Revamped Photo Plaque Tutorial

I was finally able to do this project - the pieces have been sitting around for a good while.  I revamped an old art plaque I found at the thrift store.  It's not really worth a tutorial, but here's what I did.

Find an old art plaque at the thrift store - I forgot to take a before picture, but this square one was $0.75, and the one I used was $0.55.

Dampen and scrape off the art.  Mine was a card stock type material.

Sand lightly to scuff, and spray paint the color of your choice.  I used flat black because  my photo was black and white.  Distress if desired.

Cut photo to fit plaque.

Apply a layer of Mod Podge to the plaque and to the back of your photo.  Place photo on plaque, smooth to get rid of bubbles.  Apply Mod Podge over top of the photo and plaque to seal everything.

I'm one step closer to finishing my gallery wall!

Bloggy Update

It seems to get harder and harder to update the blog these days.  Life is just that, life, and our temporary no computer at home situation has gone on longer than expected, so posts have been infrequent and sporadic (and will continue to be for a while longer). 

But here's what I've been working on over the past while . . .

One set of curtains for our master bedroom (still trying to find the material for the other set)

 A pirate pillow (fabric is P. Kauffman)

 Other pillows of which I have no pictures

Cheese dome cloche from House of Hepworths via Thrifty Decor Chick

Artwork holders for the playroom

Spray painted yard sale boxes (that I still need to make cute labels for)

Note the before below . . .

 Random quilt piecing

And some other not-yet-finished projects involving this big pile o' wood

Shameless Copy

I’ll admit it.  I thought Thrifty Décor Chick’s spray painted Mason jar was fantastic, so I copied it. 

And then there’s this guy - the milk jug I got at Goodwill.

I forgot to take a picture of him in his “before” state, but he was Ugg-ly.
For some reason, he reminded me of the cute white ceramic vases I have seen around, so I bought him.  And spray painted him glossy white. 

I thought he was happy, but about 2 weeks after this picture was taken (hush, you know I’m living under a rock right now) when I went to change out the flowers, I found the paint bubbling and peeling off.  *Sigh*  I know he was cheap, but I don’t want to throw him away, so I’m going to (somehow) get the paint off him, spray his insides good with a water sealer, and redo him, with the addition of a glossy topcoat (so he really shines).  

A couple of things I have learned from this vignette:

• When spray painting glass, frosted glass spray paint is your friend.  Do a coat of it first, then spray your color.  Otherwise, no matter how light I tried to spray, I still got runs in my paint (don’t look too close at that Mason jar). 
• Always coat the inside of any suspect container (even glazed ones that look fine) with a water sealer.  Or you will have a Mr. Milk Jug problem on your hands.