Digging on the decoupage

Wow, I meant to be a lot better about getting in here and writing something at least once a week that pertains to my "creative adventures." But I've been so busy having them that it didn't work out as planned. Remodeling a room can be consuming. But remodeling something as important as the bathroom is all-consuming. Thus, some things, such as my experiments with sugar substitutes, will have to wait. I'm sure when the bathroom is done I will be burning the candle at both ends trying to soak up as much summer weather as I can, too. I missed a sizable chunk of summer last year, and we don't get nearly enough of it in Minnesota!
But anyway, today I was going to talk about decoupage. I was first introduced to it at summer bible camp sometime before junior high, and I have really liked it ever since. It's a great way to add your own personalized oomph to anything, and it doesn't have to be permanent. It is also a great cover up for something you aren't quite ready to replace. For example, when I painted the guest room, it was a gorgeous pale green and antique white. Something called "Man in the moon." I love the color, even though it doesn't show up well in these pictures. (I have to start using a camera instead of my phone.) The outlets and light switches looked so out of place, though! Luckily, although I never got into the scrap-booking fad, I do make cards, and I happen to have quite the stash of hoarded clearance sale card stock and scrap-booking paper. Hence, the transformation:

Outlet and switch covers are under a dollar where we live.

The overall look in the room is pretty cool.

Decoupage is versatile. I bought some of the cardboard magazine/file holders from Ikea. They are about $1.99 for a box of five, which you can't beat. They are white, which goes with all sorts of great color schemes, especially the modern minimalist. But mine were to hold patterns in my office/creative space, and so they were going to need to reflect something a little more eclectic. 

In the beginning, they were this way:

Nothing at all wrong with them, just really out of place in a room like mine. I used a pack of standard sized square scrap-booking paper which worked on two levels. For starters, it was big enough to trace the sides of the organizers, and also, the packs usually will have two sheets of the same pattern, which was exactly enough to cut up and cover the outside of these. I didn't bother with the inside, because why? 

I used mod podge, which is THE adhesive for all of my decoupage projects. Since I wasn't giving it a protective coat on the outside, it didn't matter which variety I used, and so I stayed with a standard matte. These boxes are just a smidge taller than can comfortably fit on the square paper, so I did need to trim a bit off the top. The good news is that you can use the natural lines in the cardboard as a template.

Just cut off the top one or two lines and it's going to be perfect!

This work in progress uses pages from Tom Sawyer, therefore complimenting the color and decor of the room as well as reflecting my book-geek personality.

The seam shows in the picture, but the mod podge dried clear.

So there you go. This is also a great project for scrap fabric. I need to use up the paper more, though. I already has a pad of these papers that all coordinate with one another somehow. If you don't have that and want to buy paper to coordinate, most of your craft stores have coupons nowadays, and the paper is less than a dollar per sheet, anyway. Happy crafting all!