Shabby Chic Altered Frame - Work in Progress

Just recently, I've been watching a lot of YouTube videos on altered art projects, particularly shabby chic frames and boxes. There really is some very talented people out there, making adorable things, that look so professional. Two channels that I watch all the time are mybutterflykisses12 (Arlene) and ILuvvintagescrap (Julianna).

So, for one of my New Year challenges, I've been trying my hand at an altered frame. I still have a lot to learn about altered art, but I just love all the different techniques, embellishments and flowers that can be used.


I was very pleased to find this frame in a charity shop, because usually I never find anything good. It had black wording engraved into the frame, so I decided to cover some of the words with white acrylic paint, and leave some showing through. Once the paint had dried I lightly sanded the frame in areas that would naturally be worn.

I wanted to cover some of the words up even more, and add some texture to the frame, so I  tore pieces of white crepe paper, and pasted it with Mod Podge. The picture above shows a subtle textured effect.

Then the fun could begin...I started embellishing the frame. I used London Market papers by Pink Paislee. These papers have a lovely vintage feel to them, with postage stamps, music script, butterflies and floral designs. I wanted the frame to have a worn shabby chic feel to it, so I used Mod Podge (love this stuff!) to paste torn and distressed pieces on to the frame. I fussy cut some images from the paper and glued lace and flowers to one corner. I still want to add lots more embellishments to the frame. Look out for the next post!

Have a lovely day!

Melanie x.

Altered Tin & Paper Rose

I've started the New Year with a couple of new projects. Over the Christmas period, I used some free time to look at some ideas on YouTube. I'd heard a lot about altered art, and was keen to find out more. I saw some lovely altered Altoid tins, and thought I'd have a go! I wasn't sure if you could even buy Altoid mints in the UK, so I used an old tin I had which looked like it was from the 60's, that originally had lozenges in it. I had a few glitches with this tin, I used Mod Podge to glue & seal the papers, but it wrinkled up quite a lot. I'm reasonably happy with the way it came out though.

I wanted to give the tin a vintage look by inking the edges.

This is a photo of my cat Suzy & a handmade red rose.

The second project was a handmade paper rose. I saw a very good tutorial on a website called The Scrappe Shoppe Blog. The rose should have a ceramic look when finished.

Wet a piece of cardstock (approx 5"x5") under the tap & carefully scrunch into a ball, open the card out & allow to dry. Once the card is dry brush a layer of Mod Podge Matte over both sides, allow one side to dry before covering the other side.

Cut the card into a circle & then cut a spiral from the circle, Starting with the end of the spiral, roll the card into a flower. Glue the bottom to secure, & coat the flower once more with Mod Podge.

My rose came out much tighter, because I cut the spiral into narrow strips, but I was pleased with the ceramic effect finish. If you want to see a more detailed tutorial, click on The Scrappe Shoppe Blog link above - Michele's roses are beautiful!

I'm going to make myself a cup of tea now and have a look at Handmade Monday on Handmade Harbour, & see what crafty projects everyone else has made this week.

Happy New Year!

See you next week,

Melanie x.