Vintage Checker Board

by JOANN |

Item # 52916631P46

Intermediate Varies

Sand the edges of the unfinished tray to give it a softer shape.
Paint only the base inside of the tray with the olive green but let the wood grain show through. Let it dry.
Paint the sides inside and out with the wood tints to the color that you desire. Let it dry.
Measure the the width and length inside the tray.
Decide the side of the square for the middle to be cut out of cardstock.
Leave about 1" border all the way around of the tray showing.
Make sure the square can easily be divided by 8.
Using your pencil and metal straight edge, cut the big square of cardstock.
Glue it to the tray center using the Mod Podge. Smooth out the surface as it dries.
Using your pencil divide the cardstock square into 8 sections both ways.
Dilute the terra cotta paint and with the medium detail brush paint every other square inside the cardstock to create the checker board.
With your Cricut machine, cut out embellishments/accents for the corners of the board. You can make any shape you desire (examples: stars, diamonds, pinecones, leaves).
Sand the edges again to let the raw wood show through to appear aged.
Paint a coat of Mod Podge on top of the inside bottom of the tray covering the checkerboard surface as well.
Using the brown distress inking stamps, LIGHTLY drag it over the surface, the sides of the board, triangles and squares to give an aged look.

Always work on a level flat surface.
Don't paint the squares to be perfect. Let the layers of paint show through and even let the edges of each square look a little sloppy.
Let the tray dry between layers.
Using the sandpaper to lightly sand the surface to weather the accents & the surface of the board.