DIY Decoupage Dress Form & Homemade Modpodge Recipe

Last Friday morning I awoke with a mission. To paint a shelf and spruce up my office. The sprucing up of my office involved rearranging some books and tackling a dress form I had leaning against a wall because it was somehow broken in our move.It wasn't bothering me as you really couldn't tell it was "leaning" because the skirt of the Book Fairy costume I had on it kept it up right. However it was taking up serious real estate and I knew I either had to fix it. Give it away, or find some new purpose for it. I chose the latter and I got to recycle my costume as well.One handmade Book Fairy costume and one beat up dress form... Combined to become this lovely decorative addition that I love so much more.It was super easy to do.Here's how you can create your own DIY Decoupage Dress Form.If you have a beat up dress form like I did, simply remove the soft fabric cover and foam. Scrape away as much if not all of the foam you can. I used a sharp knife for the areas that were glued on and wouldn't just pull away. Once you've cleared away as much as the foam as possible you're ready to begin decoupaging.I didn't have enough Modpodge left to complete this project, and waiting the 10-12 days for Amazon to deliver it to me just wasn't an option. So I turned to Pinterest and discovered a ton of recipes for Modpodge, the one I used was so simple.  I can't believe I'd not made some sooner.  I found the recipe on this delightful blog called Lulatastic.To make your own decoupage glue you'll need:PVA Glue AKA Elmers Glue and water. That's it. Nothing else.I used 1 cup of Elmer's Glue All and 1/3 cup of water. Mix them together in a jar via a vigorous shaking and voila! You've got your very own Modpodge glue to decoupage to your heart's content! This formula produces a matte decoupage which is just how I prefer it.Once you've got your glue you're ready to begin to decoupage your dress form.In addtion to the glue, you'll need paper or fabric of your choosing to decoupage with, a brush and something to "smush" out the bubbles.When decoupaging I prefer to use a sponge-brush but you can use whatever sort of brush you like and something to flatten out the air-bubbles. On this particular occasion I used my fingers but a silicone spatula works great too. If you don't mind glue all over your fingers do it my way. If you'd rather not be taken back to elementary school, use gloves.To decoupage:Grab your paper dab the back with glue. Brush some glue onto your dress form, place the paper glue side down and brush the air bubbles away, any that don't come out smooth with your fingers or what-ever device you choose. Continue in this manner until you've completed your project. Overlapping as you go.Don't have a dress form? You can make your own. Grab and friend and some duct tape and head over to this page for the instructions on how to make your own DIY Dress Form.