Upcycling Baking Sheets and Cake molds.

Hi!

I'm kinda sad today for lots of reasons.

First of all, I just read and saw pictures of how a fellow blogger went on a Fabric Shopping trip to NYC and shopped in a Fabric District.

....

Fabric district... I WISH there was one of those here. There is only one place here that was considered the place to be for crafting supplies (a section of our capital San Juan called Rio Piedras) and because of the bad economy and peoples' lost interest for sewing and crafting it has decayed a lot. The other places for resources are one chain store that sells pretty pricey fabric and another mega-store that has a pretty okay selection.

No Joann's... No Michael's... No nothing.

Also, I had my first job related meeting today. It was sort of a reality check because classes start pretty soon and all the stress and stuff that comes with it too. At least this year I'm going to be surrounded by another group of teachers that seem pretty nice and the workload is going to be much less than last year.

So because I'll have less time for crafting, I'll make sure to do at least one project and update weekly.

This week I crossed off of my Pinterest boards one simple project that involved baking sheets. It turns out, those unused, oxidized baking sheets or cake molds can be turned into great trays and/or bowls to store things.

Originally I saw this at a Martha Stewart page, and in it they spray an adhesive on top of the baking sheet, but I decided to paint mine instead of using fabric for it. I guess I couldn't pic a fabric that matched the purpose of the use I was going to give to the tray and I wanted it to be washable and durable.

This projects needs to be done over a time span because the priming and painting stages need a while to dry.

First of, you need to clean your tray and prep it by using steel wool. This material can be found in most hardware stores and its pretty cheap. I used this one.

In this part you should be pretty thorough. Try to scrape as much rust as you can. Also, try to make the metal surface porous so the primer adheres well. The dust that results after you scrape should not be breathed, so I recommend you wear a painters mask. Also, the residue can be picked up by your vacuum cleaner so it doesn't stay on your floors or in your house.

After your trays have been prepped and sanded, you will need to wash them and dry them THOROUGHLY.  If not your primer will not adhere properly.

The next step is to prime your trays. I used Rustoleum primer for metals and it worked just fine. Apply one coat of primer to your tray and leave it to dry for at least one good sunny day. If you notice any spots that are uneven (like I did), add another coat and let dry.

After your tray has been primed, you can proceed to paint over it. I chose various colors because I did multiple trays. First of, a bright yellowy green one.

And a smaller bright yellow one.

I kept the yellow one in my nightstand and the green one will be used by the dog (will post pictures later).

So this project was very simple and cheap and also it gave us the opportunity of upcycling some metal. Also, these trays can be used for a lot of things. I've seen them in the internet as tea trays. Some people paint games in them for their children. Another great use for them is to use chalkboard paint and use them to write short quirky messages. Some people choose to decoupage them with Modge Podge and cardstock and they turn out great too.

I hope you enjoy it and get to recycle as much trays as you want. Post pictures in the comments section of yours and I'll feature you in my next posts.

Natz.