"BETTY BOOP" DECOUPAGED SOAP GIFT

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Audrey, here today with a quick and easy project.  As always, thanks to Pam for having me here each month!

Well, did you know you can decoupage a bar of soap without any special papers, adhesives, or other materials?  If you didn't know that, just take a look at my soap gift:

Here are pictures of the box closed and also a close up of the top of the box:

 

Isn't it just sweet and cute?!!!

Here's what you'll need to get started on yours:

1 - bar soap (standard size)
1 - 4.50 x 10.50" sheet of cardstock (for soap box)
Image of your choice for bar of soap and for the box (I found mine on the internet)
Embellishments for your box
Plain white tissue paper (the kind used for gifts): large enough to print image onto for the bar soap
Decoupage Glue (if you do not have this, use small amount of white glue thinned with water)
Small "soft" paint brush
Shrink Wrap or Saran Wrap
Heat gun

Okay, let's go!   First, determine how large you want the image to be on your bar of soap and size it accordingly (I played with the size, printing it on scrap paper until I was satisfied).  Once the image is to your liking, tape the piece of tissue onto a sheet of cardstock; print out the image and allow ink to dry completely; once dry, cut it out as close to the image as possible:

Using the paint brush, apply a very thin layer of glue to the back of the image being careful so as not to tear the tissue; carefully apply the image to the bar of soap using your index finger to smooth out any air bubbles; allow to dry about 20 minutes.  Once the tissue is dry on the soap bar, apply another  very thin coat of glue to the top of the image and use the flat palm of your hand to press out any air bubbles -- you do not want to rub because the wet glue will cause the ink to smear!!!

Allow coated side to dry completely and your bar of soap will look like this:

Time for do the box!  With the 4.50" side of paper across the top of the scoreboard, score at 1" and 3.50:

Turn paper so the 10.50" side is across the top of the scoreboard and score at 1", 4.75", 5.75", and 9.50":

On each side of the box, cut the  4.75" and 5.75" scorelines up to the 1" and 3.50 scorelines only -- this will create your center tabs which separate the top from the bottom of the box.  Next, cut out and remove a triangular section from each corner of the four (4) corner tabs: your box should look like this:

Bone fold all scorelines, fold and glue all tabs to the inside to form your box to look like this:

Print another image onto a sheet of cardstock and size it to fit the top of your box, and your box is ready to embellish any way you'd like.  I used stickles for the bath bubbles and 3D crystal lacquer to highlight Betty Boop and the hardware on the tub, and I completed the box with lace, beads, ribbon, and more stickles!

Before you put your soap in the box, wrap the bar with shrink or saran paper and give it a quick hit with your heat gun on all sides, top and bottom, to shrink and tighten the wrap to the soap; this will give it a nice, clean professional look!  Now you might even want to make add a small card or tag to go along with for a complete gift set!

You can alter your soap gift for a man, woman, or child and/or for any occasion -- it just depends on the image and embellishments you use.  I hope you like this and I hope you'll enjoy doing it!  I sure would love to see what you do with this, should you decide to give it a go!!!

If you have any questions, click on my name at the top of this post for a direct link to my blog where you can publish your comment.  I'm always more than happy to help!

Thank you so much for stopping by, I appreciate you taking the time, and I'll see you next month!