Jewelry Frame

Another garage sale fantastically free find. This little gem was in the freebie box, looked over by the other shoppers due to it's 70's plasti-wood appearance. I rescued it, used some mid-grit sandpaper to rough up the smooth finish to prep the surface to take paint, then used an old toothbrush and some Lysol to remove the years of dust from the creases and let it dry.

I wanted to really emphasize the great detailing, so I bypassed a paintbrush and went straight for an old sock. That's right, my paint applicator of choice is an old sweat sock. Inside out, all those little nubbies really work great for rubbing paint over the detailing. Not into the detailing, or I would lose the contrast. The cheap Walmart craft paint works great. Allow to dry well between coats; you'll need at least 2 coats.

Using the glass as a template, cut a piece of foam core board to fit and cover with fabric.  I used glue stick to the front of the board to keep the fabric smooth, then wrapped the edges around to the back and secured with tape. Then I put push pins along the top at a 45 degree angle for hangers.

Voila!

See? Ugly is only paint deep. See my previous post to see a pinterest post using this same frame.

Mirror to Chalkboard Transformation

One of the many sources of blessings in my life is garage sales. Sounds corny, I know, but you would be amazed at how God can very specifically meet the needs of my family at what someone might consider a "random" garage sale stop.
 Example: early this past spring my daughter was down to 1 pair of good-fitting jeans and had outgrown most of her dresses. A problem, but not one we had a lot of money to solve. As a home health nurse who sees pretty much the same patients on a weekly basis, my driving route does not vary much.  One day I had a patient cancel unexpectedly, right around lunch time. This resulted in my taking a different route to the next patient and some time to kill. Happened upon a garage sale and found 6 pair of name brand jeans in my daughter's size for $.50 each as well as 2 Sunday dresses for $.25 each. Coincidence? Nope. Answer to prayer? You betcha!
Fast forward 8 months and Christmas is coming on fast. My sister-in-law (who is a bigger pinterest junkie than I am) found an awesome picture frame to chalkboard project that was worthy of repeat.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4077/4863951194_f2a4eca464.jpg
(FYI I just realized I have the exact same frame as the blue one on the bottom, but I turned mine into a necklace organizer. I'll post it for you sometime.)

So I dug around in my garage sale freebie box finds and found a mirror I've had for a while, apparently kept for just such an occasion. There were two places where the mirror was roached, but the frame still looks neat, even though it had some dated gilding.

Mirror to Chalkboard Transformation
Step 1: Clean all the dust filled nooks and crannies.
Step 2: Prep mirror to hold paint. I sanded mine with some heavy grit sandpaper I found in the garage, but I've seen other blogs use spray glass frost/etching. If you sand, make sure the whole mirror surface has a steamed up look, no shiny areas.
Step 3: Spray paint the entire thing, mirror and frame, with spray paint color of your choice. I used the $.96 stuff from Walmart. Multiple very light coats work best. Trust me, it's worth the time.

Step 4: Chalk board paint to the middle. Got that at Walmart, too. I think it was $4.96. It worked well. Follow the directions on the bottle. Had I known, I would have tried this:

http://www.snaptheconference.com/diy-chalk-paint-dresser/
This recipe makes a lot of paint, so cutting it down is recommended.
Step 5: Prep the dried chalkboard by rubbing it down with chalk.

I didn't get a finished project picture. Sorry. Just imagine the picture above with the middle completely painted black. Not too shabby for a $6 project, huh?

Point of the story, never underestimate God's power to provide.