So last week my sporadic spending habits escalated to a whole new level of crazy in the form of a cardboard 'N'. Although I had every intention of whipping out the paint brush and transforming it into something fabulous for my bedroom, with my horrendous track record of randomly purchasing things and never using them, this was a pretty risky purchase #LivingontheEdge. However this time, ladies, I surprised even myself.
I've tried to make my room pretty and girly with French phrases in perfect pastel pinks and purples or perfume bottles adorning any and every flat surface, but when you have one bright green wall (see this post) - a blindingly obvious telltale of your inner garishness - there's only so far les français can take you. So I've decided to embrace The Green and add some beautiful gaudy garnishing to my room. I think it actually suits its gentle surroundings, in a weird, opposing kind of way.
Basically I decopatched the heck out of the N, which is essentially the art of ripping pieces of paper up and sticking 'em on with glue. You will need a cardboard shape (I bought this N from Hobbycraft for just £1, but you can get all sorts of animals and objects), a paintbrush, some specially formulated Decopatch Glossy Glue and, of course, decopatch paper. I bought the latter three from The Decopatch Place (cutest little site ever) for less than £6. They have a huge range of papers to choose from or you could purchase one of their starter packs and delivery is super quick.
As the name would suggest, traditional decopatching consists of patches of paper being stuck on to create a patchwork effect. I bent the rules slightly and did strips of paper, which I think works just as well. Rip the pieces up in your desired shape, whack some glue on your cardboard...whatever, stick down your paper and glue over the top to give it a glossy finish when dry. And repeat...1,000 times.
This took me about 30-45 minutes to complete and I'm so pleased with the results. Usually when I set out to do something even remotely creative, my efforts never quite turn out how I imagined (see Halloween spider costume), but my decopatched N has become one of my few successes. I love how it's completely personalised and it only cost me £6.98 altogether - I still have loads of paper left over too, what should I decopatch next? I kind of want a zebra/leopard printed animal head??
