"Grandkids" Wall Art

 

My fave LSS, Scrap & Bean, received a whole lotta stuff from Dusty Attic yesterday. If you haven't heard about them, they make the most detailed chipboard I have ever seen. I picked up a few pieces, along with some Bo Bunny paper and May Arts ribbon, and home I went with my creative wheels just-a-turnin'.

After dinner and few other chores, I was able to sit down for the first of my projects: a "Grandkids" wall hanging for my Mom. She has three grandkids, none of whom she sees often enough, and I've been feeling especially sentimental during this past week. Okay, so my craft room is still not put back together and there are tons of other projects waiting for me but I just HAD to get my fingers full of ink and glue. Withdrawal is a terrible thing.


I began by cutting two pieces of medium weight chipboard (10" x 3.5" and 8" x 2.25") and covering the fronts with Country Garden Letters from Bo Bunny's Country Garden collection. I added a piece of 1" wide ribbon horizontally across the larger piece and two shorter pieces extending from the top of the smaller piece. Using spray glue helps the entire piece of paper adhere evenly, and it does the same for ribbon. Now that my fingertips were full of spray glue, it was time to add some ink!

The Dusty Attic phrase "Grandkids" and set of three ornate mini-frames inspired this project. I misted these chipboard pieces with Smooch Spritz (Emerald Sprinkle, Gold Glow and Vanilla Shimmer). I also cut four Valerian Flourish pieces (made by Memory Box) and spritzed them with Vanilla Shimmer. While they were drying, I lightly used Tim Holtz's Distressing Ink (vintage photo) on the edges of the paper backgrounds. That left just enough time for a cuppa tea before the next step.

I dabbed a little Best Glue Ever on the back of each of the frames and set them aside to dry again. It is hands-down my favourite wet glue, and used wet, it holds so permanently that not even Undo can get your pieces apart once this stuff is dry. I used it to attach the picture frame holder (metal) to the back of the larger piece (paper) so I know this won't ever fall off the wall because it came apart. But did you know you can use it as a repositionable glue? To do this, you need to allow it to dry before putting your pieces together. It's still pretty tacky even once it's dry and holds well. For this project, it will allow you to replace the photos in the frame. Clever, eh? *pats self on back*

The flourishes, phrase, and paper backs were attached with spray glue. I discovered that sealing in the ink stuck to the glue already on your fingers with even more glue is a great way to tell the world you're a crafter 'cause you really have to work to get it off later! I admit it: Sometimes I'm not so bright.

So here's the final product, sans cherubic photos:

The clever side of me added the inside of one of the frames in an envelope pocket on the back so that it would be easy to cut replacement photos to the correct size to fit inside the frames. So now I'm smart again. *big grin*