Altered tray Easter hanging

Hey friends!  Hope your weekend was a good one. I thought today I'd share a fun new find, and how I altered it.  First I'll show you the finished project. Here it is hanging on my front door.  Without the added ribbon for hanging, they would be really fun set in an easel also.  I also wanted to show you just one of the great images from the "Creating with Vintage Illustrations CD" from Crafty Secrets, and how easy they are to use. As many as you need, and any size you need.  The images and papers I used on all these projects are from that CD.

My new "find" is these clear plastic 12x12 trays for $1 at Dollar Tree. ( Im sure you can find them at other places also..but for a dollar, I gotta love the deal).  

I decided to use Tattered Angels paints on the backside of mine.  I used Glam first then a few different colors of Chalkboard  paint.

I let it dry completely.  ( it looks kind of dull in this photo below..but trust me ..the color is gorgeous  showing through from the back side.

I dries well , but keep in mind you are using a water base paint on a non porus surface, so it could rub off  if not covered. If you wanted you could add a clear coat spray to seal it, so you didnt have to worry about any rubbing off. Since I pack my seasonal things away until the next year, I decided I wanted to protect mine, but as I was thinking about it ( and how thin the clear piece is) I decided I would just add another exact clear tray to the back. Now it's protected and even more sturdy.

You can see in the photo below, I used a quick dry clear liquid adhesive on the first one and it worked fine, but.....  I'm not that patient waiting for glue to dry.. even when it's "supposed" to be quick... SO..

On the next one I used  Crafty Foam Tape , and it worked even better!  AND ..no waiting!  ( you only want to put it in the inside "center" of the square, that will be covered by your image).

You can see in this photo, how, even with adding two trays together, it's not too thick.

Okay, now it's time for your image.   If you arent used to using printable images from a CD, trust me.. it's EASY.  Not everyone is a computer wizard (I'm certainly not)  but each Crafty Secrets CD has easy step by step instructions.   I'm really learning more every day about the benifits of being able to print from a CD.  One of the main things I love, is the option to have the image or paper print any size you want.

Creating with Vintage Illustrations CD #2

Once you choose your image and click on it to open it, you can choose how big or small you want it to print.  I know alot of you already know how to size photos and images, and do it all the time, but this is for those who are totally new to using any photo editing softwear , so they can see just how easy it really is.   If you're unsure "if" you have any photo editing softwear on your computer,  PAINT (a free program on many computers)... or you can get the newer free version of Paint.net HERE.  You can read more about it here on the Heartwarming Vintage blog in this post Sandy did.

I decided to print my image on white cardstock.  Size 9x9 inches. so it will fit just inside the edge of the clear tray.

I love my printer/scanner and it wasn't super expensive at all. It's a Canon MX860.  There is some great information Sandy has posted about printers and ink HERE.

Once I have my image, the cutting and pasting commence! yay.. I love this part:)

Like I said, these gorgeous papers are printed from the CD also.  You can see in the next two photos.. how pretty the paints are where they show through.  You can let even more paint areas show through, just by using less paper around the edges if you want.  It's great if you can hang it in a window so the light can show through, and show off the paint.

I wish you could see the sparkles from the Glam. It's so pretty wish the light coming through it.

After adding my papers, I finished up embellishing and added the ribbon to hang it from.

All kinds of possibilities for these trays. I can see them now. lol

Since I was talking to you about how I love that I can print these images off in whatever size I want, I thought I'd show you some other projects with this same image in different sizes.
  Like this empty frame from my "to alter bin", that now has a cute image in it.

Or smaller for a card

(the stamp set I used for the front and inside of this card is the "Happy Easter" set of Clear Art Stamps.)

Oh and how about even smaller?  I used this smaller image for one of these Fancy Pants Metal Frames.

Wouldnt they be fun keepsakes to hang on Easter Baskets?

I could go on and on..but you get the idea :)

I'm not finished with these clear trays.  You are bound to see me using these more down the road.

Fun stuff.

Happy Monday my friends

Vic