How to Create the Perfect Crackle Glaze Finish

How to Decoupage and use a Craquelure Finish. -A two-part crackle glaze that imitates old cracked varnish. When dry, the craquelure glaze on your decoupage item can be improved by adding a dark wax.

YOU WILL NEED

• A surface to decorate.

• Fine sandpaper

• Water based paint

• Crackle Glaze varnish

• Small rollers and brushes

• Cleaning cloth

• Gift Wrap Paper

• Glue

• White glue

• Cutting instruments

• Embellishing wax

How To

Clean the surface with garnet paper and apply a water based paint. Mix up a small amount of wallpaper paste and cut out your paper designs. Stick paper cut-outs onto your prepared item press firmly, eliminating bubbles and any excess with a damp cloth or roller.

Paint on the base coat of the crackle glaze. Leave to dry and then paint another coat.

Add second layer of varnish with soft paintbrush Wait until the varnish is totally dry. Rub dark wax into the surface of the cracks. Rub away the excess wax with kitchen paper.

Cover the inside, non decorated parts of your item with paint. Seal the insides with a light topcoat of clear Varnish.

Once the PVA glue is dry, you can apply a coat of clear furniture wax to the surface. Lightly burnish the waxed surface with mutton cloth.

For the final touch, apply gilt cream to rims and edges.

Now you can show your finished article to your friends and start finding new items to decoupage and decorate. Make more decorative items and presents for friends and family using your new-found skills!.

Gill Fothergill has been creating and writing about decoupage techniques and resources since 1995. To find out more visit her website
http://www.decoupagepapers.co.uk

Create Your Own Decorative Wooden Boxes

Decorative wooden boxes can be very expensive to purchase depending on how decorative you want them. Luckily there are plenty of unfinished wood boxes on the market in many sizes, shapes, and styles to choose from. Once you purchase the size and shape box that you prefer you will then have to decide how you wish to decorate it. There are many ways to go about decorating a wooden box including painting, staining, decoupage, wood burning, and wood carving. Some methods cost more than others. For instance, wood burning tools cost more than paint and a paint brush. The great thing about decorating your own wooden box is that you can use some of your own artistic abilities.

Many people enjoy painting and drawing, but most of the time the work is done on paper or canvas. Think of a wood box as a blank canvas and let your imagination run wild. You can paint the entire box in one solid color then follow that with some other kind of design. Staining can be fun as well because it allows the wood's beautiful texture or imperfections to shine and come through which in itself can be considered art. Wood burning and wood carving are a little bit more specialized and require specific tools and supplies to accomplish. Decoupage is probably the easiest way to decorate any solid object. Decoupage can be done with photos, newspapers, magazines, and other types of images. You can find special decoupage glue at any craft store. Add glitter or confetti for an extra special shine. Wooden jewelry and trinket boxes make great gifts as well.

Shop online when you can because online stores have more varieties of unfinished boxes to choose. Creating your own decorative wooden boxes has never been so easy with all of the different materials available on the internet. Try to purchase most of your supplies from the same store and in one single purchase so you can reduce the cost of shipping items separately. Internet wholesale craft stores sell their products in bulk so you can easily save money there if you need large quantities of the same product. Look for sale and clearance items as well. Sometimes items go on sale or clearance because they are considered seasonal but could easily work for a box decorating project.

Visit our recommended resources if interested in learning more about crafting wooden boxes or how to make decorative trinket boxes.

Copyright 2009 Dessie Campbell. All Rights Reserved.

Reprint Rights: You may reprint this article as long as you leave all of the links active and do not edit the article in any way.

Using Decoupage to Create a Unique Do-It-Yourself Gift for Any Occasion

Looking to make a truly unique homemade gift for someone? Consider using decoupage for a special creative touch...it is so easy to use, and in no time, you can make them something that they'll cherish for years to come!

Decoupage is the art of decorating surfaces with applied paper cutouts. Using the cutouts, you apply a decoupage medium to glue your pieces flat to the surface of your choice. The surface is then heavily varnished so that the edges blend in with the background, making the cutout appear as if it was painted onto the surface. Your primary goal with this process is to get the motifs as smooth and flat as possible.

There are several ways to create inexpensive cutouts:

Greeting cards - cut out images from old cards that you've received


Wrapping paper - save paper from gifts that you've opened, or buy it new


Photographs - use real photos or print pictures on regular paper using your home computer. Try using family photos or images that you find on the internet.


Maps - Check thrift stores or use old maps that you already have


Wallpaper - Use scraps of wallpaper (also works great to create pieces that match a room!)


Sheet Music - Use song titles or cut out sections of music bars


Stickers - Especially work great when creating something for a child


Magazines/Newspapers - Cut out your favorite images from a magazine or newspaper


Scrapbook paper - Check your local craft store scrapbook aisle for many different designs


Leaves/Flowers - Flat leaves or flowers make beautiful decoupage material. Try putting them between the pages of a heavy book for a few days to make them as flat as possible

Now that you've figured out what you are going to put on a piece, you need to decide what piece that you'll use. Try one of these ideas:

Any box - from a simple brown box that you purchase at the craft store to a shoe box that you have at home...use your imagination!


Picture frame - Add to the photo within a frame by decoupaging something within the same theme to the frame. For example, if you have a picture of your child on the beach in the frame, decoupage a picture of the beach with the water onto the frame.


Wooden jewelry box - found at craft stores


Card Stock paper - decoupage cutouts to paper to create your own homemade cards


Stationary paper - images decoupaged to the top of fancy paper make a great stationary gift


Furniture - any piece of wooden furniture can have cutouts added to it...try a table top or kitchen chair


Photo Album - make a unique front page for a cherished photo book


Wall hangings - try putting your touch on a shelf or clock

Whatever you decide to use, make sure to have fun with it. If you made it with your own two hands, you can be sure that they'll appreciate it!

About the author: Tiffany Blom is the publisher of http://www.do-it-yourself-gifts.com where you can find many inexpensive creative homemade gift ideas for any occasion. Her unique site includes free projects, ideas, and instructions for people of all ages. Find your next gift project there!

How To Create Stunning Effects With Decoupage

Most professional crafters will already know and have enjoyed creating stunning cards, scrapbook pages and gifts with decoupage.

Decoupage comes from the French word 'cut' and originated in the 18th century. In its early years decoupage may have been considered a child craft as it involves cutting pieces paper and layering them on top of each other to create an image that is 3d.

Today decoupage is becoming more and more sophisticated and quite often I have seen larger decoupage images framed as pictures around peoples homes. The effects decoupage has may make it look complicated but it is actually really simple.

It is important to have the right tools when creating decoupage images for card or scrapbook projects I would strongly recommend you invest in a pair of high quality curved scissors and when cutting remember to have the curve away from your body.

Keep the hand holding the scissors still apart from opening and closing the blades to cut the paper, you will get a far better result if you move the paper and guide it to the scissors rather than the other way around.

You may need to use a scalpel or craft knife when cutting intricate parts of decoupage or parts from inside the image its self. If you do use a craft knife make sure you have a cutting mat underneath before you cut.

Once you have cut your images out the next step is to create layers to go on top of each other, those that have been creating decoupage images for sometime may use silicone gel to layer the images on top of each other but beginners to decoupage will find foam pads are a great way to start.

Remember you do not want to see the foam pads when the image has been stuck down so take care not to place them too near the edge of your cutting.

Then simply layer the images on top of each other to create a stunning 3d look.

Decoupage sheets can be easily purchased on the internet or in craft shops some of which will come with step by step instructions making it even easier for you to know exactly what and where to cut.

You could also try finding your own images on the internet and simply repeating the design at least 4 times then printing on high quality inkjet paper, you will need to be careful with copyright issues if you do decide to try this.

It is also possible to purchase decoupage disks or cd where the images are all ready there all you need to do is print, cut and stick them together.

Decoupage is becoming more and more popular to crafters, if you are new to card making it is something that is simple but extremely effective for card projects giving them a really professional look.

Vicki Churchill writes for a site that specializes in Card Making Ideas providing you with excellent tips and ideas for Scrapbooking and Decoupage including where to find the best bargains

Learning How to Create New Decoupage All Around Your House

Decoupage is a craft that does not take a lot of specialized talent to do. If you know how to cut and paste, then you basically already know how to decoupage. This craft does not even have to cost you a lot of money. You can visit a store in order to get decoupage supplies, but you can also use many things that you probably already have around your house.

You can create a new decoupage by getting all the supplies that you need in one work area. You will first need to get an item that you are going to decoupage a picture or pictures on or in plus the decoupage glue that you are going to use. Most anything can be used for this such as photo albums, dishes, rocks, egg cartons, bottles, vases, boxes, candles and just about anything else that you can think of. Once you find what you are going to use for your new decoupage, then you need to get the picture or pictures that you are going to use. You can get these from photographs that you have taken as well as magazines, books, or pictures that you print from your computer. It does not even have to be a picture. It could be a poem, saying, a story, or one of your favorite creations from one of your kids. These are the main items that you need for your decoupage, but you will also want to have Popsicle sticks, scissors, foam brushes, tweezers, and a damp rag. Once you have all the supplies that you need, then it is time to let your imagination go wild.

You need to make sure that what you are going to decoupage on is dry and clean. You can cut the pictures out in the pattern that you will want to put on your item. This is when you can be very creative by cutting them into different shapes, placing them in different ways and even overlapping them.

You can create your new decoupage anyway that you want. Once you know exactly where you are going to place these items, you want to remove them from your item and start to apply the decoupage glue that you have. You want to make sure that you put a good amount of the glue in order to make sure that every part of your picture will stick. You can then place your pictures where they are supposed to go on your item and use your fingers or a popsicle stick in order to push through any wrinkles or bubbles that the picture might have. You then want to let this dry. Once the project is dried, you then want to coat the whole project with the decoupage glue with as many layers as you need in order to get the effect that you want. Once these layers are dry, then your project is finished and able to be used or hung or whatever you want to use it for.

Karen
Decoupage Your Life

For more information on the "New" Decoupage please visit Decoupage Your Life. For Hints, Tricks and Tips on the amazing world of decoupage, Decoupage Your Life is The place!