Weekend Street Fair and 2nd Bedroom Sneak Peak

I went to one of Chicago's summer street fairs this past weekend. I just love summer in this city. Each neighborhood will host it's own festival one weekend of summer. This one was in Wicker Park. One of the most memorable things I saw was this beautiful booth. Not only was the handmade jewelry pretty, but the booth itself had a great set up. It has inspired me to make more jewelry!

 I just love the natural stone!

Aqua Jewelry's Etsy

Here's a sneak peak at what's been going on in the second bedroom! (by no means a finished and staged shot) It's still a work in progress. Whenever you reorganize all your clothes, things have to get messier before they get cleaner.

This work surface was created using our two file cabinets and the door to the laundry closet that we have removed. Like many second bedrooms, ours is filled with mismatched furniture. I'm going to be sewing in here this summer, so I need a big clean space. All I did was re-purpose furniture we already had and used some textbooks to even it out. (The grey cabinet is a bit shorter.) This project was free! It also makes the room feel bigger for some reason; I think it's the long white surface that unifies the pieces into one.

Notice the black frames above? That's one of my eco-friendly, DIY, cost saving projects. I had white frames from our wedding and one other, so I painted them black (artist paint and brush, I can't spray paint in Chicago). Then I scanned pictures I had used previously for my "family wall" and sent them to Walgreens to print out black and white. Plus, I ordered a few wedding pictures in black and white as well. Because they were all just 5x7, I went for symmetry, something I've avoided in the past. It took lots of measuring, a little math, and a level to get them up. But now the small frames seem to function as one larger piece. The total cost of this project was free for the frames and only about $8 for the 5x7 BW enlargements.

Framing a Print

I have a ton of artwork I created in college. I had always wanted to get some of the best work up on the wall in my home, but it took buying a place before that happened.

My favorite piece is a copper plate etching of Big Ben. It is not a normal size, so it would require a custom frame and mat. Even with the online options for custom frames, this was too expensive of an option when I was trying to get so many other projects done in time for my friend's visit. Luckily, I'm resourceful. I thought of just buying the best size possible and having just the mat cut. Michael's had frames on sale, but the mat would be way too much money and take 2 weeks. What was that about? So then I thought of how I loved the torn edges of the paper and how I should display the whole piece, so it wasn't just a picture, but an object. Shadow boxes that big were once again way out of the picture.

Then I thought floating frame, you know glass front and back so you see the wall through it. I found a tutorial and thought I could pull it off. Getting a backing glass cut was out (money), so I ended up buying a cheap poster frame in the same size as the frame I was buying on sale. The tutorial I had seen online was for a much smaller frame that didn't involve real artwork. I didn't want to completely glue and seal in my print, so I thought of using tiny nails like the brackets that hold the back of a frame in. I took precautions and went slowly with my nailing. I got almost done, we are talking the last nail, and it was too much. The front glass got a hairline crack that spread. I can't begin to describe the utter frustration I felt. I had spent hours planning, researching, going back and forth to different art stores to get frames and the right acid free adhesive for the print. All without a car. Do you know what it's like hauling a 2' x 3' frame on a city bus.

"Fail"

So I was left with a frame, a plexiglass front from a poster frame (what was going to be my back) and a print needing a home. Back to the local art store (no more Michael's for me), I got a coordinating color of mat board and they cut it to size for the frame (only 50 cents a cut thank you local art store). Back to carefully lining up my print on the mat, always leave more room at the bottom, and taping down with a stronger hold then my first go around. Now it hangs right by the front door, hiding the fuse box. It's the first thing you see when you open the door.

"Success"

I posted a link to a link up party on GetOuttaMyHeadPlease for my Family Name Eye Chart and accidentally posted this link.

Eco-Friendly Picture Frame Updates

This past winter I was back in Dallas for my  visit to my Mom's house. She always has projects for me to do around the house. While growing up, I was the one who acted like the handy man in the family (and also the geek squad and interior decorator). I love helping my mom any way that I can.

Anyways, back to this past winter, she was working on creating a family wall (you know the large grouping of family portraits). We went through the large collection of photos, old and new, and started taking pictures out of frames and picking and choosing the keepers. My mom had a large collection of frames in all sizes and finishes, metal, wood, and black. We wanted to create a more cohesive look, so we decided on silver and black. So many of the old frames were natural oak and dated looking, but we hated just wasting them. It finally dawned on me, why buy new ones, just paint the old ones, "duh". 

The summer before, I had spent the better part of my month home spray painting branches and other things for my wedding; so I was a pro. 

We went to HD and bought a can of good quality, glossy finish, black spray paint. 

I removed the glass from the frames.

Sanded the wood.

Placed them on plastic garbage bags in the driveway.

Painted backs first and let dry.

Turned over and painted fronts. (you may need to sand paint drips like in photo) Did a second coat on front as needed.

Wash glass and put back in. Frame pictures.

Easy. Cheap. Less than $5 got us 6 new-looking frames.

I highly suggest the investment (like $2) in a nozzle gun thingy. Saves your fingers alot of pain.

It was dark when I finally got the fronts done so no pictures, sorry. I'm sure you get the idea.