This quick little project is virtually FREE if you have an old frame lying around. I just happened to have a few of them on hand.
Lovely, huh? That’s why they were lying around! I have a lot of stuff lying around waiting for a project, as do many of you. Don’t lie. I know you do. You wouldn’t be reading this if you didn’t.
The corner joints were not aligned, and there were huge gaps that I knew a coat of paint wouldn’t fill. Enter: Wood filler.
Minwax makes a great product. Don’t skimp and buy the cheap stuff. This little yellow tube will last a long, long time, and it dries in minutes. If you wipe off the surrounding area with a damp cloth immediately, you don’t even have to sand it.
All ready for paint. I unified the three with a couple coats of matte black acrylic. I prefer to use spray paint for picture frames, but the weather today didn’t take my preferences into consideration. (Prayin’ for sunshine and warmer days ahead!)
(For photos of painted frames, scroll down.)
All you need for the rest of this project are a few magazines and a heart punch.
This particular punch is from Martha Stewart. It’s a 1 ½ inch heart, and it handles magazine-weight paper nicely. Michael’s has Martha’s products on sale regularly, but I used a 40% coupon for this one, beating the sale price from the week before! Gotta love a coupon.
Flip through the pages of your magazines at a leisurely pace while you enjoy your morning coffee, or your afternoon wine, or whatever it is that you’re enjoying while starting this project. You’re looking for interesting colors, so don’t get stuck reading the articles again. Just scan for color. Scan for color. Texture is good too. Color and texture. That’s your mission.
When you have a good many hearts from which to choose, punch a few more. Choices are a good thing.
Decide on a background color for your hearts. I used card stock, but any paper will work just as well.
Lay out your hearts in a pleasing pattern as you pour that next cuppa whatever it is you’re enjoying. For a 5x7, you’ll need 20 hearts for each frame.
When they are all in position, begin gluing them in place with good ol’ Aleene’s. You really want to stay away from the glue gun for this project. Tacky Glue will hold everything in place, but it will also allow you to move the hearts a hair or two if you find that your afternoon wine has interfered with the alignment.
While your hearts are drying, clean the glass for the frames. They’ve been lying around in the basement/attic/workroom/under the bed, for a long time. Face it: they’re dirty.
Assemble your art and say Ta Da! Stand back and admire your work, pat yourself on the back, and go do lunch with a girlfriend. You deserve it.
No comments:
Post a Comment