old windows and chalkboard frames in progress

In a burst of spring cleaning/nesting I have given away most of my old window frames. I kept two and got them going. One I am sealing with a coat of fresh white paint and I intend to put black and white photographs in it. I have a wall of black and white art in my basement (the wall itself is red, such a great color scheme if I do say so myself). The other I am going to turn into a chalkboard for the kiddos but first I painted it the same great teal as my kitchen. I want to let that teal paint get nice and dry and hard before I put paint tape on it and do the chalkboard paint.

I have a great vision of having a whole chalkboard gallery for my kids to draw on. Originally my thought was to paint the chalkboard squares right on the wall and hang empty frames over them. Then I discovered via Pinterest that you can just paint right on the glass and thought that made much more sense! If you are interested, I found this blog post comparing brush-on chalkboard paint to spray-on chalkboard paint most helpful. I already have a can of the brush-on version so we are sticking with that.

So I got a whole collection of frames in the middle of being painted.* Actually, they are done. But I haven't put them back together yet. So they are in a sorry little heap. I don't think I can hang them until I get the old window chalkboard done. They are all going to be hung in the same stairwell and I need to map that out all at one time.

I am starting to think this is not a project I will get done before baby arrives so I figured I would give you a sneak peek for the time being. Oh, and I must show you my inspirations (via Pinterest of course). See it? Won't that be fun?

*Did you notice the crazy rainbow collection of colors. Gallons upon gallons? Every one of those colors is on a wall in my house somewhere! Hee!

I can make that!

Not only can I make it, I can make it different and perhaps better. The original vote of confidence came from my mother, who saw this in a catalog but didn't want to pay that price. Also, after all was said and done, we noticed it was 18" by 14" which is rather large. But, if you love it, go ahead and buy it right here.

The inspiration: 

Our version (my mom gets credit for being the co-stylist & the finances of this project):

Ours is only 5" x 7". We bought a shadow box, red beads, and some scrapbook paper (Textured with little threads running across it! Perfecto!) right off the shelf at Micheal's. I already had the red embroidery thread at home (although it was thrifted from the Salvation Army I would like to note). My husband procured some metal scraps of the correct color (warm, not silvery) from his man room stash. And of course, having some nice graphic design software at home (hello, InDesign) and an inkjet printer I was free to run wacky textured paper through helped out quite a bit.

My dear husband was roped into being a partner in craft on this one. He drilled some nice tiny holes, a set of two on each side for me. I am hard-pressed to find the motivation to use the drill myself when he is around. Besides, it's not like I had a spare frame in the event I messed up!

I ended up doing doing the embroidery thread through the beads twice. I used a needle that fit through our tiny drilled holes and the holes in the beads to get it where I needed it to be. We actually ended up tying the knot on the outside and scooching it back inside. There was a bit of a trick to getting the tension right because I knew we wanted to do the tiny little metal clamps on each side.

In came the husband again. He tied the knot, invented the clamps, and put them in place. Whew!

Meanwhile, I printed out another draft of the words. I wanted the break between the two parts of the quote to fall directly behind the thread and beads of course. Being one who knows and loves type, I would also like to point out that I broke the text at the end of a sentence (unlike the version that can be purchased online). I would like to point out that there is a doll in the background of the above photo, not a child neglected in the name of crafting.

The only hang-up I had with the textured paper is that I had to pick off a couple of odd rough spots where the paper flaked and had black ink stuck to it. Not a big deal since I won't be mass-producing these anytime soon! Unless you want to pay me $100 for it. Then we can talk.

Also, I was really stressing about how to hold the beads in place. In the end, I just didn't. There are 10 strands of thread running through there and they don't seem to slide much. They shifted a little when I transported it and I was able to get them back in place by gently tipping the frame. Once it is hung on the wall, they won't be moving anyway!

The style and coloring of my finished piece is radically different than the inspiration but it matches the decor of the person who will be receiving it as a gift.

Craft challenge in a frame

A sweet friend of the family had this 95th birthday card framed along with a description of her sign. She also had a small oval frame with a photo of herself taken on her 95th birthday. She wanted the two combined somehow and wasn't tied to that particular frame or even to using the actual birthday card.

Before:

Using those guidelines I went to work:
1. spray-painted the frame red
2. broke the glass from the frame
3. found a font I loved and printed out a big "95" to use as stencils
4. typeset the description along with a "Happy Birthday" message
5. robbed my own frame collection to find a usable piece of glass
6. backed the piece with fabric she gave me from her personal collection (so I know she loves it!)
7. cut the "95" out of gold paper
8. arranged everything beneath the glass
9. super-glued the smaller frame on top it all
10. wrapped it up to present to her as a 97th birthday gift!

After:

B is for birds & butterflies: a wall collage

A recent visit to a friend's house inspired me to get going with my vision for hanging a grouping of items together on a dining room wall.

First step was to take the stack of dusty picture frames that had been sitting around since my discovery of spray paint back in the fall and decide what art to put in them. I framed a page from a paper brochure, a page from an old Picasso calendar, ordered an old photo off of Snapfish, and designed a piece with a few favorite Bible verses. Then I gathered together bits and pieces from other rooms of the house.

Next was the arranging. I laid everything out on the dining room table, parallel to the wall it would hang on so I could easily envision the space I had available and how things would look next to the butterfly print I already had hanging. After a week and four or five arrangements I was ready to go at it with a hammer and nails. Actually, to be honest, I have my husband do that part for me! I just art direct!

Once everything was up a few days passed and I had the inspiration to tuck in my favorite bird nest (sideways so you can see the different layers within) and a few feathers. It was just the textural and sculptural touch it needed. Voila!

Christmas gift crafted: clothesline photo frames!

So my mom clipped this from a catalog and passed it along to me with the comment "we could make this." I instantly thought "Oh good! A crafty gift idea I can use for Christmas!" I find some frames, some already owned and some thrifted. My husband and I talk through the hardware and the wires and he gets to work (love his willingness to go along with my craziness!). I buy the black spray paint. I buy some tiny black clothespins.

And then I visit my mom. What does she have hanging on a wall?! A black frame with wires for clipping photos on! She went out and bought one before I could give her one!

Fortunately there are others near and dear to me who would also appreciate such an object so I went forward with my crafting all the same.