Monday, May 14, 2012

Burlap & Wood Love Frame Collage

I've been imagining this one for a while now and am happy to be able to finally show it off! The inspiration came from all of the different collage frames and frame gallery walls that seem to be everywhere lately. 


After a trip to Goodwill and $4 later I was well on my way to starting my frame collage.


I had black primer and black spray paint on hand already, so I gave the mismatched frames a couple coats of each.



Much to my dismay, when I asked my husband for help gluing the frames together, he told me I should've glued them before painting them. Apparently wood glue doesn't adhere to paint very well. I had to sand the paint off of the edges of the frames before I glued them together. Once I finished sanding the edges, I just needed to come up with a design and glue them together. He was kind enough to let me borrow his wood glue and his clamps.



Two days later I removed the clamps and used a small brad nail gun to shoot small nails through the portions of the frames that were glued, just as an extra step to make sure that the collage was good and sturdy. I had to spray paint them again to cover the edges that I had sanded.

In the meantime, while the frames were drying, I cut pieces of scrap burlap to fit the cardboard backs of four of the frames and glued the burlap onto the cardboard with spray adhesive.



Now I have a secure frame collage and burlap pieces for the four frames that I want to spell LOVE and two empty frames for pictures.


I decided to find a font online and print the letters LOVE on a manilla file to create my own stencils.



I cut the letters out of the manilla files with an exacto knife and painted the letters on the burlap cardboard pieces with black acrylic paint and a sponge brush. Now all I had to do was wait for the black paint to dry on the burlap, attach a sawtooth hanger on the collage, clean the glass pieces, print two pictures and put the frames back together.



The entire collage measures 27" across and 20" tall. There are four 5x7 frames and one 4x6 frame. The total out of pocket cost was $4.



I already have frames to make another one with the word FAMILY. I'm debating using vinyl letters directly on the glass without the cardboard backing. Tons of possibilities with this one. You can even use an already made frame collage to save time. I've seen them at Old Time Pottery and Wal-mart for as low as $10. I've thought about using scrapbook paper with solid color letters over it in the frames as well, with color coordinated paint on the frames to match the scrapbook paper.

Let me know what you think.

'til next time,
Adina


Linking to



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15 comments:

  1. What a great project and you did a fabulous job on it!

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  2. Very cute project and on a dime is even better. Thanks for sharing with the newbie party.

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    1. Gotta love inexpensive projects! Thanks so much for hosting us newbies!

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  3. This if very cute! You did a great job! Visiting from the Newbie party, I'm now a follower!

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  4. Adina, Fabulous project and so inexpensive! Gotta love it! Found you through Debbiedoo's Newbie Party. I'm happy to be now following and look forward to seeing more of your cute blog. Have a great night!
    Sharla

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    1. Welcome Sharla,
      Thank you. Definitely love inexpensive!

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  5. Sweet idea! Don't you just LOVE how spray paint gives new life to STUFF :) New follower!
    JoAnn

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  6. I love how this turned out! Thank you so much for sharing this at our link party this week!

    Take care,

    Trish

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  7. I love this! I keep seeing these fancy collaged frames in the stores too, but I don't like the glam/teen/college dorm room look of them, so I've been wanting to make my own too. I love how you incorporated the word "Love" and the burlap. I may just have to copy this :)

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  8. Wow, it looks so nice!!! JOINED FRAMES- fantastic idea!
    Greetings from Poland
    Roza

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  9. Wow. I love it. What a creative and cute idea!

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  10. Sorry, I love your project I just did not understand what you meant my Manilla File to create your stencils. Where do you find stencils to print on?

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