Balmy Breeze Altered Frame Tutorial

Heartfelt Creations Wednesday and Creative Embellishments Cross Promotional

Hello Friends!  It’s a special edition of Heartfelt Creations Wednesday.  Today, we’re joining the lovely design team from Creative Embellishments in a cross promotional.  You can visit the Creative Embellishments BLOG to see how their design team used Heartfelt Creations in their projects. I used their wonderful Nautical Compass to complement my altered frame. I have a photo step out to show you how I made the frame, and you will find my Balmy Breeze Altered Frame tutorial at the end of this post.

I started with a $1 naked wood frame from Michael’s, and this is what I ended up with.  I wanted to create a frame that had a worn, beachy feel.  I love how that Nautical Compass Chipboard pops off the side of the frame.

Painting the Frame

I began by lightly sanding the entire frame with a fine grit sandpaper.  Then I completely wiped the frame down with a clean damp cloth.  Next, I added a thin layer of gesso to the front, sides and inner rim of the frame.

Once this dried, I dry brushed Americana Decor “Everlasting” paint onto the frame.  To dry brush, I simply picked up a small amount of paint on the edge of my paintbrush, then I brushed most of it off onto my non stick craft sheet.  Then I just brushed the remaining paint randomly onto my frame. When I needed more paint, I picked it up from my craft sheet instead of dipping back into the jar.  This leaves neat brush strokes and gives a light coverage and gives you a sort of whitewashed, weather beaten look.

Once this was dry, I dry brushed the next coat, Americana Decor “Yesteryear” over the frame in the same manner. See how sun bleached and weather worn the frame is starting to look?

I did a third layer in this same way, using Americana Decor “Vintage” paint.  I repeated this process until I was happy with the way the frame looked.

Next, I inked up my Burlap Background Stamp with Pumice Stone Distress ink and randomly stamped it all over the frame.  I immediately coated the frame with clear embossing powder and heat set it.  Here’s a close up of what that looked like.

I wanted to emboss it so that when I did the next step, the texture from the burlap stamping would stand out.  The technique is called “Emboss Resist” and it’s a great one to use when you want to have a stamped element resist additional layers of ink.

I rubbed the entire frame with Tea Dye Distress ink, then used a barely damp paper towel to wipe it off.  See how the embossed stamping resisted the ink, while the painted frame accepted it?  Cool, huh?

You can repeat this step until you are happy with the finished result.  Here’s what my frame looked like at this point.

To finish my frame, I inked up my Vintage Life Background stamp with Ranger Coffee Archival Ink.  It’s important to use a solvent based ink pad or this step won’t work.  I gently dried the ink with my heat gun. Then I put a small amount of Tumbled Glass Distress Paint onto my craft sheet and tapped it onto the frame very lightly, using just the tip of my pinkie finger.

I love all the cool texture and layers I ended up with.  This frame looks old, vintage, weatherbeaten…exactly the look I was going for.

To add the image to the frame, I just traced around the cardboard insert that was in the frame and cut out my lighthouse image. I computer journaled my sentiment onto a piece of plain cardstock, then held my cut out focal over the paper, holding it up to my window so I could see where the text was going to end up.  Yeah, I’m real high-tech like that!  LOL  I just taped my focal image over the computer paper and ran it through the printer again.  Voila!  Perfectly placed sentiment.

Before adding it to the frame, I “doctored” it a bit with Viva Decor White Stamp paint on the clouds and a little watered down Tumbled Glass .  I also used my Versamark embossing pen along the shaded edge of the lighthouse and the roof of the keeper’s cottage, then I embossed it with Frayed Burlap Distress Embossing powder.  This added great texture and dimension.  It’s hard to pick up with the camera, but in real life, it’s pretty awesome!

I die cut two lattice swirls from pearlized cardstock.  These gorgeous die cuts always make me think of ocean waves, and I just love them! I glued them down on either side of the frame using Zip Dry glue.  The bow was tied using my Zutter Bow-it-All Tool and glued down with my hot glue gun.

I traced around the inside of the Nautical compass onto a piece of tan paper from the Balmy Breeze collection.  Then I painted the frame with Folk Art Coffee Bean paint.  While it was still slightly wet, I sprinkled it with Copper Embossing powder and then heat set it.  I embossed the compass letters with gold embossing powder, then I tapped everything with Tumbled Glass Distress Paint.

Then came the fun part!  Adding all those beautiful shells I’ve scavenged from the North Carolina shore!  Ooh-la-la!  Almost as good as a walk on the beach!

I hope you enjoyed this Balmy Breeze Altered Frame tutorial.  If you have any questions or comments, I hope you’ll leave them in the comment section below this post.  I’d love to hear from you!

Be sure to visit the rest of the design team for more inspiration, and check out the Creative Embellishments blog, too!  I know you’ll be inspired.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cheerio,

kathy

TUTORIAL

Balmy Breeze Altered Frame
Heartfelt Creations Products:
Paper: HCDP1 232 Balmy Breeze Paper Collection
Stamps: HCPC 3320 Vintage Word Background, HCPC 3531 Burlap Background
Dies: HCD 733 Decorative Lattice Swirl Die
Other: 452255 Grand Calibur
Other Product: Oval Wood Frame; Chipboard: Creative Embellishments Nautical Compass; Paper: Pearlized white cardstock; ; Paint: Americana Décor Chalky Finish paint: Vintage, Everlasting, Yesteryear; Distress Paint: Tumbled Glass; Viva Décor Stamp Paint: White; Coffee Bean Folk Art Paint; Distress Stain: Picket Fence; Ink: Distress Ink: Tea Dye, Pumice Stone; Ranger Archival Ink: Coffee; Versamark Watermark Stamp Pad, Versamark Embossing Pen; Embossing Powder: Zing: Copper, Gold; Distress: Frayed Burlap; Bridal Embossing Tinsel, Clear; Ribbon, Shells
Directions: Remove the back from the oval frame and trace around the lighthouse image . Cut out and computer journal the Scripture Verse. Use the embossing pen to trace over the shadowed areas of the lighthouse and the cottage roof. Emboss with Distress Frayed Burlap. Add White Viva Décor Stamp Paint to the clouds. Tap your finger into the Tumbled glass Distress Paint and lightly smudge onto the background paper. Set aside to dry.
For the frame: Sand it lightly and wipe it clean. Next paint with the Americana Décor Everlasting chalk paint. Let it dry and add a second layer of paint. Paint with Americana Décor Yesteryear, just dry brushing over the white. Let it dry. Next do the same with the Americana Décor Vintage paint. Repeat until you are satisfied with the paint coverage. Let the frame dry.
Ink the burlap background stamp with Pumice Stone and randomly stamp all over the surface of the frame. While still wet, emboss with clear embossing powder. Ink the Vintage Word Background with Coffee Archival Ink and stamp the entire frame, trying to keep lines as straight as possible. Let dry. Rub the entire frame with Tea Dye ink using a sponge applicator, then lightly wipe off with a damp paper towel. Tap on some random drops of Tumbled Glass Distress Paint. Let everything dry.
Paint the Nautical Compass with Folk Art Coffee Bean paint. While still slightly wet, sprinkle with Copper embossing powder. Tap off and heat set. Tap the N, S, E, W letters with Versamark and heat emboss with Gold embossing powder. Glue onto the compass. Back the compass with paper from the collection. Tap the compass and letters lightly with Tumbled Glass Distress Paint.
Die cut 2 of the decorative lattice swirl dies from pearlized white cardstock. Glue onto the frame as shown. Add the bow and shells. Glue the prepared lighthouse image onto the oval frame backing and place into the frame.