Decoupage | Napkins and decorating with paper

I got the chipboard pieces from my friend Diane Gilleland (Sister Diane in blog land) around Christmas. I had no idea what to do with them. Small pieces of paper… hmm… maybe glue them to the cover of one of my altered books?

But then mom and I went into decoupage mode as you know and I decided to decoupage them with my favorite napkin motives. Shabby chic pink patterns and roses. You can of course use any napkins you have, as long as you like the print on them. Roses are one of my favorite motives, so I have a few of those…

One of my goals for the blog this year was to create more tutorials and freebies, but so far I haven’t met that goal very well. Today I designed a tutorial on how to decoupage chipboard pieces and make them into magnets. There’s a bit of rambling in this post but I feel like writing tonight. Read it or skip it, but don’t miss my cute downloadable pdf pdf decoupage tutorial here. Check it out! You can learn how to make your own magnets.

We’ve collected these napkins for years and each our stash is huge by now. One doesn’t need a lot of napkin paper for such small projects, so each pack I find adds to the stash even if I use it!

Anyway, I think my magnets are one of the cutest projects I’ve made with decoupaged napkins. The different patterns just look fab together.

Decorated wooden box

From Diane I also got some other bits and pieces, thing I could use in collages, like a beautiful scrapbook paper with flowers and owls. I used it to decorate this wooden box that my mom gave me. First I painted it white, and then I glued on this pretty scrapbook paper that I love.

Isn’t it pretty?

Scrapbook papers are not just for scrapbookers, right? I think we all can benefit from these beautiful papers in different projects. Use them when you make your own books, or as make a cover for albums, tin cans or boxes. I use them in collages; both as borders and backgrounds. Too bad they are so darn expensive in Sweden though. If you have tiny scraps of beautiful papers that you don’t need, feel free to send them my way.

I painted each inside section of my wooden box too with different acrylic colors. Then I covered the inside of the lid with another very cool napkin that looks like patchwork. I haven’t decided what to put in the box, though I think it will be beads or maybe my finished jewelry?