That's Crafty!: Rusty Upright by Nikki Acton

I have been a little obsessed with painting rust recently! The new PaperArtsy/Seth Apter limited edition paints are just perfect this.

TAG

I began by painting the MDF upright with Mud Splat using a wide brush and vertical brushstrokes. Once dry I did the same with Green Patina ensuring, this time, that I did not completely cover the base colour. I find the less you think about this the better – just go for it – most of it is covered up anyway. Some background stamping was added using one of Lin Brown’s PaperArtsy stamp sets (ELB 29) and a cracks stamp from my stash.

RECTANGLE

I had a small piece of greyboard left from a previous project on my desk that I had painted with DecoArt Crackle Paint. I wasn’t sure if adding more colour would cover the crackles but it didn’t. I added some Terracotta, Mahogany, Mud Splat, Buff and Green Patina to give it a worn look. To give it a rusty appearance around the edges I added Little Black Dress with my finger followed by Mahogany and Smoked Paprika.

RUSTY BORDERS

For the rusty edges to the tag I tore some card and added some DecoArt Texture Sand paste. Once dry I added Little Black Dress. It is then just about building up colour using Mahogany, Terracotta, Smoked Paprika and Black, sometimes dry brushing and other times allowing some watered down colour to pool in the texture. You can see how I do this in this video:

HEART

I followed a similar rusting process on the MDF heart but this time I prepped it with some Grunge Paste – applying unevenly with my finger. Once dry I added the same combination of colours as above.