Natalie Bowers: Living Out Loud

Hello, Scrappers! In my Turtle Crafts UK blog post this month, I’m going to show you how I decorated the cardboard frames that came in the July Kit. Speaking of which: I can’t believe how many goodies are in this kit! It’s fit to bursting with beautiful papers and embellishments from Heidi Swapp. It’s definitely going to keep me going for quite some time! Anyway, on with the post …

The cardboard frames came in the Heidi Swapp ‘Insta Kit’ pack along with some rub-ons, but, me being me, I couldn’t just decorate them with said rub-ons (I’ve got other plans for those!) so I decided to decorate the frames in other ways.

For my first frame, I went with some simple ink blending. The frames have a glossy finish, so they took Distress Oxides perfectly. I used Picked Raspberry and Squeezed Lemonade and just blended them together along the diagonal. After that, I spattered on some water, which I soaked up with a paper towel. I love the distressed look on the frame.

For my second frame, I simply added some patterned paper.

I used a glue stick to cover the front of the frame and then stuck it, face down onto the back of the patterned paper. Using scissors, I cut around the outside of the frame, and then, using a craft knife, I cut around the inside of the frame. This was very easy to do. To give the frame more impact, I edged the inside and outside edges of the frame with a thick black permanent marker. That’s all there was to it, but it looks great!

For my third frame, I used the ‘smooshing’ technique.

Because the frame has a glossy finish, I brushed on one coat of white gesso and let that dry. I them smooshed Cracked Pistashio Distress Oxide onto my media mat and added a drop of water before smooshing the frame, face down, in the ink a few times. Once the first layer of ink was dry, I repeated the smooshing process with Peacock Feather Distress Oxide. I LOVE how this frame turned out. Don’t tell the other frames, but I think this one’s my favourite!

For my last frame, I added stamping.

The stamp set I used actually came from the June Kit, but was perfect for this little project as it included a camera stamp. I used Stazon black ink because I knew it would ‘stay on’ the glossy surface of the frame. As well as the camera stamp, I also used a star stamp, and for a finishing touch, I spattered on some Picked Raspberry and Spiced Marmelade Distress Oxides. I think this frame is very striking!

Which one of these frames is your favourite? Do you have any other ideas for decorating these frames? Let me know in the comments.

Thanks for stopping by! Until next time … happy scrapping! xxx