I’ve mentioned here more than once that I’m not a crafty person. Though one thing I love about the farmhouse aesthetic is that imperfections are “rustic” — well, I can do that!

So, my latest project was to turn these $10 spring-themed wall hangings from Aldi (which are double sided) into something that’s appropriate for year-round display.

Now, I could have just purchased new wall hangings. But these are the perfect size for that particular expanse of kitchen wall. And since they are double-sided, I could totally mess it up and still use the good side! So why not give it a go?

My initial thought was to paint over the design and stencil on a new design. I spent hours browsing stencils online and didn’t find any I liked well enough or were the right size.

Then, it occurred to me that I could decoupage something on it. But what?

I poked around art.com until I found exactly what I didn’t know I wanted: posters depicting vintage seed catalog art. They had a lot of beautiful 19th century seed catalog covers, but I wanted veggies specifically — this is kitchen art, after all. (Seriously, do a search for vintage seed catalog covers. They are incredibly gorgeous!)

I ordered those and got the matte Mod Podge and brayer. I set up a worktable in the basement and got started.

First: painting over the design. The previous owners left a bunch of partial cans of latex paint in the basement, including the beige that was used throughout most of the house. Beige was perfect, and the can was nearly full. I mixed it up, grabbed a foam brush (which is all I had on hand), and got to work. It took two coats to completely cover the design.

As for the frame, I wanted it to be darker, so I didn’t tape it before painting. Whatever paint got on it was going to be stained over anyway. (In hindsight, I should have done that first.) I taped around the edges of the area I painted to protect it from the stain.

Of course the stain bled through the tape. And it looked rather sloppy. This is where I thought the project was going to fail.

So I grabbed sandpaper. I sanded the painted surface to remove/blend in some of the stain. I sanded the frame to give it a more weathered look. I basically wanted it to look old since I was using vintage art. And I took a very small, fine brush that I found in my tote bag of random craft supplies, so I used that to touch up some areas with the beige paint.

I didn’t photograph each step of the process, obviously. But once I was satisfied with the overall look, I cleaned off the dust from all the sanding. I then placed the art carefully in the center (I had to eyeball it mostly, though I measured and I was pretty much spot-on.)

Once I knew where to place the art, I brushed a light coat of Mod Podge on both the base and the back of the poster. I carefully placed the poster and then rolled the brayer over it to help it stick and remove any air bubbles. (Though this step wasn’t necessary since the posters didn’t bubble or crinkle at all — I guess it helped that the paper was thick.)

Several hours later, I added the second coat of Mod Podge, this time brushing it over the top of each poster. A third coat was added before I considered it done.

TA DA!

Rather pleased with how they turned out.