Burlap Art

Don't you love it?!  The walls in our half bath were pretty empty and it's always bothered me.

Hobby Lobby had a set of two of these canvases for around seven dollars.  I didn't really have a plan when I bought them but figured one out pretty quick.

I had some burlap already because I stocked up before it was officially fall season when it would be hard to find.  I am a huge fan of this method to cut burlap when you need a straight line.  Measure to where you want it cut, snip it about an inch,

pull one of the threads in that snip and start pulling.  You will be able to pull that one thread all the way out

leaving you a line as a guide so you can cut with scissors and be sure its straight.

I cut my burlap a little bigger than the canvases.

 

I laid out four pieces of contact paper leaving a small line open where I wanted to paint the wire.  I used fabric paint for this but because the paint doesn't need to be flexible when dry I probably could have used anything.

Here it is with the wire done.

I found a bird online that I liked and printed and traced it onto paper.  I used a sharpie to trace around my stencil.

I wanted them slightly different so I just made the second bird a little shorter and fluffier when tracing and also changed the tail feathers slightly.

Painted inside the sharpie lines and let it dry.

I knew I wanted the words in the upper corner and was worried that they wouldn't be straight or positioned wrong so I went ahead and stapled the burlap to the canvases before painting the words on.

I used my silhouette to cut out the words on the contact paper.

I went back over the words with the black sharpie to touch up areas that were to light.

One more look at the finished project.

 Jeannie

Picture Frame Art Display

My sister-in-law came into town last week and we were discussing Pinterest crafts. We both had pinned this idea for displaying art: Little Nanny Goat

I have wanting to do something cute to display my boys' drawings. Right now, it's just scribbles but I love their scribbles and hanging them on the wall with scotch tape just doesn't do them justice! :)

So, off to Goodwill we went! We bought 3 frames from Goodwill ranging from $1.99 to $3.99. I like the ones with a lot of detail. Then we bought some from Walmart...my boys were playing with them, they got broken...back to Goodwill I went. I bought three more frames for $1.99 each. Two of them were still in the packages. Score!  (and I also got a brand new dryer erase board in the package for $1.99. Double score! And I have the perfect project for a later date!) I had a yard of burlap that I got from JoAnn's for $3.99 and we went to Walmart and got spray paint. My frames will be hanging in the boys' playroom at the new house so I wanted bright colors. I also picked up primer and sander. The clips we bought at Walmart for $1.88 for a two pack.

Supplies

First, take the frames apart. Take out the glass and backing so it is just the frame itself. I sanded the frames a little bit and put a coat of primer on. 

Frames with the primer

While the primer was drying, I used my hot glue gun (Caution: Hot glue guns...they really are hot and I often burn myself!) and wrapped the backing of the frames in burlap gluing around the edges. Makes sure you pull the burlap tight so there are no bumps. 

Back to the frames...do a coat of whatever color you wish to use. You may have to do two coats depending on the color. I did two coats of the green. (the other red and blue frame I did when we bought all the supplies last week...I just didn't get pictures of it)

Frames with the colors

After the frames were gone drying, I put the burlap covered backing into the frames and attached the clip. I waited to attach the clips until they were back in the frame to make sure I had them even with how they lay in the frames. 

My Sister-In-Law's Frames

Our Playroom Frames

Such a cute and inexpensive way to display art! And if burlap isn't your thing, use colorful scrapbooking paper!

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