Christmas is a time of year where everything is sentimental. The decorations, the food and recipes, the traditions- these are all things that vary from family to family depending on what they grew up doing and what Christmas means to them! Its only fitting that handmade decor is a part of Christmas. Something that can be handed down from generation to generation.
This repurposed Christmas mirror frame by Marie Pickles is such a fun, festive, and personalized piece that can be displayed each year!
I had some burlap yardage plus some burlap flowers and I had been browsing Pinterest and saw some decor frames using felt, fabric and paint and they featured Halloween. I thought… not Halloween but perhaps Christmas? So after browsing through some local antique/thrift/junk and charity shops, I found myself a mahogany mirror frame for £5/$5. Can’t be bad to that. –Marie Pickles
MATERIALS USED:
Canvas Corp Grey Burlap
Canvas Corp Avocado Flowers
Reclaimed mirror and frame from local ‘repurposed’ shop
Home Decor Chalk paint in white and grey
Pebeo Gilding Wax Silver
Variety of coloured felt
wooden stars, mylar stencils
Hot glue sticks, glue gun, glue spray, PVA glue
Sandpaper, Scissors
pictures from books and internet to trace
STEP 1
Wash and dry the frame, sand frame well with medium then fine sandpaper. Wash the frame to remove the dust and dry well. Use making tape and mask off the mirror but make sure the masking tape does not cover any part of the frame. Apply one or two coats of the grey paint (darkest color) and allow to dry well between coats. Now paint over the frame with one or two coats of white chalk paint again allowing to dry between coats. Using a fine grade sand paper, rub the frame to reveal the bottom layer of paint and even some of the original frame. Wipe any dust of frame. Using a very small amount of Pebeo Gilding wax rub it along edges or dips on the frame to highlight and add interest.
STEP 2
Roughly cut the burlap to the size of the mirror. Lightly spray the back of the burlap with fabric glue spray and lay onto the mirror. Allow to dry. Using scissors or similar start to fray the edges of the burlap.
STEP 3
It should be trimmed to leave an inch or two of the mirror showing. You may need to try a variety of glues to find which works best for you. I also used some hot glue to secure firmly.
STEP 4
Set the frame aside for safe keeping and now prepare the felt decorations. depending on what you might have available you can die cut shapes or use mylar templates or print off some pictures from the internet or copy from books. I used a mixture of Debbie Shore templates, pictures from the internet and some felt patterns. I cut a variety of shapes and layered them to make some 2 dimensional Christmas icons and shapes. I found that fabric glue or hot glue worked best to layer the pieces of felt.
STEP 5
Make a variety of felt shapes to lay onto your frame, it can tell a story, make a pretty picture or be things that are familiar at Christmas. I decided a Scotty dog, an angel or fairy and Santa, Snowman and Christmas Stocking are all things that remind me of Christmas and make me happy.
STEP 6
The Angel has several layers, firstly the wings, then the body, arms and legs, the dress and then the hair and face. I used some of the strings of burlap and tied them together to give the hair more texture but you could use pieces of fleece or straw, buttons, ribbons or really anything at hand. The Scotty dog got a little tinsel collar and a variety of different coloured felt made the other facial features. Play around with the pictures and decide which way works best for you, landscape or portrait. I used hot glue to secure. I had an idea that my frame would be outside so the hot glue was really the best choice for me.
STEP 7
Now you can start to add some more details. I had a bunch of wooden stars that called out for shiny silver and again pebeo gilding wax was the right product for the job. I rubbed it onto the stars, allowed them to dry a little and then gave them a polish with a soft cloth. These have been added to the mirror and hot glued in place and then the whole frame got a sprinkling of stars as well.
STEP 8
I think this would look good inside or outside perhaps with Santa standing beside waiting for his special moment or maybe on the shelf with the Elf… my grandchildren have been trying it around the house deciding where it just might go.
This was a fun project, I had some little helpers along the way. With a hot glue gun there are a lot of elements that little fingers can’t do; but rubbing gilding wax on stars, choosing colours of felt, a little bit of snipping and helping fray burlap kept them involved and it’s not granny’s christmas picture…. it’s ‘our Christmas picture’ a fabulous little memory.
Thanks for stopping by the blog for a little Christmas craft inspiration!
We love seeing a project that can be done alongside family and can be treasured year after year.
Happy Crafting!
'Personalised Christmas Mirror Frame' have 2 comments
December 8, 2017 @ 3:41 pm Michelle Wells
So cute!
December 11, 2017 @ 10:43 am Julia Cotrim
Hi Marie very sweet what you have created! 🙂