Joy to the World Serving Tray

When I think of Christmas I think of hanging out with friends and family watching Christmas movies and playing games.  I love entertaining during the holiday season.  So, to help me serve my guests delicious food and drinks I created a Christmas Serving Tray. 

This was the my first project using the Kreg Jig and my new Ryobi Circular saw.  I was so excited to to try this project out and I figured a simple beginner project would be a good start.  I am now completely in love with these tools!!  They made this project soooo easy!

 

If you've never heard of the Kreg Jig before it's also referred to as a pocket hole jig. It's an awesome tool! It allows you to screw two pieces of wood together while hiding your screws. It was the perfect tool for this project. 
 

My tray measured about 16in x 24in.  Before I started screwing the wood together I cut my wood to size.  This was pretty simple using my Ryobi circular saw.  But if you don't have a circular saw or table saw you can also have the guys at Home Depot cut your wood to size.

 

When using the Kreg Jig you'll want to invest in a good set of clamps. My local hardware store didn't sell Kreg clamps so I bought an off brand pair. They didn't work at all :( They didn't clamp tight enough so when I drilled the pocket holes I had to have another person hold the Kreg Jig down.  This was probably the hardest part of the project so I definitely suggest in spending a little extra money when buying clamps.
 

Once all of the wood was screwed together it was time to sand the tray.  I wanted to smooth everything out and sand down the sharp corners.  

Now it's time to stain the wood.  I used Varathane wood stain in dark walnut.  This is one of my favorite colors!  It's a rich color that allows the wood grain to show through.

I used my Silhouette Cameo to create my stencil for the tray.  If you don't have a Cameo you could also purchase a stencil from your local craft store.

For the silver paint I used Martha Stewart's silver metallic paint.  This stuff looks like liquid silver....it's gorgeous!! I have been using it on tons of projects lately - I love it!

To finish the tray I hand sanded it to give the words a distressed look. I then stained the top of the tray with another coat of dark walnut stain and finished it with a coat of Polyurethane. The poly helps protect the wood from moisture and anything else that might spill on the tray.

 

 

You’ll also want to screw in coordinating drawer pulls to each end of the tray so you can easily pick it up. Countersink your screws so that aren’t sticking out of the bottom of the tray – you don’t want them to scratch your furniture. You could also hot glue felt over the screws to protect your furniture.

This tray works great when serving up cocktails and food at your holiday party.  It also looks great displayed in a plate stand.

 

I am really happy with how this tray turned out!  It was a great beginner project using the Kreg Jig and Ryobi Circular Saw.  Now I think I'm ready to build something bigger....I'm thinking a TV stand!!

(This project was featured in the Southern Holiday Life 2013 edition, click here.)