It's time to party with this
seasonal tray.

• Wood serving tray with deep sides
• Acrylic paints in black and metallic copper, turquoise, and purple
• Paintbrush
• Clock faces (from flea-market finds, or available at crafts stores)
• Thick white crafts glue
• Acrylic gems in various sizes, shapes, and colors
• Silicone glue
• Gold leaf paint
• 1/4-inch dowel
• 1 piece of glass, cut to fit inside tray

1. Paint the entire tray black. Let the paint dry.

 

Step 3

2. Arrange the clock faces inside the tray as desired. Edges of the clock faces can be folded up onto the tray sides if desired, but edges should be no higher than 1/4 inch on the sides of the tray (otherwise, the glass may not set level). Glue the clock faces in place. Let the glue dry.

3. Add gems. Use tweezers and silicone glue to adhere gems on and around the clock faces. Let the glue dry.

 

Step 4

4. Paint. With very little paint on the brush, dry-brush around the clock faces and gems using gold leaf paint. Use straight brush strokes and a little copper paint to dry-brush the outside of the tray. Use turquoise for the top edge, and dry-brush the inside of the handles with purple. Let the paint dry.

5. Add dowels. Cut four equal pieces of dowel to raise the glass up, just below the handles. Paint the dowel pieces black. Let dry. Dry-brush with gold leaf. Let dry. Glue a dowel in each corner of the tray using silicone glue. Let dry.

6. Add the glass. Clean the glass, then glue it to the tops of the dowels. Let dry. Add a gem in each corner of the glass. Let dry.

• To use as decoration only, omit the glass and display the tray with several tabletop clocks set around it.
• For a teen, embellish either a wall or tabletop clock using gems and metallic paints.