A Little Crafty: Before and After

Got a few things to show you today! Remember this picture frame that I found with various other things at my new favorite store Goodwill? The frame has been painted for quite a while, but I finally found just the thing to go inside it and I hung it over the weekend. I'm quite happy with it. I think it looks great against the yellow.A closer look:
The frame isn't hanging crooked, the photographer (me) just didn't line things up very well. It doesn't show up very well in the photo, but I didn't do the best sanding job before I sprayed it and so now little spots of silver can be seen all over the frame, but I didn't fix it because I liked the effect. Huzzah for happy accidents! (Which has been a nickname for my fourth child upon occasion...Kidding! Kidding! [sort of]) With the silver shining through, it matches the knobs and drawer pulls in the kitchen even better.

Next up, you may ooh and ahh over my mad crafting skillz, yo.

I found these small canvases--they're 2x2--and decided to spell out our family name on them to make a small wall hanging.I found a font I liked and was going to print it out, cut it out and trace it, but due to reasons much too tedious to go into, I ended up copying the font free-hand.See my old-looking-but-no-longer-dandelion-stained hand? That's to give you an idea of scale. (Okay, it's for my mom, who is wonderful, but simply cannot picture things in her head.)



Then I traced it with my beloved Staedtler pens. Pen. No "s". I mean, I have more than one, but I only used one--a black one--to trace. (Truly, I should not post first thing in the morning...)



Next, I filled in the letters. I wound up going over them again with a Sharpie for a little better coverage. I didn't want to be too hard on my beloved Staedtler.


I found these at Hobby Lobby and spray painted them black. (natch)


I used my glue gone to affix the letters and wood appliques to ribbon. Then I got all fancy with my hanger. I used a tab from a Diet Coke (Oh, how I love thee, Diet Coke!) can.

Use what you have, right? And hoo boy! Have I got a few of those around here!

Then, um, I hung it on the wall in the family room. The greeeeeeen family room. (I still luurrve it.)It's a little lonely up there right now. But I'm sure I'll find or make something to keep it company.

So there you have it. Don't hate me because I'm evah so crafty. Or whatever...

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