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Sunday, September 12, 2010

Coffee Filter Fall Frame


This was the fourth project that I showed as a Workshop Wow at Stampin' Up!'s Fort Worth Regional on September 10th.  Click here to see the other projects.  If you read my original post, you know that this project started out as a mistake.  In fixing the problems (which you'll see), I ended up liking the final version better.


I started out with this inexpensive frame made of MDF.  My original idea was to cover the frame with distressed coffee filter paper and then add fall colored leaves for a country or rustic look.  As you can tell, this frame decided it wanted to be a little more special.  However, the first steps are still the same.

Supplies 

Four 8 - 12 cup coffee filters (7 ¾” diameter):  3 unbleached and 1 white
Stamp Set:  French Foliage
Classic Ink Pads:  Soft Suede, Early Espresso, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Not Quite Navy, Elegant Eggplant
StazOn:  Black
Stampin' Sponges
Unfinished frame.  This one is made from MDF.
Clear water-based varnish.  While I used J.W's Right-Step Water-Base Clear Varnish in a Matte Finish, other clear varnishes should work too.  Test your varnish on a piece of scrap to make sure that it works.

Distressing Coffee Filter Paper

While this technique has been around for some time, here are the steps and the colors that I used.


First crumple the paper and open it back up leaving in most of the wrinkles.


Run the Soft Suede Classic Ink Pad directly across the filter paper.


Spritz with water and let dry.


Repeat the inking and spritzing with Early Espresso.

Covering the Frame


Cover the front and sides of the frame with the distressed coffee filters.  I used three coffee filters to cover this frame.  I recommend using the same clear varnish that you will use to decoupage the leaves on for this step.  Avoid getting the varnish or glue onto the back of the frame. 


On the back, I used the flat edge file from Stampin' Up!'s distressing kit to sand off the excess paper.  Since it's not glued down, it will tear off with a clean edge as you can see here.

This is the stage where I decided the project wasn't working out the way I expected.  It didn't look like fall and adding leaves wasn't going to help.  So I decided to go in a different direction and started sponging on color.  The colors I used were More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Not Quite Navy, Elegant Eggplant.  Go from the light colors to the dark ones, which is how the colors are listed.  As the colors get darker, sponge in smaller areas.  Otherwise you won't be able to see the lighter colors.


I started with More Mustard. 


Here it is after I added the Pumpkin Pie and Old Olive.


This is how the frame looked with all of the colors sponged on.  It will get quite a bit darker when you varnish the frame so don't go too dark.  Even after you varnish, you can add more ink if you wish.  If you look carefully, you can see where I randomly stamped the script from the French Foliage stamp set with Black StazOn.

Leaves


Your eyes are not going bad.  The picture looks that way because I die cut 4 layers at the same time.  I used a white coffee filter so the leaves would show up against the frame a little better.


Flip over some of the leaves so you have more leaf shapes.  I stamped each leaf with Black StazOn and French Foliage.  Don't worry about the leaf parts not lining up exactly.  Sponge on the same colors as you used on the frame.  I used 4 oak leaves and 3 maple leaves on my frame. 


I decoupaged the leaves on by painting varnish on the frame and laying the leaf in the position that I wanted.  If you want to sponge on more color to your frame, this is the time to do it.  I then added a final coat of varnish over the entire frame. I loved how the varnish made some of the leaves look like they were blending right into the frame. 


Here is a close up of the leaf near the bottom right hand corner.  You can barely see the French Foliage script on the right hand side between the two leaves.

I hope you enjoy making this project.  I'm looking forward to trying this technique using other themes and colors.

Creatively yours,

Sharon Cheng
Richland Hills, TX

1 comment:

Judy Marshall said...

Thanks so much for a great tutorial! Amazing!! I can hardly wait to try this...love, love, love the colours!! What a great project

Judy