Sunday, April 10, 2011

DIY Man Frame

I never know what presents to get for guys. Anyone with me? This weekend we went to a party to celebrate several birthdays, one of them for a guy. I knew I wanted to diy his gift, but I didn't know what to do. After wandering around Michaels for a bit, I finally got some inspiration...who doesn't like getting a picture frame? Here's how I did it...1. I bought an unfinished frame (which I forgot to take a picture of), and painted it blue with regular ol' craft paint.

2. Then, I dug through my stash to find the manliest paper I had, and tore it into thin strips.

3. Next, I got out my Mod Podge. MP is an absolute crafting essential for me!4. Then I began podging the strips around the frame, leaving small gaps to let paint show through.
5. Once I had gone all the way around the frame, I used Distress Ink to darken it up. It's important to distress before podging, otherwise the the ink won't hold.

6. After that I put on two coats of MP over the whole thing, to give it a nice shine.
7. Finally, I mostly covered up the gaps where the paint was with more little strips of paper. This time I left the white, torn parts showing. This gave it a layered, marble look. To finish it up, I covered it all over with MP again.
Here's the final product.
Our friend really appreciated it.
This post is linked up to the DIY Showoff's Project Parade. So much inspiration!

1 comment:

The Cooking Photographer said...

Hi Kristina,

Thank-you for telling me about the soup! I'm happy you liked it.

Awesome frame. I admire that you can envision and create things like this!

Laura