Flowers and frames: update an ‘ugly’ frame
Saturday we had a bunch of “To-do’s” on our list. Besides picking up a workbench for my fiancé to make our wedding rings (I will write about this after the holidays), we stopped by the local craft store so I could pick up some items for future crafts. I also picked up silk flowers for the vase I made for the first Creative Crafter article. I bought a Chrysanthemum, something that looks like Amaranth, something else that looks like it has tiny baby persimmons on the branches, and a flower that looks similar to a Bleeding Heart. I chose fall colors to compliment the leaves and twine.
I cut a piece of florist foam to fit inside the vase and carefully applied pressure to make it snug at the bottom. The stems of the flowers were too long so I trimmed them to the length I wanted and made sure to save the trimmings as I can possibly use these for another project.
Purposely, I placed the Amaranth and persimmon branch in the background to give the piece height. The Chrysanthemum is the star of the show and was placed in the center of the vase. The bleeding hearts, I placed on the left side of the Chrysanthemum to simply make it more interesting. As a whole, I feel it turned out very nice and enjoy looking at them on a daily basis in the office.
Once I was finished with my flower arrangement I started working on this week’s actual craft; a picture frame. I honestly can’t remember where this frame came from but it’s been toted around in my crafting supplies for the longest time and I finally decided to do something with it. It was an ugly gold frame with a cheesy plastic inset. I never thought I would be able to do anything with it but tissue paper proved me wrong.
I had some random tissue paper from when I bought hair products from my salon, which was black, and I thought would cover the gold well enough. I applied Mod Podge to the frame and then placed small ripped squares of tissue paper over the glue. Regular glue or glue stick would also work. Working my way around the frame, I covered every inch of the tacky gold color.
My fiancé looked over and asked what I was making and I told him with a laugh, “I’m not quite sure yet. All I know is that I’m turning this frame into something I actually want to look at.” After the frame was covered, I grabbed my purple acrylic paint and painted the gold plastic inset. Once that was dry I again got out the Mod Podge and coated the inset. Then I sprinkled purple glitter over the glue coating. The reason I painted the inset before I put glitter on it was in case I missed a spot and purple would be a lot less noticeable than gold. I pretty much deem this project as being done. The matte finish that the tissue paper gave it contrasting with the purple glitter makes it look amazing.
If I had something special in mind for what would be inside the frame, I could embellish it a little more. For example, if I knew someone that was nominated for our <strong><a href="https://americanpress.com/top-pick/" target="_blank">Top Pick</a></strong> prep awards and they went to LaGrange, I could embellish the frame with an alligator and it would make a nice gift for them. Or I could add some green to the frame for more of a Mardi Gras feel. The great thing is, you could use any color tissue paper and any color glitter to make the frame very personable. Hope you got a good idea from this craft to use on an old frame you may have lying around the house that needs a facelift. Happy Crafting!!
<hr /><p class="p2"><em><strong>Creative Crafting with Kim</strong> prints on Saturdays. If you would like to advertise your crafting business or sell leftover crafting supplies call the American Press Classified department at 337-494-4000 or email <a href="mailto:djean@americanpress.com">djean@americanpress.com</a>. Deadline to place a display ad is Wednesday at 4pm and line ad deadline is Friday at 4pm. Feedback about this article can be sent to <a href="mailto:kwright@americanpress.com">kwright@americanpress.com</a>.</em>