Today’s post is an easy one! Ruler Crafts: How to make colorful stained rulers. These colorful rulers look great as an instant collection, or you can use them in many different DIYs and crafts!

Ruler crafts may seem to be popular at the start of every school year for teacher gifts, but you might be surprised at how many beautiful DIYs there are using painted and stained rulers.

My original idea was to stain these rulers so I could have an easy way to see, at a glance, the different colors of FolkArt Pickling Wash in my craft room.

I quickly realized the extra benefit of these colorful rulers looking quite decorative grouped together!

I’ve got a Ruler Crafts Pinterest Board that I created to inspire you. The link is further down in this post.

FTC Disclaimer: I’ve received products/compensation as part of being a Plaid Ambassador. These rulers, however, are 100% my own project! Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. I explain more here.

Ruler Crafts: How to make colorful stained rulers

Supplies:

• Unfinished wood rulers
• FolkArt Pickling Wash
• Lint-free cloth or old t-shirt
• Small paintbrush

Unfinished wood rulers are pretty easy to find, and they’re even sold in bulk in some places.

I purchased mine at Michaels, but you can also find all kinds of wood rulers on Amazon here.

Using Pickling Wash

Painting or staining (whichever word you prefer) wood with FolkArt Pickling Wash is easy to do.

In fact, there’s even a quick 46-second video you can watch on Amazon here!

Step One: First, use a paintbrush to apply the pickling wash to a small section at a time — for example the back of one ruler.

Step Two: Next, immediately wipe off the pickling wash with a soft cloth, preferably a lint-free rag or old t-shirt.

What will be left is a beautifully aged-looking, weathered finish.

If you want more color, you can repeat the process.

Let dry.

And that’s it!

Ruler Crafts and DIYs

There are many ruler crafts on Pinterest, so I made a Pinterest Board filled with the best ones!

Click here to see it:  Ruler Crafts on Pinterest

(There are some furniture pieces where rulers were added that are gorgeous to see, so do click over!)

I’ve used pickling wash on other projects as well, like these weathered fairy garden beach chairs, this kitchen art idea, and on this wedding/anniversary date rustic sign.

I hope you’ll check them out for more inspiration.

Happy crafting!

~Laura