Actually Completing A Pinterest Project!: An Easy, DIY Sweater Wrapped Picture Frame

Back in December Home Made Modern posted Smallgood Hearth's DIY sweater wrapped picture frame. Y'all know how I feel about upcycling old sweaters. I immediately pinned it, planning to do it ASAP.

Photo From Smallgood Hearth

Yeah, almost two months later still counts as ASAP, right?

I've had this frame forever (part of my staggeringly large collection of odd frames), but it isn't really my style. Meaning it was perfect for this project!

The original project called for a staple gun, but I decided to use my trusty glue gun instead.

I cut a square slightly larger than the frame from the front of the donor sweater (I've already used the sleeves to make sweaters for our dog, Emily, and I have plans for the back).

A line of hot glue goes across the top of the frame, and then I fold the sweater over it.

I did the same on the bottom. For the sides I folded the corners like you would when wrapping a present.

Then, because this frame is constructed strangle, I flipped open the part where the picture actually goes and cut a small square. Then I pulled this back and glued into place.

Ta-da! One easy, diy sweater wrapped frame! This project took me maybe ten minutes, and now I'm quite fond of this strange little square picture frame!


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The Dollar Store Frame Up

Last week I wrote about how I turned a collage frame into a regular frame. Now I'm going to use that frame (and four others) to create a collage of frames! 

I mentioned how I had purchased some dollar store frames after striking out at the thrift store. They were...okayish. Redoing the dollar store frames was a total must, though, so we had a date with a can of oil rubbed bronze spraypaint I had from another project.

I lightly sanded them (although they are, uh, cheap plastic) and then started spraying light, quick coats.

It took many, many coats. A truly ridiculous amount of spraying went on. After letting the spray painted frames dry and off gas outside I brought them in to put them together.

Ugh. Double ugh. Triple ugh. Do you know what one of my least favorite little decorating things is? Putting pictures in freaking frames. I understand it's a simple concept for many people, but not for me.

I took no pictures of this process because I was very busy cursing and somehow cutting my finger on a frame with no sharp edges (I think its a paper cut). Then imagine whining. You've got the scene!

Once the drama was over I laid the pictures out on our bed and started experimenting. I had two 5x8 horizontal frames, two 5x8 vertical frames, and one square frame. After playing around I realized a 33"x33" square frame arrangement looked best. I flipped the frames over, placed the fake photos that came with them over them, and then marked where the hanger was on the paper.

Our bedroom is so awful. Decorating it consisted of placing our furniture in it. Oh, well, we did hang a roman shade. On one window. We have two. I'm so ashamed! Across from our bed we have an ancient, ugly little loveseat/sofa. The best thing I can say about the sofa is that it's provided a place for guest dog to sleep. In other words, #itsdaysarenumbered. Our little frame arrangement is going over it.

I taped up my little frame templates with Frog tape (all the better not to injure our unpainted walls!). I hammered the nails in on my marks and then ripped the paper away. Super easy.

Ta da! By the way, I realize this would be far more effective if you could see the pictures...but, breast. This conversation actually happened at Casa MCM.

J: "Why don't hang them in the living room?"
Me: (Silently holds up picture)
J: "Good point."

So. I spent $4 in dollar store frames. The 8x10s were free thanks to a Walgreens promotion. We had one frame (it just needed a little surgery) and the oil rubbed bronze spray paint.

Total cost: $4. Now we just have to see how well the dollar store frames hold up.

(See this post at  Petals to Picots, Happy Hour Projects, Diana Rambles, Liz Marie Blog, Shabby Creek Cottage, Seven Alive, Two Yellow Birds Decor, Too Much Time, Sweet Boutique, and Glued to My Crafts!)

Framed!

When Lila was born, someone gifted us with a collage photo frame, similar to this one.

Photo Courtesy of Amazon

I don't have a before shot of our frame. Whoops! Ours actually says "Bundle of Joy" on the side. It's very, very sweet. However, and this is my problem with all collage picture frames, I never have pictures that fit into the weird sized spaces. My good intention was to print off some pictures in these odd sizes, but it never happened. Honestly, after Lila died, I couldn't handle a lot of pictures around me. My BFF framed one snapshot for us and we kept that in the living room, but that was really it.

Finally I started framing and placing around some other Lila shots and I remembered this frame. I pulled it out of our "things we haven't found a home for even though we've lived here two years" box. Same problem, though. So what to do with a collage frame?

I realized maybe I could remove the wood strips that divided the collage frame. I took the frame apart, and voila! The framing was actually just really thin strips of wood (maybe balsa wood?) connected to the frame with heavy duty staples. Using a flathead screwdriver I pried the staples up. Then I was left with this!

It was still a non-standard frame size. I pondered having one picture made in this size, but after looking at it closely I realized it was the perfect size for 4x6s!  I just needed something to go behind the pictures. I dug through my scrapbag and came up with  a small piece of natural linen.

Success! (You'll note these pictures are heavily pixelated. This is because I'm breastfeeding in them. And I fully support breastfeeding and certainly fed Lila any and everywhere. However, I figured no one wanted to look at my breasts while they are having lunch!) Walgreens has had a couple of free 8x10 photo events (whenever I see a code, I always post it on Facebook and Twitter!) so I've scored...

Four nice 8x10s of Lila. I have a couple of dollar store frames...

 but need two more. I hope to find a couple of non-matchy frames at the thrift store, but I've struck out the last few times I checked. All the frames (the birch tones of the Bundle of Joy frame never really worked for me) have a date with spray paint this weekend, and hopefully I'll have a little frame cluster hung up by Monday!

This is the de-collage ready picture frame as it hung in our bedroom! Sadly, it was the only thing hanging in our bedroom (our bedroom is so tragic, even though we have a couple of awesome pieces of furniture in it. I'll post embarrassing pictures soon).

Total cost of project: $0. That's the way I like it!