Materials:
old letters, postcards or hand-written cards
clear glass cylinder vase
craft glue
copper foiling tape
tea bag
pressed leaves or flowers
matte-finish decoupage glue
pillar candle
iron
Steps:
- Make black and white photocopies of the letters. Brew a cup of strong tea. When the tea bag is cool enough to handle, brush the bag across the paper in long strokes . If some areas are darker than others, it enhances the vintage effect.
- Set the paper aside to dry. Press the back with a warm, dry iron to flatten it.
- Wrap the paper tightly around the vase and glue it to itself along the overlapping seam. Trim excess if necessary.
- Trim the top and bottom edges with copper tape.
- Use decoupage glue to add pressed leaves or flowers for a seasonal touch. To help keep the edges in place, brush another coat of the decoupage medium over the entire cylinder (except the copper tape) to seal and protect the paper.
Tips:
- Instead of using pressed leaves, make color photocopies of leaves and cut them out. The paper bends more readily around the vase and the fidelity of the copy is amazing.
- To accent the same candleholder for each season, don't glue pressed material to the paper. Instead, place a rubber band around the cylinder, and then insert natural materials--seedpods, a twig of white pine, a pressed fern, dried flowers--and hide the rubber band with raffia.
- Line four or five luminarias along the mantel, on a dining table or cluster various sizes on a tray.
- Use the same letter technique to decorate boxes (use an antiquing medium to add age instead of tea bags to keep the paper flat).
Resources copper foil tape
Venture Tape Corp.
Rockland, MA
US
Phone: 780-331-5900
Toll Free Phone: 800-343-1076
URL:
www.venturetape.com
Country Homes Quick Country Decorating
by the editors of
Country Home magazine (ISBN: 0696211793)
Country Home (Magazine)
Website:
www.countryhome.com
Guests Vicki Ingham
Editor, Meredith Publishing/Better Homes and Gardens
Website:
www.bhg.com
Also in this Episode
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