Decoupage

This is a project I have made in the past on mass for Christmas presents or birthday presents. I have discovered a fabulous company called Infinite Store who create a wide range of wooden letter, shapes and objects at very reasonable costs, and to the specification that you want. Letters start from 35p.



You will need:

A wooden letter or shape (see above)
Decoupage Paper (which can be bought from any good craft shop)
PVA Glue (or Mod Podge)
Frame
Card

Begin by covering an area of the wooden shape with a layer of glue. Tear your paper into small squares and lay a small piece down at a time. After each piece is laid down apply a layer of glue on top.

You can see from this photo that I have layered up the decoupage paper, sometimes with only one layer and sometimes with more. It is hard to imagine that the higgledy-piggledy nature will look as good as the pice of paper itself, and yet it creates a fun and creative look once complete.

It is important that you constantly layer the paper with glue. Each piece of decoupage paper must be put onto a surface covered with glue and then have glue added to it.

The final layer of glue acts as a varnish.

You can see from this photo that I haven't glued the sides of the letter and so the paper overlaps across the sides.

At this stage you can leave it to dry overnight.

Once the glue has dried turn the letter over and cut around the shape with a sharp pen-knife or scissors removing it of all the extra paper.

I found a brightly coloured piece of card which compliments the decoupage paper. I cut the paper to the size of the frame using the glass as a template.

Then, using double-sided tape (or a layer of glue) I stuck the finished letter to the card.







This box frame from Ikea was £3.50 and is ideal.

The finished frame is perfect for children's bedrooms, gifts for new babies, or you could just do the letters and make up words to decorate your home with.

This takes minutes to complete and is a very easy project. My children enjoy decoupage and although the paper can seem expensive it goes such a long way that it really isn't an expensive past-time.

This finished frame cost no more than £5 to make and 10 minutes in time (not including drying).