Frame Makeover

I love to find funky frames at thrift stores!
A few tips for finding a frame worthy of a re-do

• Look for a real wood frame. Plastic will still look like plastic, even when re-painted
• Make sure the price is right! More than $2-3 is probably too much
• Find a frame with real glass that is in good shape
• Look for a frame with a good backing on it, and a way to hang/display it. You don't want a cool frame with no backing. It will be pain. Trust me!

I found a great frame last week on my trip to goodwill. LOVE the details! (the artwork....is hideous!) I knew I wanted something....BLUE this time! I've been feeling a little overdosed on black lately. Is that possible?

I LOVE this color spray paint. It is Krylon Blue Ocean Breeze. It is FABulous.

So, I just gave my frame a few, LIGHT coats of spray paint. I let it dry completely (the hard part, I know....)The color is GREAT!

Next, I wanted to use a black glaze. I've been seeing them used a lot in blogland lately, but didn't have any on hand. I read a tip somewhere (don't remember where) that you can make your own glaze by watering down paint.

TIP: a glaze makes your frame look especially good if you have details you want to bring out. It doesn't do much if you just have a plain frame. I wanted a glaze for this frame b/c of the interesting lines it had.

To make my own glaze, I grabbed my black acrylic paint and added a little water. I made it pretty runny. I used a foam brush to apply it to the frame, making sure to get in all the cracks. I then wiped off the excess with a paper towel, until I got the amount of black on there I wanted.

I repeated the brush on/wipe off thing a few times.

Turned out pretty sweet!
I cleaned the glass before I added my final touches. EWWW!

I added some burlap for a background. Like in this post.

I printed off a cute black and white photo of Miss J, and called it good!


Here's BEFORE:

Here's AFTER:
Go find a frame to re-do! It's so fun to make something fabulous for cheap!

I'm linking up over at Domestically Speaking
and
A Soft Place to Land and Finding Fabulous and Craftaholics Anonymous!