5 Kitschy Upcycled Picture Frames

If you take a good look around your house you might just find some unlikely, yet fantabulous, picture frames. This week for I Love to Create that is exactly what I did.

Given I realize every house might not have an Etch a Sketch laying around, but these types of picture frames can also easily be made with a cheap run to your local thrift store. All you need after that is a can of Aleene’s Crystal Clear Tacky Spray, some scissors and a few of your favorite pictures.


Broken clocks are one of my favorite frames. Some have hands that are harder to remove than others. For this clock I had to use the cutting tool on my Dremel to get a smooth surface to adhere my picture to.


I picked this clock up at a flea market. All of the hardware was missing so it was a perfect picture frame candidate. Traced a circle on the picture, cut it out, took it outside and sprayed it with my Aleene's Crystal Clear Tacky Spray and stuck it into the center of my clock.


Occasionally your make shift picture frame will be larger than the pictures you have. If that is the case enlarge the picture on your computer and print it out to the correct size on photo paper. Cut out, spray glue and stick. This is a picture of my little metalheads. Tallulah in her Guns n' Roses Onesie and Chris in his Ozzy Ozbourne T-shirt.


Vintage handmirrors make great picture frames. Most times the mirror part has gotten old and no longer works so why not cover it up with a picture of your daughter and husband taking a dip in the pool?


My sister paints dead rappers on her vintage Fisher Price toys, I use a little Aleene's Crystal Clear Tacky Glue and make mine into picture frames.

Awesomely kitschy picture frames can be yours with just 3 easy steps: cut, glue and stick. Take a peeksie around your digs and see what possible picture frames you have hanging around. Once you start to see things with picture frame colored glasses you will be surprised what you find. Inquiring minds want to know, what is the oddest thing you have ever converted into a picture frame?

Artful T-shirts

As summer vacation comes to an end (*pausing for applause*), us parents are always looking for last ditch efforts to keep our kiddos occupied. Decorating t-shirts is always a favorite time-passer in our house but frankly, with 2 weeks left and counting until school starts, mama's tired; I don't feel like dealing with paints and their accompanying mess. Enter the brilliance of fabric markers!

Originally, I pitched this project to my sons as a thematic one involving drawing their favorite Summertime memory, on a plain t-shirt. I thought that it might be nice for them to wear it throughout the year as a reminder of some of the things they got to do on their off-time. The response from my 9-year-old however, was less than positive. It went something like this:

Tanner: Can we draw our least favorite memory instead?

Me: No. Why do you ask, though?

Tanner: Because if we could, mine would be of this project.

Ok then; it was clearly time for a Plan B.

Since school shopping has begun and with it has come many the request for one character shirt or another (Star Wars, Sponge Bob, Halo, etc.), I suggested that perhaps, they might want to draw their own versions of one of their favorites. This actually got them really excited--praise the crafty Gods! With a little persuasion and a pack of pens my boys created their shirts, their way: featuring Super Mario Bros. bomb guys. It was a good compromise if you ask me!

Materials

Plain, light-colored t-shirt

Tulip Fabric Markers

Cardboard (Recycled box pieces, work great!)

Clothespins and/or Masking Tape

How-to

1. Have your child sketch out their idea on a piece of scrap paper (optional).

2. Stretch t-shirt out over cardboard; secure with tape or clothespins.

.

3. Hand your little artist a pack of Fabric Markers and let him work his drawing magic, directly on the shirt.

With a little bit of time and almost no clean-up, your creative child has a wearable work of art that fits whatever his current, character fancy!

"Mad Bomb Guy", by Tanner

"Little Bomb Guys", by Tristan

xo,

Vickie

P.S. Want to see more kids' projects? Click here!

Vickie Howell is a mother, designer, author and crafty spokesperson. Her latest book Pop Goes Crochet, is on sale now. For more information and project ideas, go to: www.vickiehowell.com

Tulip® Fabric Spray Painting with the Stars!

You may have noticed our tweets last Friday about the Teen Choice gift boutique we were attending! Well, it was a great opportunity for iLoveToCreate (that's Allee and Mandy - two awesome team members above representing th e booth) to meet up with a lot of talented, young Hollywood celebs and give them the chance to test out our Tulip® Fabric Spray Paint!

All of the kid celebs were so sweet and polite and they really had a blast while spray painting their shirts! We heard so many great compliments and saw so many smiling faces. They also said they were going to have to go right away to the craft store to get some to try at home! They couldn't believe it was so easy!


Debbie Ryan says she tie dyes everything and practically begged for us to give her our Tulip Fabric Spray!


"I wasn't expecting it to turn out so cool!" - Sterling Knight from Sonny with a Chance, about his finished
shirt.

The pop group The Social Girls had so much fun. They wanted Allee (our supestar designer helping at the event) to go home with them to tag their stuff!


The little girls of Desperate Housewives made shirts. They were so happy with the results! Not a drop on their dresses!

Sterling Beaumon [he played young Ben Linus on Lost] was so excited by his results...says he can't wait to get more!


Tyler James Williams of Everybody Hates Chris said we brought out creativity at our booth! He didn't think he had it!

Leo Howard of GI Joe: Rise of Cobra using Tulip Fabric Spray and Tulip sticky stencils. He said, "this is so cool!"

And now for a little behind the scenes goodies...

Isabelle Fuhrman, the little girl from the "Orphan" isn't as scary in person as she seems in that creepy trailer for the movie.

–The child stars were very polite and well-behaved. I guess being a brat does get you a bad rep in Hollywood, huh?

– There were a few adults there too....we spotted Scott Baio, Candace Cameron, Fred Willard, Andy Dick, Alfonso Ribeiro (and no, he didn't do the "Carlton Dance"). Are booth was pretty hectic, so there unfortunately wasn't always an open spot at all times, so some passed by. :(


– Ariel Winter (she stars with Ed O'Neil in the upcoming "Modern Family" on ABC Family seemed like a mini pro twisting and dying her shirt. Look how cute it turned out!


So (forewarning you...this is cheesy), you may not be a celebrity, but you can be a big star! All you have to have is Tulip Fabric Spray Paint! Get it at your local craft store!