Decisions, Decisions and a tutorial

Today I embarked on a great craft idea..I waffled about it next to final step, and decided to go ahead and finish it. Yeah, I'm not liking it so much. In fact I dislike it so much, that, I won't be posting it, at least not until I have the chance to stop in for a few new containers to remake it in my "Duh! Now why didn't I think of that earlier!!" vision.

In the meantime, I finally made up my mind about what project I am going to enter in the American Crafter Contest. I have decided to enter my Memo board, I considered entering my Fall wreath, but I'm not sure if there is a cap on when the project was supposed to be made.

Without further ado, here's a minor repeat for those who follow my blog..My new memo board, dressed for Christmas still I'm afraid, but still darling.
Of course, you know that the first step to any project is to gather your supplies..and if you plan to do a tutorial, you really should be a good blogger and make sure you get pictures all the way through the process, so pretend you saw the frame before I primed it lol. Ok, here is what you will need.

1. A Large wood frame. Mine didn't have a back or glass, but if you have one with both you can do the alternative finishing, so don't get rid of it until you know for sure which way you want to go :)
2. Spray adhesive if your frame is glassless
3. Paint. I used Plaid Glossy, which oddly enough I have only been able to find at walmart, hmm.
4. Small Clothespins (NOT the minis, the 1.5"-2" ones)
5. Florists Wire
6. Paper or fabric lagre enough to cover backing.
7. Foam core if your frame is backless.
8. Assorted painting, cutting and measuring devices
9. Thumbtacks, I chose white
10. Needlenose pliers

This was an old frame that Hubby and I picked up for cheap (I'm thinking we paid $2.99) at local thrift store


It was missing the glass, backing and at some point someone had decided to hang it upside down. Originally it was a faux cherry color.


The first step was to clean it and take the extra hanger from the back bottom. Then I primed it with white. While The primer was drying on the frame, I got to work on the backing. For those whose frame is missing the backing and/or glass:


I had taken measurments of the opening before priming so I marked my cut lines onto foam core and cut it out. Then I cut a slightly larger piece of the paper I was using.When my pieces were cut and ready to go I sprayed the foam core with a light coating of adhesive spray. Putting my paper print side down on the table I carefully position the sticky back down on the center of the paper. Turn the backing over and smooth any air bubble there may be on your front.
For those of you who have both backing and glass, cut your paper/fabric to the size of your backing and place as you would a photo when the frame is completely dry and ready to go. now that the backing was done it was time to work on the clips.


I don't recommend trying to paint clothespins while they are put together, so the first step for these is to take those babies apart. Make sure you put the springs somewhere safe, you'll need them when the clips are dry! The ones pictured here are for my friend Mollie's, She used regular sized clips as hers was a smaller frame and still had the glass. I had already painted my clips the night before so I'm showing hers to have a photo hehe.Paint the clips in your desired colors (mine were all Plaid Glossy). let dry, flip and paint other side. Repeat as necessary.


By now your frame's primer coat will be ready for some color. I chose a nice bright aqua/blue from Plaid's Glossy line and painted it using a foam brush. Make sure to get into all the nooks and crannies.


Now it's time for those to dry while having a bit of a snack and chat with a friend ;)


Ok, so now that everything is dry we are going to first put those pins back together, once that is done It's time for your finishing touches.


Take your florists wire and straighten it out. measure out enough to reach from one side of the frame to the next, and adding an extra 2-3" cut the number of lengths you plan to use on your board. Mine was 2, Mollie decided on 1.


Take your thumbtacks and set them next to where you would like your hanging line to be, I used a yard stick and level to make sure mine were straight across from each other.


Push 1 thumbtack almost all the way into the side of the frame piece, and using the needlenose pliers wrap one end of the wire around the stem of the tack a few times. tuck end under the tack top and push the tack the rest of the way into the frame.


Now we will thread the wire through the springs of the clips and stretch wire across to the other tack, pulling taughtly. Be carefull not to pull too tightly as this can pull your first tack out. Now you will wrap the other end of the wire around the other tack just as you did for the first one. This time you will stop after 3 wraps to just if you have too much wire left. if so cut it off about 1/2" from tack, the continue wrapping, tuck under and push the tack the rest of the way in.


Repeat if you want to have more than one hanging wire.


With Mollie's, since she had glass, we hung the wire low enough for her to have a space for Dry erase messages..don't worry, the dry erase works wonderfully when you aren't using a should have been tossed already marker hehe.I could have put anther hanging wire across the top of mine, But I have plans for that area just as soon as I own a silhouette!





My final touch was the red cardinal perched on the top, He's just taped there so I can change him out with the seasons :)

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