Quick DIY Decorative Serving Tray

Dress up a wood serving tray with pretty art details. Learn how to make a decorative serving tray with a wood tray and vinyl cut designs. This easy step-by-step tutorial will show you everything you need to create your own pretty tray for parties and gifts and you can create this project in literal minutes!

Use your Cricut to cut fancy vinyl art designs that are unique and fun to make. You've got to love a quick craft, Cricut projects are my favorite!

Make your own decorative wood tray with your cricut - design by Jen Goode — Make your own decorative wood tray with your cricut – design by Jen Goode

Make your own Decorative Wood Serving Tray

You can customize the look of any serving tray with just a few steps. For this project, I used a pretty floral design that I created. It's free to use and available right in Cricut Design Space. You can edit the design to fit your tray however you'd like. See below for steps to fit the design to your exact tray.

Materials

Cricut Machine
Cricut Design Space
Floral cut design by Jen Goode (click here to go to the ready to make canvas)
Wood Tray
White Vinyl
Vinyl Transfer Tape

Find this art in Cricut Design Space. You can find this art, already set up and ready to go in Cricut Design Space. I've set up the image, cut down, ready to cut. I've also included the full image so you can make coordinating projects. Let me know if you have any problems finding it.

Supplies to decorate a wood tray with decorative vinyl cut designs

Instructions

I've already set up the project file with everything you need to create this same art design. Just visit Cricut Design Space.
Measure your own tray to get the dimensions you need to cut your design.
You can use my pre-cut design and resize for your own tray. Or, slice the original design to suit your own sizing needs.
Once you have your vinyl cut, use the transfer tape to apply the vinyl art to your tray. Make sure to burnish the vinyl well to ensure it is secured in place. You can also try using iron-on vinyl to heat set your design. My tray has a little dip in the construction, so I wasn't sure my Easypress would fit and seal the HTV well.
If you'd like, seal your tray to ensure a long lasting design.

Click here to make this project in Cricut Design Space
Note: I used a removable vinyl on my tray so I can reuse the tray with a variety of different designs.

Use transfer tape to apply cut vinyl designs to create decor items

Close up of cut vinyl decorating a wood tray - fun DIY Project you can make with your Cricut — Close-up of cut vinyl decorating a wood tray – fun DIY Project you can make with your Cricut

Create pretty art details on a wood tray and then use as a serving tray or a decor piece for your home

Finished decorative wood tray using cut vinyl designs by Jen Goode

How to size your vinyl cut design to your specific serving tray

Resizing and fitting art to specific dimensions is pretty simple in Cricut Design Space. Here's how I set up the art for this serving tray project.

Cricut Design Space setup for wood tray decor vinyl design by Jen Goode

Measure the tray space that you'd like to decorate.
Create a block in Cricut Design Space that fits these same measurements. I use the basic shapes square and resize as needed.
Layer the design you'd like to cut, right on top of the block you've created.
Select both the decorative design and the block and click on “slice”. You should end up with a design that has been cut within the dimensions of the block you've created. Hide or delete all the other pieces and you're ready to cut your vinyl.

Tip: if you are combining multiple cut designs into the same space. You can either individually slice each design. Or, you can weld all the different pieces together (do not include the block in the weld) first and then slice with the block. Play around with these options and see what works best for you.

How to decorate a wood tray with cut vinyl designs and your cricut - design by Jen Goode — How to decorate a wood tray with cut vinyl designs and your cricut – design by Jen Goode

Where to get a wood tray for crafting

You can find wood trays to use for decorating at a variety of stores. You can also make your own wood tray, I've found a number of tutorials on Pinterest. I picked up the tray I am using in the clearance section of home decor at Target, isn't it pretty?

Buy your own set of nesting wood trays at Amazon, they are perfect for all kinds of crafts. If you use the removable vinyl, you can decorate the fanciest trays without worrying about permanently changing the tray.

All kinds of wood tray can be decorated with vinyl

Have fun with your wood tray designing. You can use different colors of vinyl, foil vinyl or create a single color design like I did. You can also decoupage wwatercolorpaper designs if you'd like. Check out all the vinyl options on the Cricut website, there are some pretty printed pattern styles too! Click here to make this project in Cricut Design Space

DIY decorative wood tray with your cricut - design by Jen Goode — DIY decorative wood tray with your cricut – design by Jen Goode

Customize a wood serving tray with vinyl and your Cricut - design by Jen Goode — Customize a wood serving tray with vinyl and your Cricut – design by Jen Goode

More DIY Wood Craft Ideas

Here are a few other wood projects I've created I think you might like. I tend to make more wood crafts in the winter, so most of my tutorials are holiday themed. But you can create these same type of projects all year round!

Today I've joined in with my friends at Craft Lighting and we're sharing all kinds of wood projects you can make in under 15 minutes. Check out all the fun ideas that are being shared this week!