Sunday, June 29, 2014

On a Silver Platter

For Christmas or Mother's Day or Housewarming or something, my awesome Brother-In-Law bought my MIL a cheese tray. A beautiful cheese tray with a chalkboard top, so whenever we have those aperitifs of stinky cheese and crackers that we love, we can know exactly what kind of stinky cheese it is that we are eating.

I loved it.

And I immediately thought, "I could make that!"

So when I saw a $1 "silver" platter at a garage sale recently - with scalloped edges and a simple, flowery design in the middle - I knew at once that it was perfect for a tester tray. I didn't want to spend $20+ at an antique store for a tray that may turn out horribly wrong, so $1 for a nice looking, probably aluminum - but could pass for silver to the inexperienced eye like mine -  platter was perfect.

My $1 "Silver" platter find!




I already had the chalkboard paint from a previous project, and some cheap foam paintbrushes from kiddie crafts. They would do the trick.



After thoroughly washing and drying it, I began outlining the scalloped edge with my paintbrush and chalkboard paint. I wasn't concerned with doing a good job covering completely, as long as my edging was even. I figured I could even everything else out in the end.

The Hubs asked if it was "self-leveling" paint. Guess it looked a little uneven!
After coating it with one very uneven coat, I waited for it to dry. About 1/2 an hour.

I then painted another coat of paint, waited, then another, waited and then another. Total, I painted 4 coats of paint.



By the time the fourth coat of paint had dried, I was ready to draw a little note and set up my new platter.



I love how it turned out! It has a natural scalloped edging, which made the platter a little girly and old-fashioned looking, and gave me a very easy outline to work with.


Right now it is set up on our buffet, marking the spot in our Wine A to Z challenge*. When we have our next cheese and cracker night, it will be very simple to wipe it off and label our cheeses!

I love using chalkboard paint, and I have found that a little goes a very low way. What's your favorite thing to do with chalkboard paint?


*Our Wine A to Z challenge is our challenge to ourselves to be a little more exploratory in our wine selection, to step out of the comfort zone of Pinot Noir, in the brand offered at Costco. Last October, on our anniversary, we began with an "A" wine (Apothic, then Blackstone, etc) - the name on the label, not the type (Merlot, etc). I gave up alcohol for Lent this year, so that slowed us down a little, but as you can tell from the sign, we are currently on "T". The "A to Z" wine shown on the right will be the last one we drink in this challenge (following our "Z"), and then its onto our next challenge......Beers from A to Z!