Trash to Treasure: Decorating with Old Silver Trays
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I love to repurpose beautiful and interesting pieces in unexpected ways. I also love easy projects. Here’s a perfect combination of all of the above!
These trays make charming Christmas decor for your home, or as a gift for a friend. And the possibilities are endless! Change up the words to display your last name, an initial, words of inspiration, etc.
Several years ago, I saw this fun idea for using old silver trays as Christmas decorations and started keeping my eyes open for silver trays on my thrifting jaunts.
While I haven’t found any real silver trays, I did come across plenty of look-alikes. Which is just fine by me! They were super-cheap and I’m pleased with the way my project turned out.
The sliver plate project that served as my inspiration was very short on details, but from what I can tell it seemed like the letters were painted onto the trays. Similar to the method I used for my DIY Noel Sign, I’d imagine.
I’m not very adept at this method yet, and truly, I lack the required patience. So I ordered vinyl decals from this shop on etsy. It worked great! (Can you say “peel and stick”?) 🙂
Later, I came across much bigger “silver” trays and am now thinking about ordering another set of decals in a larger size. I’ll keep you posted on how that works out…
Instructions for applying vinyl decals to a hard surface (like a metal tray):
1. Clean the surface of the item where the sticker will be placed.
2. Apply transfer tape to the decal. (The transfer tape is resuable.)
3. Carefully peel away the waxy paper, leaving the sticker attached to the transfer tape.
4. Carefully place the sticker and transfer tape onto the surface. Be sure to position the sticker accurately! If you attempt to pull it up after it has grabbed on to the surface, you may pull apart the design and ruin the sticker.
Hooray for an easy, thrifty DIY project that’s full of Christmas charm. These trays would make a great gift, too!
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