So this project isn't groundbreaking, but I'm pretty pleased with it. My husband brought home this notebook from work, about 6" by 8". It had a dark blue cover with his company's name and logo on it. He asked me if I wanted it. It wasn't pretty, but I can always use more notebooks. And I thought I could make something out of it, like this woven paper journal cover I made.
I had seen other projects where people covered things with these decorative paper towels/napkins. I bought this package months ago at the Christmas Tree Shop for crafting. I think I paid $1 for the package. I wish I had bought more of them because they had a bunch in so many great designs.
I think my mother would call these "paper guest towels". They're larger than napkins, unfolded they're about 11 inches by 15 inches. The towel is made up of a couple layers of paper. There's an inner layer of thicker paper, then the decorative layer is actually made of two very thin layers of tissue paper, one plain and one with the image on it.
These towels are great for découpaging. This is such a quick and easy way to transform a lot of items. I didn't take any photos pf the process because I didn't plan on sharing this project. But the end result is so pretty, I just had to post it.
Generally, you remove all the layers and just work with the thin outer decorative layer of paper and modge podge or glue. But since my notebook had a dark cover with lettering, I first used the inner white thick paper to glue down a base layer over my cover. Once that was dry, I brushed on more glue and laid down my thin decorative paper. When that dried, I trimmed my paper down to the edge of the notebook. Done!
You should put your glue on kind of thick and make sure you spread it all the way to your edges. Your paper is going to wrinkle when you put it down in the glue, so just accept it as part of your design. But you should press down on your paper to get out any bubbles.
The back of my notebook was easier to cover, because it was white with just a logo. I just used the thin outer decorative layer of my towel to cover the back, but you can see where the company logo shows through my paper. It's ok though, happily it kind of works with the peacock design.
I can take no credit for this project. The end result is really pretty, but that's because of the towel design. I'm not really a peacock person, but this image is really stunning (even prettier in person). I've made a few other things with these decorative towels and plan to make more.
