Okay, so I really meant to leave you with my Happy Thanksgiving post for the weekend. But I just finished this project and I couldn’t wait to show you. It was so cheap, but it turned out so gorgeous!
A couple of months ago when I bought the dresser for our front hall (a kijiji find), I also purchased three of these chunky square frames for $5 a piece from the same seller. Apparently he used to buy them in bulk for his old business, but was now downsizing from a large house to a smaller condo with his wife and couldn’t store them anymore.
The trouble is they were dark brown…. and a little metallic. But the shape was incredible and they definitely had potential. What to do, what to do?
At first I thought I’d put mirrors in them. But I was fairly certain I wanted them for the front hallway, which already has plenty of mirrors.
Then I though perhaps I’d remake a version of these Crate and Barrel classics.
But I really didn’t have the time to spend Photoshop-ing them. And I couldn’t figure out how to print them inexpensively. Did I mention the frame opening is a whopping 11.75 inches square?
A friend suggested I get some geometric wallpaper samples. Good idea. It got me thinking in a similar but somewhat different direction.
Scrapbook paper is 12 by 12.
Hmmmm.
A trip to Micheal’s yielded three pieces of scrapbook paper in wonderful shades of blue, green and a little chocolate brown.
First, I painted the frames with three coats of Behr Swiss Coffee (they must use a lot of cream in their coffee over in Sweden!).
Then I cut one piece of cardboard to 11.75″ x 11.75″ for each frame. These were cut bigger than the front opening size and equal to the back. You would do the same to whatever size your frame is. I also trimmed the scrapbook paper to the same dimensions. Using a glue stick, I adhesived the paper to the cardboard. (Excuse the blurry pic…taking photo with left hand while holding glue stick with right hand = funny focus).
Then I scotch taped each piece into the back of each frame. This is obviously not permanent, because I may choose to change the artwork later.
When I was finished all three, our front hallway went from this,
to this.
The frames were $5 each = $15. The scrapbook paper was less than $2 each (with taxes) = $6. I had the paint, glue stick and scotch tape and I bought a foam paint brush for $1. Total project costs = $22. I told you it was cheap and cheerful!
Here are some more pics, just because I adore how the project turned out:
What do you think? Have you made art from scrapbook paper? What about ‘found’ frames?
Your wall art project is incredible. What a great idea, I want to run out tomorrow and get a set of inexpensive frames and try this project myself. I haven’t used scrapbook paper in any projects, but I use scrapbook paper as a background for photos. Sit the subject on a piece of scrapbook paper, and it makes great photos for your blog.