Hello, Friends!

I’m not trying to rush the season or anything, but here we are…more than halfway through the month of November, and that can mean only one thing: Santa Claus is coming to town!  That means it is time for this girl to go full on with holiday projects, Christmas cards and home decor!  I found a cute little vintagey frame at a yard sale this summer, and have picked it up several times to use it, but it never felt quite “right” for the project.  That is, until a plan for an interactive holiday frame popped into my mind the other day.  Then it was time for that frame to take center stage and get worked up into this super cute retro styled Christmas frame…with a pocket, of course…because I do love me a good pocket!

I had this cherry red pocket in my stash of Christmas goodies, and thought how fun would it be to make a Christmas frame with a pocket that you could tuck little daily surprises into: a movie ticket, an individually wrapped candy, a small toy or piece of jewelry…any little treasure that you can think of!  It would make each day of the month of December a mini celebration leading up to the big day!

I wanted lots of dimension, so I decided to add this little bottle brush tree, which started out solid green.  Too green for me, so I painted it white and sprinkled it with glitter.  Then I wanted it to look like the big tree at the mall…the one they build on top of a bank of poinsettias.  So I pulled out some deep red gypsophila blossoms and some gold beads and berries to create that look. (The beads and berries are temporarily out of stock at RRR, but Bonnie will get them in as soon as she can.)

Chipboard snowflakes were either painted with white acrylic paint or embossed with Stampendous Shabby White Embossing Powder. The chipboard title was heat embossed with Vintage Mahogany Shabby Embossing powder and then dry brushed with white acrylic paint.

When it came time to make the bow, I wanted something that would pick up on the retro feel of the piece.  So I decided to custom dye white seam binding in a fun Christmas stripe.

Just in case you’ve never done this, I thought I’d provide you with a quick step out tutorial.

Select a piece of white seam binding that’s about 3 feet long. Crumple it up a little.

Choose 2 colors of distress markers that work well with your composition.  For this Christmassy frame, I chose Festive Berries and Pine Needles.

Using the broad nib on the marker, draw a line down either side of the ribbon, being sure to leave a wide white stripe in the middle.

Spritz it lightly with water and let the colors bleed a little bit.  Then dry with a heat gun.  When the ribbon is almost dry, start to crumple it up with your fingers, as though you were scrunching mousse into your hair.

Use your Zutter Bow it All Tool and “loop de loop” 5 times around posts that are set 3.5″ apart.  Top the bow with jingle bells for a real festive feel.

I love working with white seam binding, because in a matter of seconds, you can make custom ribbon to match whatever project you are working on.  And, Bonnie sells it in 100 yard rolls for just $15.99.  That’s a whole lotta pretty for not a lotta money!

I hope you’ll give custom seam binding a try…it’s loads of fun!

And, if you’d like to purchase this little frame, you can find it in my ETSY shop.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cheerio,

kathy