Love Scrapbooking? You'll Adore Decoupage

Decoupage is the art of cutting out paper images and applying them to various objects and even walls. It originated in Italy and France in the 18th century and became highly popular in England in the 19th century as a suitable handcraft for Victorian ladies. However, though the techniques are traditional, the results can be as shabby chic and vintage or as modern and funky as you prefer depending on the images you choose.

You will need to prepare the base so that it's smooth. It's best to start with easy objects with flat surfaces that are already clean - like trays or new, cheap, wooden furniture. Bare new wood will require a coat of shellac to stop the sap seeping out, but that's easy in comparison with the work required to prepare an older piece for decoupage ... though if you have the time it's a great way to recycle old objects.

Then comes the fun bit - choosing your images - whether you go for vintage styleor prefer more modern images, there's plenty to choose from - the only limit to collecting your scraps for this craft is your imagination. To cut out your images use scissors, a craft knife or even a scalpel for intricate detail. Take great care at this stage because any awkward or badly cut shapes will really show up on the finished article.

The next step is to glue your images to your base - a bit like traditional scrapbooking. Use starch or white glue for preference - gum glue can give a brownish tinge. Apply the adhesive to the base, not the paper. Then place your image in position, face up, and smooth it down, working from one side to another to make sure no air bubbles are trapped beneath the paper and that the edges are properly pressed down. Then wipe it over with a damp sponge or cloth and remove any excess adhesive around the edges. If you're using larger scraps then you may like to smooth them down with a roller, again working from the centre outwards, as quickly as possible before any air bubbles form as these may become compressed into creases.

The final stage when completing your handcrafted article is to varnish the piece. The varnish must be thick enough to leave a completely smooth surface so the edges of the paper scraps cannot be felt - you'll need to apply about 10 coats. Modern acrylic varnishes dry quickly and are clear, though you can always tint them with pigment - to give that vintage look for example - if you wish. Then why not team your decoupage piece with some of our vintage-style bunting - for that truly authentic shabby chic look!

As you can see, the basic techniques of decoupage are - like scrapbooking - really easy - just requiring a degree of care and time. But, like scrapbooking, the art is in arranging the pieces to form a pleasing composition. The way to tackle this is to arrange your pieces first on a flat surface, then shift them around until you like the design you've created. Then following this design, fix the pieces to your base with a little blu -tack or sticky tape. Fix tracing paper over the top and trace your design as a final record of where the scraps should go. Then finally peel back the tracing paper a little at a time and glue your scraps one by one, replacing the tracing paper to check the positioning.

Helen Dickson is the owner of the Party Bunting Store. She designs a wonderful range of party bunting and other great downloadables for you to print. Many of her designs are based on real vintage fabrics, so realistic that once you've decorated the room with your bunting your friends won't be able to tell the difference. She also offers a two great ranges of alphabet bunting - wonderful for kids rooms or personalizing messages. Visit her site at http://www.partybuntingstore.com

Scrapbooking and Decoupage Go Hand In Hand

When you work with hard paper, you need the best to go for is lak and polyurethane. But you need to be careful since not placed before the substance may be to your project settles lacquer. Brushes are another preference and it will lend a nice glaze to your work. In addition, your work slowly darker. A trick to watch your decoupage layers more and more objects hand-painted work is to apply varnish. Because of this, the pieces would stick to the surface beautiful and would lead to the desired hand painted look.

In the case of your image and the print is a lighter shade that is seeing through dark, then you need a black paint on the entire back of the image. But if you don't see the dark before sealing, printing could take you will have to copy his picture. But make sure that the photocopy machine not the back image by the paper does. To avoid this you can get a black paper behind the image before the photocopying.

You can also delete your image by printing on back of printing with a razor blade or scalpel carefully to scratch. It's a bit tricky to do this, so you should try on on some rough paper until you are able to do it. Scrapbooking papers are also great. Are not very important to the remnants of the back image completely, sometimes just the split image in different places, so that the work or is not readable, the rules are broken and can work for you. In case there's some parts in your first image as dark as the back are his, would not you must to do something about those parts.

The quality of your finished project depends on how beautiful you cut it. Small scissors that are sharp enough and comfortable to hold are the most recommended. A surgical scissors should solve your purpose. Please note that you do not your scissors, a pair of scissors to someone else because fashion itself lend themselves to your movements. You can buy a surgical scissors of surgical supply stores, Department stores, drugstores or craft shops that the supply of decoupage as JD Christopher Freville Home crafts or Julie Sharman Hobby Stores Inc. advisable that you cut your pieces in a corner by tracking your scissors. This would lead to something bevels, and so when you paste will then they will mix with the adjacent images and background the sharpness of the cut side Nice are diminishing.

Cutting is the key to making beautiful designs with scrapbooking ... Start with the simple designs cut. Practice your cutting, as much as you can. Practice with scraps, newspapers and magazines and the knee cutting waste. Once you are an expert you will be able to work on more complex patterns.

We recommend that the inner areas of the scrapbook or decoupage pattern cut. To do this, make a hole in the middle of the part that's going to happen, then keep the printed side of the back to you, in your scissors and cut in a clockwise direction. Once you have completed the internal blanks cut, you can now cut the external edges. Your scissors move in a clockwise direction when cutting the outer edges. In case you minute delicate designs cut than you are suggested to bridges also cut so that your designs not raptures. These bridges would keep the form correctly until they are glued to your project. To ensure that you do not forget to cutting the bridge, you can sketch them with a dotted line. There is no restriction on number of bridges that you can make. Create as many as you need.

Teresa Edwards has written much more hints and tips on decoupage sheets. Visit her How to decoupageand sister Karen's Web site at.