Decoupage Wooden Heart Tutorial

Don't worry I am still scrapbooking but its nice to branch out and try my hand at other things too and I'm loving napkin decoupage at the moment... The results are amazing and it's much quicker than doing an album so nice to have a little break!

I'd got a plain wooden heart from Cuddly Buddly and had been wondering what to do with it... So today it was decoupage time!

What you need...

Blank wooden heart

Stain or paint

Patterned napkin

Decoupage napkin glue

Brush- I use a rubber tip one

Soft cloth 

Ribbon

First of all I sanded the heart to make sure it was smooth and here's what it looked like blank

I used an oak coloured stain but you can use paint as well. Top tip don't use too dark a colour or the design won't show through! Dark brown is the darkest I've gone.

So I applied 2 coats of the stain with a soft cloth and the colour was lovely... A bit gingery!

I let it dry for about 20 minutes if you're using paint make sure it is really dry otherwise it will get mixed up with the glue and colour the napkin.

I then cut out the heart shape on my napkins adding about an extra half centimetre so I could fold it over the edges of the heart too. Top tip... Cut the shape out if you napkin before you remove the top layer as it's so much easier!

Now you can peel the top layer of the napkin off and your ready to start the magic!

Place the napkin on the shape... Get a big blob of the glue ready on the side and your brush... I use rubber tip ones as I find they really eliminate any air bubbles. Always start from the middle and work outwards. As you apply the glue it soaks through the napkin which sticks it to the wood and makes the napkin go transparent... That's great as you can see which bits you've done!

So do the whole shape, leave the edges to the end... I also use my finger to smooth everything down. Make sure your finger is wet with the glue so you don't stick to the napkin. The napkin is quite fragile when wet so do be careful ... If you do make a bodge you can always put another piece of napkin over it... I managed to do this one bodge free hahaha!

I let this one side dry fully before repeating the same on the other side. I hung it to dry for about half an our then I applied another layer of the glue to finish it off nicely. I tend to use my fingers a lot for decoupage projects! Messy but love pulling the layers of glue off my fingers afterwards :)

I then added a bow and hanging loop with some lovely brown ribbon and voila finito! Bambi didn't mind posing for the shot of the finished heart! Hope you like... These are my favourite napkins to use as they go almost completely see through... They have a cream background so look out for that if you want to replicate the look.