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.