I decided I wanted to challenge myself to create or decorate my own tray. I also liked the idea of upcycling something. About a month or so back, my husband got a large gamer mouse and mouse pad. I realized the box was the perfect size for a tray. The idea of using paper mache and customizing the box appealed to me and so, a project was born.
Choosing how I would decorate the box was another matter. I surfed Pinterest for ideas and settled upon a mandala design. I had seen several trays with white on a dark background and wanted to do the same. I also felt intimidated by the idea of creating my own mandala. The designs seemed so intricate. I was sure I would mess up. I settled on using a few stencils as a jump start and then added in some of my own free form drawing. You will get to see the creation of the mandala in detail within the video tutorial. As you watch, think about the color you might like to paint your own tray as well as whether or not you have any stencils that could serve as a jump start to your own mandala tray project.
