DIY Fall Decor with IOD & Rethunk Junk Paint

Not every bit of DIY crafts have to be about the BIG holidays. What about Fall y’all? I love it - the crispness in the air, the coziness of fall colors. I decided to create some Fall wall decor to rotate in before the Big holiday decorations are rolled out!

No time to read now? Pin this for later.

This is a short video I’ve edited from a recent Coffee + Create. Have you joined in for one of our Tuesday morning craft projects via Facebook Live? This is the next best thing - and you can pause and play as you follow along, creating your own Fall decorations. And not to worry - if you like to read your instructions, and grab the full list of supplies, scroll on down and dive right in!

Get the complete Kit!

IOD Wood Gallery Blank - 8x10

IOD Floral Anthology Transfer

IOD Painterly Floral Transfer

IOD Entomology Transfer

IOD Decor Stamp - Farmhand Typography

IOD Decor Ink - Tumeric

IOD Brayer

IOD Thin Mount - 2

Rethunk Junk Paint - Hazelnut

Rethunk Junk Paint - Sunset

Spray bottle filled with water

Paintbrush

Soft, clean cloth

Small plastic cup or container (for mixing paint with water)

Scissors

Cover the entire wood blank with a coat of Rethunk Junk Paint by Laura in Hazelnut. It doesn’t need to be complete coverage, but enough to create a solid background in this warm and yummy color.

While this coat of paint is drying, grab the IOD Transfers you want to add and pick out the florals and/or entomology (bugs and frogs!) pieces you want to add to your sign. HINT: you’ll be stamping letters on the top two-thirds of the sign, so pick floral/bug transfer pieces that are the right size and scope to “grow” out of the bottom of the sign.

I pulled my pieces from the IOD Floral Anthology Transfer and looked for the right size in some yummy fall colors. I chose some florals in a deep purple, a daisy, and some fall yellows - and threw in some fall leaves. Once I knew which ones I wanted to use, I cut them out and began to play with the placement.

Now that you’ve laid out your transfer pieces, grab the rub-on applicator, that comes with the transfers, and begin applying them to the bottom of the sign. Continue this until all the transfers are on the sign.

As you finish rubbing on each transfer piece, take the plastic sheet it was on and use it to burnish the transfer so that it’s completely adhered to the surface.

Now I’m adding orange to my sign - but I want the colors of the transfer florals to come through as well. So - I’m using the paint resist technique. The main ingredient is a mixture of paint to water with a 2:3 ratio, but you can flip it and create a glaze that’s more paint than water (so 3:2.)

I started out with a more watered-down version to control the layering of the paint and to build the color gradually. To do this - take the plastic cup and the water spray bottle. Pour a bit of the Rethunk Junk Paint in Sunset into it and begin to spray the water in to thin down the paint. Stir with your paintbrush.

Now begin applying the Sunset across the surface of the board with the paintbrush, including over the top of your transfers. Next, grab the soft clean cloth and spritz water on it, but don’t saturate it. The transfers will lift if they absorb too much water, so this is a fine line to walk. 

Start to blot back the Sunset, lifting it off where you place the cloth, leaving some to blend in other places on the sign surface. I repeated this process three or four times, and I made one adjustment. I let the paint get a little tacky before I blotted it back, and that allowed more of the Sunset to remain on the surface. 

I wanted to tinge the transfers with the orangey Sunset. And I wanted to create some spots where the orange showed through on its own, like at the edges of the sign.

Sounds like we’re talking candy or baking here - but I mean blending in the Rethunk Junk Paint in Hazelnut. Start by taking a clean paintbrush and getting it damp. Then dip into the Hazelnut paint and scrape off most of the paint from the brush. 

Now place the brush at the top of the sign and drag it down about 2 inches on the board. Repeat this across a small area. Then, spritz a bit of water just under the paint and use your fingertips to smooth the paint down and blend it into the background. Continue this process until you have a blended look, with the combination of the Hazelnut and the Sunset, that you love.

Now set the board aside to dry thoroughly.

This last step is not shown in the video. Take the IOD Farmhand Stamp and remove the letters to spell out Hello Fall. Take one of the IOD Thin Mount sheets and begin to lay out the letters and sticking them to the thin mount as you want them to look on your sign.

Since there are double letters in the phrase (4 L’s), you’ll leave a space where the extra letters go. Don’t worry, we’ll add those in soon!

Now, add the IOD Tumeric Ink to one of the IOD Thin Mount sheets. Grab your brayer and roll it into the ink, making sure it’s fully loaded. Then take the brayer and roll it across the letters on the Thin Mount. 

Get ready to stamp! Take the Thin Mount and hover it above the surface to line up the letters and make sure they’re going in the right place before you commit and place them. Hold the Thin Mount down with one hand while firmly pressing with your other fingertips across all the letters. Then lift straight off.

Now you can place the extra L’s, one at a time, onto the Thin Mount in the correct position. Roll the brayer into the ink and then across the letter, hover the Thin Mount, and repeat the process of pressing firmly and holding the stamp in place with one hand.

Continue this process until all the letters are added to your Hello Fall sign. Let the ink and the paint thoroughly dry!

If you used the IOD Wood Gallery Blank for your surface, the backside is recessed and that makes it easy to hang! The project you see in my picture was created on a Dollar Store black sign that came with pre-punched holes and a string that was knotted into them. 

I removed the string to create the project - then reattached and hung up my Fall Wall Art - and it’s perfect!