I’m a little late to the party.

Not 10 minutes “fashionably late” but LATE, LATE.

What party? The mandala party. I’ve seen mandalas, some very gorgeous ones actually, but I’ve never done one myself because I wasn’t sure what I would DO WITH it.

Then I got this great package of product in the mail last week from Smoothfoam and I knew right away what I wanted to do with one of the flat discs.

Supplies:

• Smoothfoam 8 inch disc
• Gesso
• Paint in colors of your choice – I used DecoArts Americana paints in coral blush, black plum, olive green, butterscotch and Hi-Light Flesh
• Mandala art printed out onto printer paper
• Gold leaf pen, gold puffy paint, gold calligraphy pen or marker
• Transfer paper
• Small round and/or small flat paint brush
• Large flat paint brush
• Flat backed “gems” – optional
• Glue

Coat the top and sides of the disc with gesso. I used two coats. Let dry.

Paint the base color, usually the lightest color.Let dry.

Lay the transfer paper down on the painted disc and then put the mandala image on top. I find it helpful to use a colored pen to trace the image so I can see exactly which lines I’ve already traced.

Remove the tracing paper. The tracing paper I used left a light residue/marks (see above) on the disc and I liked the way it looked so I left it there. In the end it made the disc look like it’s stone and not smoothfoam.

Fill in the image with the paint colors of your choice letting colors dry before adding a new color next to it.

Once the paint is dry, trace the outlines with the gold marker or puffy paint.

Hmmm. Nice. But there it needs more.

Because you know what Iris and I say….

“More is more but less is a bore” ~ Iris Apfel

And just to make it look a little vintage I sprayed it lightly with Design Master spray paint in Glossy Wood Tone.

I LOVE it! I can’t get a photo that shows how cool this is in person.

Mandalas sure are relaxing to do PLUS this is very light weight and even though it looks like stone it could hang on the wall with a very small hanger.

I think this might be a great project for some teen girls over the holiday break, don’t you think?