Vintage Tray Message Du Jour Boards

I’ve been looking and looking for some old vintage metal trays.  I thought they would be cute with their inner sections painted in chalk paint.  Cute to display around the home – handy for whatever the “Message Du Jour” is!  Thing 1 and Thing 2 always have fun with things like these and there’s no telling what message someone might leave, tempted with a blank slate and piece of chalk!

The weekend garage sales hadn’t turned up anything.  My search of the local thrift stores turned up a few items that were too much money and just really not what I was envisioning.  I was really looking to pay no more than a $1.00 (or even less).

Are you familiar with “the Secret”?  It’s a philosophy where you put a message out to the universe.  Basically you manifest your desires.  I’m familiar with the concept only.  But I will tell you this, I do seem to have this gift!  Need a new Cuisinart?  I’ll find one, brand new at an estate sale for $25 complete with the extra blade set.  What about a Barbecue for the rental house in Palm Springs?  How’s $20 bucks sound, gently used with a filled propane tank to boot!

Yeah, lucky me.  This is my gift in life – it couldn’t be something cool like winning lotteries or finding diamonds.  But finding that certain something that I feel I need… it comes to me.

Sure enough, sooner than expected, someone moved out of one of the apartments where I lived.  They left a bunch of kitchen goods, stacked neatly in a covered area next to the recycling.  Three darling little vintage trays yelled out to me and caught my attention.  They were not too big!  Not too small.  EXACTLY what I was envisioning!

After cleaning up the trays and applying a couple of coats of chalk paint, I had three festive little message boards, perfect for any occasion!

Naturally, Thing 2 was the first to grab the chalk and leave her message!