It is a beautiful piece of wood. I would paint the center first - if you don't like the look you can always paint the outside later. I like the idea of the bird on a limb. Can't wait to see it.

Another vote for the bird on a limb. It is a beautiful piece of wood. Vique

Luvs, I like the idea of a bird on a limb too. I also think it would be pretty with the fall leaves and acorns from the book we painted our "Give Us This Day" trays, if it would fit. Do you know what one I'm talking about? There is also a napkin holder with the leaves and acorns.

Punk

It is a very unique tray, the wood is beautiful and the shape is really nice. I could see my house numbers down the center - but then I am looking to make some new numbers.

I think the idea for the fall leaves and ACORNS may have hit a home run with someone? Now who really like Acorns? Maybe you, Luvs...

I know you will choose the right pattern and make the tray yours

Belle

Thanks for the ideas and opinions gals. Punk, I'll have to take a look at that book again, you are right that the fall leaves would probably go well with this pretty wood. And yep, Belle, I do love those acorns! ;o)

Okay, I'll find a pattern, paint only the inside section and see how it turns out. Will post the finished project when completed.

Luvs

That's nice! I think whatever you paint on it is going to look great! For that price how can you go wrong?? ha Love the TS!! ~Anj

Thought you all might like to see what I ended up doing with this wood piece. I decided I'd like to use it longways so I could place it on my mantle or the window shelf outside. It's a combination of hand painted acorns and leaves and vinyl lettering. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out and will look forward to using it this fall.

Luvs

Luvs, I like that a lot! I like that you didn't use the usual fall colors of orange and brown. When you say "vinyl lettering" does that mean stickers? And don't you just love thrift store shopping?! I'm a bargain hunter down to my core, and just love finding interesting things for dirt cheap!

Wowzas!! That turned out great! You are getting so many uses out of that cricut. I know you've never really liked doing the lettering by hand so this has gotta be so fun for you! Love your acorns and leaves. They look wonderful! You are gonna get lots of compliments on this one! ~Anj

Franksmom, glad you enjoyed seeing it. Yes, the letters are sorta like stickers. I got a Cricut little bug for my birthday back in March and it cuts the letters out, but could have bought the packaged ones as well.

Anj, I'm figuring out ways to combine the two--painting and the Cricut! And you are right, I've never liked painting lettering, seemed I could always mess it up--so this is a great option for me. I think I'll be able to display this piece all Fall don't you think?

Luvs

So...they make a machine that cuts letters? At home? Out of whatever you want? What rock have I been living under? Must. Know. More. Really, I recently finished a project where I was looking for red letter stickers. I just wanted plain block letters, bright red. Not pink, not maroon, but red, without glitter or flowers or any other kind of doo-dads.

Anyway, love the tray! The leaves and acorns are just lovely!

Luvs, your sign turned out great. I really like this one with some blue on the leaves. Great way to finish with your cut out letters. Is this alot faster for you than painting them? It's amazing how painting the background really changes the tray.

Punk

Luvs, I like what you did with the tray. Painting just the center left for a nice, naturally framed piece.
I love my local thrift stores, I buy pretty much all of my painting surfaces there. Sometimes I even occasionally find new sealed bottles of paint!

I also have die cut machines and just love how versatile they are. Will you seal over the vinyl lettering? If so what will you use? Vinyl can be a tough customer for a finish because of it's resistant surface.

Franksmom, the answer is "yes they do, and there are many of them." Just go to the Michaels or Joannes website and go to the scrapbooking section. Mine is a Cricket "baby bug" but there are three sizes. There's also a Silouhette (which I've probably spelled wrong!) You can cut cardstock, scrapbook paper, chipboard, vinyl,fabric, felt, etc. There are cartridges with fonts and designs so you cut the style of letters you want. I'm loving the vinyl because I can reposition my letters easily again and again. You can also use the vinyl cutout for stenciling or glass etching cream. I'm not a salesman, just a happy customer. ;o) Glad you liked how my TS tray came out.

Punk, glad you liked it's transformation too. I've never liked painting letters--could somehow always make them look messy, and don't really like the look of stenciling either--at least not when I do it! This is allot faster for me--and since they are vinyl, I can remove them anytime I want. (I don't paint as quickly as you do, so it might not be faster for you.);o) Obviously, this tray is for decorative purposes only and won't need to be washed, but I've read that there is vinyl out there that can be applied to glass and has stood up to many trips through the dishwasher. Obviously it has a stronger adhesive than what I'm using. I've been combining painting, scrapbook papers, and vinyl on several projects now and it's fun. Painting will always be my first love however. ;o)

Luvs

Forgot to mention that you can see a few of my other vinyl projects over on the conversations side if you are interested. I did not want to post them here since they are not painting related. Luvs

Kraftymom, I'm sorry, I didn't see your post when I was posting before. Didn't mean to ignore your questions.

Well, so far all I've heard of that works over the vinyl is Mod Podge. There may be some water based varnishes that will work, but will have to try it on some scraps before I use on a project. I haven't sealed this piece yet. I've read that there is outdoor vinyl that does not need to be sealed--but I would still worry about sealing the wood piece it was on if using it outside.

What kinds of projects do you do with your die cut machines? I'm loving doing the vinyl on glass plates--will get some tiles to try it on soon.

Grandma Bonnie over on the Crafts forum does wonderful things with her's. She does designs for cars and even decorated her Gkids toys.

I'm having fun with it and looking forward to learning more and more things to do with it. ;o) I'd love to hear any tips you have to share. I visit the Cricut message boards now to get more tips too.

Luvs

I love it, Luvs. I thought you had painted the lettering when I first saw it. The acorns are really nice. I am glad to see someone who likes painting fall projects. I don't do them very often because I don't like the color orange and it makes it hard for me to paint when I don't like a particular color - weird, right?

Hi Bebe, glad you got to see it. I just kept studying this wood piece and it just felt like it needed to be something for Fall since I wanted to leave the wood mostly unpainted. It looks great on my mantel, or I can use it on a ledge outside my front window. I'm not crazy about orange either except for Halloween--and a little bit for fall. Luvs