How to Paint Wooden Keychain Wedding Favors
Difficulty Level: Easy
Color Inspiration: Burgundy red, khaki, and olive green
PROJECT MATERIALS
• Wooden keychains
• Paintbrush
• Alphabet stickers
• Multi-surface painter's tape
• Paper towels (as needed)
• Paint palette
• Bowl for water
• DecoArt Suede Paint (in Burgundy, Khaki, and Olive found at Michaels)
• Parchment paper
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Set out all of your materials and lay down parchment paper to protect your surfaces.
2. For your keychain designs, consider ways to personalize your wedding favors: monograms, color blocks, patterns, wedding dates, solid color, and so forth. Experiment and have fun with it! We recommend keeping it simple so you can repeat your design in potentially large quantities (depending on your guest count) and have the same quality for each one.
PAINTING TIPS:
To get clean lines, use letter stickers and painter's tape to "block" out paint from areas on your keychains. If using letter stickers for a monogram, use tweezers to remove after painting so you don't smudge or scratch the semi-wet paint with your fingers.
3. With your DecoArt suede paint, you will want to use a crosshatching or x-shaped brushstroke to replicate a suede-like appearance on your keychains. You would especially notice this effect on larger surfaces you paint, but this is a best recommended practice for all of DecoArt's suede paint colors.
4. If using on wood products, you have two options: to sand your wood or to not sand. The great news is that you do not have to do any prep work to your surface before using this suede paint if you don't want to! We decided not to sand our keychains in the interest of time and practicality. If your wedding guest count is 100+, save your sanity and go straight to the paint!
5. Lightly shake your DecoArt suede paint jar well and pour a small amount at a time into your palette. With your paintbrush, create your design. You will want to paint in layers to help with your choice of opacity, so allow each layer to dry before additional layers. If time is of the essence, use a hair dryer to help speed up the drying. For our particular keychains, we wanted to let some of the wood color show through for a rustic textured effect, so it was only painted in one coat with touchups in some spots (aka this has excellent coverage!).
FUN FACT: DecoArt's new suede acrylic paint comes in 10 gorgeous rich colors for your own wedding DIY style. There's Midnight Blue, Soft Rose, Burgundy, and many more trendy hues for your special day's theme. Not only useable on wood, you can also paint on terracotta, wicker, canvas, ceramic, and more to personalize your wedding. Creativity is endless, and we are here for it!
6. To help with drying, create a little "hanging" station to allow your keychains to fully cure for 7-10 days. If you don't have a lot of space for drying, let them hang for a couple of hours and be sure they are completely dry to the touch before removing and setting down on any surface.
7. Once you're ready to gift your favors, tie a little ribbon on the key ring or place on your guest's plate. Either way, everyone will appreciate a little practical gift to take home!
VENDOR CREDITS
Photography, Styling, & Tutorial: Chelsea LaVere for Tidewater and Tulle | Suede Craft Paints: DecoArt
Many thanks to DecoArt for partnering with Tidewater and Tulle for this DIY tutorial feature! And while the disclaimer is that we were compensated to write and design this, the words and our loyal love for the DecoArt brand are all our own. Some of the above product links are affiliate-linked and purchasing through these links helps support our wonderful sponsors and Tidewater and Tulle! You can find our full affiliate disclosure policy here on Tidewater and Tulle.
