I’ve had and loved this wrought iron cross for years & it hung in our home in a prominent place.  I always wished that it had more of a visual impact, which I felt it deserved.  After adding a frame to the cross, it’s now a focal point.  I love it even more.

It’s a large cross, measuring about 18 1/2″ long.  I knew what I wanted to do with it, but I didn’t have a frame that large.  What did I do?  I started to search for a frame at the local Goodwill.  I was ecstatic when I found a frame large enough to fit the cross, and the price was right.

         

When I got the frame home, I couldn’t wait to see how it fit.

I painted one side of the painting & placed the cross on it to see how I’d like the color.  Perfect.

The frame was entirely too light to show off the cross, so out came the spray paint.  I used RUST-OLEUM Black Metallic paint.  There are little flecks of ‘sparkle’ in the paint.

    

After 20 years, the cross had gotten a few rusty spots, so I painted it too!

     

    

After all of the paint had dried, I set it aside & got started on the backing.  The first thing that I did was to spray the board with an even coat of spray adhesive.

(It was early morning when I did this.  Forgive the blue.)

Then I spread out a piece of white crushed velour on top of the adhesive & smoothed it out.

    

After the adhesive had dried, I trimmed off the excess velour.

    

After all of the excess Velour had been trimmed, I put it back into the frame, pushing down the clips to hold it in place.

    

Now on to adhering the cross to the picture backing.  First, I laid the cross on the backing to judge where I wanted it.  What was I going to use to hold the cross in place?  I found these 4″ Cable Ties at Walmart!

    

Using an Exact-o knife, I made cuts along side of the cross for the cable ties.

The next part was a little tricky.  I had to insert the cable ties from underneath so the fastener was in the back.  Then I pulled the ends of the cable ties up.

         

Once the cable ties were pulled up to the front, I laid the cross on the board & pushed the end of the cable tie over the cross sections & back through to the back.

    

Once the placement was where I wanted it, I turned the piece over & began to tighten the cable ties.  Once they were tightened, I used some wire cutters to remove the excess.  (Hindsight – clip them close so the frame will lay close to the wall… ahem)

    

    

And it’s finished!

And now it’s hanging on the wall.  It now has an impact & is exactly what I’d envisioned.

It amazing how adding a frame to a loved item makes it feel so much more important.

Happy Creating everyone!