Create the Look of Vintage Leather

This idea was a total experiment and it developed as I worked on it.  It all began with a recycled paper bubble mailer and some cinnamon! 

The first step involved painting the paper mailer. 

As you're reading, please visit the bold blue links to find out more information or the products I used for this project.

I'd love to tell you the name of the paint but the paint I had was leftover from a kit I bought at one time and it had no name on the bottle.

It is a light brown craft paint with a splash of orange in it. 

I painted the bag front and back, let it dry, then gave the bag a second coat. 

When the bag dried I stenciled the word FAMILY on the front of the bag. 

I'm trying these new Folk Art stencil screens from Michaels.

Michaels has so many different designs and sayings and they sell the stencil paste in sets too! 

You just squeegee it on and you're done! 

The silk screen stencils are not very expensive and I love the silk screen technique that's all the rage right now. 

For the next step I painted all around the word FAMILY with Mod Podge. 

While the Mod Podge was still wet, I sprinkled the whole mailer bag with cinnamon. 

Then I poured more Mod Podge over the top of the cinnamon and rubbed it in. 

I then let the bag dry. 

As I went along I added a leaf design with a stencil I had in my workshop.

When the Mod Podge was completely dry I coated the bag with Fusion Mineral Paint's Tough Coat. 

You could also coat the bag with a gloss Mod Podge as a final sealer. 

Next, I punched 2 little grommets in the top of the bag for a rebar wire hanger. 

I rounded off the bottom corners of the bag and roughed up a few edges to look like old leather. 

I tied on a messy bow and my experiment was finished! 

I created the look of an old leather pouch and filled it with faux lavender sprigs. 

I'm already thinking of where else you could use this technique... how about a leather finish on furniture? 

If you didn't see the recycled plastic mailer for flowers I made recently check it out before you go! 

You can visit several other DIY flower pockets here. 

Thanks so much for visiting and before you go please sign up for the Homeroad emails so I can send my next DIY tutorial straight to you!