Monday, September 8, 2014

Easy Card Holder Frame





Here is a fun way to display your cards, postcards, or photographs! It can also show off a pretty piece of fabric or some fabulous trim at the same time. This is a lazy craft, as long as you have the materials on hand, you can do this in less than five minutes and just lifting a few fingers:)

Materials needed:
Frame with backing but no glass (I had a dollar store diploma frame fall from a desk, and the glass broke, but the rest was good, so this is a good craft for reusing a frame)
Scrap of Fabric, a little bigger than the frame
Ribbon or cord, enough to go around as seen below

Tutorial:
 Take the backing off of the frame. Lay the scrap over the backing as if it were the picture you were going to display.


 With cord or ribbon, lay across the scrap as shown, adjust until you are satisfied. If you have enough ribbon (like several yards), you could wrap it around several times and in different ways.

 Pop the frame on.

 Around back, adjust the little clips over your fabric and the ribbon or cord, and then to the frame. This should hold it all in place. If you prefer not to have the fabric sticking out the back, you could wrap the scrap around a piece of paper first (and maybe flat ribbon, but not cording), then put it all together.

Display your favorite things!

You could also, as mentioned, wrap ribbon around it in different configurations. I can see a grid of ribbon, perhaps, or even just a "crazy quilt" style application of ribbon, to provide more places to tuck in cards or photos.

You could also pad it by using batting under the scrap, and then you could use some decorative sewing pins to hold items for display.

I have had fun with a technique for making a glass-like finish on cards, a couple of which I have displayed in the above photos. Here's the tutorial I followed:



On the top card displayed in this post, I went ahead and "cracked" the rose image, then embossed the edges in gold to look like an old plate. On the other card shown, I did the same embossing technique on the scripture, but did not crack it, preferring to leave it smooth. I also did the first layer with glittered clear embossing powder, then topped it with more layers of regular clear embossing powder, so it has a sparkle to it but a glassy feel. The leaf embossing folder used for the background was a recent gift from a friend!