The days are getting longer, the air is getting warmer, Spring flowers are peeping their heads above ground and I seem to have gone into creative overdrive! Too many new ideas to keep up with. If only there were more hours in the day!
This week I have been busy developing my decoupage work, working on a Spring collection for my Jaunty Jim caps and making more mini embroidered brooches.
I`m very excited about my decoupage ideas. Decoupage has got a bit of a tacky reputation these days as it has come to mean sticking layers of naff cartoon teddy bears on top of each other to make 3D cards, and things of that ilk. Well each to their own I say, and there is a place for everything, but I`ve been looking back to the Victorian fashion for decoupage. This was a way of decoratively covering everything from little boxes to firescreens with images cut (coup) from various papers, using mementos to create a new treasure.
I remember as a child visiting some friends` grandparents who had a Victorian room screen which was covered in decoupage. It was truly magical, three hinged panels about 5 foot high totally covered in layers of lovely images. I was fascinated by it, everytime I looked at it I could find something new.
Yesterday I finished off my first batch of decoupage beads. My boyfriend has made me a handy rack to dry them on!
Then, after finishing off a Jaunty Jim cap, I got stuck into making my first two decoupage wall plaques.
I`m really pleased with them and there hardly seemed to be a transition from layering eclectic fabrics to adorns men`s caps to layering lots of papers to make the wall plaques. I love the way you can play around and layer contrasting styles of illustration, colours and textures to make a harmonious  whole.
I can see that I`m going to get a bit obsessed with decoupage from now on! My new collection of papers is steadily growing. I`ll try to use mainly recycled papers, using cuttings from magazines, old books and giftwrap, and incorporating stamps and vintage-style scraps of butterflies and flowers. 
Using scraps is very nostalgic for me as I used to collect and swap them as a wee girl. I never thought I would be playing with them again after all these years!
What next in my decoupage adventure? I`m thinking wall plaques in various sizes, photo-frames, necklaces and lots more brooches!
agnesandcora 