Thursday, September 10, 2009

How to turn an old urn...into an old urn

One of my treasures when I hit junk paydirt
was this cute metal urn that I got for $4.
 As you can see, it was this weird green color with spots of rust.
I love rust. It makes my heart go pitter patter.
But the green paint made my stomach do something else.
So I decided to paint her.
She was pretty but she didn't have much character.
Besides, who wants to be around a girl that's all fluff ?
I decided this girl needed some grit.
I  went to some of my most trusted allies to give her a makeover.
Meet raw umber and burnt umber paint.
DIRT cheap!! Great mileage!!!
(I feel like I'm trying to sell a used car.)
I use these two paints to add a little age and give the illusion of worn places on my work.
I simply painted it on, let it sit for like 5 seconds
(I get freaked out if I wait  any longer...afraid it might get stuck like that.)
 Then I take my trust dusty soft rag and start to wipe it off leaving some in the crevices.
My new BFF (sorry spray paint) is Distress Ink.
LADIES!!!!!!!!
This stuff is DA BOMB!!!!
I don't know who Jim Holtz is or how he came up with this stuff but it is F.A.B.U!!!!!
It's in the stamping aisle at your craft store and is for paper but
paper...schmaper....
This stuff comes in ALL KINDS of finishes like old paper, vintage photo, etc.
It gives an aging like no other.
I dab the inkpad with a paper towel and then dab my urn.
I keep dabbing until I'm satisfied with the look.
Then I wipe off the excess with my soft rag.
I slightly dampened my rag for the ink to give it a softer look.
Just repeat the process between the paint and the ink until you have......
Something like this!!!!!
TA-DAH!!!!
She looks nice and rusted and patina-ed (is that a word?)
without the icky green paint.
Now all she needs are some dried hydrangeas. (hint...hint...) (talking trash?)
She will hopefully have a spot by my back door soon.
Just waiting on those hydrangeas.......

PSSSST! 

14 comments:

  1. That really is a great makeover! I love distressing ink too! Perfect!

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  2. What an improvement! It's convincingly "old".

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  3. I agree...the urn has lots more character now! Tim Holtz is da bomb in the altered arts/scrapbooking world. His products are awesome. :)

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  4. Me like it!!(a lot) You know I have 3 urns that need some love like that, 2 are white and one is gray. I will definitely be buying that ink stuff you are madly in love with. Thanks for the idea, as always you are an inspiration. Happy Friday!

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  5. Well fabulous! Raw umber is definitely in my arsenal as well!! Enjoy your weekend!

    :) T

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  6. You did a great job on the transformation of your urn. It was aged to perfection!! Hope you find your hydrangeas.

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  7. Oh WOW, this is a great post & you have the most gorgeous site here. I had to stop by to leave this comment for you – and to say hello of course ! Your posts are creative and original and you have interesting pictures. It's all perfect ! Thank you for sharing your site and best wishes....

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  8. That looks fabulous!

    And I love distress ink, too. Its great stuff!

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  9. huge improvement over that yuck green!!

    stop by my Goodwill party every Wednesday and link up your thrifty finds!!

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  10. Ooo, I like that new finish on the urn. Very nice.
    Midge

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  11. Wow, so much better! I love Tim Holtz products...he's a great guy IRL too.

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  12. I have never used distressing ink but it sounds great and your urn looks terrific!

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