Thrift store tray - before and after

I was browsing at my local thrift store, not looking for anything in particular, when I spotted this wooden tray. It had a nice shape and for $1.00 I couldn't pass it up.

 Have I mentioned before how much I love thrift stores??? Yeah, I thought so.

BEFORE:
 

I brought it home and decided it needed to be spruced up a bit, so I painted it and added a number 5 to it (which is significant because it represents the number of people in our little family. My husband, myself, and our 3 wild and crazy kids). I have a few 5's placed randomly around my house, so this will fit right in with the others.

AFTER:

Here's what I did to make the tray all purdy:


First I gathered my supplies. I cut the number 5 out of my Cricut using plain cardstock (I needed to cut 2 or 3 to get just the right size). Not pictured is the white paint that I used or the masking tape.

I removed the price tag and painted a very thin first coat of white paint on it. Let it dry for a few minutes.

After the first coat was almost dry I put a thicker second coat on. Don't try to do it too perfectly, a little imperfection gives it character. I may even distress it a little bit later on to make it look a little "weathered".

When the paint is totally dry, tape your number to the center with masking tape (if you don't wait for it to completely dry then when you take the tape off it will remove some of the paint). Remember...this isn't the most terrible thing to happen if you like that look!!

Paint with a contrasting color. Here's the thing about stenciling.....you can't put a lot of paint on your foam brush or it will bleed under the stencil. You wanna have so little on there that it takes a while to fill in. That's how you get crisp lines.

Last but not least....pull off the stencil and tape, let dry, then stand back and admire your beautiful $1.00 thrift store find. No one would guess how little it cost!!