Inspired by Miss Mustard Seed...again

I've mentioned before how much I love Miss Mustard Seed and all of her amazing transformations.  I had a couple of wooden trays downstairs that I've started painting numerous times, but have never finished. (When things don't turn out like I picture in my head, I have the bad habit of giving up!)   I found some inspiration for my trays recently, though, while looking through some of Marian's old posts.

I didn't snap a before picture of the tray, but it had been painted a dark blue around the outside and a cream on the inside.   I decided to use the same light blue color on the trays that I had used on my Goodwill mirror.

I coated the tray with two coats of chalk paint and then hand painted a design in white.

I wanted to make the white details pop a little more, so I shaded a bit with gray paint.

Then I sanded over the details when the paint was dry to blend the colors together.

I sealed the piece with some clear varnish and then sanded the edges.  Normally I sand first because I don't like the sealed finish to be roughed up.  But since the piece had been previously painted, I couldn't distress it.   When I applied the antiquing stain, it soaked a little more into the places that had been sanded giving it a slightly more distressed look.

And now, after many years of sitting in a box in the basement, the trays are done.  I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out.  What do you think?