DIY Rust Décor

Hi friends – It’s Suzanne and I am happy to be back on the PPP with a recycled craft idea for you today.
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When Rebecca’s dad and I sold our home a while ago, I divested of most of the home décor we had, opting to see what our new place needed and knowing it would give me the chance to craft some new things. 

One of the things I’ve been looking at some local shops and thrift stores is a rusty metal pocket, a little something like this . . .

I haven’t been able to find anything but did receive an Amazon package recently that came in a brown paper envelope instead of the usual plastic.  The color, texture and shape got my wheels turning. 
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First, I cut the top of the envelope even across the top, crumpled it and spread it back out, to give it a little texture.  Then I folded the sealed edges to the back of the envelope and glued them in place.  After that, I folded the opening of the envelope over twice to hide the cut edge and give the pocket a bit of a collar. 

Now it was time to paint.  Using a stiff brush, I brushed on some brown paint, dabbed in some black and then orange to mimic rust.  This wet on wet technique allows all the of paint colors to blend in to each other with no visible lines between them.  I started on the back of the pocket so I could get a feel for how much paint was needed, then moved on to the front.  After completely painting the pocket, I came back over with more orange paint, blending in it to the still wet paint until I got the look of rust I liked.

​Once the paint was dry, the pocket was still a little too brown and not really rusty looking enough for me, so I moved on to another “how to mimic rust” technique – some more paint and cinnamon.  I dabbed on some appropriately named “Rusty Red” paint, mixed in a tiny bit of brown, and when the paint was still wet, sprinkled cinnamon over the whole thing.  Now I was getting somewhere!  

The texture of the cinnamon really mimics the uneven texture of rust (and smelled delicious).  After the whole thing was covered, I tapped off the excess cinnamon and let the pocket dry for about 15 minutes.
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I wanted to seal the cinnamon in place, so I used some satin varnish over the cinnamon.  

​Once the varnish was a bit dry, I used a heat tool in a couple of spots to bubble the varnish and add to the rusty patina.

​I added a fair amount of hot glue into each edge and pushed in a length of rusty wire as a hanger.  

​Since the many coats of wet paint and varnish left the pocket a little soft, I cut a piece of cardboard (also recycled from another delivery box) and slid that inside the pocket.  

​I pushed the edges of the pocket into the cardboard liner, sandwiching the wire between the liner and the inside of the pocket.  This made the front and back gap just a little.  To make the back lie flat, I folded and hot glued a little pleat into the pocket.  I left the front with its gap.

Note:  I only cinnamon’d the front of the pocket – the back just got a quick coat of the original black/brown/orange combo.
I added a vintage lace trim bow and some eucalyptus branches, and this project was ready to hang on our door!

Rebecca here: Thank you to my mother for this clever, upcycle craft idea! What do you guys think? Let us know in the comments below!

 - Rebecca

P.S. Today's photo on the home page is from Pexels user Pixabay: www.pexels.com/photo/access-antique-bolt-close-277574/