Framed Instagram Photo Collage

I love all of the little candid shots I get from my phone.  They are usually the more {in the moment} type snapshots that really capture your memories.  After living in our home for 4 years now we still have lots of bare walls that need something and hardly any family photos framed- so what better way to utilize precious wall space than to use some of those fun instagram shots.

So I've had this frame just lurking around for years, probably 10 years or more.  Its an old antique frame that had an old print that wasn't really my style in it.  For years I have wanted to use it in some way and I finally figured out what to do with it.  I wanted a white frame so I simply spray painted it white - just a couple of light coats will do the trick.

I found out through the years that I really dislike taping windows and glass - blame it on painting every single window frame in our house inside and out.  So I didn't even bother to do any sort of taping and just painted it right on.  Later I just sprayed a little cleaner on the glass, let it sit for a while and it scraped right off.  It seemed like that felt easier and actually gave me a better painted edge.  But either way will accomplish your goal.  

After I had all of the paint scarped off I had a great helper who cleaned the glass for me.

So now for the fun part, the photos!  I decided to order my prints from a company that uses your photos straight from instagram.  They are called Print Studio (formerly prinstagram) and I have to say I love this company.  This is not some sort of sponsored post, just an actual real life feeling.  The photos are awesome quality, its really simple to use, they came really quickly and have great customer service.  They also have a lot of cool printing options other than just photos.  So definitely give them a look. 

Narrowing the photos down was the most difficult part!  Justin and I worked together to pick our favorites, mostly all memories over the last year or so.  After we had the dimensions figured out I laid out a plan and got to work.  My first idea was to use photo mounting tape to adhere it to some paper (that I had cut to the right size) and then insert that into the frame.  But after I did that, it wasn't as straight as I was wanting it to be and after fiddling with it for a while I took a different approach.  

It was easier to lay the photos out on the glass and tape them together from behind.  It just kept everything really straight and even.  Then I covered it from behind with my backing paper. 

Yay!  I was finally done.  I love it so much.  So many great memories in one space.

So have you guys ever utilized your instagram or phone photos for a fun project?  Share with me!

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Another Sunburst Mirror

Have you guys seen those awesome sunburst mirror tutorials? I know, Duh right? They are everywhere and were kind of a big deal - like two years ago.  Either way, I have finally gotten around (two years later) to making one - yay for me!  I decided to take on the task of coming up with a mirror with nothing but things found at the dollar store, you know I like to roll that way.  So here is yet again another diy sunburst mirror, enjoy.

Supply List:

- Round Mirror from the dollar store (mine is from dollar tree)

- 3 packs of Wooden Chopsticks from the dollar tree (I found packs of 8)

- E3000 Glue

- Painters Tape

- Spray Paint of Your Choice (I used Rustoleum in Bronze)

First thing you need to do is glue down your first four chopsticks, which will be your map for the rest of them.  Don't try and use hot glue - it just isn't strong enough to hold this all together.  Also, E3000 is awesome glue but make sure you do this outside or in a well ventilated area - it stinks - really bad.  After I had my four pieces glued I just eyeballed the rest and glued them around...its not perfect but I'm ok with that.  You could probably be really precise and measure everything off but that involves too much thinking for me - at least for this project :).

- Let it dry for several days so the glue is set and then you are ready to paint!

I just taped over my mirror and spray painted my chopsticks.  I used a spray paint that already had a primer built in so it was an easy two light coat process.  

After that, I was ready to hang it. I took me forever to decide where I wanted it but ended up putting it up in our back hallway/laundry room area.  To hang it up I used a metal bracket from a pack I found at Lowes and just glued the bracket to the back of the mirror to secure it.

After it had a couple of days to dry it was ready to hang.  

I love this sunny mirror in our sunny laundry area.  This project was so simple and easy...and cheap too!  I'm kind of on a kick to finally get some artwork and photos on our walls.  We pretty much have bare walls still - after two years of living here - I think its time.

Thanks so much for joining me today!  So, how many of you have attempted a diy sunburst mirror?  I would love to see them!!  Or, have any of you thought of making one a thousand times and have never gotten around to making one?  Share with me!

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The Inspiration Gallery

Reindeer Silhouettes

I'm continuing the Christmas theme and sharing another fun craft with you today in the way of Reindeer Silhouette Art.  This was one of those things that started out as something in my head and then just morphed as I went.  It didn't quite turn out the way my brain was picturing it but I had fun with it nonetheless.  It's an easy and cheap craft (yay for cheapos) and you could go a million different ways with it. Most of my supplies came from the dollar store or cost just a buck or two somewhere else. Oh, so this year I have gotten on this color theme kick for christmas and I'm loving adding a bunch of black accents - so I'm doing a lot of stuff with that this year.  I don't know why but I'm all into it.  Maybe its because I can chalkboard paint something (which I am doing so stay tuned).  Because for some reason I just can't get enough of that.  Anyway, here is my little tutorial...

I found a couple of glittery reindeer at the dollar store (two for one), picked up a couple of frames from the dollar store as well, spray painted them black, a couple of photo mats and then used an old red t-shirt for my backing.

So I got a little lazy and duct taped the fabric right on the back of the frame.  For me, this project was just all about having fun and nothing really serious so I just went with it.  After all, these are dollar store frames and no one will ever see this back - except now everyone has.

At first I left them like this and then decided they looked a little boring and I wanted to add something fun.  So I decided to paint a couple of photo mats to add a little whimsy.

One I painted with stripes, I just penciled off my stripes and painted in - I would suggest taping off and not free handing if you want a cleaner crisp edge.

I also made a little pattern out of a piece of card stock and traced it on my other mat and then painted this one as well.

And then I had these fun little guys and I know exactly where they will be going.  

I have more christmas things in the mix and will be showing you what I plan on doing with these soon. I may or may not already have some christmas decorations up in our house, we are six weeks from Christmas so I am using that excuse.  

Hope you guys have a wonderful wednesday!

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DIY Paint Chip Project

We've lived in our house for 10 months now and we have two mirrors hanging on our walls and that's it.  We haven't put up one single picture, artwork, frame, nothing.  I'm feeling like it's time to remedy that so, here's my first go at new artwork for our house - which comes in the form of free.  I shared with you Wednesday that I was loving all of the paint chip artwork and projects I had seen and wanted to do something using all of the paint chips we have collected since starting on this remodeling process.  One of my favorite rooms in the house, which happens to be the smallest is our little half bath that sits next to our master bedroom.  I love the painted floor, the diy-ed mirror frame, the new bright wall color - there is just a lot of character going on in there and I'm loving it.  So in thinking of the paint chip colors I had on hand and in going with the same color theme as the teal floor I came up with and idea to make a peacock out of paint chips.

Here's what I did:

First, I just cut out my feather shapes from the paint chips - these are totally free hand cutting, they are all different shapes and sizes and they are definitely not perfect but I kind of liked it that way.

Next I cut out a little bird shape from one of the slate colors I had - this time I did trace my bird shape on the back before cutting.  But, once again it's nothing perfect.  There was a white outline around the edge of the bird after it was cut out - so I just ran a black marker along the edge to make it look more uniform.

I drew some legs and cut out a little wing and then began arranging and gluing down my feathers.

Until I had my finished peacock...

And, I finally had something to use in my frame of old (remember this post).

So this -

Is now this - 

I really like the finished product, it's by no means perfect and took very little skill but I love the colorful statement it makes.

It's actually not hanging up yet, but I love the way it connects everything in the bathroom (and you can see that I have not begun painting the rest of the area back there - (I'm hoping that will be a weekend project).

This was really a super easy project - anyone can do this - and it was free - win/win/win.  Have a wonderful weekend! 

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