Journey to become a decoupage queen

Dear Readers - so I have been amazed at my sisters amazing projects, and am being inspired to do more projects. I've been subletting for the past 6 months and living out of boxes, my art supplies are no where to be found and I've been really neglecting my creative side. However, I'm moving in two weeks and am already setting up an area that I can really do more projects to share with you. For now, I'm gaining inspiration through other blogs, talking to people, looking at magazines. I can't wait to have a new room to decorate!

I've always loved decoupage and I'm pretty good at it. I wanted some unique ideas to use it for, so here are my thoughts on how to get started, and some tutorials I found for some cool projects.

Join me on my journey to become a decoupage queen!!

- First, find something to decoupage.   Always take a look at those collectibles or decorations that you've had around forever - or a really good piece of wood furniture that you see at a yardsale - it's all about seeing it for what it can be.

 Anything can have pictures and paper glued to it: furniture, photo albums, shelving, frames, boxes, vases, mirrors, hard cover books, trays, suitcases, dishes, candles, cans, bottles, egg cartons, rocks, plastic bangles, old headbands, shoes, hats, etc etc.

- Second, Find the pictures and paper to decorate your item with:
You can always keep pictures on-hand, but for example you find an old 1920s lamp to spruce up, it might call for some similar time-period pictures. If you’re on a tight budget, like I am, use magazines, newspapers and spare paper that you have around your own use. You can use pictures to create cut-outs from old magazines, photographs or wrapping paper. I keep unique or artsy pictures in a file - and I LOVE those vintage calendars, you can get them super cheap at goodwill or even at retail stores once the year is over.

The general medium is paper, but you may also use fabric, buttons, dried or pressed flowers, feathers, beads, wood, indeed anything that will give an interesting finish when your project is complete. Simply let your imagination go wild!

- Third, get your tools together
The only other tools you require are a decent pair of scissors and some glue. You'll also need something to brush the glue onto the paper - like a popsicle stick, a knife or a paintbrush (if you use a brush just make sure you don't leave it sitting around or it will be a pain to get the glue out of.) For the glue, I like mod-podge or colladge-podge, but a good pot of varnish would do. Once you buy the materials you have them forever (unless you run out of glue). But it's still a really cheap hobby.

Other, more specialised, projects will need further thought and research. If you wish to decoupage furniture or clothing, for example, go online and use the top search engines to find out exactly what tools and materials you would need for any given project, and where you can purchase them from. 

Share your ideas for decoupage or something that you've done! Jules
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I'm planning to decoupage a pair of pumps that I have but are all nicked up - I'll follow this tutorial and let you see the results.

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I just bought an old desk from an antique store and I'm going to follow this tutorial to make a plain wood table from simple to.....

SaSSSY! (They used old maps here, I thinks that's awesome!)

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Here's a great idea for a Halloween decoupage project