It’s that time of the year when football fans rejoice! There has to be food to sustain fan passion through four intense quarters of play…serve your game day food on try that celebrates your home team spirit! Turn a picture frame into a football serving tray with a little paint and fabric for a piece you’ll use for years!
I originally shared this project in January right after the holidays and with football season about to begin, it’s the perfect time to share it again! I just put this in our family room so we can use it every Sunday. It’s so easy to transform an old picture frame to a serving tray that’s bursting with your home team spirit. This fun and functional tray is perfect to serve those tasty game day treats.
A square picture frame works well, but you can use any size you have. My frame measures 15 inches square with acrylic instead of glass. I used our home team colors in purple, black and gold acrylic paints. Use your team colors to paint the frame!
I gave the frame a light sanding just to make sure the surface was smooth. Decide how you want to use the colors on your frame. I did sections in each of the colors….; I measured off the sections with a ruler and used Frog Tape to mark off each section as I painted. Since I didn’t prime the frame first, I used three coats of paint. I tend to grab whatever is closest to prop up a project while painting. This time, it was cans of coffee – they were close!
I found some great team fabric at Jo-Ann. While the frame was drying, I cut a piece of fabric to fit the back board of the frame. The fabric was notched at the corners, folded to the back and attached to the board with Fabric Mod Podge. Once the board was dry and attached to the frame, I covered the entire back with black felt for a nice, neat look.
For the tray handles, I purchased gold-toned cabinet handles. Since the handles couldn’t be attached to the frame with the screws – which I didn’t realize until AFTER I bought them – I attached them to each side of the frame with E6000® Permanent Adhesive, which worked great!
Once everything was completed and the tray was ready to put together, I ran into a little challenge. This old frame did not have anything to secure the backing to the frame. I tried some of those little framing points, but they just were not working at all on this piece. Mr. Smarty Pants to the rescue! He came up with the absolutely genius idea of using thumbtacks – one at each corner and in the center on each side – pushed into the frame to hold everything in place. It worked perfectly! Necessity really is the mother – or father! – of invention!
Hubby HAS to have his chips & dip on game day! I don’t think anyone would be surprised that this is one of his very favorite non-holiday projects that I’ve made. This would make a fabulous gift for any football fan! Serve up your snacks, cheer and enjoy the season!
I have SO not been a good blogger lately! Sometimes, we get a wave of challenging stuff that hits us all at once and the past couple of months have been like that. Right now, I’ve got to tell you, I’m totally focused on vacation next week and lots of R&R! I’ve been working on a ton of fun projects for Halloween and can’t wait to share them with you!
