Category Archives: Decoupage

Papercrafting with rice paper: Can it be done?

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Brands often put their best and most beautiful pattern designs on rice paper, instead of their regular design paper, it seems. Rice papers are usually used to alter hard surfaces, like boxes, furniture and the like.

So, can we papercrafters work with the ultra thin rice papers instead of regular-weighted design papers? In the Craft With Me video below I create two mini album inserts – but you can also use them as cards.

I use the most gorgeous sheet of rice papers, from the Clockwise collection by Stamperia.

So enjoy the video and craft along with me 🙂

Combining Painting & Decoupaging

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In previous blog posts I’ve shared several of my decoupaged projects in which I completely covered an object with napkins or rice paper. Think bonbon boxes, candles, porcelain ware and even shoes and a lampshade!

In today’s project I’d like to focus on a slightly different way of decoupaging, that is to say, not covering your obhect entirely but very intentionally only parts, covering the rest with paint. The trick here is to decoupage first, perhaps going against your instincts to paint the object first instead.

The reason is that decoupage papers (rice paper or the top layer of paper napkins) are so thin that any kind of paint color will shine through. The only color you can actually cover your object with before decoupaging, is white. All others will NOT work.

So, first carefully tear your selected pattern from the napkin or rice paper, decoupage it onto your object, then paint carefully in between the patches. I always cover my decoupage projects with either mod podge or some other kind of sealant after.

And there you go!

Hopefully you enjoyed this blog exclusive tip. Check out the pictures below for some examples.

By the way, I’m also including some free video tutorials at the end of this post in which I’m decoupaging two different objects, in case you’d like to watch the technique. Enjoy!

And here’s some decoupaging technique videos:

 

Birds in a Tree Tea Box

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Now and again I like to vary my craft technique and leave papercrafting for a short while to dabble in decoupaging. I use this technique mainly to alter wooden or porcelain objects, like gift boxes but also candles, coffee mugs and even a lamp!

Usually I paint such an object white or ivory first, so that the napkin’s colors will show clear & bright. With the tea box I’m sharing today however, I started decoupaging without painting it white first. This made for warm wood colors, and also caused the box title Thee (= Dutch for Tea) on the lid to show through nicely.

After adhering the parts of the napkin I wanted to use, I painted the rest of the box around them in a warm forest green and added some glitter accents. Of course I covered the whole thing with boat varnish to protect it from all things Liquid – a prudent measure if you’re anything like Clumsy Me 🙂

By the way, an altered tea boxes makes for a great gift!

 

 

 

Decoupaged Wooden Pencil Box

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This week a blog exclusive project, so no Youtube video 😉 .

I find that sometimes it’s quite refreshing to vary your techniques, it avoids a rut and it gives the opportunity to create something for someone who may be familiar with papercrafting but not decoupaging.

I had just such a case on my hands, so when I decided to gift a colleague a nice wooden pencil box for her coloring pencils and markers, I decoupaged it with napkins instead of decorating it with scrapbooking paper. She was completely taken by surprise for she had never even heard of this technique and wanted to know everything about it 🙂

The box itself was white, with a plain wooden lid that had The Pencil Box printed on top of it. I used an antique gold colored napkin for the lid without painting it white first, so the words on the lid would come through and remain visible. I decorated the top right corner with some flowers,…

 

… and the lower left corner with a fussy-cut napkin flower, to which I added several colors of glitter glue.

Napkin decoupaged all around, including the back of the box.

I embellished the front with a satin ribbon, through which I had put a crown brad first.

I left the insides of both the box and the lid plain.

And last but not least, I painted the bottom burgundy, but since that left the surface slightly sticky unexpectantly – as would decoupaging it with napkin – I matted it with a piece of design paper in coordinating colors instead.

In short a relatively quick-to-make gift idea, especially for paper crafting recipients who’ve seen it all – except not 🙂

 

 

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December Deluge 10: Decoupage Your Winter Home Decor

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And here’s the Final Blog Entry for 2015 – how time flies when you’re having fun! 🙂

You’re all probably very busy enjoying your Christmas holidays, and preparing for New Year’s Eve, so I’ll keep it short but sweet with a blog exclusive, so no video this time.

Since winter has only just begun, I thought I’d share a home decor idea with you: why not throw some decoupaging at some wooden boxes, but also a coffee mug and even a lamp!  🙂 Use candle podge for the candle and textile podge for the lamp, grab some nice napkins and you’re all set!

And when you’re done: don’t forget to accessorize your home in the same color scheme, which will give your living room a surprisingly new and fresh look.

Tea box:

Ephemera box:

Coffee mug:

Lamp:

Accessorizing! 🙂 (Lamp in the background) :

 

Happy New Year!

Thank you to all my subscribers and visitors for supporting this blog with your continuing attention, likes comments and questions!

I’m looking forward to meeting you all again next year, with new paper art projects, tutorials and ideas!

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December Deluge 5: Decoupaged Candle & Box

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This December month I’ll post many projects on my blog, to give you some inspiration and ideas for your Christmas projects – and also to help you spend your holiday time creatively. In my previous posts I showed you a quick Christmas Mini Album, a 1-sheet Micro Wallet, a set of Nutcracker Sweet Christmas Cards and some Trishutter Christmas Cards. Today: Part 5 of this December Deluge of creative ideas 🙂

Decoupaging is a great technique for altering projects, especially when you’re out of paper crafting ideas and want to switch materials a bit to stir things up again 🙂

This decoupaged set of a Christmas candle and a matching box is quite easy to make and will make for a great Christmas holiday afternoon. Plus, they’re a great little emergency gift set for that one neighbour you forgot 😉

The only materials you need are:

  • one or two Christmas napkins (the regular, layered paper ones),
  • some mod podge (and a brush to apply it)
  • the objects you wish to alter

And: some patience while it’s drying 😉

Note: if you wish to alter a candle like I have, please use special candle podge.

You can watch my free video tutorial on how to decoupage a candle to see how it’s done, and how easy it is!

Here’s the little Christmas set I created!

 

Next: December Deluge 6 – Candy Cane Lane – Twice! 🙂

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Some fun little Easter projects

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It is as they say: time flies when you’re having fun! I could have sworn Christmas was only yesterday, and yet this morning Easter arrived!

Luckily I had already finished some fun little Easter & springtime decoupage projects, check them out, they’re really easy to do and look genuinely lovely on your Easter breakfast (or brunch) table!

 

Decoupaged Easter candles:

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Retro project: Decoupaging a breakfast set

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You don’t just have to use wood or cardboard for decoupaging: you can also do table ware! 🙂

I’m calling this a retro project by the way because I created it a couple of years ago, way before I had my blog. So I thought I’d dust it off and show it to you now – better late than never 😉

1. Remove the top (= patterned) layer from the napkin
2. Glue it onto the plate.
3. Add a second layer of podge to set and finish it.
4. Bake in your oven, if your particular podge requires it. The podge that I used required me to bake them, which I haven’t filmed, but took about 30-40 minutes.

Of course you will have to use special dishwasher safe mod podge; ask your local craft store to help you find the correct version.

Porcelain podge

 

 

 

 

 

 

For this project I did two breakfast plates, a coffee cup and a little wooden teabox, with only two kinds of napkin.

Anyway, this is just to give you some inspiration and ideas, hope you liked it.

(My apologies for the shaky cam parts!)


How to decoupage a candle

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You may have heard of decoupage or napkin technique. It’s a fun way to alter objects, usually made of wood or paper mache. But did you know you can decoupage a candle as well? It’s the same technique, except you’re using special, flame-resistant candle podge instead of regular podge.

You can check out some examples of decoupaged candles in my blogpost on Easter decorations, for some inspiration. Meanwhile, here’s a tutorial on how to decoupage your own candle – and let’s make it a Valentine’s Day version this time, why don’t we 🙂
So enjoy the video and have fun experimenting!

 

Please feel free to like & subscribe and leave your remarks and questions in the comment section below!

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Valentine’s Day gift idea: Cute little tea basket

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For some Valentine’s Day inspiration, here’s a little photo shoot of a cute wooden tea basket that I altered. Photos only (no Youtube) so I guess it’s kind of a Blog Exclusive 😉

I altered the tea basket with some pieces of napkin – and a little paint. Very simple, fairly easy to make and, therefore, ideal if you want to create a great gift but don’t have enough time to start a Multiple Days Craft Project (capitals intended – we’re all doing some seriously hefty projects from time to time right).

The color scheme that I chose for this tea basket is perfect for Valentine’s Day, or any other romantic occasion. Of course you don’t have to use it for tea: you can fill it up with all kinds of neatness and romantic knick-knacks you can come up with. For instance, simply put some sweets for your Sweet into it 🙂

By the way, you want to take the time to work meticulously and with attention to detail, even with a fairly quick & simple design such as this one. For instance, I used more than one piece of napkin here, but can you honestly point out the seams between the pieces…?

… I thought not 😉
So, no matter how simple a design may be: always pay attention to these kinds of details, for it will make a difference.

When it comes to finishing touches, especially with rounded edges, nooks, crannies and other ‘precision stuff’, I don’t go near decoupageing: too difficult to get it done near-perfectly, it’s messy and it’s hard to correct if you make mistakes. In these cases, paint is my best friend!

Like this handle…
…and the top edges of the basket. I mixed that warmer, darker red color on the edges myself, by the way, adding more hints of dark colors to the handle’s bright red until it was just so.
Because the decoupage technique gives you the opportunity to create great projects relatively quickly, it’s also fairly easy to expand your project. Just use more of those awesome napkins that you picked, and make one or more companion pieces.
Like I did with this candle! Just in case you didn’t know that you can in fact decoupage a candle just as simply as any wooden object, I will show you how to do this in my next post.

So stay tuned for my upcoming video tutorial on How to decoupage a candle!

Stay crafty, and may God bless you all!

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Decoupage your shoes!

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About a year ago I saw a picture on the internet of someone who had decoupaged her shoes with what I guess was some paper from a Star Wars magazine. They looked so cool! I decided I wanted to try my hand at that myself, but it took me a while before I even dared to take the risk of wrecking a perfectly good pair of shoes. Then the time came, and I just did it!

I decided to try napkin technique for my “shoe project”. In case my attempt was successful, I might some day try regular paper as well.

Results:

1. Find some shoes and strip its top layer away (in this case, fake leather), so that the underlying fabric is exposed. Apply textil potch or some other adhesive for paper napkins suitable for textiles, and start glueing the first pieces of napkin.

 

2. Use any tool that might help you with tiny corners and difficult spots. Like this metal spatula.

 

3. Finished!

 

4. Don’t forget to waterproof with an acrylic finisher, like the one in the picture below.

5. Start rocking those shoes and keep Walking! 🙂

To be continued….

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Candles to match your Easter / spring ornaments

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So I decoupaged some Easter eggs a couple of days ago. Saturday, the day before Easter, I decided I definitely needed some candles to go with them. So, here they are!

I used the same napkin technique, only this time with different glue of course, in order to be able to light them safely. It’s a special candle podge, which will prevent your napkins from catching fire – instead, they’ll neatly melt along with your candle. Perfect.

So, here’s the three decoupaged candles, and my springtime living room to match! 🙂

Dutch translation:

Drie geservette kaarsen in Paas-/lentethema zorgen voor extra kleur en gezelligheid! Let op: om kaarsen te servetten moet je wel speciale lijm gebruiken om ongelukken te voorkomen (zie foto hierboven).

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