Recycling isn't a bore at all!

Hey girls!  Here's a craft tutorial comin' straight 'atcha!

So for this tutorial, we're going to start out with a CHEAP picture/art frame, and make it into a way to display your favorite quotes.  It's easy as pie, and I'm going to show you!

Here's the frame I started with.  I think I paid $2 for it?  The art isn't really to my taste, shall we say, so I'm going to rip it out!  Here we go.

First, you're going to turn the frame over and remove the art.  You'll likely find that your picture is secured by hundreds of staples.   We're going to rip those some of the staples out with a pair of pliers.  If you pull the staples out of two sides, and bend the rest upward, you'll be able to remove the picture and have the staples there to secure the glass in place later.

Please be VERY careful when working near the glass in the frame.  It's not tempered, will shatter, and WILL cut you, since the edges aren't polished.  Very, very careful.  Ok?

Now we're going to paint.  I chose a vintage white for the base, and a dark brown for the antiquing later.

Go ahead and paint your frame white.  It's going to take two coats of white, so please be patient and wait for the first to dry all the way.  (Waiting is SO hard, isn't it?)

After your two coats of white are dry, take a little dixie cup or something of the like and mix a little brown paint with some water--about 50/50.  With a flat artist paintbrush, you're going to carefully run the paintbrush down along the edge of the frame, where it's recessed.  You'll find that the paint naturally settles there, but if you miss, just wipe away with a clean, slightly damp rag.  This should leave a little brown in the cracks and imperfections, but leave the white fairly unscathed.  Here's a link to a video that shows this process REALLY well.

 

SO, after that's done, CAREFULLY, and I mean this, CAREFULLY wash your glass if it's dirty, and then place back in the frame.  This is where those staples you left in are going to come in handy.  All you have to do is bend them gently back toward your glass.  They'll hold it right in place.  

Note:  It's important to make sure your glass is securely fixed to your frame.  It's going to be hanging on the wall, and if that glass drops out, someone is going to have a VERY nasty cut!  If you think I'm being too cautious, I'm simply trying to save you the injury I sustained from such mistakes.  :o)

You can use some hot glue, too, if you like.  

Alright, now for the fun part.  Take your decal with your favorite saying, and carefully position it to apply on the glass.  Once you're ready, remove the backing, and apply to the glass.  Sweep the whole thing over with a credit card or something of the like to make sure your decal is adhered well to the glass.  Then carefully remove your transfer tape by pulling back at a 45 degree angle.  

Then you've got it!  A super cute frame made by YOU!  Happy crafting, girls!