DIY Rustic French Country Art

Hey Sparkle Chicks I’m so excited to bring you this fun wall décor that you can recreate at home. Because of the materials I used I had to do this over two lives (you know to allow drying time). This Fun Craft was heavily inspired with a rustic French country influence, and you know I had to Bling it up!

You can also catch both lives HERE and HERE over on Facebook!

you’ll need:

• Framed flat picture (you can get this at the dollar store, thrift markets, Hobby Lobby/ Michaels)
• Tissue paper sheets
• Mod Podge
• Dark Wax (HERE)
• Blow Dryer or Heat Gun (Get it HERE)
• White Chalk style paint
• Hot Glue (Get it HERE) & Hot Glue Gun
• Clay
• Molds (Get them HERE)
• Wood-U-Bend (HERE)
• Assorted paint (choose your colors and go wild)
• Liquid Gold paint (Get it HERE)
• Metallic paint
• Antique Gold Rub N’ Buff  (Get it HERE)
• Fleur de Leif (This is for tracing you can literally do this craft with any outline you choose! I got this from hobby Lobby)
• Paint Brushes including a chip style brush and a wax brush
• Elmers Wood Glue Max (Get it HERE)
• Bling

Lets start out by taking our Mod Podge and coating the full inside surface of the board. Don’t worry about making it perfect and even, in fact messy totally works well here!

Next we are going to take our tissue paper and scrunch it all up, the more winkles the better! Next gently lay your tissue on top of your Mod Podge base and trim any excess. Do NOT Smooth it out, you want the wrinkles and bumps as this is what gives it that venetian plaster, old world look. Thirdly you will then coat the paper in one more layer of Mod Podge.

Once you have placed your Mod podge, take you hair dryer or Heat Gun (Get it HERE) and go over the whole surface until dry. It should look like a chunky wrinkly mess. (I promise it will look better, lol this is one of those trust the process type things.)

Next take your dark wax (I use this HERE but any will do) and apply to your piece then wipe back with a cloth or paper towel. (Hint: If you find a spot is looking too aged or muddy simply use some clear wax to help “erase” the dark wax)

Take your shape you want to create on the piece and trace it onto your board. (I used a Fleur de Leif). You could do any shape really, let your creativity flow!

Lets dive into our clay accent pieces, you are going to grab your corn starch, your molds (HERE) and your clay. Lightly dust your mold with the corn starch, this helps with the unmolding process and gently press and roll your clay into the mold. make sure to firmly press your clay into the mold to make sure that you get the full imprint. Gently scrape the excess from the back and remove your creation.

For this step you are simply going to get creative! Place your molded creations on the silhouette of your outline until you are satisfied with your results. Once you have placed them in your desired location, glue them down. I used Elmers Wood Glue Max  (Get it HERE) (remember your clay pieces will be soft until the cure)

Get funky with it, I took my hot glue gun (Get the glue HERE) and followed the outline in some places where I felt the look could be more subdued.

After digging through my Wood-U-Bend collection I found this piece here that I cut up and arranged on my piece. Again once you find the perfect placement take your wood glue and secure it down.

Have fun with it, add your pieces to your outline and places you want to have a 3D effect. once you think its perfect let the clay dry and set overnight. (Keep in mind clay can sometimes crack when drying and that’s okay it will only add to the old world feel of this piece anyway)

So it’s been about 24hrs and your clay is now dry, you will take your white chalk style paint again and cover the whole piece 1 to 2 coats as needed, then do a dark wax treatment again. Covering your piece with dark wax and wiping back the excess. It should look something like this.

Take your regular paints and your metallic paints and start filing in the details and blanks, get funky with it. I love using my metallics to highlight the raised areas! Feel free to paint your frame too! I love this Liquid Gold paint (Get it HERE).

We aren’t called sparkle chicks for nothing! Grab that bling friend and sparkle it up! I chose these for my piece and simply hot glued them down. I also took some some Rub-n-Buff and brushed it on the frame and a few of the raised spots for a little more sparkle!

Here it is, how fun was this project, its a little longer than some of my other DIY’s due to the drying time of the clay, but hey it was totally worth it! I had so much fun creating this with you and I would absolutely love to be tagged in your re-creations to see what you made!

Your Sparkly Friend,