DIY Mother's Day gift and craft: personalized decoupage storage cube or planter

A picture of the finished storage cube/planter

Since Mother’s Day is just around the corner, I thought I’d showcase a gift I made for my mother-in-law: a personalized storage cube that she can use for her gardening supplies or as a planter. This was my first foray into the wide world of decoupage, and I really enjoyed it.  My husband and I were really impressed because even close up the cube looks as though it were hand-painted.

From start to finish, this project took me two days to complete. One day I used to prime and paint the cube, cut out my paper, and decoupage the paper onto the cube. The following day, I applied the varnish to the cube and let it dry.

Materials:

• Wooden storage cube, unfinished (purchased at Jo-Ann's)
• Indoor/outdoor primer spray paint (choose a color that suits the base color for your storage cube)
• Indoor/outdoor spray paint (I chose the color Ivory)
• Scrapbooking papers that will fit over the outer panels of your storage cube and/or other types of papers you’d like to use to decorate the outer panels. The thinner, the better.  I found all my supplies discounted at Jo-Ann's. 
• Lettering stickers, found in the scrapbooking area (once again, the thinner, the better)
• Pictures of your family members, color copied at a copy shop (dark pictures don’t work well…try to find bright shots with good exposure).  I recommend buying a few copies in case you make a mistake. 
• Decoupage glue (I used Anita’s decoupage glue, purchased at Michael's)
• Sharp scissors for detailed cutting
• Pencil
• Shallow dish
• Water
• Newspaper, towels, or kraft paper for your workspace
• Foam brushes (I used about eight to ten of them)
• Liquetex clear gloss varnish to seal your decoupage (found in the “real” painting section of the craft store, where the oil paints and canvasses are).   This varnish provides the most water-resistant seal. 
• Wipes to clean your hands while you decoupage

Directions, painting the cube:

1. Take any stickers off the wooden storage cube and make sure it’s clean.
2. Use the primer spray paint to spray the cube upside down. When it’s dry to the touch (ten minutes or so), flip it over and spray the inside. You don’t need to pay much attention to the outer sides of the cube. Focus on where the paint will show (the insides, top edges, and bottom of the cube). The priming step is very important. It will make painting your cube much easier.
3. When the primer is dry, use the spray paint to paint the bottom of the cube. When the bottom is dry, turn the cube over right side up and paint the inside of the cube and the top ledge. Paint the corner edges, just in case your decoupage paper tears or doesn't fit exactly (mine didn't) on each side, but don’t worry too much about painting the sides of the cube precisely. This is where you will decoupage later on.  If you went a little overboard on the spraying (when the paint is still very wet), just use a foam brush to repair the drip marks. I used two coats of spray paint. 
4. Don't forget to paint inside of the handle holes. 

Directions, cutting out your decoupage paper:

1. If you opt to cover all the sides of the cube completely as I did, just take your background paper and place it over the cube as you’d like it to stay permanently.  Then press down, folding as you go, around the edges of the cube. Remove your paper and cut it where you made your folds. 
2. Double check to assure the paper will fit nicely over the cube’s side. If the sides of your cube are uniform, you can now use this first cut as a stencil for the other three pieces of paper you chose.
3. Cut out the handle holes in two of the “side” papers. This step is easy if you hold the paper where it will go on the cube and then lift the cube up to a light. The light makes it easy to see where the hole is, and you can lightly trace the outline with a pencil. Then just make a hole in the center and cut out the handle holes.
4. Now that you’ve got the sides cut out, you should cut out the faces for the center of your flowers. I recommI traced two inch circles and used a scrapbook cutter, but you could do also do it by hand. These will have to fit on your box in the center of a much larger flower, so make sure you don’t cut the circles too large.
5. You’ll next need to make a stencil for your flowers. I used a larger circle and then cut a flower out of that. If you’re not a great artist, don’t worry. As long as your flower has five petals, it will be charming. Cut out this “model” flower, and now you can use it to cut out all the rest. I made a flower for my father-in-law, each person in my family, and each person in my brother-in-law’s family (ten, total), but do as many or as few as you see fit. When you pick out the paper for the flowers, I would probably use papers that will contrast well with your background. This will make them “pop” a little more.
6. Finally, you’ll need to make a sun for whoever will receive the gift. Once again, I traced a large circle and cut it out. Then, I positioned it in the upper left corner where I wanted it and folded around the edges of the storage cube. I removed the paper and cut along those folds, and then I cut out the triangular rays of the sun, making sure my mother-in-law’s picture would still fit on the inside.

 Directions, decoupage:

1. Spread out some towels or kraft paper to cover your workspace.
2. Take your plate or shallow bowl and fill it with water. Set it near your workspace.
3. Make sure the papers you want to adhere to your cube are handy. You have to work quickly, and you don’t want to stop in the middle of a task to retrieve something you forgot.
4. Lay your cube on the workspace. Have your foam brushes handy. I used at least three.
5. Spread some of your decoupage medium on the storage cube. Spread it out.
6. Quickly, take the paper and dip the white side of the paper into the water. Then, lining it up at the bottom and/or the handle hole, place the paper onto the decoupage medium and cube. Use a foam brush to smooth it out. Adding more decoupage to the spots that look like they didn’t quite “stick” enough is a good idea. Make sure you get out all the bubbles. If you have a stubborn one, you can pop it with the end of a pin and then go back to smoothing with the gluey foam brush. The paper (even the relatively thick scrapbook paper I used) becomes very delicate, so be very careful with it.
7. My paper expanded when it was wet, so I had to trim it. I found that the best way to do this was to fold it and pinch it over the corner edge of the cube. Then, it went over it with my nail, and the paper practically tore off all by itself. I was worried about how this would look, but it wound up looking quite nice. It gave the cube a vintage look at the corners. Similarly, don’t worry too much if the paper wrinkles. I think the wrinkles give the finished piece some character.
8. Make sure the paper has adhered properly to the cube. I had to gently pull up the paper in a couple places and add some more decoupage medium to create a sufficient seal.
9. Let the side dry to the touch (it only takes a few minutes), and move on to the next side until all four sides are completed.
10. Position the flowers where you want them, remembering where they will go so they will all fit. Use the decoupage medium in the same way to adhere the flowers to the cube. Don’t forget to adhere the sun.
11. Using the same technique, position the cut out photos in the center of each flower and sun.
12. Figure out where you want to put your lettering.
13. Starting with the center-most letter, adhere the lettering to the cube (don't wet with the water), using the same method you have already used to attach the other papers. I chose to spell out “Ruth’s garden,” but you could spell out whatever you like. My letters were very thick, and I had to use a lot of glue to adhere them to the cube. This is where the wipes really came in handy. Make sure the decoupage medium is off your hand before you attach the next letter; otherwise, the letters stick to your fingers and make the job quite difficult.
14. Once you’ve finished lettering, stand back and admire your work. Make sure the papers are well-attached to the cube. There should be no bubbles or buckling. If you see any bubbles or buckling, just get some more decoupage medium and start smoothing.
15. Let your decoupaged cube dry overnight.

     

Directions, sealing the deal (varnish)

1. Turn your cube upside down. Use a new foam brush to apply a thin layer of varnish to the bottom of the cube. Let it dry to the touch (20 – 30 minutes?). Apply two to three layers of varnish, and let the last coat dry for an hour or two.
2. Using the same method as you used for the bottom of the storage cube, apply two to three coats of varnish to the sides and inside of the cube.
3. Let the cube dry completely.
4. Stand back in amazement that, yes, you made that. Really.

For more info: 

Read more information on how to decoupage.