How to Use Paper and Paint on Your Wood Elements
Wood Elements are everywhere in our DIY Style creations. They’re the focal points of our designs and lovely accents to our personalized decorations that help us express our style. They provide a sturdy foundation for our crafty creations and home décor. Whether they’re the foundation for our play or building blocks to our designs, we love to include them as we Play-To-Create DIY projects of our own.
There are so many fun ways you can create with these elements, but we just wanted to share some quick ‘How To’ videos with you to encourage you to explore your own DIY Style, which will result in more actively creating in your life. These simple tips and techniques work for the larger pieces like the wood circle and the wood house shapes in our shop, but you can also modify them for other wood elements, like your Snap Frame creations.
Double-Sided Play
As creators ourselves, we’re always looking to get the most out of the raw materials that we create with.
For the Shiplap Circle, Susan likes to keep the laser engraved Shiplap texture visible with a wood stain or a white wash paint layer. She will then use the same wood circle, flip it over, and put paper on the smooth side. Keep in mind that your wood elements are reversible when you are Playing-To-Create with them. You can paint the whole element, including the edges and back, but if you are using both sides for different creations, remember that your sides may be visible depending on how you display it.
How to Paint Your Wood Elements
Our Wood Elements, like the 7” Shiplap Circle, are unfinished, which means that you can completely customize them to your heart’s content. You can leave the wood plain and unfinished if it fits with the style of your project, but you can also paint or add wood stain to make it the right color. The techniques for painting them and any wood element you have are generally the same.
- Use your preference for paint or wood stain and cover the entire surface using a sponge brush.
- You can also cover the edges and back of your wood, but remember that you can use both sides for different creations, so be sure to take that into consideration.
- Whitewashing is where you mix your paint with a little water so that it is thinner and more transparent, making it easier to keep the textures in your wood visible, like the shiplap pattern on our wood circle.
- Whether you’re using a thick paint or a thin whitewash, you might get clumps in the textures and engravings. You can use a pin or a sharp narrow tool to clear the paint from the grooves while it is still wet so that the texture pattern stays visible.
- Wait until the paint is dry to adhere your other elements.
- And to give you a more finished look, try Inking the edges.
How to Put Paper on Your Wood Elements
Paint isn’t the only way to customize your Wood Elements in your style.
Patterned paper is a cute, inexpensive option that will help bring your creations and home décor to a new level. Paper is fun to add to your home décor wood elements because you can use the same paper for multiple projects. That way, different pieces will coordinate, and you can have that same theme and style throughout your home.
In the sample Susan creates in the video, she actually uses a similar paper that she used on her Snap Frame so that her wood circle creation matches. It’s such a simple touch when they are displayed near each other, like on a sideboard table or in a tier tray, but it’s so cute!
So, how do you go about adding paper to your wood elements?
How to Stain Your Wood Elements
Another fun and easy technique is to add wood stain to your projects. It gives your creations a nice look that is sure to stand the test of time and match any style. Here is a quick video that shows how to stain a Snap Frame, but is the same process for any wood elements that you might be creating with.
Your possibilities are endless! Remember, you can use multiple techniques on a single wood design piece since they are reversible. You can do one side with a paint style and paper on the other side, and you end up with two adorable options for your own personal décor or gift creations. It’s cute, simple, versatile, and meaningful. Which is kinda our style here at Kiwi Lane.
And since you have utilized both sides, updating your seasonal décor is as quick as a flip.
Have you used these techniques on a wood element yourself? We’d love to see how it turned out. Share photos of your paint and paper covered creations with us in the Community, especially if these samples, or tips inspired you to create one of your very own. We and other creators in the community would love to celebrate that creation with you, and what you create is sure to inspire others.
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