Get Back into the Crafting Groove with Decoupage

I haven’t spoken much about the emotional side of two international moves in two years. It sounds amazing, but the reality is that these moves have taken a lot out of me. Before we left the States, my blog was doing really well. I was working with brands and people I loved, I was getting regular job offers, and, dare I say it, was earning actual money. I packed up my craft room knowing that I would see my supplies again in a few months and had the reassurances that nothing would change. Life never goes according to plan, though, and a few months after the move to Scotland we knew we were heading back to New Zealand. The decision was made to leave all of our things in storage and have the shipment sent to New Zealand. While I had some craft supplies, I certainly didn’t get to play with the shiny new products that my friends had access to in the States. I didn’t have space for major crafting and I didn’t have a nice setup for pictures. As the year went on, every brand I had been working with sent me a variation on “your work is great but your location isn’t.” I made the decision not to reach out to local UK brands because I knew we were leaving quickly. The depression I have fought with for many years started rearing its ugly head and I wondered if both my blog and my crafting mojo would survive.

Fast forward to now–we’re in New Zealand, but still very much in transition. We’re in a rental while we wait to close on our new house. Our shipment from the States arrived, but it’s a mess and we can’t unpack it right now. We’re still waiting for the shipment of our things from Scotland to arrive. I miss crafting. So incredibly much. But I also haven’t known where to start. I am not working with *anyone* right now so don’t have that to guide me. My head hasn’t been working well enough for cross stitching. My Cricut Maker is in a container in quarantine. And the question of whether it’s worth it to try to resurrect the craft side of my blog is constantly niggling at me. I’ve had a couple of wanders around Spotlight, the major craft store chain here, to see what products are available and if anything jumped out at me. There were some nice chipboard blanks of different sorts and I decided to try my hand at some decoupage coasters–if you know me at all, you know I have a thing for coasters. These coasters are an easy project and a good way to get back into the crafting groove with decoupage.

Supplies:

• Mod Podge
• chipboard coaster blanks
• paper
• distress paint
• brush

I dipped my brush into water and “painted” around the flowers I wanted to use on the coasters. The water made it easy to tear, which I like because I wanted the rough edges.

My craft store offers little variety in Mod Podge, but they have the classics and I’m always a fan of matte. I applied a layer to cover the coaster.

The Mod Podge dries pretty quickly so place your paper on immediately. Gently smooth out any bubbles in the paper using the brush. I generally use a small piece of sandpaper to sand away the edges to remove excess paper, but I didn’t have any this time. I used nothing more than a regular nail file! Make sure everything is dry if you’re using this method.

I wanted the coasters to have the slightly distressed look and didn’t want the bare coaster to show through. I covered up any brown spots with dabs of green and white distress paint to complement the paper I had chosen. When the paint was dry, I applied a top coat of Mod Podge.

This was a super easy craft and I didn’t use any techniques that a hundred bloggers haven’t talked about before, but it was nice to just make something. I like looking at the cheerful print and it makes my daily cup of tea a bit cozier (liquorice and strawberry if you’re curious). I still don’t know how my blog will fare, but I do know that we will be in our new house soon which means I will have a workspace and my things again. I may not have all of the American crafts and connections anymore, but hopefully this is the start of me regaining my crafting spirit.