Frame for Mom's Birthday **New technique for clay molds.

I've seen many frames similar to these.... Family - Joy -

My friend Melissa did a fantastic one for Mother's day - but she didn't make one, she made 3 of them, and added photographs.  I was going to do that too, and found some great ones from when my sister and I were kids, but I wasn't happy with my photo options - so I took the project in this direction.

 I used my Cricut to cut the letters from the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge - layered with Concord Crush, and Pretty in Pink (ret.) cardstock.  The background paper is simply 2-12 x 12 sheets of the Flirtatious paper cut to fit the Concord Crush 3 inch squares.

There are LOTS of embellishments - the letters, and patterned paper squares are all inked with either Soft Suede, or Crumb Cake.  I used the laser cut sheets to trim out 3 doilies, and inked them with Pretty in Pink.

Lots of the embellishments came from the Artisan's Embellishments Kit that I'm so sad to say didn't return in the new 2013-2014 catalog. :(

On the letter h, you can see a white resin flower from the Artisan Embellishments Kit.  To the left of the h, I used some of the lace, and a clear button in the center.  To the right of the h, I used some of the flowers included in the kit as well as one of the ribbon holder with the hearts at the top.  LOVE LOVE LOVE those! 

One of the very newest products Stampin' Up is coming out with is clay!  I LOVE IT!   The butterfly at the bottom is the new Stampin' Up clay, used in a Martha Stewart mold - on the right hand side, at the top square and 2nd square underneath are molds from MS as well.  LOVE that frame!!!  I'm going to use that one often. Instead of using a water brush on the frame, I used my sponges and colored it that way.  It worked so well!

Cast Molds - are you aware of them?  I taught this to my students - has to do with how some fossils were formed so many millions of years ago.  I used the exact same principle with that white resin flower found on the letter h.  I used some "bake" FIMO clay, pressed the flower into it to make an impression (along with some other pieces) baked it, and then used the Stampin' Up clay to make more of them!  **Confused yet?  I really did try to be clear.

The Stampin' Up clay is soft, and air-dried so it wasn't such a crisp impression, but it is pretty in person!  Sometimes the pictures just don't do justice. :(

SO, here's my take on the framed pieces.  This one definitely gets hand-delivered.