Always Family - by BritK (Brittany)

Hi again! So December's project is "Reflective of You". This stumped me because well, I very rarely do any pages about myself, so I didn't. Every December or just after Thanksgiving(depending on when I have time), we put up pictures of all of the family because we don't necessarily get to see them all during the holiday season, but if their pictures are up, we remember to touch base with them sometime during the season and remember all the fun times with them. So I wanted to make something decorative that reflects on my "always family". It's something that is more and more reflective of me, especially the older I get(I am only 26, lol). So here we go... :-) 

Supplies used:

From CropChocolate:

Echo Park Season's Greetings Papers

Scrapp'n Supplies Self Adhesive Rhinestones- Red

LifeStyle Crafts Nesting Circles Dies

Amy Tangerine "Muse" Wood Grain Thickers

Non-CropChocolate Products:

Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Distress Ink

3D foam squares 

Mod Podge

2- 5" x 7" photo frames

Fiskars Apron Lace Border Punch

Step 1: Cut a sheet of the Season's Greetings papers to 2 pieces that are 5" x 7". Using Mod Podge, adhere it to the glass of the frame(now because of the style of frame I used, I'm working entirely on the front of the frame covering the glass, but you can do this however it works best for you). 

Step 2: Cut 2 strips of 1 7/8" x 7" paper and punch along one side with the Apron Lace border punch. Adhere to frame along bottom edge with Mod Podge. Now using the LifeStyle Crafts circle dies, cut out lots of circles in all kinds of patterns. I used the 1/2", 3/4", 1" and 1 1/4" dies. 

Step 3: Ink up your main background a bit with the Vintage Photo Ink, you don't want to make it heavy, just a little distressed looking. Pop the glass out of the frame and start attaching the circles. I made some of mine overlap the edges so I could trim them off. I used 3D foam squares to attach all of the circles. Once they're how you'd like them, trim the edges so they're even with the glass and pop it back into the frame. 

Step 4: I added the thickers to spell out "*always family*" across the two frames. The thickers weren't quite as dark as I wanted but I loved the woodgrain effect so I grabbed the Vintage Photo Distress Ink and applied a little ink to them. It worked great and I love that they're just a little bit darker. 

Step 5: I took the Scrapp'n Supplies Rhinestones and randomly added them around the circles. I didn't add anything to where the letters were, I wanted them to stand out. 

So that's my project, the wall of pictures will be up by about December 5th, depending on how swamped I get with the kiddo's birthday party planning and execution because well I'm not kidding with the family comes first. Always. Here's a better shot of the final project. 

Hope you all liked it. I can't believe this is my last DT project for CropChocolate.com, it's been a blast. Thanks CropChocolate for letting me be on your Design Team. It has been the best first Design Team experience I ever could've hoped for. I will see you all around on CropChocolate.com. :-)