"Secret Garden" Photo Frame

A few weeks ago while browsing the Graphic 45 blog, I came across a tutorial for a photo frame and thought what a neat way of decorating it.  So of course I had to have a play.

For this frame I used some of Graphic 45 "Secret Garden" collection, along with SU Baja Breeze for the tag (matches perfectly) and Basic Black for the photo slide, with a piece of shimmer paper from my stash for the butterfly and the larger of the petals on the flower.  The 'bones' of the frame is cut from some lightish weight box board before covering with the paper of choice.

I inked around the edges of the tag with Distress Ink "Stormy Sky" and then lightly stamped the background words from SU "French Foliage" with Distress Ink "Vintage Photo".   The flower petals were also inked with Distress Ink "Stormy Sky" and then the petals were curled around a pencil to give them a little dimension. 

The flower centre is a sparkly brad from SU and the ribbon was a leftover piece from my stash which tied in very nicely with the little grouping.

The butterfly is a Memory Box die and the flowers are Tim Holtz "Tattered Florals".

The tutorial even had a pattern for a stand included.  All I need now is a photo to pop in and it will be complete.

I feel as though I'm on holidays having been to Melbourne with my DH, and then last week visiting with my BFF on the Central Coast for 4 days.  While visiting her I worked on the book tutorial I've been following for the last 9 months (almost finished !) and she made me a gorgeous bag.  I already had the pattern and then we went shopping for the fabric - what a clever best friend I have and I absolutely love how the bag turned out.

And just to finish the holiday feeling, I'm off this coming weekend with my Mother's Group girls, so the family are going to have to 'fend for themselves' yet again.

Happy crafting!