them during the Gelli Plate workshop that I led, I was convinced that they would find a place in my paint stash so I got myself a couple of colours and some gesso and varnish.
Now, as any self respecting Crafter would do, I lobbed the shopping bag ‘somewhere safe’ and sort of forgot about it.
More recently I was hosting an MDF decorating day in Saltdean and realised that I had one too many kits. One of those kits was a mini tea tray.
As if struck by a cattle prod I inhaled excitedly having remembered my Jo Sonja bits. Perfect project to try these out on!
I immediately forgot the idea until I was unpacking the workshop stuff a couple of days later.
Giving up on unpacking I got to work.
The tray, from Fernli Designs was super simple and quick to put together and I was reaching for my little Tim Holtz brush and the Jo Sonja gesso in order to coat and prime the tray.
Done!
*yawns* Hurry up and dry!
Oh, maybe I could rummage through the stencil stash instead of harassing the tray.
*potters off to look for stencils*
*comes back a couple of hours later having been distracted by various things*
Ooh, that dried quick :)
Oddly, as you can see, I can remember dithering, I just don’t know I’m doing it when it’s happening. Lol!
Anyway, back to the tray.
I selected a bubble stencil and was quite pleased that it fitted perfectly inside the tray. Handy!
Please don’t ask me who it’s by as I haven’t a clue.
Popping the stencil down I proceeded to dab the Jo Sonja aqua coloured paint through the bubbles.
After letting that dry; I watched it dry this time, I dabbed on some pink Americana satin paint.
Time to lift the stencil.
Eek! Love it :)
Hmmm, now, does it need ‘more’?
I quickly slapped over a thin coat of varnish before the goddess of glitter showed her face and made me cover it in sparkle.
Now to wait for that to dry. Perhaps I could have a cuppa whilst I am waiting …
*falls asleep*
Next morning I checked on the work and decided that I didn’t like the pink and so reached for some gold paint, realigned the stencil and started dabbing.
Glad it worked over the varnish!
As I hope you can make out, the gold didn’t cover the pink. Instead, it changed it to a rose gold and also recoloured the overlaps which gave an interesting result.
Going to be honest though, I didn’t like how this was going so, two coats of gesso later and I redid the stencilling just with the aqua coloured paint
Better :)
Just a wee touch more aqua paint along the thin edges to set off the blue in the bubbles and I think it’s done.
Right, time to varnish and leave it alone.
I left it to dry and set completely.
Time to pop the kettle on and give the tray a test run … Earl Grey I reckon.
*dunks, slurps and nibbles*
Beauty! The tray was quite good too – lol.
A job well done I think.
What do you reckon? I believe there is room in all of our lives for mini tea trays.
How about the finished look? What would you have done differently?
Ok, must pop off now.
Thanks for reading and I’ll see you again fairly soon-ish.
J :)
GENTLEMAN CRAFTER 
loved it before you changed back to the aqua, but that is lovely too x
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Wow you are so ckever john i love all 3 of the versions of the tray must be wonderful to have such an eye for colour something i struggle with luv an stuff
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I have some mdf to paint and decorate. Love the stencil. I have only got to decide what to play with next.
I was wondering how to decorate but was worried about going “wrong” seeing how you overcame and redid the bits that you weren’t happy with.
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Love it and can now see a way past distressing – lol! Think Kim’s right re the stencil. I’ve got it as well – in my stash still in it’s packet – ROFL!
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Wavy Stripes by Dutch Doobadoo
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Hi John. Looked on Fernli Designs but cannot find the tea tray and boxes we did at the Mulberry Bush the other week. How did you find them on that site please.
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Look under storage. Tray is just called tray and box is bauble box.
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Like all three versions but I did really like it with the pink. Now mine would have been purple and pink. Thanks for sharing and good we can learn what to do if we don’t like the finished item. I do like Jo Sonja paints. Have used them several times before at our craft group. Just thought what I can do for some Christmas presents. Thanks John.
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I must admit, I did like it in two colours, the rose gold colour rather than the pink. Any combination of two colours that go together would look good I think. x
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Simply beautiful!
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Hi John
A job very well done indeed, I love the aqua on white and I thought the pink looked pretty good with them too though not quite to my taste.
I think I’d have done it to match my kitchen, which is a very milky latte colour with deep red and granite colours (looks better than it sounds, trust me), either that or I’d have used glue through the stencil and given it a rainbow coloured glitter job, or maybe in zebra stripes as I am a Zebra after all!
Oh no, you got me thinking now…!!! Mad creative idea overload coming!
Hugs x
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I like all three versions, you are very persistent and patient.
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Love the tray John,..the stencillling looks amazing.
The stencil looks exactly like mine which is by Dusty Attic and called bubbles (I think,not 100% sure about the actual stencil name)
Hope this helps your readers.Dawn
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Thank you for mentioning that Dawn, I think it’s a great design so I shall look when I find a Dusty Attic retailer :-)
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Hi John
Lovely work. I liked the original too. That’s the beauty of paint-if you don’t like it you can easily paint over it and start again.
X Chris
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Definitely better just the aqua – makes it look so fresh. The stencil is called Wavy Stripes by Dutch Doobadoo. I know because it’s in my stash still in the packet!
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