Strawberry Pickin'

What better activity to kick off our first day of summer vacation than with sweet friends and strawberry pickin'?  We joined the Barkalows for a morning at our local strawberry farm.  The weather was perfect and the kids had a lot of fun together picking and eating yummy strawberries.  Sweet times and simple things like this are why I love summer!

 

Georgia Anne's Dance Recital

Georgia Anne's dance recital was a few weeks ago.  She loves dancing and I think it shows in these pictures.  We are so fortunate to have found a studio where the teachers are about having fun while learning to dance.  The atmosphere is so laid back and it shows when you see they perform.  They truly enjoy themselves and have fun, which is what it is all about!  Thanks Mrs. Blair and Mrs. Claire for a wonderful year.

 

Wooden Frame Tutorial

 

With the school year coming to a close, I was in need of teacher gifts...a lot of teacher gifts (when you have three kiddos they add up fast).  I came up with this photo frame that was pretty easy to make and fairly inexpensive.  I ended up making 13 frames for around $2 each and it took me a few hours from start to finish to make all thirteen.  (I did have some things like paint, glue and the stamp pad on hand already so I didn't figure that into the cost.)

 

Here's how you can make this frame:

 

Materials

1"x8" Pine Board (length depends on how many frames you need.  I used an 8' board and got 13 frames)

Dowel Rod (I used an 5/16" because I had that size drill bit)

Clear Plastic Glazing (plexi-glass)

Paint

Sand Paper

Brown Stamp Pad

2 1/2" wide Burlap Ribbon

Carpet Tacks or Small Nails

Glue Gun and Glue Sticks

 

1.)  Start by measuring out 7" increments on your pine board and cut at those points.

 2.) Sand with a fine grit sandpaper until all surfaces and edges are smooth.

 3.) Paint all surfaces.  I used Benjamin Moore's
Dove Wing (OC-18) in a satin finish.

 4.) Sand all edges exposing the raw wood beneath the paint.

 5.) Using a brown stamp pad, run it along the edges to darken the exposed wood until you have covered all edges like in the photo below.



6.)  On the back side of the board, drill a hole careful not to drill all the way through the wood (I used a 5/16" drill bit).  I centered the hole and came up 3/4" from the bottom of the frame.

7.) You can purchase plastic glazing that is pre-cut to 3 1/2" x 5" or 4"x6".  If you do this you can skip to step 10.  I chose to purchase (2) 11"x14" pieces and cut them down to 3 1/2" x 5" to save a little money.  I purchased these at Hobby Lobby for $3.27 each and was able to get 8 pieces from each sheet.

8.) Measure and mark off where you need to cut.  Each piece of glazing came with a protective coating on each side so I was able to use a marker to make my cut lines without having to worry about the lines showing after I made the cuts.

9.)  Using a ruler and a sharp Exacto blade cut along the lines.  Once you have good score lines you can snap the plastic to complete the cut.



10.)  Peel the protective coating from the plastic glazing.  Position the glazing where you would like the photo to be and then secure in place along the bottom and sides with the carpet tacks.  Do not hammer the tacks all the way in.  You need to leave a little room so you can insert and change out the photo from the top of the glazing. 

11.) Cut 16" lengths of the burlap ribbon and tie in a loose knot.  Secure in place with a glue gun.  (I purchased the chevron print burlap ribbon from Hobby Lobby.)

12.)  Cut your dowel rod into 3" long pieces.  Sand the ends if needed.

13.)  Place your dowel rod in the hole on the back of the frame to create a stand for the frame.

And there you have it!  A cute, simple (and cheap) photo frame!!