Fun with Decoupage

My sweet oldest baby girl is now 11 years old.  It's hard for me to wrap my head around how this happy little toddler could possibly already be a "tween!"  Ugh!  To celebrate her birthday, she wanted a slumber party with a "Night in Paris" theme.  I came up with an art project for the girls, in keeping with the theme.

Using flat canvases (available in packs of 8 at Michael's), we made decoupage collages with antique papers, old sheet music, French-themed scrapbooking papers, and all sorts of fun embellishments (including lace, of course!).  Here's the sample that I made so the girls could see a finished project:

I did several layers of paper, used lots of distressing ink, added lace and flower trims, and at the very end, embellished with bronze-colored Stickles (I love that stuff). The whole process took a couple of days, so that each layer had time to dry.

Here's the busy project table that the girls used at the party:

And here's the birthday girl's project, almost finished:

This was a fun, multi-step project that kept the girls busy in small doses over the course of the evening.  I think they enjoyed it, and their artwork really looked fabulous!

All that said, if anyone has a magic potion that will turn my tween back into a 5-year-old, please pass it along!