Re-Do: Clothesline Picture Frames

J and I just got back from our week long summer vacation.  We were blessed to have spent time with friends and family on the coast of NC.  Is it bad that I want to go back?  My school year officially starts TOMORROW... for me anyways. 

I made the decision to leave my current position at at charter school and accept a new teaching position at a nearby public high school.  Luckily, I'll still be teaching AP Calculus, my favorite subject to teach.  Depending on how cool you are, you either smiled, laughed, or gagged at that comment...

The kiddos arrive on the 25th.  So I still have some time to get back in the groove of things before the school year truly starts.  As much as I've loved this summer break, I'm eager to start back.  A new school brings new students, new friends, and new challenges.  Every school is different.  I think I'm just ready to get started.  The sooner the school year comes, the sooner I can transition and feel settled in my new classroom.

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So here's to my summer of crafting, knitting, and reading.  Here's a project that I completed a while ago and have just completely forgot to post.  After surfing the web for some decorating/design/DIY blogs, I came across a neat idea of how to reuse some old picture frames.

I found these two frames at Goodwill for $1 each.

I removed the pictures and twisted in some fish eye hooks (I think that's what they are called).

 [Now, sorry for the lack of pictures.  I didn't take pictures along the way...]

I spray painted (my new best friend?) the frames and some clothes pins. Then, I stapled some fabric to the back, strung some twine, and hung some pictures from our wedding.  The frames are pretty big, as the large photos are 8x10's and the small ones are 5x7's.

I love them!  And one reason why I like them is that I can always change the photos or even hang other little goodies we collect along the way.  Pretty simple and inexpensive.

Make-It: Framed Silhouettes

So I'm not taking credit for this idea.  I got it from Design Sponge -- a neat little blog.  Visit it sometime.

So some of my walls desperately need something on them.  And fast.  School is rapidly approaching (have I mentioned I'm a high school math teacher?), and I know that once it starts, I won't have time for these crafty little adventures.

So here's my attempt at filling some space in our dining room.  For the project, I contacted about six or so paint/hardware stores in and around town for some free wallpaper samples.  The most common reply was, "Well Ma'am, we haven't sold any wall paper since the '90's".  Shoot.  

I improvised with a trip to the craft store for some scrapbook paper instead.  It turned out just as nice, but perhaps with a little less texture than planned.  

If you don't know, I love birds.  It started with an owl obsession.  And has transformed into cute little finches and sparrows.  I chose some paper that reflected other colors throughout the room.  The frames were bought from Bekah (with The Yellow Pepper) at our yard sale for 25 cents a piece.  I spray painted them (as I did to others in this post).  

I think they turned out quite nice.  They aren't up on the wall yet, mainly because I have another idea in mind that might find its way to the blog later...

Re-Do: New End Table Update

For some reason, these last few weeks I have been flat out l-a-z-y.  Or at least it feels that way.  So when I had a busy four days of math teacher workshops, my husband made it his mission to finish our end table.  He slaved one afternoon/evening painting layer upon layer of yellow and brown paint and "scuffing" it up with some steel wool in between.  Tell you what -- painting those spindles wasn't easy (likely because sanding them wasn't an easy job to begin with).  

Before:

After:

We are both super happy with it!  Now, I'm going to keep my eye out for a sweet lamp to add some height to it.  Anyone have any lamp ideas?  Pinterest folks?

I'm sincerely thankful for his "make it happen" attitude... especially when mine seems to have checked out for the rest of the summer... <3