| Crafting with a Soap Opera Twist | |
| Using decoupage to recycle soap opera magazines. | |
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If you're anything like me, you buy the weekly soap opera magazines and loathe to throw them out as they age. I have boxes filled with past issues. I figure that some day I'll need them for research or just to look back at the way soap operas were "back then." I just know that some day I'll need them...no doubt about it. Well, today, such a day has occurred.
I've been looking at ways to recycle the magazines and to create something crafty and fun. My first foray into this recycling project was to create a decoupage item using pictures and words from such favorites as Soap Opera Digest, Soap Opera Weekly, Soaps In Depth and Soap Opera Update.
I'm not the craft queen Rosie O'Donnell is, and I'm relatively new to decoupage, so you can be assured that this project is one that even the most novice of us can do.
The supplies you'll need:
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Paper Mβchι Plate
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Soap opera magazines
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Varnish (I used gloss)
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Acrylic Paint
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Craft glue (I used Mod Podge)
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Sponge & bristle paint brushes
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Scissors and/or Exacto Knife
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Small roller
How to create a decorative plate using decoupage:
The first thing you need to do is start with an unfinished Paper Mβchι plate. You can find these at almost any craft store. Once you have the plate, you then need to paint it using acrylic paint colors. I choose white for my base color and added a bit of blue to give it the blue color I ended up with.
Next you'll need to go through your soap magazines and choose the pictures you think you'll want to use on the project. My goal was to pick a couple from each of the current soaps, as well as the name of each soap in colorful letters. I also cut out a few sayings, but ended up scrapping them as they didn't work in the finished project.
I
highly recommend trying an arrangement of the pictures on your plate before you
move on. Finally you
can start the gluing. Once a picture is
glued you're stuck with its position so it helps to know exactly where you
want it beforehand. To glue the photo, just take one of your bristle brushes and
dip it in the craft glue. Then paint the area of the plate where the picture
will go. I also recommend painting the back of the picture with a bit of glue as
well. You want to make sure you have enough glue down, but not too much.
Once your picture is in the proper place, use the roller to
gently smooth out the air bubbles and make certain your picture is as flat as
possible. After all your pictures are glued, give them a short time to dry.
With the drying of the last coat of varnish you'll find yourself with a new piece of artwork. I have plans to try this with other types of projects such as boxes and frames. The plate was my first attempt at doing this with soap opera pictures.
In future articles, we'll explore other crafty ways to recycle old soap opera magazines and pictures. If you have any suggestions or ideas for projects, please email me at soaps.guide@about.com
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