Friday, February 4, 2011

Feature Friday: Decoupage Projects



This week I've been seeing so many cute decoupage projects! If you're unfamiliar with decoupage here's a little bit about it!

Decoupage is not new. It's been around for YEARS. I mean like hundreds of years. Here's the definition of decoupage, from Wikipedia:

"Decoupage (or découpage) is the art of decorating an object by gluing colored paper cutouts onto it in combination with special paint effects, gold leaf and so on. Commonly an object like a small box or an item of furniture is covered by cutouts from magazines...Each layer is sealed with varnishes (often multiple coats) until the "stuck on" appearance disappears and the result looks like painting or inlay work. The traditional technique used 30-40 layers of varnish which were then sanded to a polished finish."

30-40 coats?!? This can't be an easy project to do, right? WRONG!!! Nowadays there are some great (and EASY) glues that do the trick of old-fashioned varnish! The most common type of decoupage glue is called ModPodge. It comes in a variety of finishes, from matte to gloss, and even comes in tinted varieties! The best thing about ModPodge, or decoupage, is that it's really fairly simple...and it's tons of fun! I remember using this stuff do art projects when I was a kid!



Here are some of my favorite projects from recent weeks!

Dream Dollhouse from Kiki Creates:


I have a dollhouse that I made from a kit when I was 13 years old...my kids have loved playing with it, but it's in desperate need of a makeover! This cute dollhouse has really inspired me to rethink that old dollhouse, and I have some fun ideas in store for it!


Temple Picture Block from Lil' Luna:


I made some of these a couple of months ago! They were so fun and so simple! (Plus Lil' Luna has some great pic you can print off that are ready to be made into a cute temple block of your own!) Don't want to make a temple pic? Think of all the cute things you could do with this idea and pics of your kids!


Decoupaged Kitchen Back Splash from Just Between Friends:


This one just wowed me! I had never ever thought about decoupaging the wall before....but now!? I can't wait until we own our own house so can do something cool and creative like this!!! The possibilities are endless!


Anthro-Inspired Pears from On the V Side:


These cute pears are just so chic and yet so homey! I love them! An talk about a cheap decorating idea!! Awesome!!


Go check out all of the links...there are some truly wonderful projects out there! If you've never tried decoupage before, I hope this inspires you to try something new!!


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