handmade holiday 2014

Welcome to day 2 of the 4th Annual Handmade Holidays Blog Hop!

A few years ago we were looking online for handmade gift ideas and thought it would be great if there was a resource dedicated JUST to handmade gift ideas. Enter the Handmade Holidays hop!

We’ve gathered over 100 of our creative blogger friends in the craft industry as well as some of our fellow product manufacturers to bring you a plethora of inspiring gift ideas you can make now to give to your friends, family, and colleagues.

Pin and bookmark these ideas for this holiday season and to use throughout the year! Each day of the hop features approximately 30 gift projects and you can “hop” from one blog to another to check them all out.

For my project, I decided to alter a window with travel photos as a gift to my parents. This is a long post and there are a lot of steps, but do not let that frighten you. It is deceptively easy to create a photo window.

This is what the window looked like when I started … it came out of a barn that was being demolished. After a good hose down with a little bleach, my husband added a piece of wood and hardware cloth to fill in the two missing panes and it was ready to transform.

I applied layers of acrylic paint, some watered down a bit, until I liked the patina. I used white, deep brown and a bright blue. I also left a bit of the red paint that was on the window and some of the chipped paint and wood visible in my layers.

My dad is not into rustic and I was worried he would think the window was dirty, so I painted the sides and back with white gesso to keep it nice and clean. (My cat likes to help with all of my projects — mostly as a supervisor.)

I covered the wood with paper from Graphic 45’s Come Away With Me collection. I also added a bit of embossing paste through a stencil in the corners. At first, the paste was too white, so I took a bit of permanent ink (by dabbing a dauber into the ink pad) and went over it lightly to deepen the color.

I cut out elements from other papers in the collection, inked the edges and adhered them to the frame. I also added a tiny nail at each side and in the top left corner of the frame to hang things on.

For the next pane, I adhered a couple of photos to a piece of paper, cut slightly larger than the glass. I used packing tape to attach it to the back of the window.

Here it is from the front side …

I used clips to attach photos to the hardware cloth. This way, they can easily be changed out as often as desired.

The banner was cut out of Graphic 45 papers with Elizabeth Craft Designs Tags & More 2 — Deco.

I decided to put the tags upside down to create a banner. I added cork squares (with rounded corners) and circles cut out of the maps on the paper. Then, I cut out letters with Sizzix/Tim Holtz die Wordplay. I punched holes in each tag and ran fibers through to connect them. I tied them to little nails I put in the edges of the frame.

To add a bit of dimension to the top frame, I used the Sizzix/Tim Holtz Ticket die to cut out tickets out of Graphic 45 paper and then stamped them with a coordinating Tim Holtz stamp.

I used Scrapbook Adhesives 3D Foam Squares to adhere some of the tickets so they stand out better.

I also cut out arrows and cars out of these Sizzix/Tim Holtz dies. This type of die allows the images to be cut out of paper and chipboard. I adhered the papers to the chipboard for a little more dimension.

In this pane, I adhered photos and elements directly to the glass. I used Scrapbook Adhesives 3D Foam Squares to add a bit of dimension to some of the elements.

I used the Mini Filmstrip/Ticket die from Sizzix/Tim Holtz to create a filmstrip border. Then I cut out small images from the Graphic 45 paper and used the Sakura Quickie Glue to adhere them. (DISCLOSURE: I did receive products from Sakura to use and promote on this project).

I added the filmstrip border, car, compass stamp and buttons to the front of the glass, so photos can still be changed on the backside without bothering these elements.

I added additional elements cut from paper and chipboard, along with more vintage buttons to this frame.

I wanted to make items to dangle on the frame’s left side. I used Sakura’s Glaze Pens to color an acrylic tag.

I coated another tag with clear, liquid adhesive and adhered it to paper. I added rub ons to the blue tag. Then, I used the black Glaze pen to create dimensional dots on the acrylic. Once the glue dried, I trimmed the tag with the paper on it.

Then I added some jump rings, fibers and pearls to create a little tag for the side of the frame.

For a final touch, I used Sakura Gellyroll Moonlight 06 pens to make a little tag to hang on the frame. These pens show up brilliantly on black cardstock.

And, one last look at the completed frame … I already presented it to my parents and they loved it!

Are you ready for lots more creative handmade gift ideas and projects??

Follow along on our blog hop! Simply click on each of the links below to be taken to that post with additional information and photos on how to create a handmade gift project. Have fun and pin away!

Clearsnap

Ellison Educational Equipment

Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L

Elizabeth Craft Designs