it must have been growing up with my grandpa having an entire wood working set up in his garage, i don't know, but i love making (simple) things with wood. probably a totally strange obsession, but when the outcome is cool entertaining goodies, i'm okay with it. last weekend i tried my hand at making a super simple tray for appys or cocktails.. or shots;) i love it and can't wait to style it a million times for parties and displaying things around the house.

i found this plank with a small frame at michaels (i think it was meant to hang on a wall as a sign, it had all the hooks on the back, no biggie to leave them), rope, white paint, gorilla glue, two small wood pieces to use as feet, and a drill.

i started by drilling a hole with this pointy bit (sorry guys, i have no idea what the technical name is, i found it in our garage) and drilled a hole the same size as the rope.

string the rope through and tie a knot to secure the handles and the length you like (tip: since the hole is the same size, it might be hard to get the rope through, use a piece of tape to wrap the edges and make that a bit easier).

use the gorilla glue to glue down the "feet" of the tray as well as secure the knots so the don't unravel or slip down. you will need to add the feet since once you tie the knots in the rope, the tray will not sit flat… any piece of wood will work here as long as its thicker than your knot, but smaller than the width of the tray.

once those pieces have dried, from the rope on the bottom of your tray, apply a coast of paint and you are finished!

add tequila and serve.