Christmas frames, decorated wooden frames

First, measure and trace the circumference of the frame (to be painted) with a pencil. Carefully cut out the Christmas napkin motif with small, thin scissors. Position this motif and mark the location of the raised areas with a pencil; for our motif, these are the 2 heads, the belly and the little bag.
Using relief paste (a special, air-drying modelling clay) or structure paste (a kind of spatula-applied plaster), form the reliefs in the indicated positions. Once the relief is completely dry, you can sand it with fine paper to make it as smooth as possible, making sure it matches the pattern to be glued.

Around the frame, apply the crackling gel (as soon as the first color is dry to the touch), always in the same direction (vertical). After a few minutes drying time, you can paint with the second color, a beautiful Christmas red, in the same direction and in a single pass. The cracks in the paint should already be visible, and will become more pronounced as the paint dries. The relief is sanded down, ready for the napkin motif.

Place the design on the napkin (only the 1st printed layer remains), face down on a clean sheet of paper. Spray the varnish-glue spray (from a distance of about 20 cm). Wait a few minutes for the adhesive to develop. Place the motif, starting with the center, in the frame, taking care to position it on the relief. The use of spray varnish-glue means that the motif can be removed without damage and repositioned several times (which is not possible with the liquid version of varnish-glue): this is essential for this relief napkin technique. The frame is then varnished in two coats with colorless matte varnish.

Prepare salt dough (you won't need much for 3 small frames) according to the salt dough recipe.
Remove the glass from the frames and model Christmas motifs on the frames themselves:

a
• Santa Claus hat on a corner of the frame: model the shape of the hat, add a wide strip representing a white fur, then a ball at the end of the hat
• a Christmas gift: a cube is pressed against the corner of the frame.
• Model a thin, long colombin and place it like a bolduc, making a (false) loop
• a snowman: a large ball for the body (well pressed against the frame), a ball for the head, add the arms then a scarf in two parts (cut the ends of the scarf with fine scissors to make bangs), place a bonnet with the turn in relief and the end of a wooden spade as a nose
.

Fire the frames with their salt dough subjects (see baking Salt Dough in the oven): once out of the oven, the subjects adhere to the frames. They can now be painted. The subjects are painted with a fine brush of acrylic paint (see painting salt dough), and the wooden frames are painted with gold spray paint (handy for Christmas decorations), protecting the salt dough subjects from the spray. Frames and subjects should be varnished in two coats to ensure their durability.

Insert photos or cut-outs from Christmas cards, magazines or children's Christmas coloring pages into the frames...