DIY Nickel Tray

Hi friends!  Are your kids back at school?  Mine start Monday so I've been crazy busy running all over town trying to get all their supplies.  As well as replace all the pants and shoes that are too small!  I'm excited to have a few hours a day to get things in my house more organized.  Because after summer it's a MESS!!

I started out in my messy bedroom with some storage for my nightstand.  I totally have a container addiction.  Bins, buckets, baskets and trays.  I'm always optimistic that having more containers will magically make me more organized!  So today I'm sharing my love of trays with you and have a tutorial on how to make a tray out of nickels!

Supplies:

Tray (I bought mine in the Target dollar section)
Paint
EnviroTex Lite
Nickels

I gathered my supplies and spray painted my tray with some Krylon Metallic silver paint.

I took my nickels out of the rolls and lined them up in the tray.  I didn't wash them because I liked how they were all slightly different colors but I did I pick out the really gross ones.  Then I mixed up the EnviroTex lite.  Read the directions carefully and I would recommend wearing gloves and opening a window. But it is pretty simple to work with.

Pour the EnviorTex Lite into your tray.  I used the same plastic knife I mixed it with to smooth it into all the crevices of the tray.  The cool thing is the EnviorTex self levels pretty well.

The package had a few suggestions on how to remove little bubbles and one of them was to use a propane torch.  Since I don't have a propane torch I used my crafting heat gun and it worked great.  Carefully cover your project.  I used a plastic bin.  This will keep dust from floating into the resin while it dries.

It takes about 3 days for the resin to completely cure and be ready for normal use.  Once my tray dried I put it on my nightstand to help me contain my mess!  I figure having a tray there will limit how many things I can set on the nightstand.

Love how neat and clean my side of the bed looks now!

Once I get my bedroom organized I'm going to work on the playroom and game closet.  What area of your house needs organizing?