DIY: Serving Tray

I wanted to create some trays for sale in my Etsy shop.  This cute tray and others will be for sale, but for those of you at home who love a DIY project I thought I'd share this with you.  If you're not a DIYer, but you'd like to take this cutie home you can use the code 'cookit' for 10% off your order (expires 2/28/13). 

This is a small tray, 11x8 I believe.  You can find wooden trays at some craft stores, though I had a hard time tracking down some that I felt were reasonably priced.  This tray came from Hobby Lobby in a set of three.  I felt the bottom was a little flimsy at first, so I reinforced it with some 1/4" dowel rod.  After I primed and painted it I felt it was much stronger though.
To start with I primed the whole tray with Kilz primer.  I adore Kilz.  It will save you a fortune on paint and it keeps your paint from chipping.  When in doubt I Kilz it (insert chuckle here).
After the primer dried I painted the sides a semi-gloss cream color.  The bottom I painted in a flat grey.
I allowed the paint to cure over night.  The next day I cut out the word 'Yum!' out of contact paper on my Cricut.  I centered the 'stencil' and rubbed the whole thing down well.  You want to make sure all the edges are adhered to the tray.  Once the 'stencil' is adhered I painted the edges of the word in my grey base paint.  This keeps the second color from bleeding through the edges.
After I allowed that the dry for one hour I painted the cut out in a pretty semi-gloss blue.  I put three coats of paint on total and then I allowed it to dry for an hour.
Once the paint was totally dry I peeled the stencil off and voila--a too cute serving tray.  It's perfect for serving cupcakes or drinks on.
I am going to cut a piece of plexiglass for the bottom so that it can be removed and washed if it gets dirty.   I'm also thinking about wrapping the handles in some sisal rope, just to add an extra something.
This tray would make a great hostess gift!