Delving Into Decoupagé!

It is time. It is time to stick things to furniture. It is time to use LOADS of PVA glue.

This weekend has been all about DECOUPAGÉ!!

If you don't know what it is, watch this short video... Courtesy of Kirstie, of course!

I really wanted to try this and make something personalised and special for our new home, something that would represent us as a couple, and how far we've already come in the two and a half years we've been together. We've always left notes, letters and silly drawings for one another to find in our draws at work when we worked together, in our bedsheets if one of us was doing an overnight, treasure hunts, in coat pockets... and so I decided to photocopy these so as to preserve the originals, and used these for my project.

I was so excited that I forgot to take any pictures of 'before and after', but Kirstie's video does a good job of explaining the basic premise, and I copied her tutorial.

The best thing is I've been left with a totally original, totally 'us' piece of furniture that didn't cost a huge amount either.

What I Needed:

• 1 x coffee table; British Heart Foundation furniture shop in Hemel town centre have hundreds of them, and when they've been sat in the shop long enough they reduce the price. I got mine for £15.
• PVA glue; already had some in my art and craft box anyway, but usually you can get a big bottle in craft shops for about £4.
• Clear, non-yellowing, matt finish varnish; £6 from Homebase.
• Paint brush; £2, Homebase.
• Spray paint; £6, B&Q.
• Gloves, optional
• Lint-free cloth, to clean your surface thoroughly before you stick/glue/paint anything on to it.

So for just over £30, I made this! And I am so proud!!

 I gave the paper a coat of PVA and then 2 coats of varnish. I'm hoping that once it's totally dried out it will be OK to wipe if anything gets spilt on it. I also made a schoolboy error and spray painted it after putting the paper on... it was a bit of a last minute thought, and by that time I've done the top of it!

I've just heard that Tom is having a horrendous time at Bestival this weekend, and so I'm hoping this will at least cheer him up when he gets home tomorrow. This is definitely not my last time trying this brilliantly satisfying art! Chairs are next on my list of things to transform I think... do a whole dining room set!

All in all, I've had a very productive few days off - just having those two days of last week to catch up with everything and have an outlet for my creative juices has been lovely. But I'm knackered now, and this afternoon after I'd packed all my decoupage materials away, I had a bath at 2PM!! Bliss!!

Have a good week, everyone!

BB xx