I love vintage, beat up old furniture, windows, doors and frames. I guess the decorative style of design is referred to as shabby chic but I think of it as country charm. I love Ranger’s wonderful line of Crackle Paint and have really enjoyed trying to create projects out of cardstock or cardboard that looks like aged distressed wood. My project today shows the steps I used to create a frame that at first glance could pass for wood. The frame called to me to fill it with a vintage floral spray and the My Favorite Things Rolled Rose was the perfect flower die to use. I used the leaves from Susan Tierney-Cockburn’s Rose set and the Poppystamps Gentle Leaf die.
The frame is 5.25” square and made with kraft cardstock and was cut using a 3.5” die from the Lifestyle Crafts Nesting Squares. The kraft cardstock is important to use so the brown will show through later when distressing and roughing up the paint. I did my best to make sure I had the die perfectly centered for my cut and held it in place with painter’s tape.
I penciled in numbers on the backside of the frame so I could put the pieces back together in the correct order for a good fit alter they were cut.
I used a ruler to draw lines for the mitered cuts. It was especially important on the first cut as both corners had to be cut all at once.
I used the lines as my guide and cut with my guillotine cutter.
I crimped the paper to give the appearance of hewn wood. I know I’ve said it before but I love my crimper.
I cut the four corners off the square of cardstock left from the frame opening and used them to secure the frame sections together.
I used my ATG adhesive to attach the corner supports.
The supports did a perfect job holding the frame together when I started painting and distressing it.
I applied one coat of Picket Fence, dried with my heat gun and then applied a second coat.
I used the files from the Precision File Set to distress the inner and outer edges of the frame.
I used the pick end of Susan’s leaf tool from the Sizzix tool kit to distress and pick away paint in spots around the frame.
I used the sanding board to sand away pieces of cardstock and loose paint from the distressing.
I used a Sofft Mini Applicator to apply Antique Linen distress ink to darken the distressed spots. I used my finger to wipe away any excess ink showing on the white paint.
I applied full width strips of mounting tape all the way around the back of the frame so it would hold securely and flat to the card base. I thought the Impression Obsession Music Cover- a- Card stamped with Antique Linen was the perfect background for my rose spray.
This tutorial is really all about the frame but I took a few pictures of how I applied color, distressed and formed the flowers and scored the leaves.
I used the Sofft knives and covers to apply the PanPastel.
I distressed the edges of the roses with the Tonic paper distresser before rolling them to form the flower.
I rolled back the petals with tweezers to create a more authentic looking rose.
I lightly applied Antique Linen ink with a mini applicator to age the rose to match the frame.
I scored in the leaf lines using Susan’s leaf tool and leaf pad.
I applied the Antique Linen to the leaves to age.
I attached the three roses with glossy accents right in the center of the frame.
I bent and formed the foliage with my fingers to add dimension and tucked them in around the roses and attached with glossy accents.
I tied a soft multi loop bow using white silk ribbon and applied Antique Linen ink to the loops and streamers with my fingers. I needed to soften and age the ribbon to match the rest of the project.
I hope you are inspired to try creating a faux wood project with Crackle Paint. I sure had lots of fun with it.
Thanks for stopping the CLASSroom today.
