Tuesday's Tutorial "Presidential Framed Prints!"

Happy Inauguration Day! Well, this is a day that your grandchildren's children will be reading about in their history books many years from now. Whether or not the president elect was your choice or not, we as a nation, have become part of History!

So, in honor of this day, I thought I would give you a tutorial on making your own Framed Prints from two well-known Presidents who too have made History. This is a very easy project, and with a few steps, you will think these are aged Originals that have been hanging around for a long time! I hope you enjoy!

"Presidential Framed Prints"

supplies:

*George & Abe Images (included in tutorial)

*White Cardstock

*Your choice of Frames (8x10 or 5x7)

*4 Tea bags

*Paint brush or Foam Brush

*Aluminum Foil

*Cookie Sheet

*Oven

*Matte Finishing Spray (I like the Krylon brand)

*OPTIONAL: Iron

Directions:

First, you will need to grab the Images below. I have already taken and aged them with a Photo editing program. You really have to love online Photo sites that you can just upload & edit your photos...the options are endless!

Below are the 2 Images that I have already edited for you. Just right click on the photo's and save them to your computer.

Now, you will need to print these photos from your computer. You will need to decide what size you are going to print them, I did full sheet for an 8x10 photo. You will need to print them on the white Cardstock paper. This works best for this project, as we are going to age them even further.

Now, We are ready to further age your prints with some strong tea. Take and boil one cup of water in a saucepan. Add your 4 tea bags and boil for an additional minute to really get your tea nice and strong. Let your tea mix cool slightly.

With your paint brush, heavily coat your prints with the strong tea. Don't be afraid to soak down your prints nicely.

Now, line your cookie sheet with a piece of aluminum foil. Take your prints and place them ontop the foil, we are now going to dry them in the oven.

Place your Prints in a 300 degree oven. Slightly crack the door, and closely watch your photos. We are going to dry them this way. I like to check my photos every 5 minutes, as these WILL BURN!! So, watch them carefully, they only take about 5-7 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool a minute.

Once the photos are completely dry, take and spray 3 light coats of your Matte Finishing Spray on them; making sure to dry thoroughly inbetween coats. Also, if you think your prints are too wrinkled or warped now, you can turn them over and with a hot DRY iron, smooth them flat, then spray with sealer.

Remove the backing from the frame and place photos inside. I had a Mat inside my frame, it was white in color. I did paint my Mat with black paint and spray it with the matte finishing spray...I just thought it looked better this way. I have had these frames for several years now, and these were the perfect frames for the Prints. It actually makes the prints seem much larger than they are, since the frames are 16x20 in size. So, if you have a large frame with a 8x10 or 5x7 matted frame...use them! Place print back inside frame and hang!

You can leave the glass intact if you wish, I did choose to leave the glass in mine. I know alot of you like the look of not having glass, but for this project I would recommend the glass. That's it! Fast & Easy, yet very Primitive! Hope you enjoy!

Don't you see all the wonderrful "watermarks" on the prints now?!!! I just love how this makes them look so much more aged! Sorry, the pix are not the greatest, but I was trying to capture the "aged" look for you that they have!