Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Finally! Tis the Season...

Hello everyone! I am so sorry to be bringing you this tutorial so late. The cooling fan went out in my laptop and I had to get a repair out here, plus it is so incredibly windy here today that the power keeps going in and out. Hopefully I will get this posted before that happens again.
Are you ready to make this little vintage holiday wall hanging? (or it can actually be used as an ornament, it just depends on what size mat you use)

Let's gather our supplies!
For this project I used an antique photo album page as my base. I know many of us have these in our stash, but if you do not, you can usually find some on etsy or ebay.
I also used paper flowers and leaves from Prima, Stickles glitter glue in Platinum and Crystal, Tattered Angels spray in Iridescent Gold, The Ultimate Glue, a rubber stamp from the craft store, and chalk ink also from the craft store, glass glitter, and some holly leaves also picked up at my local craft store.
As the project is shown, I also used vintage bead chain and silk ribbon. If you do not have any vintage bead chain in your stash, this project can easily be made with any ribbon you have on hand. If you are using bead chain you will also need 2 jump rings.
You will need the following tools: craft knife, scissors, glass mat or cutting surface, ruler, pliers for attaching the jump rings and bead chain, a hole punch, and paper towels.
The antique album mats that I had in my stash hold two photos and I only needed the frame for one, so I simply cut it in half with my craft knife and trimmed the edges to make the sides even. You can use any size mat that you have!
Next you will want to right click on the image and save it to your computer. Then print it in the size you need to fill your album "window". My mat is rather small, so I printed at a standard wallet size photo. You do want to make sure and print on cardstock or other heavier weight paper as we will be spraying the image and standard printer paper is too thin.
Now, if you have never used the Glimmer Mists before, you are about to fall in love. If you have, then you already know, and have probably sprayed every surface of your studio by now, right? Seriously, I LOVE this stuff. In fact I fell so head over heels in love I just placed an order for my shop...but we're getting off track here. The Glimmer Mist will add a lovely iridescent glittery mist to whatever surface you spray it on. Here is a photo I took in the bright sunshine so you could see just how wonderful this is!
Can you see that wonderful gold sheen on everything? It's still hard to see in the photos, but trust me, it's stunning in person. I sprayed my image, my mat, and a flower and leaves with this. I like to blot a little as I go just to keep the glitter from pooling and I just do that with a paper towel. Make sure to put a paper towel under you as well unless you really do want glitter on your studio surfaces. :) Set those aside to dry.
Once my items were dry, (which doesn't take long at all) I added a fine line of glue to the edges of my leaves and flower and added some glass glitter. I also covered my holly leaves with glue and glass glitter as well.
While everything was drying, I stamped "Tis the Season" directly onto my mat. Now, you can use any sentiment you may have on hand. If you don't have a rubber stamp you want to use, print something on cardstock, glitter it with the Glimmer Mist, and let it dry. I used an olive colored chalk ink for my project, but you can use any ink you have on hand.
I then traced over the stamped words with my Platinum Stickles. When this color dries it has the appearance of tarnished silver. LOVE this stuff too. I know Michael's carries a limited stock of Stickles, but you can also find it online or in a scrapbook store.
Once everything is dry, you will want to cut out your image and glue it to the back of the mat, so make sure you leave enough of and edge around the image to do that. I further embellished my image with a touch of the Crystal Stickles everywhere there is "snow" in the image. This just give a little extra dimension to the image and makes it all the more sparkly.
In this photo you can see where I just used a little of the Crystal Stickles, and you also see the pretty shimmer of the Glimmer Mist again as well. If you're using this as an ornament, you may want to cover the whole back of the page with vintage sheet music. This will also come in handy if the other side of your album page is in not so great shape like many of these antique pages.
Once everything is dry, I used my Ultimate Glue to attach my flower and leaves. I simply layered the paper leaves and added the holly leaves, then I glued my flower on top of that.
To finish up you will want to punch holes in the top of your mat. I used a standard hole punch and while it worked just fine, I think it left too large of a hole, so if you have another type of punching system, you might want to use a smaller hole. This is actually why I also decided to use both the ribbon and the bead chain. Originally I planned to just use the bead chain, but then I wanted to fill up that hole a little and I actually liked how it turned out with both the chain and the ribbon.
If you're using chain, you will want to attach the jump rings and then attach the bead chain to the jump rings. If you're using ribbon, just slide it through, tie a small knot, and do the same on the other side. I then trimmed any excess ribbon from my knots.
That's it! I hope you will have fun creating this project and if you have any questions at all, please feel free to email me.
Here's one last shot of it hanging on our Christmas tree.
Also, if you don't want to search around for all of the supplies for this project, I was able to put together a small handful of kits for it and they're available in my shop.

17 comments:

Cindy (JunqueArt) said...

Super cute Cerri! I just love it!

ScrapAddict said...

A lovely, lovely project!!

Unknown said...

Pretty! I LOVE using the cabinet card photo mats. I'm going to have to try that glimmer mist!

Stay warm!
Brandy

The Charm House said...

Love this~!! I have some glimmer mist but have not used it yet. Have to pull it out now!
Hugs,
Yvette

Jeanne said...

Your project was worth the wait Cerri - it's beautiful!
xo
jeanne

Anonymous said...

Beautiful project. Worth the wait. :) I will use this idea to make some personal ornaments with photos of family members. Thank you!
Laura Petrillo

Ella said...

Glad things worked out for you and
now, our benefit!! Really unique i love it!

Thanks!

Carrie at In the Hammock Blog said...

Wow! This is gorgeous!! I want to try the Glimmer Mist now!

Elyse said...

very unique and pretty and best of all ... new supplies to try out! thank you for the details.

xo
elyse

SharDon Exclusives said...

Very very lovely! Thank you for the delightful piece of artwork as well as the idea. You are the best,
Sharon

Casii said...

This is just too darling! I ordered the supplies before I even posted a comment. :)

Tia said...

Aww, this is beautiful!

Erica@zunkychic.com said...

This is beautiful! I love how you repurposed the old photo matt, and really love the vintage look!

BethW said...

Only one word-exquisite!

Holly said...

you have a great blog, thanks so much for sharing!

Decor To Adore said...

This is an absolutely wonderful tutorial. Thank you so much for sharing.

Bargain Decorating with Laurie said...

Oh how pretty that is, and how smart you are! laurie