{create} diy paper mache tray

Happy friday friends! Well, this week sort kicked my behind -- sooooo busy! So today I thought I'd share with you a quick DIY using paper mache! Did you ever do crafts with paper mache when you were a kid? I remember making this paper mache bead necklace when I was younger. It was all bright colored and crazy. I sort of wish I still had it :).

Last week when I set up my Thanksgiving table, I created a paper mache tray to use as a centerpiece. It's one of those great items that I can see traveling around our house. It was gorgeous as the centerpiece, above, and it looks great on our mantle, top photo.

I think it would also make a great corral for keys, phones, etc.

Paper mache is pretty much impossible to mess up, but above is a photo step-by-step. I started with a piece of wood, lots of newspaper and modge podge. I wrapped the wood with foil, because I was worried about the modge podge sticking to the wood and it worked great. The foil separated from the newspaper perfectly. Then I cut up strips of newspaper and started gluing them layer by layer to the foil-wrapped wood. I glued the first layer, let it dry for about 15 minutes and then kept adding layers until I was happy. I think I ended up with about 10. I let it dry overnight and then popped it off the wood. I trimmed the sides with scissors and painted the inside gold and the outside blue. Done! :)

I love quick, easy and inexpensive diy projects, don't you? :)

Have you ever created something with paper mache?

Have a great weekend friends!

**Update! I'm linking this post up to Beneath My Heart's November link party!