Frame And Display A Love Letter

The problem with love letters is that they get tucked into a box only to be read once every few years. Why not pull them out and put them on display where they can be enjoyed all the time?

Make Your Own Frames And Arrange a Wall Collage

Make Your Own Rustic Framed Art

This project happened by accident. I bought my daughter a calendar from the dollar store since she was always asking what day it was. I found this one that was full of bright, inspirational messages.

Thrift Store Makeovers

One neat thing about wordpress (or I guess blogs and websites in general) is that you can see what search engine words led people to your website. This can be helpful in learning what topics people are interested in.

What I found was the majority of search terms used for my site involved thrift stores and decorating with thrift store items. Since I just so happen to love making over thrift store items, I thought it would be fun to do more of it!

Starting today.

I found these little guys at a thrift store and liked them.

I don’t cross stitch so I’m not up on the lingo. I assumed they were some sort of frames for a cross stictching project since they had glass but all I could find about them is that they are cross stitching hoops. I couldn’t find anything online showing these hoops with glass.

If anyone has any idea about these, let me know because now I’m really curious. Most likely they are a rare antique worth millions and now I’m very rich.

Despite my windfall, I decided to carry out my project. To begin, I removed the glass and painted the rims white.

Once that dried, I picked out a fabric (I went with this lobster print) and used the glass to trace the fabric to size.

Then I just glued the fabric to the glass with the print side facing out.

 And put the glass back into the frame and reattached the screw.

Then they were ready to hang!

They made the perfect decoration over my son’s bed, just in time for summer.

Now, on to the next thrift store makeover 🙂

 

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Easy Way to Display Kids’ Art

In February, I made a Love Wall to display in Starbucks. To make it, I had to use up frames from around our house which left our living room wall sad and bare.

Since this room is currently in transition (i’m trying to slowly replace all the browns and dark with bright and colorful), I wasn’t ready to buy any artwork for this area. In fact, I had no idea what I wanted to do here.

All I knew is that I was sick of looking at a blank wall.

I decided to let my kids handle the decorating until I figured out what to do.

There are a lot of great ways to display kids’ art, but I decided on using open frames to hang them. It is easy to swap out the pictures and it’s lightweight to hang.

I’d been looking around for the right frames but was having a hard time. Then I stumbled across a garage sale that had these three frames which were perfect. I love when that happens!

I removed the glass and backing and measured out jute roping to fit across the back. I tied the end in a knot to hold better to the hot glue, which held it down.

Depending on the size of your frame, you can have one or more art hanging lines.

I just hung them on the wall.

And then I put my kids to work.

Using a clothes pin, I hung their artwork and that was it.

I like that this designates a spot for their art instead of getting randomly taped around the house.

I realize I fell into my old habit of using earth tones (jute) for this project. Rethinking this, these frames might look cute with a bright, decorative ribbon instead. Or if you hang them in a child’s room, a pastel, satiny ribbon would be pretty.

Lots of options. Have fun!

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Hanging frames

If you have any frames whose propping flap (does that thing have a name?) is broken or if you’ve run out of room on your tables, here’s an easy fix. All you need is ribbon, a hot glue gun and some nails or removable hooks.

First, decide where you want the picture to hang on your wall. This will help you determine the size of ribbon you’ll need.

Then turn the frame over so the back of the frame is facing you. Fold your ribbon in half with the ends at the top of the back of your frame. Hot glue the ends into place.

Then flip them over and hang them however you like. I had a shelf that had hidden hooks so I hung mine there.

But you can get as creative as you want. If you hang them from a nail or a 3M removable hook, you can just decorate the hook.

I hot glued a pebble directly onto my hook to create this look.

The nice thing about these is that you can do so much with them. You can make the ribbons any length you want, use decorative ribbons and do all kinds of things with decorating the hook.

Have fun!

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Jewelry Embellished Mirrors

I saw these mirrors at a garage sale and I had to have them.

What I didn’t have to have, though, were the candle holders on them. They had to go, but I had no idea what to do because removing them would leave two holes in the front. I’ve been racking my brain for weeks on this one and then it came to me this morning. I actually think I heard angels singing.

First, I removed the candle holders with a screwdriver and that left the holes I was talking about. Then with just a tiny bit of vinegar and water (but mostly a ton of elbow grease) I cleaned and wiped the mirror and silver down.

Then I went rummaging through a box of my Grandma Weetie’s old costume jewelry that my dad had given me. I found two beautiful broaches that would be perfect.

I originally used wire cutters and wire to affix them through the holes and, needless to say, I don’t have that kind of time. That created a whole new project of attaching the wire to the broach and then getting it to fit through the holes correctly.

I happily scrapped that idea and grabbed my trusty old friend, the hot glue gun.

I was able to stick one of the finding parts on the back of the broach into one of the holes. Then I put hot glue through the back of the hole and that seemed to hold that side into place pretty well. Then I just needed a little glue on the back of the other side of the broach to hold it to the mirror and we were all set.

This turned into such a simple project and I love that it incorporates my grandma’s jewelry. It is a beautiful way to keep her memory alive.

Thanks for reading!

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