Repurposing an old picture frame

Laura 22/05/2011 0 Comments

The Boy has a lovely tendancy to bring home things that he finds, out and about, that other people have chucked away. Our first BBQ was one that someone had left out for the binmen to collect. This time, he brought me home a picture frame which had no glass and no backing. I’ve been pondering for a little while what I was going to do with it and today I’ve had the time and the brain space to come up with an idea.

I was in the kitchen when I noticed the little tub of magnetic fridge letters on the table. My mother in law brought them up as part of the final job lot of our crap that she’s had cluttering up her attic for years. We haven’t got a fridge door anymore (we’ve got a built in one that looks like a cupboard) and so I’d left them out to force me to do something with them, i.e. probably freecycle them.

But ‘Eureka!’ I thought, I can make some funky, crazy piece of art tat for the house now!

Warning – if you are of a nervous disposition, are easily offended by bright colours or don’t have a psychedelically sympathetic bone in your body, you will not like this piece of home decoration.

I ran off to look for a suitably horrific background for the letters and came across this old piece of wrapping paper. Wallpaper, an offcut of fabric, or even newspaper would have been equally suitable. Luckily, we’ve just had an Approved Foods delivery, so I also have lots of lovely cardboard at my disposal.

With all my materials to hand, I started to create something tacky, gaudy and truly awesome…

Cut a piece of cardboard to fit inside the frame.

Cut out your backing paper/fabric to the right size and stick it to the cardboard.

Et voila – even that’s a good start.

Obviously, this would look better if my wrapping paper didn’t have folds in.

But that’s what I had, I like the pattern, so that’s what I’ve used.

Stick on your chosen phrase, constructed of fridge magnet letters and glue.

Remember, the sensitive should shield their eyes now!

Ta da!

See, I did warn you! But I think it’s awesome. It’s gonna look crazy as when it dries and I hang it above the stairs. I shall add another photo of it in situ if I remember.

So don’t try it at home kids, that was yet another dose of the extreme housewife’s guide to hippy crafting. Good night and yahweh bless.