Project: IKEA altered photo frame

May and June are the birthday months for the majority of my friends (I'm surrounded by a swarm of crazy Gemini, myself included, lucky me!!!). So, I was looking for a gift for a male friend who likes outdoor activities and the nature in general, and I had already printed the BW image and colored it with my copics in order to make a card with it. But, since I couldn't find an appropriate gift and given the fact that my friend likes the arts and crafts as well, I decided to turn the image into a decorative item by incorporating it in a photo frame I had already purchased from IKEA and was patiently waiting for some alteration.

First step, I lightly sanded the wooden frame and then covered it with white gesso. While the gesso was still wet, I added a drop of dark brown Distress ink on my craft mat, took it lightly with a foam brush and added irregular lines on the frame. Then I lightly brushed each side of the frame so as to make the dark ink blend more with the gesso. 

Next step, I adhered with foam squares the colored image on a dark brown cardstock piece that I had already distressed its edges and positioned it on top of a white piece of paper that I had already cut according to the dimensions of the inner frame.

Then I used distress inks with the foam applicator and the idea was to "expand" loosely the "view" outside of the boundaries of the colored image. When the result was ok, I wanted to add a little texture so I covered the lot with Crackle Accents and when it was dry, I accented the cracks a little with Pumice stone. I had once more a "creative accident" that is that I forgot to heat set the distress inks prior to covering the image with the Crackle Accents so the colors diffused a bit, but the result was interresting nevertheless.

When I adhered the image on top of the background and inserted it inside the frame, it made totaly sense as a whole, so I'm very happy with the outcome. The only exception was that my colored image was too bright and I used the Antique Linen distress ink in order to give to it a vintage, weathered look.

I kept the original beige internal photo frame and the glass that was in the frame package and in case my friend gets bored with it, he can remove the image and use the photo frame as a photo frame!LOL!