How to Make a Textured Mat for a Picture Frame


When my sister was here for my birthday we went thrift store shopping and she bought me this frame for a gift. It's an awesome frame, but it's bigger than I realized.
 

I have this print of the San Diego LDS Temple (12"x18") that I envisioned would go in the frame, but it's turned out to be too small.
I have made several attempts to make it look how I pictured it in my head, but have had no luck. The vision has just not come together as I had pictured it.
In one of my attempts, I created a textured mat to go around the picture and that's the tutorial I want to share with you today.
I started with a 20"x 30" foam board from the school section at Wal Mart.

 
I cut the middle out a little smaller than my print, 12"x 18", so that it would overlap on the print. My cut out was about 11"x 17".

Then I used this stuff called Gesso. It's used to prep your canvas or board or whatever you're painting on, to give it texture. I had some left over from an art class in college. (It was not a painting class, you'll see I don't have painting skills, but some art class, nonetheless.)

 
Anyway, I painted the foam board and let it dry.


Then I used a gold metallic paint from the craft section at Wal Mart and made my first layer.


(Above: you can see the texture the Gesso creates)


Then I took the brown craft paint and mixed a tiny bit of water with it, painted it on and then used a paper towel to wipe some of it off. Just like glazing.  (Sorry, no picture of this step)
I got a little carried away while adding the watered down brown paint. I just loved how well it worked that I ended up doing too many coats and making it too dark. Oh well.
Then I used my Cricut to cut a monogram and our family name in brown vinyl. (I apologize that the pictures aren't great.)


You see, something is not quite right about it, but I can't figure it out.
Any suggesstions?

 
 
This is a previous attempt that didn't include the 12"x 18" print. It is a silhouette of the San Diego LDS Temple stenciled on burlap. Still not quite what I was going for.
It just goes to show that not every idea turns out to be great. When it's exactly what I want, I'll be sure to share again.
This tute is linked up over at:
Domestically SpeakingThe Girl CreativePhotobucket Somewhat Simple Todays Creative Blog Anything Related  http://www.thethriftyhome.comTransformation ThursdayHookingupwithHoH The DIY Show Off UndertheTableandDreaming Becolorful Photobucket/ http://www.bluecricketdesign.net/

4 comments:

  1. hmmm, i think they both look good!! i love the san diago temple. such a beautiful picture!! im sure you will get it the way you want it:)

    xoxo
    ash

    http://jaysonandashley.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great idea! I absolutely love this textured matte! Thank you so much for linking up last week at Sew Woodsy and thank you for being a loyal linker! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love it! I think it's perfect the way it is. If you still want to tweak it, though, maybe antique the frame a bit darker... But I love it!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think it turned out beautifully. Sometimes what we think might be mistakes really are gifts. This is great. Enjoy it and thanks for linking it up to Motivated Monday at BeColorful.
    Pam

    ReplyDelete

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