BEHOLD!

It is finished!

SEE! SEE!

 

It has taken a total of three days- but it is done! Perchance you are surprised it was such a long process- but I did EVERYTHING myself- including cutting each letter out of heavy duty card-stock and then getting my fingers permanently (almost) stuck together with modge podge while I decoupaged each figure in precisely cut pages from an old cookbook.

And that was just the letters and numbers!

I will demonstrate below. 

This may take a while-

those of faint heart may want to leave.

This was the original finish of the frame- just your ordinary brownish finish-

I found a REALLY cheap way to re-create a crackle finish

without having to use the expensive

crackle medium

It involves elmers glue- and paint

This was the first step- and it was super easy!

It works great on frames.

Here is the link to the blog I got the idea from:

http://makethebestofthings.blogspot.com

She has some awesome ideas-just FYI

And for clueless crafty people like me

it helps that she has step by step instructions

and pictures

Sorry! I get sidetracked easily!

The crackle finish starts to show even before the paint fully dries- and it looks really awesome and totally wicked. 

While the frame was drying I worked on the matte 

That was the original picture

It was some sort of French add for a vet office

Very art Nouveau

I was quite fond of it- but Husband doesn't like dogs

Or animals in general

So it had to go 

I did the crackle finish on the matte as well

Both the frame and the matte took a long time to dry- so while I was waiting I made the letters

They took forever

Albeit- they were free

I used Henry's soy milk box

and pages out of a weird cookbook to cover them

Seriously- it had recipes for things like chicken-jello- I don't think Henry will ever eat that- no matter how sweet and considerate he is-and he is VERY much so

They took a long time- but I think they turned out well- I placed each trimmed letter (or number) on the middle of the page and cut slits in the paper so it would wrap around the cardboard 

This whole process took a long time- but like I said- it was pretty much free. I bought a huge jar of modge podge at Wal-Mart (a total of 6 $) and used less than half of it for the entire project- and that's better than more than a dollar apiece for those cute little metal letters and numbers at the craft store.

Once the matte was mostly dry I used scrapbook paper (cut into squares) as a sort of paper patchwork on the back-

I used a wooden paint dowel to smooth out the paper so there wouldn't be any air bubbles or wrinkles-

I think I used five sheets of that big square scrapbook paper (cut and mixed up) all-together- and I actually had to use smaller pieces here and there so everything would fit flush against the side of the matte

Then it was just a matter of putting it all together- after the frame dried I did smear a layer of sealant over the entire thing. The last thing I wanted to have happen was for the paint to start peeling or coming off after all that work- 

I also used a few little flower embellishments that I had already in the corners and as a substitute for the apostrophe in our last name

I am pretty proud of myself. It was lots of fun. I kind of wish I had more frames to play with. I forgot how much fun glue (and paint) can be.

Now I just have to get Henry to put a big 'ol hole in the wall for me!