DIY Wire + Clothespin Picture Frame


While I'm out loving on my brand new baby boy, I hope you enjoy this series: my favorite DIY rerun posts! Learn more about the series here.
 

One of the main reasons that David and I headed down to south Georgia last weekend was to move my youngest sister, Callie, into her dorm at Georgia Southern University. Whether I'm ready to believe it or not, my baby sister is a freshman in college! We loaded up her dorm room gear (which includes anything black, white or hot pink), packed her some Ramen noodles and Easy Mac, and drug along our will to move her into a fourth floor dorm room in sweltering south Georgia heat.

And of course I was super excited about the opportunity to help decorate a blank slate of a room! And in thinking about how I could help add to the room, I realized that I felt a DIY project coming on.... I wanted to give Callie something sentimental but fun, so I settled on a photo collage. The only thing I knew in starting this little project was that everything just HAD to be black, white, or hot pink. I have to admit, working with these colors was kind of fun considering there's not an ounce of hot pink in my house!

Back to the project. I picked up a 50% off basic black frame (no backing or glass) at Hobby Lobby. I drilled several holes in the side of the frame (ok, you caught me again, David drilled the holes) to place several screws. I (ahem, David) then wrapped picture framing wire around the screws across the length of the frame. Like so:


Here's a close up for the curious:


Then comes the fun part. I went to a few different craft stores and picked out some fun scrapbook paper.


And let me tell you, these funky, girly patterns are RIGHT up my sweet little sister's alley! And, duh... black, white and hot pink!

Then I got the pleasure of sorting through a bunch of our old pictures. I wanted some recent shots, some old shots, and a few non-photograph items. Callie loves anything with her initials on them and anything girly. So I pulled a random assortment, including some of the following.

A shot of our family cocker spaniel, Charlie (otherwise known as Chuckles, Chud, St. Charles Sebastian, or sometimes just Dog):


And while Callie obviously knows the recipe, I thought I'd throw in a handwritten copy of a family favorite- Saturday morning french toast:


And a picture of me and my wee little sisters with my dad, many years ago (and yes, that is me rocking the "all denim" outfit, you can be jealous):


With that said, I had to get the pictures, etc. to attach to the frame, so I decided to paint some basic tiny clothespins that I picked up from Walmart for $1.88. Before the paint, the clothespins looked kind of like this:

Tiny Spring Clothespins 1" - 50/Pkg

But, obviously, the natural wood is not black, white or hot pink, so I spray painted them a glossy black. Needless to say, here's the final product:


You can see I added the pictures, her initials (the CFG is chipboard from the scrapbook department and I picked up the "C" button from the fabric department at Michaels), a sweet little satin fabric hot pink flower, and all of the fun scrapbook paper (how cool is that black glitter paper!). I also wrote some special, personal messages on the back of the frame with a paint pen (a Bible verse, a favorite quote, and a few words about how PROUD I am of my little sis!) which added even more personalization to the gift. And yes, the picture of Callie with a Burger King paper bag on her head is definitely a silly inside joke that has lasted about ten years now!!

The presentation to her was certainly filled with a lot of tears and laughter-- I sure did get my sentimental moment! My family was there when I gave it to her, so it was very special to share the entire project with everyone! Here are me and my beautiful sister with the frame once we got it hanging in her dorm room (please ignore the fact that we are slightly very sweaty!):


As I was making the frame for Callie, I decided that I kind of wanted one too! Since funky black and hot pink aren't exactly the color schemes in my house, I ended up on the opposite side of the spectrum and went (surprise, surprise!) the au naturale route.

I found the perfect weathered wood frame at Hobby Lobby (50% off, of course!) and got to work, adding mainly pictures that my cousin took when she was in town a few weeks ago. I also added a few fun trinkets that are special to David and I.

And here's the finished product!


And some close up shots.



Besides the pictures, we added some things we picked up while we were on our visit to Savannah, Georgia last month. The fun hand-stiched bobble guy is actually stationary that was hand-made by a SCAD (Savannah College of Arts and Design) student! They have an entire store in downtown Savannah that is dedicated to selling the creations of the students, professors, and alumni of SCAD. For those of you who can't make it down to Savannah anytime soon, don't worry, they've got an online store posted here: SCAD Store.

We also picked up a few of the trinkets in Savannah at The Paris Market. This store could hands-down be one of the coolest stores I've ever been in. You honestly feel like you are shopping at a Parisian antique flea market! It is super, super cool.

While I really love Callie's fun dorm room art, I am super in love with ours as well! The fun part is that the art is completely interchangeable, so we can mix it up whenever the urge strikes!


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