Thursday 11 October 2012

Altering mirror frames

I haven't had time to do much in the way of crafting just lately but I was just browsing through my photos of stuff I've made in the past. I take photos of most everything I make, and it's nice to look back from time to time to remember things I have made but also to get a bit of inspiration.

The mirror frames I work on are from Ikea and cost around £1.50 I think it is.

Now, I have long had an affinity with buttons. About 6 or 7 years ago I came across a stall at a craft fair at Sandown Park that sold buttons. Thousands of them! All sorts! I was in button heaven!
They did various colour mixes and sizes. I bought loads. I love sticking them on stuff.
 Something I've found from my button creations is a common thread, most people love buttons.
 Most people had a Nan or an Aunt who had a button box that they loved to rummage around as a child (yes, my Nan did too). 

This frame, I coloured first with a wash of white and dab of red acrylic paint with lots of water to thin it out. The buttons are stuck on with silicone glue.



A wash of just white acrylic paint also made a good background to dark colour buttons. I found the contrast just worked.

Other frames I have done with squares of patterned papers.  I cut the squares out with my Big Shot.



It was a happy accident that the size square I used, set out as I did gave a nice even border. The flowers were from a shop called The Works which does cheap books and stationary and I coloured them to match the papers using promarker pens.

Some other colours.






I love that you can take a "thing" and make it look very different and that it is a crafted things that has a use.

I'm grateful that all of these frames have actually been bought by people, something I still find hard to deal with.
I've been selling stuff for several years now, usually at church and school fairs and I still find it humbling that a person will part with cash for something I have made. It's also pressure, the weight of responsibility of giving people value for money.
Or maybe I just think too much.
Yeah, probably!

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