Start with a plain wooden tray.

Give it two coats of white paint (we used acrylic paint) to provide both a protective undercoat and a light-colored background. A light-colored background will help images to stand out if they become transparent when wet with glue, as our magazine cutouts did.

Allow time to dry between coats.

We decided on a floral theme with pinks and greens, and we chose photos from old magazines which used high quality paper. Once we chose our images, we decided on a couple of centerpieces and cut all the rest into random sizes; some as small as a thumbnail.

Get creative here and cut out images and lay them out anyway you want. It's good to have a number of small pieces to use when gluing around fiddly areas, such as corners and handles.

Next, mix up some wallpaper paste following the manufacturer's instructions. Make up sufficient glue to be able to dunk in your pieces of paper and completely cover them with glue.