Paper House: Australia Wall Hanging

The Project
I was browsing my local neighborhood thrift store and I saw some circular frames for $1.00. I bought a few and thought it would be fun to make a circular layout instead of the usual square. Later I figured out that these weren't photo frames, but were plate holders for decorative collector's plates.

The Collection
I used Paper House's Australia Collection. There are so many great details in this collection. I cut out a portion of the Ayres Rock paper, and it was the perfect background for my layout.

The Process
1. Cut  a 7” cardstock circle as a base. Cut a 7” circle on the patterned paper and adhere onto the cardstock. The cardstock isn’t seen, it gives the layout more support.

2. Using a sewing machine, stitch three revolutions around the edge of the circle. This creates a circular border without using a mat, especially if you use a contrasting colored thread.

3. Adhere your photo onto the patterned paper. Decorate with the coordinating cardstock stickers. Add your own title or use a sticker as the title.

4. For a finishing touch, add some small embellishments along the stitched circles. I used some sequins, brads and wood veneer shapes. I colored in the wood veneer shapes with a marker. I used a glitter brush tipped pen on the wood shapes and the title for some added sparkle.

5. I made my layout smaller than the frame dimension so it would look like it was floating when hung on the wall. You can make the layout to the size of the frame and not have the extra space around the edge. To attach the layout to the frame, tie some sewing thread to the back of the frame in a triangular pattern through the plate holder brackets. Place the layout on the thread and secure it with tape. To make it more secure, adhere another 7” cardstock circle over the exposed back. I just left it as is, since no one will see the back, unless you view the photo below.

If you would like an instruction sheet, here is a downloadable PDF. This project is also up on Paper House's blog today. 

Instruction Sheet PDF

Supplies

Paper House Productions Products:

Australia Collection (SBC-0164)

Ayers Rock paper (P-0677E)
Australia 2 Cardstock Stickers (STCX-0183E)
Other:
Collector Plate Frame for 8.5” plate: Van Hygan & Smythe
Cardstock: Bazzill
Sewing Machine: Kenmore
Thread: Coats & Clark
Sequins: Darice
Brads: Tim Holtz, Creative Impressions
Wood Veneer Shapes: Studio Calico
Markers: Copic
Glitter Pen: Zig
Tape: Scotch

Thanks so much for stoppin' by,

Paper Made Bakery: November Reveal + Blog Hop + Giveaway

The Hop:

Welcome to Paper Made Bakery's new November release blog hop. This month PMB is joining with Timeless Twine for a combined hop with their design team. You'll see lots of great ideas on how products from both companies can work seamlessly together. If you've just arrived from Wida's site, then you've come to the right place. If you would like to start from the beginning, please hop on over to Paper Made Bakery's blog. If you are lost, this the blog hop order:

Paper Made Bakery

Wida Miller

Michelle McClure (←you are here)

Lisa Arana (←go here next)

Jennifer Cuthbertson

Amy Tsuruta

Alicia Thelin

Stacy Muler 

Kathy Gillion 

Jenny Johnson 

Kassidy Thomas

Debbie Crowder 

Annette Allen 

Cristina Garcia 

The Kit:

November's Fresh Baked Kit entitled Christmas Treats features soft, wintry papers from Lily Bee Design's Christmas Cheer collection, an exclusive pack of matching twine from Timeless Twine and coordinating images from Fresh Squeezed Stamps' Christmas Treats set. This kit is perfect for creating homemade holiday cards and gifts. But you can use it for anything. For example, I made a Halloween card using the stamp set, which you can view here. 

The Reveal:

I made a small shadow box wall hanging for my friends. When I saw some photos of their two kids lying on the green grass, I thought it would make a perfect Christmas photo after adding some red accents. I printed out the photo as a square and cut out extra white around the photo paper to look like a Polaroid. I printed out a Christmas quote and added embellishments from the kit, and played with the twine. 

The Tutorial:

I've been wanting to make some pom poms with twine for a while now, but found it too bulky for my cards and layouts. I chose a shadow box instead of a frame especially for this purpose. This 5.5 x 5.5" Ikea shadow box is the perfect size to work with papers and embellishments from a Fresh Baked Kit. These tri-colored pom poms turned out so cute, you might want to give it a try too. 

1. Wrap your twine 25 times around the tines of a fork. (You can wrap more or less times depending on how dense you want your pom pom. You can affect the size of the pom pom by the size of the fork you use and how many tines you wrap. I wanted a small pom so I used a small salad fork and only used three of the tines.) 

2. Cut a piece of twine and thread it through the center tine and tie a knot around the middle of the wrapped twine. 

3. Slide the tied twine off of the fork. 

4. Cut the loops on each side in half. You'll end up with a scraggly pom at this point. 

5. Trim to a uniform shape. 

6. For a fuller look, unravel the twisted strands. 

I hand cut two Santa Hats from red cardstock. I used Liquid Appliqué for the fur trim and adhered the pom pom on the ends. This turned a summer photo into a winter, Christmas photo. 

The Giveaway:

As a way to say thank you for participating in today's blog hop, Paper Made Bakery is giving away two great prizes. You can enter by midnight on Sunday, November 4th by using the Rafflecopter widget below. 

Good luck to all! Your next stop is Lisa's blog. Remember there are daily inspiration projects and tutorials on PMB's blog all month long. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks so much for hoppin' by,

Paper Made Bakery: October Reveal + Blog Hop + Giveaway

The Hop:

Welcome to Paper Made Bakery's new October release blog hop. If you've just arrived from Wida's site, then you've come to the right place. If you would like to start from the beginning, please hop on over to Paper Made Bakery's blog. If you are lost, this the blog hop order:

Paper Made Bakery

Wida Miller

Michelle McClure (←you are here)
Lisa Arana (←go here next)

Jennifer Cuthbertson
Amy Tsuruta
Alicia Thelin

The Kit:

October's Fresh Baked Kit entitled Sweet Life features cute country designs from the Avalon collection by Bazzill Basics Paper with matching images from a brand new stamp company called Fresh Squeezed Stamps. This company is started by Shannon, our fearless leader from Paper Made Bakery, and Ryann, one of PMB's talented designers from last term. This kit is so sweet, you won't have a need for dessert anymore.  

October's Sweet Life Kit

The Reveal:
To celebrate the launch of Fresh Squeezed Stamps which officially begins today, I wanted to make something a little out of the ordinary. I altered this wall hanging into a rainbow picture frame. 

The Details:
I went to my local thrift store to find a diamond in the rough to alter. I saw this lil' guy sitting forlornly in a corner on the floor and thought it would be a perfect match for this kit. I knew some TLC would breathe some "sweet life" into this decorative piece. It was in rough shape with a lot of chips and scratches. Even the cashier was asking me, "What is that? Are you going to repaint it?"

Since it was only $5 and I liked the wrought iron, I decided to take a chance on it. I took what I already owned, a small bottle of brown craft paint, and rubbed it over the wooden frame. I then wiped off the paint with paper towel like a stain. The wood turned a vibrant brown color.

I punched out some photos and patterned paper with a circle punch. I glued it to the back of the wrought iron with some Fabric-tac. I stamped and embossed some images and colored them in with 

Copics.  

For the patterned paper circles, I decorated with the colored stamp images, buttons, brads from the kit and added some Memory Thread of my own, which is a cloth covered wire from DMC. You can curl the wire (green vines) or leave it straight (brown stem). 

For the central portion of the wall hanging, I wanted to leave it open but still have some decoration there. I decided to have some buzzing bees flying around. I curled some craft wire around a skewer and attached it to the bee on one end with some Fabric-tac and tape, and on the other end curled it around the wrought iron. 

I also curled wire stemmed flowers around the wrought iron to finish out the scene. The kit comes with two flowers, I added a few more Prima flowers of my own.

I hung the completed project above my craft room door. It repeats the shape of the stained glass of my front door, so this project was totally meant to be.

The possibilities are endless with these kits, so just let your creativity be the guide. If you are thinking about purchasing one, the last two kits completely sold out, so don't wait too long.

The Giveaway:

As a way to say thank you for participating in today's blog hop, Paper Made Bakery is giving away two goodie bags which include a set of Fresh Squeezed Stamps inside. You can enter until midnight on Thursday, October 4th. by using the Rafflecopter widget below. 

Good luck to all! Your next stop is Lisa's blog. Remember there are daily inspiration projects and tutorials on PMB's blog all month long. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks so much for stoppin' by today,