Author: Beginners in decoupage are sometimes worried that they may accidentally, due to inexperience, ruin a beautiful workpiece. Everyone makes mistakes: someone forgets to separate the extra paper layer, someone's napkin may tear, or unfortunate folds will appear... Mastery comes with experience!
And experience is best gained by honing your skills on simple basics that are easy to find at hand and on which you won’t have to spend extra money.
An excellent base option for decoupage is a cardboard shoe box. It often happens that after purchasing a pair of boots, the box is kept at home for some time until the purchase warranty expires.
In reality, it stays around much longer because you probably forgot about it :) So, finding the box is pretty easy.
Coming up with a use for it after decorating will also not be difficult: you can store documents, paints, medicines, materials for sewing and handicrafts, and much more in it. It's just a matter of small things, let's start decoupage!
To decoupage a cardboard shoe box we will need the following materials:
. decoupage varnish-glue for hard surfaces;
. acrylic finishing varnish;
. final fixing varnish;
. acrylic primer;
. paints for painting (or from any other line of acrylic paints): Titanium White, Light Green, Chromium Oxide, Orange, Lemon, Medium Yellow;
. napkins for decoupage;
. palette, scissors, iron, ruler, simple pencil, foam sponge, synthetic brushes.
Surface preparation
We cover the surface of the box and lid with acrylic primer. The shoebox is quite large, so you need to be patient - all the interesting and creative stages are still ahead.
Our box has loose joints at the corners, so we further strengthened them by gluing them with masking tape.
After we have covered all surfaces with primer, let them dry.
Then we sand it with sandpaper.
After sanding, cover with primer again.
And we skin again. We will repeat these two steps (priming + sanding) until the surface is smooth and the corner joints, taped with masking tape, are level with the rest of the surface.
After we have achieved perfect smoothness, we cover the box with acrylic paint to match the future napkin motif.
Decoupage process using an iron
This time we will decoupage using the “hot method”.
This method is ideal for gluing napkins to large flat surfaces.
Evenly cover the surface with decoupage glue varnish and let it dry.
After the glue has dried, we lay our napkin on the surface. We make sure that it lies flat, straighten and smooth it with our hands.
Using a hot iron (but not at maximum power, but at medium power) we iron this side of the box through a sheet of paper (many people recommend using baking paper for this purpose).
The napkin sticks perfectly evenly. Trim off excess edges.
Now comes the most important step! Apply varnish over the napkin. The most important thing here is to make the layer as thin as possible.
There is no need to coat the napkin generously, otherwise it will bubble. We act carefully, lightly working with a brush from the center to the edges.
We repeat the gluing process on all planes of the box.
Coat with decoupage glue varnish and dry.
Iron the napkin over the dried varnish through a sheet of paper.
Trim off the excess edges.
Apply a neat thin layer of varnish over the napkin.
We think over the composition on the lid.
We tore out two large sunflower flowers from the napkins and placed them in different corners.
Glue it. We coat the places under the napkins with glue varnish.
Iron it through a sheet of paper and secure it with a thin layer of varnish.
After the initial thin layer of varnish has dried, boldly cover the entire box with a layer of acrylic gloss varnish.
Finalization of the background
We put on the palette the acrylic paints that we will need (Titanium White, Light Green, Chromium Oxide, Orange, Lemon, Medium Yellow) and acrylic varnish.
Dip a small piece of foam sponge into the paint and varnish.
Let's start stamping. It's okay if we go a little on the napkin: the excess can be wiped off.
When adding each subsequent color, do not forget to dip the sponge in the varnish: this will create an interesting glaze effect.
Add colors that match the napkin to smooth out the sharp transition.
Excess varnish and paint that gets onto the drawing can be easily wiped off with a dry cloth.
After the background has dried, lightly draw in the sunflower petals, adding bright and contrasting strokes and highlights to them.
Add a little splash of white paint. An old toothbrush will do for this. Don’t forget to place unnecessary paper or newspapers under the box so as not to dirty your work area.
We put Brown paint on a sponge and go through all the corners of the box, focusing on them.
Cover with acrylic varnish.
And we complete our work with a layer of final fixing varnish.
From an unnecessary cardboard shoe box, the result is this cozy box for storing balls, knitting and sewing supplies.
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Hello dear needlewomen and hand-made lovers! I present to your attention a master class on decorating a box. Decorate an ordinary wooden box made of plywood (8 mm) using the technique in shabby chic style.
For this we need:
- wooden blank,
- napkin,
- artistic acrylic primer
- acrylic paints for creativity (white, ivory, green (green foliage),
- bitumen,
- stationery PVA glue (or acrylic varnish),
- paraffin candle,
- varnish for one-step craquelure,
- acrylic varnish for finishing the product,
- brushes, foam sponges, sandpaper.
Before you start decorating, you need to sand all the unevenness and roughness with sandpaper until smooth. We cover our workpiece with soil and after complete drying, sand it again, remove excess soil, leveling the surface.
Paint the surfaces in the color “Green Foliage” using a wide brush.
After drying (you can speed up the process by using an ordinary hair dryer in the “warm blowing” mode), in order to further give our product abrasions, we rub some places with an ordinary wax candle.
The shabby chic style assumes the presence of certain “traces of time” on decorative items - abrasions, chips, cracks. To simulate cracks we will use one-step craquelure varnish. We evenly apply craquelure varnish to the outer corners of our box.
When the varnish dries, but remains sticky and does not stain your fingers (after about 20-30 minutes), we paint the surfaces with beige paint. Important! To create cracks, apply paint to the craquelure in one direction with one stroke.
After complete drying, sand all surfaces. In order for abrasions to appear especially actively in the three places with sandpaper that we rubbed with a candle.
To decorate our product, we chose an ordinary three-layer napkin. We select the element we need by tearing off the edges of the napkin.
We remove the lower white layers of the napkin and place the design on the workpiece.
In our work, household acrylic varnish purchased at a hardware store was used to glue the napkin. Apply the varnish with a wide, well-moistened brush, using quick movements without strong pressure. We put a dot in the center of the picture and, as if drawing a snowflake, from the center to the periphery we glue our napkin. If folds appear, you can carefully lift the edge of the napkin and use a brush to “drive” air bubbles from the center to the periphery.
If small wrinkles still remain, we will remove them with sandpaper after the napkin has completely dried.
To smooth out the color transition between the napkin and the general background, “beat” (“smacking” movements) the edges of the design with a foam sponge soaked in beige paint.
In any house you can find some kind of box in which its inhabitants put all sorts of useful household items. Often this role is played by an old shoe box, which is stored in the closet, away from prying eyes, due to its unsightly appearance. But if you decoupage it, it can easily take a prominent place in the living room or bedroom. So let's get started.
In our article you will learn how to decoupage a shoe box: a master class with step-by-step instructions, photos and videos will help you with this.
Decoupage shoe boxes
For decoupage we will need the following materials:
- shoe box
- napkins for decoupage
- white cardboard
- PVA glue
- glue Moment crystal
- glue stick
- brushes
- sponge
- masking tape
- acrylic paint (in our case – gold, white matte)
- acrylic varnish
Instructions for decoupaging the box:
1. First, prepare the box for decoupage. First of all, we cover all the joints and folds with masking tape. Then we cover the entire box (inside and outside) with PVA glue. After it dries, paint it with white paint or prime it.
2. The next step is to decide what the decor of the box will be. We chose dark green napkins with a lacy pattern.
3. So, our box has dried, now we cut out a piece of white cardboard to the size of the bottom and lid of the box and stick napkins on it. For this we need a glue stick and an iron. Having separated the top layer of the napkin with the pattern, lightly spray it with water, then run an iron over it - the napkin will become a little larger. Using a glue stick, glue the napkin (it should be slightly larger than the cardboard itself) and again go over it with an iron. We fold the edges of the napkin onto the wrong side of the cardboard and glue it there. We get a new bottom for the box. In exactly the same way we make another bottom - for the lid.
4. Using gold paint, which we apply in the corners, we mask the white, which may show through if there is a small discrepancy.
5. Glue the napkins onto the rest of the box using a file (this will protect the cardboard of the box from moisture). To do this, you need to place a napkin on a file that matches it in size. Using water and a brush, carefully stretch the napkin. Excess water can be carefully blotted off with an unnecessary layer of napkin. Then we coat the box with PVA glue and put a napkin on it, smooth it and remove the file. Let it dry.
6. After all the parts have dried, we glue on the bottoms we prepared earlier for the box and lid. Using a sponge with gold paint, paint the edges of the box with light tangential movements and cover it all with acrylic varnish - in 2-3 layers. Each layer of varnish needs to dry for 30-40 minutes.
DIY shoebox decoupage is ready!
In addition to decoupage of a cardboard box, you can also decoupage a wine box.
Master class on decoupage wine boxes
For decoupage we will need the following materials:
- old wine box
- napkins for decoupage
- PVA glue
- brushes
- craquelure composition
- acrylic lacquer
- primer or white acrylic paint
- sandpaper
- acrylic and oil paints
Step-by-step instruction
1. The first step is to prepare the box. We need to sand it down using sandpaper. Then the cleaned surface is primed or coated with white acrylic paint.
The inner surface of the box does not need to be primed.
2. Using PVA glue and a brush, carefully, so as not to form wrinkles, glue on the napkins with the motif of your choice.
3. Use acrylic paints (white with bronze dye) to paint the background. Don’t try to paint it evenly - “crooked” transitions will help create an aging effect.
4. Apply the craquelure composition to the outside of the box, and simply coat the inside with regular varnish. As soon as the craquelure dries and cracks appear, we need to cover them with brown paint (fresh oil paint, which can then be easily wiped off with a sponge dipped in water). This will highlight the aging effect of the item.
You can also glue napkins inside the box or paint it with background paint.
That's all! We made a decoupage of a wine box that you wouldn’t be ashamed to give to your loved ones, along with wine, of course!
So, today we made decoupage of a cardboard box with napkins, as well as decoupage of a wine box. We hope that our master class was useful to you. For clarity, we have prepared a small selection of videos on the topic and invite you to get acquainted with it:
Good luck in your creativity!
Decoupage is good because it allows you to give a second life to any old item. Using this technique, an ordinary shoe box can be turned into a box for storing jewelry and spices, or, decorated with bright pictures, it can be turned into a storage box for children's toys and creativity kits. Such homemade boxes will fit perfectly into an interior with an open storage system and will become a highlight of any modern design.
Various containers for storing bulk products are quite expensive, but you can make a beautiful box for cookies, sweets or tea with your own hands using decoupage. It’s not for nothing that decoupage is called the napkin technique, because this method of decorating products requires beautiful napkins, decoupage cards or pictures printed on a sheet of paper.
The choice of pictures for decorating the box must be approached responsibly, because they must be combined with each other and with the surrounding interior.
If you decide to take a drawing with one storyline, then the other images located on this box should be executed in the same theme.
Some tips for decorating napkin boxes:
- Napkins with images of cartoon characters or pets are suitable for a children's room.
- Men will be pleased with a box with images of weapons and cars. As a gift to a loved one, it is better to choose a box made of wood rather than cardboard.
- You can give your grandmother or mother a round box decorated with photographs of family and friends.
- For the kitchen, a cardboard box decorated with images of vegetable or fruit dishes is suitable. You can decorate your spice box by printing onions or garlic on a piece of paper.
- It is better to store needles and threads in tin or plastic containers, hand-decorated with thematic motifs.
Whatever design you choose, a shoebox decorated with napkins will look stylish and unusual. With a little imagination, you can create a real masterpiece that will be an excellent gift that speaks of your love.
Tools and materials for decoupage boxes
Before you start decorating any product, you will have to prepare some tools and materials. They can be bought in specialized or office supply stores.
Materials and tools that may be needed to decoupage the box:
- Actually the box itself, it can be metal, plastic, wood or old shoes.
- Acrylic paints;
- Glue (if the box is cardboard, you can use regular PVA, in other cases it is better to purchase special decoupage glue).
- Printouts or napkins with pictures;
- Decoupage or parquet varnish;
- Soft brushes for painting boxes with paint;
- Hard brushes for applying glue and varnish;
- Sponge;
- File;
- Container with warm water;
- Priming;
- Sandpaper;
- Additional decorative elements.
Here is a minimum set of items that may be useful for decoupaging a box with your own hands. All additional materials will have to be purchased during the creative process.
Decoupage spice box using printout method
For this method, it is better to use plywood blanks, since during the implantation process the cardboard base may delaminate. However, if you work very carefully, you can also decorate a shoe box with decoupage and implantation of a printout.
In addition to the technique given here for implanting a printout “with its face into the varnish,” there is another method: transferring the design to the product using a hot iron.
This technique may seem too complicated for beginner decoupage artists, but if you follow all the steps carefully, you will be pleased with the result.
Master class for beginners on decorating a box using the technique of implanting printouts:
- Sand the box with sandpaper.
- Apply a thin layer of primer, white acrylic paint or stain to its surface and let it dry.
- On top of the primer we apply several layers of acrylic paint of the main color. Let the boxes dry thoroughly. This step does not need to be completed if you used stain to decorate the box.
- We apply several layers of acrylic varnish or special adhesive varnish to the printed motif. We cover the places where the design will be implanted with a thin layer of the same composition and until it dries, we lower the varnished image with its face into the varnish. Leave this structure in this position until completely dry.
- The next day, generously moisten the printout with water and begin to roll all the paper off the product. When you think there is no more paper on the image, dry it with a hairdryer and you will see a white coating, you need to get rid of that too.
- When only a bright image remains on the product, fill in the missing details with acrylic paint.
- Open the box with several layers of varnish and leave it until completely dry.
Despite the apparent complexity of this technique, even a beginner can handle it, the main thing is to follow the described sequence of actions exactly.
Wine box: decoupage
If you want to give your friend a bottle of good wine for the New Year, a tastefully decorated box using decoupage technique will help complement the gift. You can take a ready-made wooden slatted blank or use a regular box of butt boots to make it.
Decorating wine boxes using decoupage technique step by step:
- We process the box with sandpaper;
- We remove dust from the workpiece and degrease it using a cotton pad soaked in alcohol;
- We cover the outer part of the box with several layers of primer, paying special attention to the lids;
- We treat the inner part with stain;
- Paint the outside of the wine box with a mixture of blue, pink and green paint;
- We separate the top layer of the napkin or decoupage card and tear out the motif we need;
- Soak it on the file in a small amount of liquid and transfer it to the surface of the base;
- Lubricate the picture with glue, straightening it along the box with a hard brush.
- We complete the missing elements;
- We decorate the box with gold leaf;
- We cover the product with several layers of varnish.
All that remains is to put a bottle of wine in the box and the gift in the original style is ready. There is no shame in exhibiting such a product at the crafts fair in Ukraine.
Plastic box: decoupage
From an unnecessary round jar of salad or mayonnaise, you can make a great box for storing candy, a mixture of spices or craft supplies.
Decoupage can be combined with other, no less interesting techniques, such as kanzashi.
For such a craft, you will not have to buy a lot of materials, and therefore there will be no large costs.
Master class on decorating a plastic box:
- Cut out four circles equal to the diameter of the box from white glossy paper;
- Cover the entire surface of the plastic jar with primer;
- Glue circles on both sides of the bottom and lid;
- We prime the side surface of the box and cover it with a strip of decoupage napkin with a pattern you like;
- We decorate the lid of the box with an artificial flower, which you can buy in a store or make yourself from ribbons and corrugated paper;
- We paint the empty spaces in a color that matches the decor and varnish them.
Such a simple box will become a real decoration of the kitchen space.
We make decoupage of shoe boxes with our own hands
A shoebox can serve as storage for spices, cereals or tea bags. To make it fit harmoniously into the interior of the kitchen, it can be decorated using decoupage.
We decorate a shoe box with napkins:
- We glue all the joints in the corners of the box with pieces of paper or masking tape.
- Cover the workpiece with white primer. Let it dry. Sand the product. Repeat these three steps at least three times.
- Paint the box in the main color.
- Separate the top layer with the pattern from the napkins. And having thickly smeared it with glue, glue the pattern onto the surface of the base. We iron the sides and the lid of the box through gauze so that the glue dries faster and you can proceed to the next stage.
- We fill in the missing elements with paint, and use brown paint applied to a sponge to age the edges of the box.
- We cover the product with 3-4 layers of varnish.
If you apply a little imagination, then in a very short period of time, you can make a beautiful and necessary thing out of an object that, it would seem, should be thrown into the trash.
Simple decoupage of a cardboard box (video)
Decoupage on a shoe box is an excellent opportunity for beginners in this technique to practice before decorating more expensive items.
There are no unnecessary things. Every old thing can be adapted into something new, original and extremely useful in everyday life. To begin with, for example, you can transform and then use a variety of . And even unnecessary boxes have the right to a second life. If you can decorate them, then your home will have a new and useful thing for use or just for decoration. In addition, we will tell you how to make a decoupage-style decoration for a simple shoe box, also with your own hands. Read more in our master class for beginners.
Modern decoupage is a hobby that attracts needlewomen with its simplicity and beauty of the final result. You'll be surprised how much this technique transforms things!
Step-by-step tutorial for beginners on decoupage of a cardboard box
For the master class to be successful, you must first prepare the materials. You can decorate an ordinary box yourself at home as shown in the photo. For this you will need:
- Pre-printed drawings or photographs and other ornaments on paper;
- Water;
- Instant coffee (if you need to age our decor);
- PVA glue;
- Acrylic lacquer.
Detailed work progress for beginners in needlework
- To begin, sprinkle some sheets of paper with water and then gently spread instant coffee over them.
- After this, lay the sheets on the table and let them dry.
- After the sheets have dried, tear them into pieces, but they should not be very small.
- Cut out pre-printed figures (drawings).
- To decoupage a cardboard box, clean the surface of the box from excess elements.
- Glue the torn piece of paper to the surface of the box and coat the top with the prepared solution. Pay special attention to the edges.
- Glue the entire box like this, and glue the cut out figures on top.
- Let the box dry and then, if desired, you can coat it with acrylic varnish to add shine.
See the video for an example (they decorate a wooden box there, but the situation is the same with thick cardboard).
Decorating a shoebox with fabric with your own hands
If these steps are clear and easy for you, you can easily do this for your valuables or jewelry.
Don't limit your imagination, let your imagination run wild! Create masterpieces with your own hands! The decor of a shoe box can be completely different, and making it at home is not difficult.
- Actually, the cardboard box itself;
- Paper of one tone;
- Glue (of your choice);
- Paints.
Detailed master class with job description
You can cover the box with fabric. Fortunately, there is now a lot of it for different tastes. Can be glued using PVA. The only drawback is that the cardboard can get wet from it, so you need to use it very carefully.
In addition, it can be covered with self-adhesive film. This is very convenient because you don’t need to use any glue. In addition, after decoupage, such boxes can be wiped and even washed with soap.
You can also use leftover wallpaper. If the wallpaper is washable, it also turns out beautiful and quite practical. Instead of PVA, you can use a stationery glue stick.
And finally, you can simply paint the box. When painting a box, you can create various effects. For example, aging or craquelure effect.
You can make the same box as in the photo, or you can use your own imagination.
More details in the video:
- First, cover the box with plain paper. The paper also needs to be absorbent. When pasting, leave excess paper for folds.
- Catch your baby running around the apartment and dip his hands into pre-prepared containers of paint. Then place your palms on the surface of the box. The number of prints can be completely different, as well as the variety of colors.
- Afterwards, you can ask your child to write the names of loved ones on the box, or you can perform this ritual yourself.
- After the paint has dried, the surface can be coated with acrylic varnish.
Really, it turned out beautiful?
We use napkins to decorate paper products
A cardboard box can be used for anything. And don’t rush to throw away even small boxes. Decoupage of boxes with napkins consists of several stages, and doing it yourself is not difficult. In the photo you see what you can achieve. First you need to prepare the materials.
To get started you will need:- A small box of any shape prepared in advance;
- Paint (you can use acrylic and oil paints);
- Glue (PVA is suitable);
- Napkin with a pattern;
- Manicure scissors;
- Brushes;
- Sponge.
Let's look at a simple and understandable master class step by step
- To begin with, if the surface of the box is not completely smooth, it needs to be lightly sanded. Sand until it is smooth.
- After this, apply paint to the surface of the box.
- Carefully cut out the design from the selected napkin.
- Place a napkin on the surface of the box (lid or walls) and use a pencil to mark the place where you plan to glue it.
- Now take your paints. You can mix several shades so that they do not contrast too much with the chosen pattern. Then use a sponge to carefully apply paint to the box lid, being careful not to touch the area you have allocated to attach the design.
- After this, apply glue to a clean area of the lid and glue our pre-prepared pattern there.
- You can also cover the outer walls of the box with a colored napkin - at your request.
Training video for beginners
Find out more about the nuances of decoupage from our article