and i am a bad crafter really. i like immediate results. i hate waiting for things to dry. i need to be able to start and finish in the length of a nap... or while uncle 'jibby' is baby wrangling. i hate stopping to breastfeed. to change a diaper. i need to capture that rare and elusive 'motivated' feeling and go, go, go before i throw in the towel.
anyways... after my handy dandy instagram printing success, my pal {the most spectacular crafter i know, with the most handsome/adorable two year old i've seen} suggested the chicken wire picture frame project to mount them on. i knew exactly what she was talking about. i probably stole the picture from her pinterest account.
my mom is crafty too... well more like quilty. but she is all about turning trash into treasure. and she's always up for a good challenge. she can handle power tools as effortlessly as her sewing machine.
so it was a plan. find some frames. grab some spray paint. home depot for chicken wire... and figure out the rest as we went.
my mom and i loaded babies. we hit up the goodwill. it was overpriced. nothing that struck my fancy either. next, the salvation army. now this was the place to be. not only was it a complete mess... of fun, but everything was 40% off that day. perfection.
i distracted moo with a bag of used golfballs. she was intrigued. i found two frames that were less than five dollars each. as i was checking out i found one more that had just been discarded behind the check out counter. i was proud of myself for looking past their current appearance and seeing their potential. what they could be. that's my newest crafting goal. look beyond it's current state. of disaster in this case.
when we got home we ate lunch. we put moo down for her nap. and set up baby D in his vibrating chair. he loves it outside. that's handy.
i gutted each frame. tossed the insides. i kind of hated to do it to the yellow flower portrait. it was pretty in an old fashion way. but it looked like someone splashed some raw poultry on it. had to go.
then for some spray paint. on my favorite trash can. it reminds me of oscar the grouch.
our little helper. his sister's bink, the breeze, and vibration turned on high = happy baby.
while they dried we plotted our chicken wire attack. it's a tricky material to work with. my hands are hurting still. gloves... valuable lesson learned. find and use gloves.
despite my hasty crafting skills, i waited until the next day to mount the chicken wire. i dug out all of ryan's craft making goodies. i called him about six times for advice. and the infamous 'where are the...' (wire cutters, staple gun, stapes, sand paper). he loves when i'm in his space. he also loves when i say things like "hey... you know that tool my grandpa gave you? is that a wire cutter? because it's not cutting very well" ummm... no that was not a wire cutter. and i may or may not have kinda destroyed it.
good news... he led me in the right direction and i did find real wire cutters. oh what a difference REAL wire cutters make. i should have asked him for gloves. only one minor cut.
i laid the frames on the wire. traced their dimensions. cut out the wire. grabbed that loud scary staple gun. {i have a new found respect for ryan's ability to hang christmas lights} pulled the wire tight and stapled away. then i did a bit of sanding to shabby chic the frames.
after the moo fed twyla her breakfast, {i may or may not have fed her numerous granola bars so i could get all 'crafty' in the garage while baby D took his morning nap} dumped all the dog food out, walked around the car ten times, rearranged ryan's shoes... she was over it. making her escape. luckily i had just finished.
i decided to go for really playful colors because i wanted them in my office.
i have these cute paper clips shaped like flowers. i used those because all my clothes pins are in my classroom.
and there you have it. one 'idea' i can take out of that desktop folder. a new treasure to admire. a way to display my instagram pictures and miscellaneous stuff. that huge wall in my office now feels cozier. and... a few sore fingers.
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