Re-Purposing Frames from the Thrift Store

A few weeks ago I was at one of the thrift stores here in town looking for something. I can't remember what it was, but while I was there I started looking at pictures. I mean, you never know, right? I found the most ugly things ever. But, while we were away this year, I had bought some matted prints that needed new frames. I decided to pick up some really ugly pictures just to use their really ugly frames for these prints.

The thing was, the frames weren't really that ugly, mostly they were only ugly because of what colour they were. I decided to get some spray paint, and make them what ever colour I wanted!

I wish I had thought to take a picture of what was actually IN these
so you could see how far my imagination had to stretch! They really don't look
all that bad once you take the stuff in them out, and give them a wash.

I made them a neutral vanilla colour to make the black matte really pop. We are moving
in a few weeks and I'm really hoping to begin a really awesome gallery wall, and
these will be a fantastic part of it!

And that's it! It couldn't have been easier really! I ALWAYS keep my eyes open when I'm at the thrift store. Sometimes you can find really awesome things there if you take the time to look at what you might be able to DO with it, and not just at what it already is!

Christmas Paper Garland

Today in our office we made paper garland. I work for an environmental agency, so we used all recycled materials, and things we had around the house. The tutorial is pretty simple, and if you wanted you could probably up the sparkle of your garland by using some festive scrapbook papers, decorative ribbons, and a few embellishments to make your Christmas trees look fantastic!
The tutorial we used comes from this website: http://www.renewsing.com/2010/12/02/green-macgyver-christmas-paper-bauble-garland-%E2%80%93-an-eco-friendly-craft-for-kids/ but we decided to make our own, as we improvised some steps.

What you will need:

Scissors (or a circle punch), string (or ribbon, twine, etc.), glue, and the paper(s) of your choice!

Directions:


1) Trace and cut out circles. You will need 3-4 circles per bauble for them to be 3 dimensional. Most of us in the office chose to make 80 circles, for 20 baubles on our garland. You can make as little or as many as you like, depending on what you plan to use it for. Also, if you want to make fuller baubles, plan for more that 4 circles per bauble.

2) Once you have all of your circles cut out, fold them all in half.

You should now have several that look like this.

3) Begin gluing the folded circles together. I glued all of mine into pairs to start. Don't glue all four sides together yet.

*now you have a choice to make* in the link provided it shows that you do glue all four sides together, and then thread your string through the middle to put all the baubles together. We found that this would work if a) you are using yarn or something similar; and b) your needle is longer that your circles. We didn't do this, but if you want to, you can :)

4) Once you have all of your baubles, with one side open, lay your ribbon in, and glue the final side together. It should begin to look like this:

For this one, no space was left between the baubles

For this one, small spaces were left. If you are using decorative ribbon, this may be a  better option for you.

Of course, the spacing is your choice!

Eventually your garland will start to take shape!

I kept a loop at the top of mine to tie them together!

Some variations of this craft would be to make it from fabric if you like to sew, or you could make these into ornaments but making a larger loop than what I did above and making fuller baubles. One girl in our office even used squares instead of circles, and her's looks great to!

This is a very versatile craft, which can be as big or small, and as fancy or as eco-friendly as you want it to be! Also, its a VERY easy craft to do with children!

Enjoy your crafting!

My Newest Blog!!

Hello Everyone!

I'm very excited to be launching my newest project, and that is this craft blog. I have always considered myself to be a craft-oriented person, with no space to do it in! I grew up watching/helping my mom with tole painting, plastic canvas, crocheting, and several other crafty projects that her creative mind dreamed up! Now, with so many ideas available on the internet, I have just been dying to get a few projects started!

Last December, we bought a house, and I have my very own area to do my crafting!! I love it! Admittedly, it needs a ton of work, but it exists! Which is most of the battle. Take a look:

So, first off, I NEED a new chair, as this one is crap. The string hanging there was a makeshift way for me to hang the baggies I keep all my non-sticker letters separated in. I have them clothes pinned to it. I need A LOT of wall shelving, but it's a start. The table and drawers are really great (I had to tape a few pictures to the drawers because the blah-ness was killing me, but they come off very easy, in fact most of them have already fallen off). The closet no longer as clothes, and is just waiting to have fabric, and so many other goodies piled into it! On the far left is a fireplace for keeping cozy, and on the far right next to the closet is a computer desk (with computer). I mostly do scrapbooking down here, as I keep it all spread out over the desk so I can work on it whenever I have a little bit of time. I will need room for a sewing machine after Christmas (I hope!!!). Anything messy I tend to do upstairs so I don't get a mess on the carpet, but if it needed drying time or something, I would bring it down here. I don't want to do anything too permanent yet, because we still need to paint the ceilings, and I don't want too much to get in the way. (Our whole house it a DIY project!!)

Other than that, to tell you a little bit about me: this is actually a sister blog to one I have been writing for about 3-4 months now, which focuses on reading and book reviews, another one of my favorite things. I love blogging about books, and now crafts because its two things that the BF really doesn't care to hear too much about!! If you would like to check it out, pop over here!

Anyway, I'm looking forward to searching the web for some fantastic crafting blog friends to scope out all your ideas! Over the weekend I will be taking some photos of past projects I have done, and will be making a bit of a time line for some upcoming Christmas projects I want to try (this is after all my first time decorating my VERY OWN house for the holiday season!!).

Hope that some of you decide to stick around ;)