I know I’ve said it a million times on here before, but I’m gonna say it again – I LOVE making simple updates to my decor with inexpensive items and supplies.  A few years ago I made a set of chalkboard wall hooks for my front entryway (you can see that post with its embarrassing photography here – wait until you see how much my skills have improved!).  I got tired of the chalkboard look, however, and needed to give it a new look.  I wanted to add French enamel house numbers, but at over $20 a piece, that was too pricey.  So I got to work and made my own Faux French Enamel Number Tags that look pretty close to the real thing!  

Supplies Needed for Faux French Enamel Number Tags

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• Oval wood cutouts
• Acrylic paint (white, black, brown, orange)
• Vinyl number stickers OR number stencils and black paint
• Mod Podge (glossy finish)
• Dark brown wax
• Paintbrushes
• Stencil brush
• Drill
• Material to hang or affix your French enamel number tags (I used decorative furniture nails to fasten mine to the wall hooks)

How to Make Faux French Enamel Number Tags

Start by painting the oval wood cutouts white.  Regular acrylic paint does the trick for this step.

Once dry, place your number stickers onto the ovals or stencil your numbers onto them.  I cut out numbers with my Silhouette Portrait but you absolutely do not need a vinyl cutting machine for this project!  Regular black number stickers or stencils and paint will work perfectly!  

Once all of the numbers are in place and/or dry, cover everything with a coat of Mod Podge in glossy finish.  This is meant to give the ovals a glossy look like enamel.  You don’t want them to be dull or they will look less realistic.  

After they’ve dried, apply brown wax in strategic areas (like around the outside edges of the ovals), to help give the faux enamel number tags an aged look (you can see it on No. 47 in the below photo).  I used this type of brown wax, which is what I use on furniture projects and had available. If you don’t use brown wax regularly, buy a less expensive brand of wax like this!  

The brown wax will dry quickly, and then you can add some faux rust to the enamel tags with paint!  I got a little carried away with my “rust” and wish I wouldn’t have put so much on.  I’d recommend applying the paint very sparingly and in small areas to see how you like the look.  You can always add more, but you can’t always take it away!  All you do is dab a thick coat of black paint with a stencil brush, then a thick coat of brown paint over that, and then a little (but thick) dab of orange paint to create a bumpy rust look!  

After all of that, you’re ready to drill holes in the Faux French Enamel Number Tags and use them!  

You can fasten them to wood like I did, tie them to baskets with twine, use them as house numbers – whatever!  

There are so many uses for them, but I do love them on my entryway hooks!  And I love that they cost hardly anything to make.  

How would you use Faux French Enamel Number Tags in your decor?

-Bre

A couple of years ago my husband and I magically had a babysitter on a Saturday afternoon and we ended up at Goodwill.  For the life of me, I cannot remember why!  That is such a strange place to find yourself on a “date,” though, so there must have been a reason!  Anyway, on that day I picked up these mini Jello molds because I thought they were cute and a bargain at .50 a piece.  A totally random find on a totally random date.

At the time, I didn’t know they were Jello molds – I thought they were mini baking pans.  Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago when I found these little guys in my project stash, and some valuable internet detective work revealed that these are, in fact, Jello molds.  I knew that these Jello molds and some adorable faux succulents I got at Dollar Tree were a match made in Heaven.  And that, my friends, is how I came up with this Upcycled Mini Jello Mold Planter Tray.

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I started by staining a scrap wood board with my favorite stain cloths.  I love these because they’re very low odor so I can stain indoors!

After the stain dried (really quickly, I might add!), I gave the wood a once-over with my new favorite find, Liming Wax.  This gave the wood a beautiful gray finish!  

After that dried, I hot glued my mini Jello molds onto the board.  I used my super hot cordless glue gun, which definitely attached these Jello molds with no problem.  If you don’t have a high-heat glue gun yet – get one!  Life-changing.  

At this point (the wrong point), I decided the board was a little too plain.  So I headed downstairs to the basement to stain and cut some “craft wood” (that’s what the tag said on the back of it!), to serve as trim around the edge of the board.  Now if there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s measuring poorly.  So needless to say, my measurements were off and the wood did not meet perfectly at the edges.  Oh well.  I used my nail gun to attach the pieces and pretended like it looked OK.  (You could use wood glue if you don’t have a nail gun.)  

Then I attached some corner braces on the outer edges to add some more metal like the the Jello molds.  This was purely decorative!  Because my cuts were so bad on these trim pieces, I couldn’t even put screws in on some of the corner braces!  Yikes.

After that, I popped some floral gems and faux succulents from Dollar Tree into the mini Jello molds to finish things off.  

I bet the person who used to make Jello in these tiny molds never imagined someone would use them as planters!  

In the summer I plan to take the floral gems and succulents out, and replace them with votive candles.  I think this will make a perfect centerpiece for my outdoor coffee table!  

For now I think this will work underneath the TV in my basement living room.

If you found mini Jello molds at a thrift store, what would you do with them?  Think about that and pin this post to help others find this idea!  🙂  -Bre

You Might Like This Upcycle Project, Too!  {Changing Table Upcycle}