Birthday Party Day #14

We start off a new week with this adorable, and easy project from Guest Designer Kristi Bergin-Smith.  You can check out her blog HERE.  If you've never attempted decoupage, Kristi's got the low-down:

This is a tea box that I decoupaged with the patterned paper and made into a piggy bank for one of my girls.

Decoupage is really easy if you are patient and take the time to wait for the layers to dry. If you have never decoupaged anything before here is a quick how-to.

• First, make all your paper cuts as close to the size of the piece you are covering as you can.
• Next, if the piece that you are covering is glossy you might want to sand it with a piece of sandpaper to rough it up a bit.
• The third step is to cover your piece with the paper you are using. I only use Beacon FabriTac liquid adhesive as my base glue. I glue down all paper and wait for it to dry.
• After the piece is dry I use sandpaper to sand all edges of paper smooth and then ink if I want that look.
• Then, I wipe off any residue and use a decoupage medium or a glue like Elmer's and paint over it with a soft paint brush very lightly. Then I let this layer dry and repeat the decoupage.
• If I am going to add anything like letters or other paper or a flat object (like the hearts I cut out of the paper) I will put these down before my decoupage, but if I am doing to use a bulky object (like the chipboard butterflies) or flowers and such I will put these down at the very end.
• For the chipboard butterflies I sprayed them first with the Maya Mist green (add-on for March) and let these dry very good. Then I used dimensional craft paint (mine is Ranger) and painted on the designs and let this dry.

So birthdays herald a new year, full of great possibilities and chances to try new things.  Today, do something new to you on your layout:  mists, paint, sewing, decoupage ;), chipboard, hand cutting, building your own embellishments, etc.  Layouts are due Sunday evening.

Happy Monday all!