Best DIY Gifts: Painted Floral Serving Trays

Mother’s Day Craft & Gift: Painted Floral Serving Tray

Materials:

• A tray
• Sandpaper
• Acrylic paints
• Paint palette/paper plate
• Brushes
• Paint pens
• Finishing gloss
• A good audiobook/playlist or movie for background noise

True or false:

You would rather have a homemade gift over something purchased?

For Ralphie in A Christmas Story, I know anything would have been better than the bunny footie pajamas his aunt made for him… of course I am not discrediting the joys of receiving an item you’ve been eyeing like “the official Red Ryder carbine-action, 200-shot range model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time” but I also know that there is nothing that warms my little hobbyists heart more than giving something I worked on to a loved one. That goes for everything from taking baked goods to my office to share with my peers, making my finance dinner, crocheting sweaters, making earrings, candles and so much more! Whenever I start a new hobby, I want to share it!

The latest addition to my arsenal is painting–specifically, painting flowers and bookshelves and though I have dabbled with this in the past I feel I have found extra joy in cycling back to acrylics and trying new things.

I will have to make another post about how I got back into it, my favorite projects, tips and tricks but I really wanted to share this fun Painted Floral Serving Tray project from this past Mother’s Day.

It all started when I saw a TikTok video of a girl painting hydrangeas; I had just started to play with my paints again and I typed “how to paint flowers” into the search. This is something I used to love doing on YouTube before I (like so many others) started gravitating to short-form content. One video/artists in particular who I found incredibly useful was Camilla_Creations (https://www.youtube.com/@camilla_creations) whose how-to hydrangeas video got me excited to paint flowers! I highly recommend subscribing to her channel/checking out her work!
*TJ MAXX had sooo many to choose from but this was the perfect size!!

Once I got comfortable with how to paint these gorgeous flowers, I decided to use this new skill to finesse a painted floral serving tray complete with a pop of pink for mother’s day! 

My sister, brother and I made a trip to TJ Maxx and found the perfect tray for this gift (as well as these ADORABLE cat clips which our mom LOVED)!

Start by sanding & cleaning your piece: use sandpaper to soften any edges which need it/to remove any finish which was previously on the tray (only on areas you’ll be painting). For me, this meant just the inner surface!

Then it was time to add the floral design: Mom loves PINK so obviously we needed to use that in her tray but I also wanted to add a pop of blue. Per Camilla’s painting method/style… we started with ovular splotches to be the base of the flower. In hindsight, I wish I would have concentrated a lot of this in the center of the tray and then branched out but as for a first tray attempt I was still happy with how it came out!

After the base, start with each petal. This is the tedious part. Basically, you will load your paint brush with two colors. The top half with white and the bottom with whatever your base color is- this can be on one side. With these two colors on your brush, place it flat and draw an “n” or a “c” but sideways. It’s important to have a little curve in the movement and THIS is what creates the beautiful petals which make up this flower. At the end, you may find you want to add an extra pop to the tops of each petal and this can be done with an acrylic paint pen or with a thin layer of white–whichever you prefer!!

Add leaves, vines, polka dots or whatever else floats your boat and let your creation dry!

Finish by spraying a layer or two of a finishing gloss (you can find on Amazon or Walmart… whatever floats your boat)

Top with additional goodies such as flowers, candy, a card, sunglasses… a plate of cookies or let it stand alone!

However you do it… I know it is made with love 💞

Let me know if you make one of these for someone special (or yourself)!!