Rustic Home Decor - Wooden Rooster with DIY Tips

Rustic Home Decor - Wooden Rooster with DIY Tips

Time to set aside the Christmas decor for another year and refocus on all-season items.  I gussied up this wooden rooster and gave it a new look - bold, rustic and quite the handsome fella on my tabletop. 

This is what the wooden rooster looked like before he was transformed.  It's got a chalkboard painted base but it reallys needs some additional love.  I have some gorgeous rich papers from Prima's Stationers Desk collection combined with Petaloo flowers to help with the gussying (gussying - not sure it's a real word but it's my new favorite verb).  

Decorating Wood With Paper 

I prefer to use some type of medium other than glue to adhere paper to most of my wood pieces that I decorate.  The reason for this is to provide some durability  and prevent the paper edges from bending, warping and peeling. 

For this particular project,  

I chose Mod Podge because that's what I had available.

You can make your own inexpensive finish by mixing white school glue and a bit of water and painting onto the project.  You can also use a clear, matte gel medium.  The key to using these mediums as sealants and protective coatings is to make sure your edges are completely coated and adhered. 

It's important to add the Mod Podge (or your choice of medium) to both the wood and the backside of the paper.  Once the paper is down, you'll need to smooth out all air bubbles with your fingers, brayer or such like that.  Once satisfied, add a final layer of Mod Podge over the paper paying special attention to the edges making sure they are all secure.  

Creating Custom Embellishments

For this project, I decided to also add some custom flowers created just for this fella.  This was done easily enough by combining two Petaloo flowers and topping with a button.  

The flowers I used were Petaloo Petaloo Textured Elements Blossoms in black and Petaloo Sugared Mini's in Burgundy .

Handy Tip when using buttons as embellishments...use a needle nose pliers to snap off the button shank.  If you do this one little stop, your button will rest flat atop your project.  

Once the button is ready, I layered the flowers as shown in the photo below. 

And this is what the finished custom flower looks like when added to the rooster.  

Now it's time to finish adding the embellishments and adore your new table piece.  I added more Petaloo flowers to the base of the rooster and also his gobbling neck.  

Here's one last photo to show how dimensional this piece is.  

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you find a few moments in your day to craft and create.  

Petaloo Products:
Petaloo Textured Mix - Mini Blossoms Black 1263209
Petaloo Textured Elements Blossoms - Black 1256209
Petaloo Sugared Mini - Burgundy RAS 11311206
Petaloo Forgetmenots - Antique Red 1837-050
Petaloo Darjeeling Dahlias - Red 1467101R

Other Products:
Prima Stationer's Desk paper 813949
Wooden Chalkboard Rooster - Michaels Celebrate -It
Black pearl flourish