Decorated File Folders - A Beginner's Approach

When MMSA opened a Group File Folders Swap, I decided to try it.  This was my first attempt to alter a file folder.  I gathered acrylic tube paints, papers, sponge brushes, matte medium gel, and gesso.  Then I put on my lucky Aloha Hawaiian painting shirt, although I hope to never get any paint on it.

Opening up the heavy, colored file folders, I applied a layer of white gesso to the outsides to cover their original colors.  Next, I tore into wedges old book pages, hand-made papers with flower petals, and tissue papers.  When the gesso was dry, I coated each piece of paper with medium matte gel and arranged it on the file foldesr, covering with matte medium gel once situated.

Mixing blue, teal and golden yellow acrylic paint with an open paper clip on a can lid, I came up with what I thought was an acceptable background green.  (It came out rather dark...)

This I applied with a sponge brush over the papers, when I discovered two things:  One, I was covering up the print and petals which I sort of wanted to see, and Two, I was wasting paint because my next step was to remove some of the paint by scrubbing with paper towels.  OK, to make the paint go further, I used the paint on the scrunched-up paper towels.  I also sprayed water lightly on the file folder surfaces, on the paint tray, and on the sponge applicator to thin the paint.  Hint:  to hurry up the drying times, I used a hair  blow dryer set on LOW in between steps.

With yellow paint, I sponged on accent color in a random fashion. I pressed punchinella (sequin waste) into rose pink acrylic paint, then pressed it onto the painted background.

 I used a rubber stamp alphabet set to spell out "FLOWERS" and "FLEURS" on white tissue paper.  I had thought the tissue paper would become sheer when I covered it with Mod Podge, but that didn't happen.  (I should have first dabbed the tissue paper with green ink or used colored tissue paper.)  I used the Mod Podge or matte gel medium to coat and apply scraps of pink and orange tissue paper pieces for accents.  The last big step was collaging large flower images taken from a calendar.  An overall coating of matte medium gel or Mod Podge would be a good idea.

 Here are some pictures of the open and closed folders.  I rubber stamped some leaves with gold ink, applied a few collage words, stitched an address label on each one, big-stitched the sides of the file folders closed (for sending through the mail), and taped the tops shut.

All in all, it was messy fun and gave me ideas to do some things differently if I attempt this again.