Ornament exchange: Shimmery frame ornament

My favorite type of Christmas ornaments don't scream Christmas. While they look right at home on the tree, they also look great on their own and can be displayed year round.

So when Ann Marie at White House, Black Shutters decided to host an ornament exchange, I decided to make an all-year type of ornament. I think my recipients should have gotten them in the mail by now, so I'm moving ahead with this post!

While brainstorming, I came across these photo frames I had stashed away. They already had hangers on the backs, so turning them into an ornament was an easy leap. I used them to make bridal shower favors earlier this year. They worked really well, so when I saw the frames go on clearance, I picked up a couple of extra packs.

I like these frames first because they were cheap ($1.25 for three! on clearance), but secondly because they are sturdy with real glass and a nice circular opening. They were kind of ugly straight from the package, but I don't let that disguise a simple silhouette.

I wanted to cover the frames with something sparkly, but not necessarily glitter. These "microbeads" (found near the glitter at the craft store) were just what I was looking for. Shimmery, not glittery.

I primed the frames...and that's when my experimenting began. I tried several different ways to stick the beads to the frames (different glues, etc.) but in the end, I didn't use glue at all!

I painted the frames with a champagne-colored spray paint and after the first thin coat, I defied all spray painting rules and doused the fronts with a thick coat. Sorry I don't have any photos of that as I was working quickly, but I used the thick coat of wet spray paint as my "glue."

I sprinkled the microbeads all over the surface and let the paint dry for several hours. (I did this in the lid of a shoebox to contain the mess.) Then I shook off the excess and carefully brushed off stray beads. After mostly removing all of the loose beads, I sprayed the frame with a a clear sealer to make sure they stayed stuck. (This technique works for messy shedding glitter too!)

After tying on some ribbons and adding a scrap of wrapping paper as a placeholder for a photo, they were ready to ship to my ornament exchange partners.

I think they look like a million bucks! Or at least way more than the $2-3/each they probably were. (Hard to quantify things like spray paint). I'm definitely going to have to make a few more. Love the gold/silver shimmer.

My new addiction: Another pillowcase dress

It's official. I'm in love with these pillowcase dresses. I'm not ready to try anything more complicated, but these dresses are so easy, I could make a dozen of them. And as a side benefit, they are hard to outgrow! As Elise gets taller, she can wear it as a long shirt.

I found this cute navy, pink and red floral fabric on clearance for $3/yard at Jo-Ann. I loved the color pallette and the price was awesome.

After my first pillowcase dress, I needed to figure out a way to make the ties part of the dress so they wouldn't come loose in the wash.

I sewed extra wide bias tape along the bottom hem, so my solution was to use the rest of the bias tape for the ties. I used a single piece all the way around the arm holes. It worked perfectly.

My time is improving; this one took me less than two hours, start to finish. I used the first dress as a pattern and that sped up the cutting. I also think doing the straps / arm holes like shown above was a lot simpler than sewing a pocket and threading the straps through. (Not that that way is hard; this was just easier and quicker overall.)

Thanks to Elise's friend Alice for letting us use her playset and toys for our photo shoot!

Enlarge and elevate tiny artwork with a shadowbox

Sometimes tiny art is hard to display. I'm a firm believer that the scale of artwork should match the scale of the space where it's hung, so unless you have tiny strips of wall, tiny pieces can get lost. A great way to give them a little more bulk is to put them inside a shadowbox.

This small 4.5" x 5.5" piece was painted by my great grandfather. I don't know much about him or his art hobby, but this painting didn't have any glass to protect it. The least I could do was take care of it properly.

I took a small scrap of gold fabric (leftover from a pillow) to use as a background.

I stapled it directly to the backing of the frame. This is an inexpensive shadowbox and the backing is just thin cardboard, so it wasn't difficult.

Then I took a T-shaped pin and put it through the fabric so I could hang the painting on it, just like I might put a nail in the wall to hang a picture. The pins are strong and this painting is very light, so it worked fine.

I love how the gold fabric and gold frame look together. Dare I say, kind of fancy? Kind of like a museum display.

But really, I think having the whole painting and frame behind glass elevates it in a way that just hanging it on the wall does not. The shadowbox is only 8" x 10"; not huge, but it's a little more substantial on a wall than the painting alone.

Kid hand print art

This was a simple kid craft that Elise and I did to commemorate her second birthday this week.

Last year, we stamped Elise's footprints around her first birthday and I thought I would start a mini tradition of making a piece each year.

I used acrylic craft paint rather than a stamp pad because I knew it wouldn't stain her hands. They probably have washable stamp pads, but I was trying to this only with what I had in the house. I didn't take any progress photos, but you can find the process in last year's post.

I started with this nine-inch square frame I bought on clearance last year for about $2. It came with a not cute die-cut mat, but the frame itself is basic black. Small tip: know your dimensions before you start so you won't spend forever looking for a frame to fit what you create.

After a few practice rounds...

we had the perfectly imperfect final version.

After the paint dried, I stamped a tag labeling her name and age and attached it to the paper with some adhesive. Simple and quick! The whole thing took approximately 15 minutes, which is about the time limit on craft time for a two-year-old.

Trash to treasure: Monogram wall art

I'm in love with monograms. It's true. It might be my secret, subconcious mission to incorporate one into every room on our house. I'm well on my way to acheiving that goal and here's one more.

Remember this cutie? My 70-cent little kid side table (in pieces) from the clearance racks at T.J. Maxx?

I wasn't crazy about the (potential) silohuette of the table, so I thought the MDF circles would be better used as foundations for wall art.

I took the table top (approximately 16 inches in diameter) and painted it a nice blue-black with artist acrylics. I brushed each coat of paint perpendicular to the last, which gave it a nice cross-hatch linen-like texture.

I wanted to trim the circle to give it some dimension and started looking for something around the house to use. I found a leather belt that didn't fit me anymore, but it wasn't long enough. (I should be thankful for that, right?)

I tried a number of random objects and had almost given up when I found some extra slats for our window blinds. They are wood-look-a-like, inch-and-a-half slats made out of plastic. The extra pieces were in the basement when we moved in and I've held onto them for whatever reason. I didn't think the slat would be flexible enough to bend gracefully around the circle, but it worked perfectly.

The slat was white, so I spray painted it black and then attached each end with a small nail hammered into the edge of the circle. I drilled some small pilot holes through the slat and into the circle to make the process go smoother and it worked perfectly.

The piece itself needed to be bold and graphic to contrast the paint chip art, so I took a papier-mâché letter H (our last initial) and painted it a bright yellow. I got this H at Hobby Lobby; the regular price is $2.47 (so, you know, less with a coupon or sale). These papier-mâché letters are hollow and super-lightweight, but they look solid and hefty once painted.

While I like the H, I'm not in love with it. I have a sneaking feeling I might find something better to mount to the circle in the future, so I attached the H with a 3M Command strip instead of glue. That should allow me to take it off and attach something else without damaging the paint.

I hung the H and my new stained glass window over the space where my bench is going to go (when I get finished with its makeover). I may have created a weird negative space to the left of the H, but I'm going to have to wait until I get the bench in to see if I need another piece of artwork to fill it.

The total for this project came under $2, if you don't count the paint I had on hand. That's $1.25 for the letter and 35 cents for the table top (half of the table price!). These "trash to treasure" pieces are some of the most fun for me. Are they fun for you?

Recovered throw pillows -- for only $3!

One of the things that is most needed in my living room spruce up is some new throw pillows. I had a pair of blue ones on our leather chairs. They were the right size and shape and in good condition, but they were pretty dull, so I decided to recover them.

I found this fabric on the clearance rack at Jo-Ann for $3/yard. I bought it before I knew what I was going to do with it, so I only bought a yard. Luckily, that's all I needed!

I measured and cut a piece of fabric that would wrap around the pillow then folded it in half. Then I machine sewed one of the short sides and the long side creating sort of a pillowcase.

It was obvious to me after sewing through two layers of the fabric that I was not going to be able to machine sew through four layers on the other short side to close up the pillow. I was going to have to hand sew the pillow shut. So I sewed the remaining raw edges with an arrowhead stitch to  prevent them from fraying too much.

I turned the cover right-side out and slipped it on the pillow.

Then I folded the open edges inside and hand sewed them closed using what I think is called a blind stitch. (I weaved the needle back and forth through the two layers of fabric inside the pillow so you can't see the thread.)

I love this fabric (did you spot the birds?) and $3 for two "new" pillows? Um, yeah, I think I can afford that.