Altered Frame

I had this frame laying around the house and decided that I would use it to frame my print of the Eiffel Tower.  It's a large 13" x 16" wooden frame painted gold and I didn't think it did the print any justice at all being that it was a bit on the "old fashioned" side.... and not in a good way!  So I decided to change it to suit my decor.

 This was the original frame

Firstly I painted the wooden frame with acrylic paint (Espresso), then a clear coat of crackle medium and lastly a thick coat of white acrylic paint. As the white paint started to dry the crackle took effect

 

 

I wasn't happy with how white it looked so I sponge painted antique white over the entire frame

and then distressed it with Walnut Stain ink

Next step was to work on the inside mat

I didn't like the plain white mat so I used some gel medium (matte finish) and put a light coat all over the mat and then layered old book paper on top and lifted it to reveal reverse print on the matting. 

It was still looking a little stark so I distressed the print with Tim Holtz distress inks; "Brushed Corduroy"all over and "Walnut Stain" around the edges.

I painted the inside 1/4" interior strip Espresso and roughed it up a bit with a sanding block.

and here is the finished product

Til next time... Enjoy!