Saturday 28 December 2013

Family heirlooms - hanging frame

I'm taking a day out from seasonal makes and doing something quite different today....

This is a hanging frame which is so adaptable to make that anyone can make it from what they have in their cupboards. It is simple, quick, effective and makes a lovely little gift too!


You can use any of your Grand Nesties for this or, if you don't have any, just cut two squares, ovals or rectangles out of card - the smaller has to be marginally larger than the frame you use. (Cut the larger (base) out of plain card and the smaller from a patterned or script card of contrasting colours to the embossing powders you're going to use.) Next choose your frame shape and cut that out - this one is a Thinlits design, Ornate oval frame by Jen Long-Philipsen at just £9.99!

Choose two Distressed embossing powders to use, one light and one darker (I used Antique linen and Weathered wood). Apply embossing ink to the larger card shape then sprinkle the light powder in patches here and there over it. Don't use too much because you can't remove the excess because the whole card base is inked. Next, fill in the gaps with the darker embossing powder - again, using sparingly. You can always add more later but you can't remove it. Ink and cover the frame with the darker embossing powder. Heat the base and frame and you can add more of the lighter powder to the base at this stage if you want to.

To get the shabby molten gold look around the edges use pva glue to the edges and cover with gold UTEE (a regular gold embossing powder is fine and if you're making a gift for Christmas or a wedding you might want to use a sparkling powder) then heat. You will see the glue bubbles as it gets hot so make sure that you keep fingers well away from the part you're heating.


Place your photo' behind the frame and layer up:


You can add flowers, cogs and gears, or any other type of decoration you like to add interest to the frame. As you can see I used flowers tied with American seam binding which I also glued to the back to make the hanger.

I hope this gives you some ideas for hanging photo frames and they make lovely gifts for grandchildren to their grandparents.

Enjoy your holiday break and thanks for stopping by,

Chris xxx


2 comments:

  1. I luv this frame. It would be great for a pic of my dad, since he passed away this year. Your comment bar is hiding the supply list from half of the gold utee to the top of the flowers. Just thought u might want to know or maybe u do. I don't see any other comments that is sad because this is a awesome project. Hello from Mayfield KY. USA

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  2. What a lovely way to frame a special photograph - fab!
    Alison x

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