Birds and flowers frame

Originally uploaded by illusionary_one

Still need to wash the paint off my hands

This is a frame made entirely of scrap cardboard. Still getting the hang of cutting the pieces to size. Layered several pieces together to give it depth. Essentially, a frame, a frame for the glass, then a frame for the backing.

Put a couple layers of paper mache on it. Think I will add more layers next time. Strung a string (!) in a pretty pattern then waited about a day for it all to dry.

In the meantime, made some simple color sketches of flowers and birds. Pasted them into beer bottle caps with a touch of glitter then sealed with one of my new favorites, Diamond Glaze.

Once the paper mache dried, I painted it in several fun colors. Again, wait for it to dry. Once the paint was dry, I gave it a layer of Modge Podge. Once *that* dried, I glued on the bottle caps as well as other random embellishments found in my craft stash.

Very pleased with how this turned out! Think I will make more in this vein. The paper mache books that belonged to my grandmother have given me lots of wonderful ideas.

Aluminum flower frame

Originally uploaded by illusionary_one

This one came together amazingly well. The base frame is a "re-tread" from SCRAP, and the flower petals were cut from aluminum cans. (Lost the nickel deposits there…)

The petal circles are in three different sizes to create a nice layering effect. Memo to self: find additional can colors next time! I used an awl to punch a hole through the layers. The petals are bound together with crochet thread and a glass bead.

I tried gluing the first flower to the frame, but quickly realized it wouldn’t stick as well as I would like it to. Next plan? Since the base frame is also a thin metal, I punched holes in it and bound the flowers to it with thread.

Secured the threads with fray check and craft glue, swiped the glass with glass cleaner, added a picture cut out from a magazine, and tah-dah! A very pretty folksy rustic metal flower frame.

Guidance for making the flowers came from the book, Handmade Style: Mexico by Karin Hossack.