Painted Picture Frame Tutorial

 My mother-in-law is a very special person. And I'm not just saying that because she and my husband both chipped in to buy me my Silhouette for Christmas. She is the type of person that lives life to the fullest. She has unlimited energy when it comes to playing with her grand kids, she cares deeply about everyone she knows, and she's always been an excellent mother-in-law. I occasionally gripe at her for bringing over too many toys for the kids (she is exceptionally fond of the ones that have 40 tiny little parts), but I think she knows I love her :)

On top of all that, she is a teacher. A Special Education teacher, in fact. I knew when she gave me the machine that I wanted one of my first Silhouette projects to be for her classroom.

Every year she takes her class to the Special Olympics and usually she takes a picture of them all together. I thought a personalized picture frame might be a good way for her to display it!

To make this, you will need:

- a wooden board, mine was roughly 10" x 13", from the craft store

-Paint (I used a little bottle of acrylic)

-Cardstock

-felt

-ribbon

-glue gun

-Popsicle stick

-clothespin

First, paint your board.

While you're at it, paint your clothespin and Popsicle stick. Ignore that little wood nub there, it was an abandoned idea. Let's just pretend it's a Popsicle stick, kay?

My paint choice:

While that dries, fire up your Silhouette software, or whatever you plan on using to cut your letters.

Print. Or cut. Or whatever.

Place them on your newly dried board (that acrylic dries FAST!) and Mod Podge them on. Puh-lease do not make the same mistake as me and use a dirty brush. Now her board has a light dusting of glitter. Ick.

Cut out felt shapes using this template, courtesy of Tatertots & Jello. I like to cut 7 flower shapes, plus one 1 x 1 inch square for backing.

Take a flower, dab a little hot glue in the center (yes, I am totally doing this on a framed painting. My craft table is a little cluttered at the moment).

Fold in half:

Dab another drop of glue:

Fold in half again. Repeat for all your flower shapes:

Next, take your backing square and glue down 4 of your folded flowers. Here's mine with 3 of the 4 glued down:

And here it is with all four. Add a large dab of glue to the center:

Pinch together the ends of your remaining 3 "petals" and stick it on the glue dallop. Voila! Flower is done:

Glue your Popsicle stick to the top of your frame on the back (I painted mine black first--well, halfway). Then hot glue the flower on the front of it:

You're almost done! Mine looked a little too clean. So I roughed up the edges a bit with some sandpaper. Then I mixed a little of the black acrylic paint with water and brushed over the letters. It gives it a more distressed look:

Add a little ribbon for a hanger (I hot-glued that as well). Mod-Podge a little bit of scrapbook paper to the clothespin and you are finished!:

Since it's New Year's Day and all, I decided to start on my resolution and relax a little. Kiki and the kitty were so tired that you'd think they were the ones crafting all day!

I will be linking up to these parties.