Decoupaged Travel Bag/Child’s Suitcase - Part One

When you spot a small, well made, child’s suitcase for just £1 in your Evesham charity shop of choice, it would be rude not to make a considered purchase ……..

……. especially when I need some kind of flight bag for travelling light for our family trip to Euro Disney in May, a trip we were supposed to make before the dreaded Covid hit!

I started by painting the case with emulsion paint (???? I know, I know!!!), not sure if at this stage it that was the most sensible thing to do, but I plan to give the case several coats of varnish once it completely covered to be on the safe side.

Painting the plastic hardware was a nightmare, I should have used an undercoat, but you know me I like to skip the odd step, however I got there in the end, although this frustration was the reason I put the project on hold for a few weeks.

I also coloured the red trim on the case and zipper with a marker pen (duh) ……so perhaps, at the moment, this isn’t a case to use in the rain (???) …… however, when it’s all but finished I also plan to go over it again with a permanent black pen.

As I didn’t exactly know what I was doing, I started covering the front of the case with flowery scrapbook paper and looking at the picture above, it didn’t look bad ……….

…… but then, aghhhhhh, please forgive the sacrilege, I started to add torn strips from the very colourful pages of a beautiful Kaffe Fassett book, I know, I know! 

The book came from the free, second hand book shop in town and I chose it (making a donation) with this sort of project in mind, but with slight guilty feelings. Then before I knew it, all the scrapbook paper had disappeared!

When the glue (extra strong, handyman PVA) was dry, to help blend the colours, I went over all the white edges with a green ProMaker pen.  Again, before it’s finished, I’m not sure that this was a good decision, as I think I’ve lost the vibrancy of the colours …… and I don’t really like the colour green, so wish I’d gone for a pink or purple instead, but hey ho!

Then I needed to tackle the back, which was a lot more fiddly because of the added hardware. This is the stage I am at the moment .....

The sides now need filling using the same process, but don’t have a clue how it’s all going to end, triumph or tears, it’s in the laps of the crafting gods, but I’m really trying to be fearless. So, see you next week, regardless of whether it turns out to be trash or treasure ……!