Hi everyone, today I'm on the Lindy's Stamp Gang blog and I'm showing how you can transform a boring frame into your own fun art work piece! I choose for a mirror frame but you can also use the same techniques for a picture frame.
I started with a mirror from the dollar store (for those who live in Europe, I bought this mirror at Action a while ago). The size is 27 x 37 centimetres. I looked for a frame where I could take the mirror piece out while I worked on the project, that made things a lot easier (while crafting but also when taking the pictures).
Step 1:
The first thing I always do with these kind of projects is to make sure that the frame is clean (no dust or stickers), then I applied two layers of white gesso (the material this particular frame was made of absorbed lots of paint and I also wanted to make sure that the green colour was completely covered).
When dry I applied white crackle texture paste in some area’s, and the sides of the frame, using a palette knife and let it dry over night (this way I achieve the best crackles).
Step 2:
Now I’m going to build my composition: I first started with puzzle pieces in two different sizes and then layered metal embellishments, fabric flowers and chipboards from my stash on top. I adhered everything with gel medium using a brush (wash your brush afterwards).
Step 3:
This is not a very exciting step: just paint all the added elements white using gesso. I needed about two layers, maybe three on the puzzle pieces. This is the primer for my colours to adhere to.
Step 4:
Now the fun starts! Adding colour to the project: I designed this decorated mirror frame for the downstairs toilet of our house. I have this heavenly smelling purple coloured lavender soap and nice walnut brown towels so I choose purple and brown to work with in today’s project.
I choose Lindy’s Stamp Gang Sprays in “French Lilac Violet“ and “Cattail Copper Brown“ combined with Lindy’s Stamp Gang Magical in “Witch’s Potion Purple“ and Lindy’s Magical Shaker in “Bratwurst Brown“.
I started with “French Lilac Violet“, applying the colour with a brush to the project, spraying with water when I wanted to make the colour run, drying with my heat tool when I was happy with the result. This way I added colour to the flowers and branches and some parts of the frame.
For a little bit more depth I then decided to add “Witch’s Potion Purple“, applying the powder with a fan brush to my project and spraying with water, drying with my heat tool. This purple colour has an awesome blueish shimmer.
Then I started to add brown, using the “Bratwurst Brown“ colour to the puzzle pieces, in between the purple elements and around the frame, but making sure that I left some area’s white, for contrast, this will give your project a more balanced feel!
And because this brown colour creates a nice base but I wanted a bit more shimmer I decided on adding “Cattail Copper Brown”, applied with a brush. I totally love the copper shimmer in this colour, it looks awesome on the puzzle pieces.
Most of the mentioned colours are added in more then one layer to create the effect that I was looking for. Just work on your project until you’re happy! And also don’t forget the sides of the frame!
Because of all the water spraying my purple colours had faded a little so now I’m working backwards, adding some “Bratwurst Brown“, to deepen some of the brown area’s. Then adding back in both of the purple colours to darken the flowers and the branches.
Step 5:
You might have noticed that the flowers don’t have any hearts yet! For this I used some Pretty Pink Posh “Clear Droplets“ in two sizes. I painted them with white gesso, sprayed with some of the “Cattail Copper Brown“ colour and then let them dry.
When dry I temporarily stuck them on some double sized tape, added some VersaMarker on them (this pen contains clear sticky ink) and then I added Lindy’s Stamp Gang Embossing Powder in three colours: “Cleopatra’s Copper“, “Desert Moon Turquoise“ and “Polka Purple“.
I started with two layers of the “Cleopatra’s Copper“ colour (when you work fast you don’t have to reapply VersaMarker in between layers, the second layer will adhere to the still hot first layer), then added a little of the “Desert Moon Turquoise“ colour to tone the copper colour down a bit and then I added a tiny little bit of the “Polka Purple“ colour for added interest. When I felt the purple was too heavy (you can’t always control how much of the embossing powder is added) I finished with a layer of the copper colour. Then I let them cool down.
Next I wanted to add more accents to the rest of my project using the mentioned embossing powders:
- on the purple flowers I added first the purple and then the turquoise embossing powder, making the area’s sticky first with a Clear Emboss It Dabber (it’s sticky ink in a dabber applicator);
- I also added first the purple colour and then to the top half of the chipboard text the turquoise embossing powder;
- on the purple branches and the copper pen shape elements I added the copper embossing powder, the results look different because the base colour underneath is different on both area’s;
- and finally on the Roman numbers I added only the purple embossing powder.
Then I peeled of the hearts for the flowers from the double sided tape and adhered them to my project, you can use Glossy Accents or gel medium for this.
Step 6:
And then for my finishing touches I choose to ad some splatters with watered down white gesso, then I added some small copper coloured pearls and matching purple coloured sequins and adhered them with Glossy Accents to my project.
When everything was dry I spray varnished my project, let it dry and then placed back the mirror piece!
Some detail pictures:
And some final pictures where the mirror is hanging on the wall (these last pictures don’t really do the project justice (lacking natural light in the toilet room), but then again you have an impression of what the hanging project looks like):
That’s it for today’s fun home decor project! I wish you a creative day!
#LSGFrenchLilacViolet #LSGCattailCopperBrown #LSGWitchsPotionPurple #LSGBratwurstBrown #Alteredframe #LSGCleopatrasCopper #LSGDesertMoonTurquoise #LSGPolkaPurple
