Creative Ways To Display Your Photos {Window Screen}

Since I've become more serious about my photography, I've been thinking of new ways of preserving my photos. It's funny that now I'm all into making sure I use the best lab, that uses the best processing, that uses the best paper, etc., etc.

It's just that I want to make sure that the pictures that I so lovingly took are there for generations to come.

In fact, whenever I look thru old photo albums and I see what my grandmother looked like at my age, I get all warm and fuzzy. It's wonderful to go back in time and see what people looked like when they were young. Heck, I like to see my baby albums and admire what a good job my grandma did in keeping the memory of me as an infant alive for me to see! (Thanks abuela!)

So you know I love to go antiquing and junking. On one of my shopping jaunts I came across this really cool Victorian era window screen and of course I just had to have it.

It wasn't very expensive (around $25) and it's pretty big. I envisioned it for my office. I have two pretty bare walls in there and I want to fill them up.

What better way to decorate my space than with pictures of my loved ones, right?

So I got to work.  I bought these really cute blocks of wood at Michael's for .59 and .99 cents each. The small one is about 3X3 and the large one is about 5X7. I like that they are beveled and thick. 

 

I then chose several photos from my computer and printed them out onto photo paper. Then I took some sawtooth hangers that I got at Home Depot (in their hardware section) and gently tapped them into the back of the blocks of wood. I liked these because they have no nails. They have two pointed ends. They are so easy to tap into the blocks.

Next I took some acrylic black paint and painted my blocks. When they were dry, I took some Mod Podge and brushed the backs of the cut-to-size pictures and glued them to the blocks. I let them dry for a few minutes. Then I went back and brushed the front of the pictures to seal them. 

While they were drying, I got to work on the banner (bunting).

I had some scrap pieces of drop cloth from another project and some letter stencils that I used for this part. I simply measured across to see about how big each triangle should be. I used an existing banner that I had to measure out the new one. Then I just cut out the triangles from the fabric.

I then used masking tape to tape each letter stencil on each triangle and used a stenciling brush and the same acrylic black paint to spell out the word F-A-M-I-L-Y.

After they were dry, I used my Big Bite Crop A Dile puncher (this thing ROCKS!!) to punch some holes on each corner of the triangles.

 Then I simply strung twine through it and used my Mighty Mend It glue to adhere the corners to the window screen.

Again, I can't stop singing the praises of the Mighty Mend It glue. I love it! I don't burn my hands and you don't have to plug it in :)

So after everything was dry, I simply got some of this metallic wax and rubbed it all along the blocks' edges to add a little bit of oomph to each block. Make sure you wear latex gloves for this step because it is hard to wash off.

After giving it a few minutes for the wax to set, I simply took some twine and strung it through the sawtooth hanger in the back and through two little holes in the screen. I laid them out before doing this to determine the placement. After tying a few knots and making sure each block was secure, I can now step back and admire it!

I think I'll be adding some pretty pins and ribbons as time goes by to bling it up and personalize it a little more!

I'll be taking this to my office where it will hang directly across from my desk so I can look at my beautiful family throughout the day!!

How about you? Have you created a project that displays your photos in a unique way?

I'll be making another one of these but using a picture frame instead :)

Have a great weekend!

Patty

linking up to :

 My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Between Naps on the Porch 

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Project

I've been wanting to try my hand at some chalk painting :)

I just didn't want to cough up the money to buy one quart of paint at around $40!! 

But reading about it so much I just had to give it a try and post a review of this oh-so-popular paint.

First of all let me just say that you either have to go online to order it or find a "stockist" to buy it locally. 

Luckily, I found a stockist at the Frisco Mercantile and using my AT&T gift card (thanks Uverse!!) I went over and got me a quart of the Provence color.

It is a very pretty soft blue paint. I like the fact that you can paint most anything with it and you don't have to sand it or prime it. You can paint plastic, cement, wood, fake wood, etc.

I was happy to read that it cleans up easily with just some water.

It's not stinky like latex and it won't become plastic-y if you leave the can open for extended periods of time. 

So far so good right?

I knew I had just the victim for a transformation.

Remember the game room I blogged about last year?

The one in SERIOUS need of revamping?

Yeah. 

Well, this TV cabinet, all $40 worth of  faux-wood, 

would be the first one to get the Annie Sloan treatment :)

Here it is before:

This cabinet is used to store my kids' videos, video games and board games (bottom shelf).

I wanted to transform it from a boring and predictable piece made out of pressboard to a pretty and chic cabinet. 

First I wiped it down because it needed a good dusting!

Next, I poured about 1 cup of the paint into a foam bowl and used a synthetic brush to paint it. 

I covered all the areas outside and just painted the inside of the doors. I will probably go back and buy another quart of their graphite color so I can paint the rest of the inside and give it some nice contrast. I don't know yet.

It really was very simple!

It does show the brush strokes but that's the beauty of it!

The paint really does give it that shabby chic look of weathered wood!

I love it! 

I only gave it one coat all over and touched up here and there on the doors.

Later, when it was dry (and this paint dries pretty darned fast! that can either be a pro or con)

I applied some stencils on each corner using Martha Stewart's Thunderstroke metallic paint.

I got it at Home Depot in the paint department.

The stencil was there too :)

I even painted the hardware with the same metallic paint.

In all, this project took me about a day give or take.

I am very pleased with it and the chalk paint. 
{Almost forgot to add: I did use some Minwax wax paste to buff all over it and give it a nice soft sheen. I didn't buy the Annie Sloan brand  and I think this did just a fine a job. The only shade they had was "Natural" and it didn't darken the color or really affect it at all.}

I am now hooked! 

I know there are blog tutorials on how to make your own chalk paint thereby saving you some serious Moolah, but I thought I'd try the real thing so that I have something to compare it with you know what I mean?

What about you? Have you tried this paint?

Do you want to?

I'd love to see your projects!

Leave me a link to your projects in my comments section so I can feature you in an upcoming blog post all about chalk paint! 

Have a great week!

Patty

Linking to :

Sunday Showcase
Metamorphosis Monday

Trash to Treasure Tuesday
Coastal Charm
Annie Sloan Chalk Party!
At The Picket Fence
Funky Junk Interiors
Tatertots and Jello

I did not receive any payment or compensation for this review. All opinions are my own and products were bought with my own money.

Simple Valentine's Day T Shirt

 I've mentioned before how I haven't been my normal crafting self. What with working and helping out with homework, it seems like the older I get the more tired I am. And being "on the mend" after my 10th month post stroke isn't helping, I don't think. But every day after work I try to think of some fun, crafty thing to do. It's such a part of me. 

I thought about what I can do next Tuesday for Valentine's Day at work. I thought about baking some cupcakes and trying out my new cupcake recipe book. But I also want to look cute in a Valentine's shirt so I decided to make one.

Here's all you need:

One T-shirt

One heart shaped doily

white fabric paint

spray adhesive

cardboard

stenciling brush

First let me just say that finding a heart shaped doily in the middle of January was NOT an easy task!! Apparently I should have bought this way back in December!! Everywhere I went they were sold out or they didn't have any!

So I had to order 100 of them online! (yeah, if you need one I can sell you one real cheap)

I see some heart shaped crafts in my future (lots of them!)

So you take your t-shirt lay it on a flat surface and stick a piece of cardboard in it so that the paint won't bleed.

On a little plate, pour some of the fabric paint and have your brush ready. (The stenciling brush looks like it is round with a flat end.It is also known as a stippling brush)

Get your doily and lightly spray it with the adhesive. If you don't have spray adhesive I've heard other people use a glue stick.

Lay it on the center or wherever you want the image to appear.

Now gently load your brush with the fabric paint and start pounding the doily with it!

Don't over load the brush and careful on the edges!

Next, peel off the doily and let it dry.

Embellish with bling if desired :)

{I tried looking for a stamp but none were big enough or had that "doily" look}

Imagine how cute this would be on a little girl's shirt with some ruffly edges on the bottom and maybe some words stenciled in too!

Like "heart breaker" or something similar!

I'll be wearing mine on Tuesday!

Have a great week!

Patty

linking up to the following parties:

Before and After 

Under the Table and Dreaming   

Thankful Thursdays {Do You Piddle?}

Recently I was reading a magazine article that talked about the lost art of "piddling". I had almost forgotten what the word meant. The article went on to mention what it means to "piddle". 

After reading it I had to ask myself, "Am I a piddler?"

You see piddling isn't something you do because you HAVE to do it. It's not something you do because it produces an end result. It's something you do for the sheer joy of doing.

To piddle away time.

My husband is a piddler.

He often piddles in the garage with his knives and sandpaper often carving and sanding and carving and sanding. 

I see no end result. He simply does it because he can.

He spends hours out here, while I go in and out taking out the trash, bringing in mops and brooms, taking them back out, bringing in plants, etc. 

He just looks up smiles and piddles away.

I envy him.

I don't think I know how to piddle.

I inherited this inability from my  mother.

But wait, does window shopping count?

She loves to window shop.

But I don't ever remember my mother just piddling away time.

She was always doing something "productive". 

But is it really THAT necessary. I mean to always be "productive".

In this electronic, urgent, age, we are almost always connected (or disconnected) by our gadgets: I-pads, e-readers, I-phones, blogging, facebooking, etc., that we have lost the art of just "being". 

 

 image: clip art

 
Interesting and simple concept - Piddling.
As I read the article, I begin to examine myself a little more.
I like to garden. But that leads to something. It produces something. 
I know! I love watering. I love to hand water with the hose!! Eureka! That's it! I know, I know, it's a necessity especially in the summer, but we have a sprinkler system and yet I love to go outside and just sit and hold the hose and water the lawn. I spray the trees, and I just stand outside and I just am.
It's so soothing. The fine spray of the water glistening across the darkness of the sky.






 image source Starry Sky


 
And then it happens.
I start to make out the outlines of the different shapes like the big dipper and the little dipper. And I lose myself in the vast darkness of the night sky.
I guess you can call it piddling.
Because it truly is enjoyable and I can spend hours by myself just looking at the sky.
I'm a piddler afterall :)


Have a great Friday!


Patty

inspired by this article in Southern Living Magazine Rick Bragg "Piddling" Article