Shadow Boxes

Shadow boxes are a great way to commemorate an event or celebrate a milestone, plus they make great gifts!  Here's the how-to on the one's I made for Home & Family on the Hallmark Channel: My shadow boxes came unfinished, so, I hit 2 with spray paint and the third I did a coffee stain on.  Yup, just like it sounds, I used a cup of coffee and a paintbrush.  It gave me a nice warm light brown.  I then added a backdrop that worked for each frame.  I used different scrapbooking papers, felt and gift wrap. To give your photos thickness use spray adhesive to affix them to a piece of black or white foam core.  Then use a utility knife to cut them out. Stack small 1" squares of scrap foam core together using hot glue and attach these to the center of the back of the photos you want to float out from the back of the frame.  For the frame with my twins, I put one picture on a single piece and then layered the other picture over it by attaching it to a stack of three pieces. To get the writing that's printed on the fabric the trick is Freezer Paper!  Don't get this confused with wax or parchment paper, freezer paper is its own thing and can be found in the same section as the others at the grocery store.  Cut a piece of paper to fit your printer (I did 81/2" x 11" to be easy).  Place it glossy side down on your fabric of choice.  I have a finicky printer, so I made sure I used thin muslin for one frame and interfacing for the other.  If you have a printer that can take card stock or the like you can use thicker fabrics.  Iron the paper quite thoroughly.  The plastic coating on the paper will fuse with the fabric, basically creating a sheet of fabric paper!  Cut the fabric around the paper being sure to not leave any loose threads that might jam the printer. When you're ready to print out your message of choice, just insert the fabric/paper into the paper tray (with the correct side up, of course!) and print away. You can then easily pull the paper off the back of the fabric and you're all set.  I wanted a frayed edge on mine, so I cut them out and then pulled a few threads from each side.  I then attached them to the frame with a drop of hot glue in the corners.Done!