{Creative Palette} Deconstructed Canvas & Wooden Tray
March marked the 1st Creative Palette class of 2019 at 2nd Chance Restoration! As always, Kelly had some amazing rustic/farmhouse designs picked out for our projects. We created a wooden tray and a deconstructed canvas sign during class. The wooden tray was the same one we created in February 2018; it’s important to note that Kelly tries not to do the same project again – but this one was a customer favorite and requested by many, so she caved and did it again.
We started the evening with a project that guest teacher Shauna Rogg was back for, the same Shauna from Cricut 101. Shauna passed out a blank canvas sign, such as this one which can be found at any craft store, to everyone. We took our 8″ x 10″ canvases and using an X-ACTO knife, we cut the canvas right outside the staples on the back of the frame. Once we had the canvas removed from the frame, we laid it down flat underneath the frame and taking the same knife, we trimmed the canvas to be the same size as the outer edge of the frame as we would be applying an iron-on and attaching the canvas to the back of the frame. 
With the canvas ready, we took our wooden frames into the staining room and stained them. Kelly had three options of stain to pick from – a dark brown, light brown and light grey – I used a mix of the two browns. We then placed the frames on another table to dry and went back to the classroom to begin on the second project; our trays.
Kelly already had the boards cut for us; we needed two 14″ boards, four 21″ boards, 2 handles, 8 screws and sand paper. 
Step one was to sand all of our boards and assemble our trays upside down. The two 14″ boards which would be on the top of the tray with the handles, were set down on the table at the end of the 21″ boards perpendicular to them, laying on top. Once the trays were set up, we used a power drill to screw the long boards to the short boards from the bottom (so you don’t see them when you have the tray out and in use). We then flipped the trays right side up and measured out where we would be installing the handles, marking the spots for the handles to be attached with a permanent marker. 
Then we headed back into the staining room to stain the tray. Last year I made a grey one, so this year I made a light brown one – the trays were then put on Kelly’s drying rack to dry.
While our trays dried, we cleaned up our tables, grabbed our frames that were now dry and then got a pre-made iron-on from Shauna which said “home sweet home”. We decided where on the canvas we would put the iron-on. Many people put their phrase centered and straight, but I wanted to make mine on an angle, because I don’t like to follow all the directions exactly. Then we used Shauna’s t-shirt press to adhere our iron-on to the canvas. We let them cool a little bit and then removed the plastic from the canvas and got it ready to assemble our final product. 
To finish the frame, we laid the frame down upside-down, and put the canvas upside-down on top of it, so the blank side of the canvas was facing us. Then we took a staple gun to attach the canvas to the back of the frame, and viola, we had our finished product!
It was then time to grab our dry trays and finish those up. We started by drilling holes for the handles through the tray from the top down. Then we countersunk the holes from the bottom, about 3/4 of the way through one board so the screws would reach into the handles. We then used a phillips head screwdriver to attach the drawer pulls to make our trays complete!
When we started making the projects, it dawned on me that the cutting board would be a great birthday present for my Grandma, so I used her last name in the middle. After sizing the border to the right size, I ensured the word was centered in the middle and then welded it together. Before sending the project to the Cricut, we also attached and flattened it all. Once on the printing screen, we needed to be sure to mirror the image since we would be applying it to the cutting board from the bottom. The hardest part of the night was the weeding; since the border had so many aspects, making sure you were only weeding the excess was tricky, but we all did it. Once the weeding was done, we laid out some contact paper to use for the transfer and then laid it down on the table, sticky side up. The final step was to center the vinyl on the cutting board, which was not too hard using the feet of the cutting board to temporarily put it down and once it was centered, then flipping it over and pressing the vinyl onto the cutting board before removing the transfer paper. Our final products came out so well!
As we were arriving and sitting down, we each got a plate with Martha Stewart acrylic glass paint (dark green, bright green and a shimmery gold). There were also water cups scattered around and we each got a raffle slip to win the glasses Kristina painted during the class.
Then we took our flat brush, dipped it in both greens (one corner in each) and made a shamrock over each dot, using the dot as the middle – a shamrock isn’t that hard, it’s just 3 hearts and a stem, but we only did the leaves this time. After we had our shamrocks on each glass, we added gold dots around the shamrocks, but not where a stem would be. I decided to break out and add bright green dots too! Then we took the small brush and went over the shamrocks to touch them up and make them not transparent. We also added stems at this time. Then we had the option to add some gold on top of one or two, of all, shamrocks. Some people had one four leaf clover on the glass and did that one with the gold. The shamrocks could be large, or small like I did. Really, you didn’t even have to do shamrocks if you really didn’t want to…
After the border was done, we untaped the paper and then pulled the paper off the board – if there were any pieces of the paper stuck around the bottom of the nail, we used a tweezer to remove it. Then we added a heart inside the state, approximately where Monroe is located – we followed all the same steps, tape it down, add nails, then pull the paper off. 
Then we put a small dot of super glue on the nail next to the one we started on and pulled the string there, holding it in place until it was secure. Once that was done, we were able to cut off the excess string (but be very careful you only are cutting excess string, not the string on your shape). Then we repeated the same within the heart – I did my heart in white to allow it to stand out against the green. 
1 year.
2017 has reminded me just how grateful I should be, how thankful I am for the amazing people in my life and how blessed I am to live this life I have!
whiskey & pearls 