Altered Diary Cover

 

Hello friends!

Harshada here on the blog today with a simple altered project using Decoupage technique. As we are all stuck at home with limited materials and supplies, I thought of up-cycling and altering things that are easily available with all of us. Today I’ll also be sharing some tips and tricks useful for working with decoupage project.

So let’s start with the tutorial!

Well I had this black diary with me since so many months, and I didn’t use it as I did not find it attractive because of the colour. Therefore I decided to alter the cover and make it beautiful.

As I wanted to decoupage on the cover, I first applied Acrylic Gesso and gave it a natural drying time.

Note: The cover of this diary is kind of glossy with minute grains and embossed letters on it, therefore after applying gesso I left it to dry naturally as I did not want my gesso to peel off.

After the gesso dried completely,  I did decoupage on it. I wanted a beautiful print on my diary therefore I chose a birdie napkin from my stash and used Deco Magic Matte glue to adhere it on the cover.

As you can see I did hand tearing (of the napkin/tissue)  and then adhered the tissue to the diary. This helps in achieving proper colour blending and a finished look.

TIP: Don’t choose tissue prints hastily. Remove the ply of the tissue and  adhere it on to the diary slowly in parts. After adhering, wait for few minutes for the tissue to dry and then give a top coat of the decoupage glue to seal the tissue. After drying, you can start colouring and blending.

After the glue dried, I coloured the rest of the diary using cream shades of chalk paints- Tattered Lace, Fortune Cookie and Chocolate Truffle.

TIP: Study the colours of the tissue, check out the backgrounds, design, minute details on the print as you need to recreate something similar to it, to make your project look complete.

When I was satisfied with the background, I started painting the design very lightly using chalk paints- Charcoal, Chocolate Truffle, Lavender Blush, Deep Sea Blue. I extended the branches, twigs, berries of the print to the top and bottom of the tissue.

TIP: Don’t overdo the detailing.

Though my design was complete, there was still scope to add some interest, therefore, I decided to add some texture.

For texture, I added Orange splash and Deep sea blue chalk paints to mixed media paste separately and applied them through the Irregular Dots Stencil

TIP: Choose a stencil that goes with your print and design.

After the paste dried completely, I adhered a beautiful cream coloured crotchet lace on the spine of the diary using silicon glue. I then varnished the diary cover using Deco Varnish Matte with a flat brush.

I also stuck a stamped sentiment beneath the birdie.

I wanted my main birdie to stand out so I decided to add glitter and gloss to it. I varnished the birdie using Deco Varnish Gloss and added glitter from my stash only to the lower part of the birdie. After drying, I gave two more coats of glossy varnish to the birdie.

And my diary is ready!

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you’ve enjoyed the detailed tutorial of altering a diary using decoupage technique. Do give it a try!

List of supplies used:

Little Birdie Deco Magic Glue Matte -225ml

Silicon Liquid Glue – 100ml

Little Birdie Decor Varnish, 100ml – Matte

Little Birdie Decor Varnish, 100ml – Gloss

Little Birdie Home Decor Chalk Paint 50ml -Orange Splash

Little Birdie Home Decor Chalk Paint 50ml -Deep Sea Blue

Little Birdie Home Decor Chalk Paint 120ml – Lavender Blush

Little Birdie Home Decor Chalk Paint 50ml – Charcoal

Little Birdie Home Decor Chalk Paint 50ml – Fortune Cookie

Little Birdie Home Decor Chalk Paint 50ml – Tattered Lace

Little Birdie Home Decor Chalk Paint 50ml – Chocolate Truffle

Little Birdie Stencil – Irregular Dots, 7.3" X 9.7"

Little Birdie Mixed Media Paste 2 In 1 -White 400gm

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